nha2 - sentences

8/3/2019 NHA2 - Sentences

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/nha2-sentences 1/10

CHAPTER 5: SENTENCES

I> DEFINITIONII> CLASSIFICATION

II.1> Simple sentencesII.2> Complex sentences

II.3> Compound sentences

III> TREE DIAGRAMS



I> DEFINITION “Sentence is the largest unit of

grammatical organization within whichparts of speech (e.g. nouns, verbs,

adverbs) and grammatical classes (e.g.

word, phrase, clause) are said tofunction. In English a sentence normally

contains one independent clause with a

FINITE VERB”. [Richards etal,1992:330]

E.g.: The flight to Tokyo took 2 hours



Sentences have a structure containing clauses &may be related in 2 ways:

-Co-ordinated clauses:

+have coordinating conjunctions: and, but, or, yet,so, for, nor, not

E.g.: Mary likes roses, but I like marigolds

Ned began nodding, for the room was hot -Subordinated clauses:

+have subordinating conjunctions: since, if, so that, unless, because, when, in case that , …

E.g.: She telephoned as soon as she could

Syntactic status of conjunctions: conjunctions

-are words

-function directly at the sentence level: connector



II> CLASSIFICATION

(according to structure)

II.1> Simple sentences

« A simple sentence consists of a

single clause that stands aloneas its own sentence »[Finegan,1994 :122].

E.g. : She crawled on the floor .

We will go to Greece next month.



II.2> Complex sentences « A complex sentence combines two (or more) clauses

in such a way that one clause functions as a

grammatical part of the other one »[Finegan, 1994 :122]. E.g. : While i was having a bath in the bathroom last

night, someone knocked at the door.

Because i love him, i can do everything for him.

« …Complex sentences contain clauses of unequalstatus… One clause is subordinate to another clauseand function as a grammatical part of that clause. Wecall the subordinate clause an embedded clause and the

clause into which it is embedded a matrix clause. Everysubordinate clause is by definition embedded in a matrixclause, in which it serves in a grammatical function suchas subject, direct object, or adverbial ».[Finegan,

1994 :122]



E.g. : That rain is going to fall is obvious.

Subject finite clause

To reach the goal is my biggest concern now.Subject non-finite clause

Do you know why i admire you a lot ?

Direct object finite clause The whole class does not know where to meet the

professor. Direct object non-finite clause

He gave whomever he met a warm greeting.

Indirect object finite clause

She did not give finding the lost bicycle a second thought. Indirect object non-finite cl.



She became what she had hoped.

Subjective complement finite clause

My advice is quit the job.

Subjective complement non-finite clause

They made him what he had always wanted to be. Objective complement finite clause

The smell of oil began her coughing.

Objective complement non-finite clause

I strongly advise on where you look for the job

Prepositional complement finite clause

We can count on him to present at the conference. Prep. complement non-finite cl.



II.3> Compound sentences « In a coordinate sentence (called « compound » in

traditional grammars), two or more clauses are joinedby a conjunction in a coordinate relationship »[Finegan, 1994 :122]. A compound sentence contains« two clauses joined by a word such as and, but, or

or , which are called coordinating conjunctions, orsimply conjunctions… The clauses in a coordinate

sentence hold equal status. Neither clause is part ofthe other clause, and each could stand by itself as

an independent sentence. »[Finegan, 1994 :118]

E.g. : She is rich but i am poor.

Roses are red and violets are blue and so are you.



III> Tree diagrams- Some rules of thumb for doing tree diagrams [Kuiper, K & Allan,

W.S. 1996, 256]

1) Find the lexical verbs: For each lexical verb there will be oneassociated verb phrase and one associated clause.Therefore, you know how many clauses there are in thesentence by counting the number of lexical verbs.

2) Find the main clause: To do this ask yourself what the whole

sentence would say as its most simple if it were to be put into.S

3) Start at the top and work down: NP VP

Once you have worked out the main functions in the main clause

you can fill in the „top‟ of the structures 4) Find embedded clauses: All the rest of the clauses you have

found that are not the main clause can be treated in the sameway. Since they are embedded they must either be modifiersof a head of phrase or functioning as the whole of a subject,

object, intensive complement or adverbial.



Example:

S

Conj Cl Cl

S:NP V:VP DO:NP OC:AdjP S:NP V:VP O:INF.CL

NH Lex.V Ident. NH AdjH PronH Lex.V Non-fin O: NP

V

Ident.NH

Although Jim finds the work difficult, he continues to do his best

nha2 - sentences

Documents