Sentence - Introduction

A sentence is a group of words that makes complete sense. A complete sentence has three characteristics:
1. It begins with a capital letter.
2. In addition, it includes an end markeither a period [.], question mark [?], or exclamation point [!].
3. Most important, the complete sentence must contain at least one main clause. A main clause contains an independent subject and
verb(predicare) and expresses a complete thought.
Examples:
Tom and Harry went to the market.
Where did Tom and Harry go?
What a fascinating things in the market!

Simple and Compound Sentences

Simple Sentence
A simple sentence contains a subject and a verb, and it expresses a complete thought.
1.Many students study in the mornings.
(Contains one subject and a verb)
2.Julia and Amelia play chess every afternoon.
(Contains a compound subject and a verb)
3. Ruby oes to the library and studies every day.
(Contains a subject and a compound verb)
NOTE: A simple sentence may contain a compound subject,( as in sentence 2)and may contain a compound verb.(as in sentence 3)
Simple sentences, therefore, contain a subject and verb and express a complete thought, but they can also contain compound
subjects or verbs.
Compound Sentence
A compound sentence contains two independent clauses joined by a coordinating conjunction. The coordinating are as follows: for, and, nor, but,
or, yet, so. (Helpful hint: The first letter of each of the coordinators spells FANBOYS.)
1.She tried to speak French, and my friend tried to speak English.
2.It was raining, so Manasa stayed at home.
3.Manasa stayed at home, for it was raining.
4.The teacher was explaining, but the students were not listening.
The above sentences are compound sentences. Each sentence contains two independent clauses, and they are joined by a coordinating
conjunction with a comma preceding it.

Complex Sentences
A complex sentence has an independent clause(a simple sentence) joined by one or more dependent clauses. A complex sentence always has a
subordinating conjunctions such as because, since, after, although, or when (and many others) or a relative pronoun such as that, who, or which.
Examples;
1.When she submitted her project work, she forgot to attach the teacher the poster.
2.The teacher returned her project work after she noticed the poster missing.
3.The students are busy preparing because they have exams tomorrow.
4.After finishing the preparation , Tom and Tumesh went to play cricket.
5,.Tom and Tumesh went to play cricket after finishing the prepartion.

When a complex sentence begins with a subordinator such as sentences 1 and 4, a comma is required at the end of the dependent
clause.

When the independent clause begins the sentence with subordinating conjunction in the middle as in sentences 2, 3, and 5, no comma
is required.If a comma is placed before the subordinators in sentences 2, 3, and 5, it is wrong.

Sentences 4 and 5 are the same except sentence 4 begins with the dependent clause which is followed by a comma, and
sentence 5 begins with the independent clause which contains no comma.