Sentence analysis

Question 1

What are the four sentence types?

Answer 1

• Declarative sentences
• Interrogative sentences
• Imperative sentences
• Exclamative sentences

Question 2

What are interrogative sentences?

Answer 2

A type of sentence that asks a question

Question 3

What are Imperative sentences?

Answer 3

A type of sentence that gives a command, demand, or instructions

Question 4

What are Exclamative sentences?

Answer 4

A type of sentence that conveys a strong emotion and ends with an exclamation mark!

Question 5

What are declarative sentences?

Answer 5

A type of sentence that makes a statement, provides a fact, offers an explanation, or conveys information.

Question 6

What is a clause?

Answer 6

A syntactic structure just below the sentence in the syntactic hierarchy.

Question 7

What does a clause contain?

Answer 7

A subject, a verb and other constituents

Question 8

Describe finite clauses

Answer 8

Clause that contains finite verbs and usually a subject

- Can be used independently in another context

Question 9

Describe non-finite clauses

Answer 9

Clauses that contains non-finite verbs

- Cannot be used independently (stand alone)

Question 10

What are verbless clauses / reduced clauses?

Answer 10

Clauses that contain no verbs

Question 11

What are complex sentences?

Answer 11

Sentences which contain one or more clauses.

Question 12

What are simple sentences?

Answer 12

Sentences which do not contain any clauses.

Question 13

Name the three types of clauses

Answer 13

Nominal clauses
Adverbial clauses
Modifying clauses

Question 14

Both finite and non-finite nominal clauses can function as …?

Answer 14

Subject
Direct object 
Indirect object
Subject complement
Object complement
Prepositional complement (on a non-primary level)

Question 15

Adverbial clauses function as…?

Answer 15

Adverbials

Question 16

Modifying clauses are embedded in phrases usually as … ?

Answer 16

Postmodifiers

Question 17

List the 7 primary sentence functions

Answer 17

Verb, subject, direct object, indirect object, subject complement, object complement, adverbial

Question 18

What is the thesis of the movement test?

Answer 18

What moves together usually belongs together

Question 19

What is the thesis of the substitution test:

Answer 19

If a word or phrase can substitute a word or phrase in a sentence, then the substitute has the same or similar function to the word substituted in that sentence.

Question 20

What do we analyse sentences on the primary level?

Answer 20

We find the primary sentence functions (V,S,DO,IO,SC,OC,A) and the materiel that is used to realise the functions (VP,NP,AdjP,AdvP,PP, Clause)

Question 21

What do we analyse sentences beyond the primary level?

Answer 21

We also analyse clauses (level 2) and phrases (level 3) until we reach the word level.