Understanding sentence types
Introduction
This article starts with some basic information about sentence structure in written English, namely subject and predicate, and then analyses the four correct A better term, but less used by English language learners, is grammatical - i.e. 'containing no grammatical errors. sentence types. It concludes with a look at three common examples of problematic sentence structures. There are also short sections of advice on how to write well in general and how to detect problematic sentences in particular.
Click the button below for more discussion of the content and purpose of this page.
Linguists have problems in agreeing how to define the word sentence. For this web page, sentence will be taken to mean: 'a sequence of words whose first word starts with a capital letter and whose last word is followed by an end punctuation mark (period/full stop or question mark or exclamation mark) '.
On the basis of this definition, some of the sentences written by ESL students (indeed by all writers) will be correct, and other sentences will be problematic. Good readers (English teachers, for example!) can quickly see the difference between a correct and a problematic sentence.
Linguists/grammarians disagree on many issues of English syntax, even on basic matters such as the definition of the clause. My webpage seeks to avoid confusing students with these conflicting views or terms - at the risk of oversimplifying.
The aim is to help students to become better writers, not to give them a detailed knowledge of the complexities of English syntax or syntax terminology.
Advanced students or teachers of English who want a definitive account of English syntax are recommended to read:
- ^ 33 ^
Subject of the sentence
All sentences are about something or someone. The something or someone that the sentence is about is called the subject of the sentence. In the following sentences the subjects are shown in red. Note how the subject is often, but not always, the first thing in the sentence.
- John often comes late to class.
- My friend and I both have a dog named Spot.
- Many parts of the Asian coastline were destroyed by a tsunami in 2004.
- The old hotel at the end of the street is going to be knocked down to make way for a new supermarket.
- Sitting in a tree at the bottom of the garden was a huge black bird with long blue tail feathers.
- The grade 7 Korean boy who has just started at FIS speaks excellent English.
- On Saturdays I never get up before 9 o'clock.
- Before giving a test the teacher should make sure that the students are well-prepared.
- Lying on the sofa watching old films is my favourite hobby.
Note that the second sentence above contains a compound subject (my friend and I). Here another example:
- London and Paris are among the most visited cities on Earth.
Predicate of the sentence
The predicate contains information about the someone or something that is the subject. The example sentences above are shown again, this time with the predicate marked in green.
- John
often comes late to class.
My friend and I both have a dog named Spot. - Many parts of the Asian coastline were destroyed by a tsunami in 2004.
- The old hotel at the end of the street is going to be knocked down to make way for a new supermarket.
- Sitting in a tree at the bottom of the garden was a huge black bird with long blue tail feathers.
- The grade 7 Korean boy who has just started at FIS speaks excellent English.
- On Saturdays I never get up before 9 o'clock.
- Before giving a test the teacher should make sure that the students are well-prepared.
- Lying on the sofa watching old films is my favourite hobby.
Note that the predicate can contain a compound verb. For example:
- Mary ate dinner and went straight to bed.
Do a quiz on the subject and predicate.
Simple subject and simple predicate
As you can see from the example sentences above, both the subject and the predicate can consist of many words. The simple subject is the main word in the subject, and the simple predicate is the main word in the predicate.
The simple subject is always a noun or pronoun and the simple predicate is always a verb.
In the following sentences the simple subject is shown in red and the simple predicate is shown in green.
- My ESL teacher speaks a little Russian.
- The young girl with the long black hair fell from her bike yesterday in heavy rain.
- At the back of the line in the cafeteria yesterday was a large brown dog with a yellow collar around its neck!
- My friend and I are going on holiday together this year.
- Your mother or your father must come to the meeting.
- Sitting in a tree at the bottom of the garden was a huge black bird with long blue tail feathers.
From the last three examples sentences above you will notice that the simple subjects and simple predicates can be more than one word.
Do a quiz on the simple subject and simple predicate.
- First advice
@ To write strong, clear sentences you must know who or what you are writing about (subject) and what you want to say about them or it (predicate). ~
Your writing will be more interesting if the subject is not the first thing in every sentence you write.
If you are having trouble understanding a sentence, it may be helpful to identify its simple subject and simple predicate.
Sentence classification by function
There are various ways to classify sentences. One way is by their function, as follows:
- Declarative - making a statement: "I don't like dogs."
- Interrogative - asking a question: "Do you like dogs?"
- Imperative - giving an order: "Get your dog out of my garden!"
- Exclamatory - making a exclamation (expressing an emotion): "Wow, what a lovely dog!"
Sentence classification by clause type
A second way to categorize sentences is by the clauses they contain. (A clause is a part of a sentence containing a subject and a predicate.) Here are the four sentence types, classified according to the types of clause they contain:
1. Simple: Simple sentences contain a single, independent clause.
- I don't like dogs.
- Our school basketball team lost their last game of the season 75-68.
- The old hotel opposite the bus station in the center of the town is probably going to be knocked down at the end of next year.
2. Compound: Compound sentences contain two independent clauses that are joined by a coordinating conjunction.
- I don't like dogs, and my sister doesn't like cats.
- You can write on paper, or you can use a computer.
- A tree fell onto the school roof in a storm, but none of the students was injured.
The most common coordinating conjunctions are: but, or, and, so. You can use the mnemonic boas to remember them.
3. Complex: Complex sentences contains an independent clause, plus one or more dependent clauses.
Note: A dependent clause starts with a subordinating conjunction. Examples: that, because, while, although, where, if.
- I don't like dogs that bark at me when I go past.
- She did her homework, while her father cooked dinner.
- You can write on paper, although a computer is better if you want to correct mistakes easily.
4. Compound-complex: Compound-complex sentences contain three or more clauses (of which at least two are independent and one is dependent).
- I don't like dogs, and my sister doesn't like cats because they make her sneeze.
- You can write on paper, but using a computer is better as you can easily correct your mistakes.
- A tree fell onto the school roof in a storm, but none of the students was injured, although many of them were in classrooms at the top of the building.
- Second advice
@@ Writing that contains mostly short, simple sentences can be uninteresting or even irritating to read. ~~ Writing that consists of mostly long, complex sentences is usually difficult to read.
Good writers, therefore, use a variety of sentence types. They also occasionally start complex (or compound-complex) sentences with the dependent clause and not the independent clause.
In the following examples the dependent clause is shown in red:
- Although it was raining , we decided to go fishing.
- If it doesn't rain soon , the river will dry out.
- Because the road was icy and the driver was going too fast, he was unable to brake in time when a fox ran into the road in front of him.
Note: Independent clauses are also called main clauses. Dependent clauses are also called subordinate clauses.
Do a quiz to identify clause types.
Do a quiz to identify sentence types.
Problematic 'sentences'
To write a correct sentence, you need to have a good understanding of what a sentence is. Students who don't have this understanding, or don't take care, often include problem sentences in their writing. Native English speakers are just as likely to write problem sentences as ESL students.
There are three main types of problem sentence.
1. Run-on sentences
Run-ons are two sentences (or independent clauses) that the writer has not separated with an end punctuation mark, or has not joined with a conjunction.
If you move the mouse cursor over the following run-ons, you will see where they should be separated into two sentences.
- I went to Paris in the vacation it is the most beautiful place I have ever visited. I went to Paris in the vacation. It is the most beautiful place I have ever visited.
- It is never too late to learn to swim you never know when you might need to. It is never too late to learn to swim. You never know when you might need to.
- If you go to the shops can you buy me some eggs I want to make a cake. If go to the shops can you buy me some eggs. I want to make a cake.
-
I like our new mathematics teacher, she always explains the work very clearly. I like our new mathematics teacher. She always explains the work very clearly.
This kind of run-on, i.e. 2 sentences separated by a comma, is also known as a comma splice. - He was late to school again, his bus got caught in heavy traffic. He was late to school again. His bus got caught in heavy traffic.
Here is a page of links to short videos about run-ons.
- Third advice
It is helpful to read your written work aloud. When you speak, you will make natural pauses to mark the end of your sentences or clauses. If there is no corresponding end punctuation mark in your writing, you can be almost certain that you have written a run-on sentence.
2. Sentence fragments
Sentence fragments or fragment sentences are unfinished sentences. In other words, they don't contain a complete idea 'A sentence is a complete idea' is not a very good definition. But it is clear, for example, that 'love dogs' is not a complete idea, while 'I love dogs' is. . A common fragment sentence in student writing is a dependent clause standing alone without an independent clause.
In the each of the following examples the fragment is the second 'sentence', shown in red.
- I don't think I'm going to get a good grade. Because I didn't study.
- She got angry and shouted at the teacher. Which wasn't a very good idea.
- He watched TV for an hour and then went to bed. After falling asleep on the sofa.
- She got up and ran out of the library. Slamming the door behind her.
- I have to write a report on Albert Einstein. The famous scientist who left Europe to live in the USA.
- After riding my bike without problems for over a year, the chain broke. 40 kilometers from my house!
The short videos about run-ons page also has a video about fragments.
- Fourth advice
If your 'sentence' is a dependent clause, or it doesn't contain both a subject and a predicate, then it is not a proper sentence. You can often detect fragments if you read your writing backwards sentence by sentence, i.e. from the last sentence to the first one. You can usually correct a fragment by connecting it to the sentence before or after it.
Note: Good writers, who have a full understanding of the sentence, occasionally choose to write a sentence fragment. So you may see sentence fragments in the fiction or even some of the non-fiction you read.
As an ESL student, however, you should avoid fragments (except when writing your own creative stories).
3. Rambling sentences
A rambling sentence is a sentence made up of many clauses, often connected by a coordinating conjunction such as and, or, so.
- John usually gets up before 7 o'clock, but yesterday his alarm clock did not ring, so he was still asleep when his boss called him at 10.30 to ask where he was and tell him that he would lose his job if he was late again.
- Although the blue whale has been protected for over 30 years and its numbers are increasing, especially in the North Pacific, where whale hunting has been banned, it is still at risk of extinction as its habitat is being polluted by waste from oil tankers and its main food, the plankton, is being killed off by harmful rays from the sun, which can penetrate the earth's atmosphere because there is a huge hole in the ozone layer over Antarctica.
- Fifth advice
A rambling sentence is quite easy to spot. You have almost certainly written one if your sentence contains more than three or four conjunctions. If you read the sentence aloud and run out of breath before reaching the end of it, you have written a rambling sentence.
@@@ If your sentence stretches over many lines of writing, you have certainly written a rambling sentence and most probably a run-on sentence too. ~~~
Unlike run-ons or fragments, rambling sentences are not wrong. But they are tiresome for the reader and one of the signs of a poor writer. You should avoid them.
Do a quiz to identify problematic sentences.
- General advice
If you are not sure whether you have written a good, correct sentence, ask your teacher.
And remember: The more you read in English, the better a writer you will become. This is because reading good writing provides you with models of English sentence structure that will have a positive influence on your own written work.
Cohesion
Note: Good writing consists not only of a string of varied, correctly-structured sentences. The sentences must also lead from one to the next so that the text is cohesive and the writer's ideas show a logical development.
Transition words such as however and consequently are an important aspect of cohesion. Here you can find many examples of transitions.
There is more information about cohesion on the Teachers site. And there are several interactive quizzes on cohesion in the Reading drop-down menu on the Language skills index.
More resources
Read and print this page's writing advice sections. (Opens in a new window.)
There are several interactive quizzes on sentence identification and sentence building on the Reading and Writing drop-down menus of the Language skills index.
Do a summative quiz on the information on this page.
Watch a video on the seven sentence types. [Coming soon...]
Watch a video on common structures of the finite clause. [Coming soon...]
Learn how to construct effective sentences, with a special focus on information packaging.
Read a modern analysis of sentence structure which redefines the clause and introduces the concept of the matrix clause.