Primary English: Knowledge and Understanding - Medwell Jane A. 2014

The grammar of the sentence in Standard English

TEACHERS’ STANDARDS

A teacher must:

3. Demonstrate good subject and curriculum knowledge

✵ have a secure knowledge of the relevant subject(s) and curriculum areas, foster and maintain pupils’ interest in the subject, and address misunderstandings

✵ demonstrate a critical understanding of developments in the subject and curriculum areas, and promote the value of scholarship

✵ demonstrate an understanding of and take responsibility for promoting high standards of literacy, articulacy and the correct use of standard English, whatever the teacher’s specialist subject.

4. Plan and teach well structured lessons

✵ impart knowledge and develop understanding through effective use of lesson time

✵ promote a love of learning and children’s intellectual curiosity

✵ contribute to the design and provision of an engaging curriculum within the relevant subject area(s).

8. Fulfil wider professional responsibilities

✵ take responsibility for improving teaching through appropriate professional development.

Curriculum context

National Curriculum programmes of study

This knowledge is designed to underpin the teaching of the Key Stage 1 and Key Stage 2 programmes of study for English, which state, for example, that pupils should be taught

in spoken language to:

✵ speak audibly and fluently with an increasing command of Standard English

and in writing to:

✵ develop their understanding of the concepts set out in English appendix 2 by:

learning the grammar in English appendix 2 Y1/2/3/4/5/6

✵ learning how to use:

sentences with different forms: statement, question, exclamation, command Y2

expanded noun phrases to describe and specify [for example, the blue butterfly] Y2

the present and past tenses correctly and consistently, including the progressive form Y2

subordination (using when, if, that, or because) and co-ordination (using or, and, or but) Y2

some features of written standard English Y2

extending the range of sentences with more than one clause by using a wider range of conjunctions, including: when, if, because, although Y3/4

using the present perfect form of verbs in contrast to the past tense Y3/4

choosing nouns or pronouns appropriately for clarity and cohesion and to avoid repetition Y3/4

using conjunctions, adverbs and prepositions to express time and cause Y3/4

using fronted adverbials Y3/4

recognising vocabulary and structures that are appropriate for formal speech and writing, including subjunctive forms Y5/6

using passive verbs to affect the presentation of information in a sentence Y5/6

using the perfect form of verbs to mark relationships of time and cause Y5/6

using expanded noun phrases to convey complicated information concisely Y5/6

using modal verbs or adverbs to indicate degrees of possibility Y5/6

using relative clauses beginning with who, which, where, when, whose, that or with an implied (ie omitted) relative pronoun Y5/6

✵ indicate grammatical and other features by:

using commas after fronted adverbials Y3/4

indicating possession by using the possessive apostrophe with plural nouns Y3/4

using and punctuating direct speech Y3/4

using commas to clarify meaning or avoid ambiguity in writing Y5/6

using hyphens to avoid ambiguity Y5/6

using brackets, dashes or commas to indicate parenthesis Y5/6

using semicolons, colons or dashes to mark boundaries between independent clauses Y5/6

using a colon to introduce a list Y5/6

punctuating bullet points consistently Y5/6

✵ use the grammatical terminology in English appendix 2 in discussing their writing Y1/2/3/4

✵ make simple additions, revisions and corrections to their own writing by:

rereading to check that their writing makes sense and that verbs to indicate time are used correctly and consistently, including verbs in the continuous form Y2

proposing changes to grammar and vocabulary to improve consistency, including the accurate use of pronouns in sentences Y3/4

selecting appropriate grammar and vocabulary, understanding how such choices can change and enhance meaning Y5/6

ensuring the consistent and correct use of tense throughout a piece of writing Y5/6

ensuring correct subject and verb agreement when using singular and plural, distinguishing between the language of speech and writing and choosing the appropriate register Y5/6

proofreading to check for errors in spelling, grammar and punctuation (for example, ends of sentences punctuated correctly) Y2/3/4/5/6.

Early Years Foundation Stage

The Early Learning Goals specify that, by the end of the Early Years Foundation Stage, children should:

✵ use past, present and future forms accurately when talking about events that have happened or are to happen in the future;

✵ write simple sentences which can be read by themselves and others.

Introduction

The ways in which sentences can be structured and the analysis of the various parts of a sentence together make up what is usually referred to as ’grammar’. Grammar is actually a good deal broader than this. In the previous chapter, for example, we described the grammar of word structures, and later we will discuss the grammar of whole texts. Nevertheless, when we talk about grammar to people who are not professional linguists or professional teachers, what is usually understood is sentence grammar. Many people, of course, have memories of being taught this kind of grammar, usually in a fairly dull way, while at school, and many also admit to some confusion over concepts such as adverb, prepositions, relative clauses, etc.

No one, apart from a few pedants, would suggest nowadays that knowledge of sentence grammar should be taught and learned as an end in itself. There is little point in knowing about the ways adverbs work, for instance, unless this knowledge in some way helps the learner become a more effective user of spoken and written English. Grammatical knowledge can help to put speakers and writers more in control of their use of language. It can aid them in their attempts to communicate and thus make them more effective language users. For this reason it is worth teaching in school, and therefore worth being studied by intending teachers of English, at whatever level.

The purpose of this and the following chapter is to help you become familiar with the ways sentences work in Standard English. By this, we mean the many possible ways sentences can be structured and adapted to meet particular purposes and create particular effects. In the process of looking at sentence structure we will also help you to understand the component parts of the English sentence, that is, word classes such as nouns, verbs and prepositions, and sentence parts such as phrases and clauses.

You should bear in mind that, in these chapters, we refer to the sentence grammar of Standard English. You will know that there are many varieties of English (dialects), which differ in various respects from Standard English grammar. So several of the sentence patterns we discuss with reference to Standard English are handled differently in other dialects.

The structure of the chapter

The chapter will be organised around the following topics:

✵ What is a sentence? In this section, we will offer a definition of a sentence and examine two common ways in which this structure is misused: the use of sentence fragments and of run-on sentences.

Are these sentences or not sentences?

✵ What kinds of sentences are there? Here, we will look at key sentence types such as statements, questions and commands.

What kind of sentence?

This book makes a number of things clearer.

Did I really leave school without having learnt all of this?

Make sure you read this very carefully.

You cannot possibly find this sort of thing difficult!

Sentences also vary from the very simple to the much more complex. We will explore the mechanisms by which this complexity can be achieved and the sentence remain grammatically acceptable.

✵ The component parts of a sentence. Here, we will examine the parts of a sentence such as subject and predicate, clauses and phrases. The concept of word classes, and the key characteristics of these classes, will be described in the following chapter.

Analysing sentences

Students who are conscientious will always be careful to note in

their books the ideas they have been thinking about.

What is a sentence?

Before we look at the parts of a sentence, we need to define a sentence itself. A sentence is a group of words containing a subject and predicate (defined below). Sometimes, however, the subject is ’understood’, as in a command: ’[You] Read this book and learn what it says’. That probably means that the shortest possible complete sentence is something like ’Go!’

A sentence ought to express a thought that can stand by itself, but you will occasionally find examples of groups of words that are punctuated like sentences (capital letter at the beginning, full stop at the end) but which cannot stand by themselves. These are sentence fragments (see below), which are normally incorrect (but see below for one exception to this rule, the ’stylistic fragment’).

Because of difficulties like these in defining a sentence, some people resort to defining it simply by its punctuation:

’A sentence begins with a capital letter and ends with a full stop.’

This is fine until you come to teach children how to punctuate, when usually the first thing they are taught is to use a capital letter at the beginning of a sentence and a full stop at the end! Circular definitions such as this are not much use in trying to understand grammatical principles.

Problems with sentences

There are two main problems in sentence formation that children (and adults too for that matter) often show. The first we will refer to as a sentence fragment and the second as a run-on sentence.

A sentence fragment fails to be a sentence because it cannot stand by itself. It does not contain even one independent clause. There are several reasons why a group of words may seem to act like a sentence but do not meet the criteria for being a complete sentence.

✵ It may locate something in time and place with a prepositional phrase or a series of such phrases, but it still lacks a proper subject—verb relationship within an independent clause:

In Germany, during the last war and just before the final ceasefire.

This sentence accomplishes a great deal in terms of placing the reader in time and place, but there is neither a subject nor a verb.

✵ It describes something, but contains no subject—verb relationship:

Working far into the night in an effort to learn the material for her examination.

This is a verbal phrase that wants to modify something, that is, the real subject of the sentence. In this case we can assume the subject is the ’she’ who was working so hard but the sentence fragment does not tell us.

✵ It may have most of the makings of a sentence but still be missing an important part of a verb string:

Some of the footballers playing in the England team last year.

Remember that an ing verb form without an auxiliary form to accompany it can never be a verb. This fragment could be made into a sentence just by adding an auxiliary, such as were, before the participle playing.

✵ It may even have a subject—verb relationship, but it has been subordinated to another idea by a dependent word or phrase and so cannot stand by itself:

Even though he was the better player.

This sentence fragment has a subject, he, and a verb, was, but it cannot stand by itself because of the dependent phrase even though. We need an independent clause to follow up this dependent clause:

Even though he was the better player, he lost the game because he failed to use his opportunities.

Sometimes sentence fragments can be used for a particular stylistic purpose and might be called ’stylistic fragments’. Look at the following example from a child’s diary:

I like being at camp, apart from the sausages. We have sausages for breakfast and sometimes for tea as well. When I get home I’m going to have a really big plate of chips for my lunch. With no sausages!

The final three words clearly make sense here and the way they are written adds a stylistic punch to the piece. However, they do not meet the normal definition of a sentence in that they could not make sense alone.

As long as the writer is in control of this, it is allowed, but in general sentence fragments are not used for deliberate effect like this, but through error.

A run-on sentence has at least two parts, either one of which can stand by itself (in other words, two independent clauses), but the two parts have been run together instead of being properly joined with a connective.

You should not find this material difficult, it should be just common sense.

This could be rewritten correctly in three ways;

✵ By making it into two separate sentences:

You should not find this material difficult. It should be just common sense.

✵ By using a semicolon in place of the comma:

You should not find this material difficult; it should be just common sense.

✵ By inserting a linking connective between the two clauses:

You should not find this material difficult because it should be just common sense.

It is important to realise that the length of a sentence has nothing to do with whether a sentence is a run-on or not; being a run-on is a structural flaw that can affect even a very short sentence.

The sun is hot, put on some sun block.

An extremely long sentence, on the other hand, might be unwieldy, but it can be structurally sound.

Knowing better than anyone else how the previous government had ignored the needs of teacher training students and created a crisis characterised by a demoralised trainee group that were panicking at the thought of what was expected of them and realising that someone had to do something about the situation or the country would suffer even more from a shortage of teachers, the Secretary of State for Education began to lay plans for education legislation that took into consideration the needs of the country’s schools and the students who would teach in them.

When two independent clauses are connected by only a comma, they make a run-on sentence that is referred to as a comma-splice. The example above (about the sun block) is a comma-splice. When you use a comma to connect two independent clauses, it must be accompanied by a conjunction (and, but, for, nor, yet, or, so).

The sun is hot, so put on some sun block.

Run-on sentences typically happen in the following circumstances:

✵ When an independent clause gives a direction based on what was said in the preceding independent clause:

This next chapter has a lot of difficult information in it, you had better start studying it straight away.

We could put a full stop in place of the comma and start a new sentence. We could also replace the comma by a semicolon.

✵ When two independent clauses are connected by a connective such as however, moreover, nevertheless.

I have spent hours reading this chapter, however, I am still not sure I fully understand it.

Again, in place of the first comma, we could use either a full stop (and start a new sentence) or a semicolon.

✵ When the second of two independent clauses contains a pronoun that connects it to the first independent clause.

This chapter does not make any sense to me, it seems rather difficult.

Although these two clauses are quite brief, and the ideas are closely related, this is a run-on sentence. We need a full stop in place of the comma.

PRACTICAL TASK

In each of the following groups of sentences, only one is written correctly. Identify the correct sentence in each case. You should also give reasons for rejecting the remaining sentences.

Group 1

(a) The committee makes a decision on the matter, then the Director either accepts or rejects the decision.

(b) The committee makes a decision on the matter then the Director either accepts or rejects the decision.

(c) First the committee makes a decision on the matter, then the Director either accepts or rejects the decision.

(d) The committee makes a decision on the matter, and then the Director either accepts or rejects the decision.

Group 2

(a) Police began to comb the area for the missing child in an intensive search, they knew that in cases of missing children, they had to act as quickly as possible.

(b) Police began to comb the area for the missing child in an intensive search; they knew that in cases of missing children, they had to act as quickly as possible.

(c) Police began to comb the area for the missing child in an intensive search, they knew that in cases of missing children; they had to act as quickly as possible.

(d) Police began to comb the area for the missing child in an intensive search, they knew that in cases of missing children. They had to act as quickly as possible.

Group 3

(a) Thinking that the sale of tickets began at 8.00 a.m., many people spent the night outside the ticket office they were quite upset when they learned that the tickets would not go on sale until 1.00 p.m.

(b) Thinking that the sale of tickets began at 8.00 a.m. Many people spent the night outside the ticket office they were quite upset when they learned that the tickets would not go on sale until 1.00 p.m.

(c) Thinking that the sale of tickets began at 8.00 a.m., many people spent the night outside the ticket office, so they were quite upset when they learned that the tickets would not go on sale until 1.00 p.m.

(d) Thinking that the sale of tickets began at 8.00 a.m., many people spent the night outside the ticket office they were quite upset when they learned; that the tickets would not go on sale until 1.00 p.m.

Group 4

(a) Because people disagreed with many of the prime minister’s policies on tax, especially on small businesses, and many of them were dissatisfied with the prime minister’s performance in general, he knew his chances of re-election were quite slim, so he launched an aggressive campaign of false promises and mud-slinging that the voters, no doubt, saw right through.

(b) Because people disagreed with many of the prime minister’s policies on tax, especially on small businesses, and many of them were dissatisfied with the prime minister’s performance in general. He knew his chances of re-election were quite slim, so he launched an aggressive campaign of false promises and mud-slinging that the voters, no doubt, saw right through.

(c) Because people disagreed with many of the prime minister’s policies on tax, especially on small businesses, and many of them were dissatisfied with the prime minister’s performance in general, he knew his chances of re-election were quite slim, so he launched an aggressive campaign of false promises and mud-slinging. That the voters, no doubt, saw right through.

(d) Because, people disagreed with many of the prime minister’s policies on tax, especially on small businesses, and many of them were dissatisfied with the prime minister’s performance in general, he knew his chances of re-election were quite slim, so he launched an aggressive campaign of false promises and mud-slinging that the voters, no doubt, saw right through.

Group 5

(a) After travelling through Europe, Mark plans to finish his studies at the university his parents are not too happy about his travelling before he finishes college, but Mark is determined to take his trip now.

(b) After travelling through Europe, Mark plans to finish his studies at the university. His parents are not too happy about his travelling before he finishes college, but Mark is determined to take his trip now.

(c) After travelling through Europe, Mark plans to finish his studies at the university, his parents are not too happy about his travelling before he finishes college, but Mark is determined to take his trip now.

(c) After travelling through Europe, Mark plans to finish his studies at the university his parents are not too happy about his travelling before he finishes college. But Mark is determined to take his trip now.

What kinds of sentences are there?

Sentences have a number of purposes, which influence their structures.

Statements

At a basic level, sentences offer statements.

The cat sat on the mat.

The man with the starting pistol fired it to begin the race.

Students who work carefully through the material in this chapter should develop an extensive understanding of sentence structures.

Notice how these sentences, although each containing a statement at their heart, vary according to the complexity with which they convey this statement. Sentence complexity is an important issue, which we will discuss below. Sentences that make statements are often referred to as ’declarative’ sentences.

Questions

In addition to statements, sentences can be used to express questions. Each of the statements above could be reworked to ask several questions, depending on what the questioner wished to know.

Did the cat sit on the mat?

Where did the cat sit? What did the cat do on the mat?

Who fired the starting pistol?

What did the man fire?

Why did the man fire the starting pistol?

What do students need to do to develop an extensive understanding of sentence structures?

How should students work through the material in this chapter?

What will students develop if they work through this material?

Perhaps the two most important things to learn about the ways in which these questions are structured are the importance of question words such as what, how and why, and the use of auxiliary verbs in transforming statements into questions.

It would not, of course, be true to say that all questions begin with one of the question words: what, when, who, where, why and how. Many do, however, and an understanding of how sentence structure changes following one of these words is important in helping learners of English to avoid errors such as, ’Why the cat sat on the mat?’, ’Where sat the cat?’ Crucial to this structural change is the auxiliary verb. Both of these sentences need the auxiliary ’did’, which then changes the form of the main verb from ’sat’ to ’sit’.

The most common auxiliary verbs are ’be’, ’do’ and ’have’ and these are used in conjunction with main verbs to express shades of time and mood. The combination of auxiliary verbs with main verbs creates what are called verb phrases. In the following sentence, ’will have been’ are auxiliary verbs and ’studying’ is the main verb; the whole verb phrase is underlined:

As of next August, I will have been studying English for ten years.

English is unlike many other languages in that it cannot form questions without the use of auxiliary verbs. In French, for example, the simple statement:

Il veut le faire. (He wants to do it.)

can be transformed into a question by simply reversing the subject and verb:

Veut-il le faire?

In English this could only be accomplished by adding an auxiliary verb:

Does he want to do it?

One form of question, which very commonly occurs in non-standard varieties of English, is the tag question. Here the sentence is declarative until the very end when it is transformed into a question by the addition of a tag such as ’isn’t it?’, ’does she?’

She ate all her breakfast, didn’t she?

We don’t want to miss the start, do we?

The use of contractions (isn’t, didn’t) in tag questions is normal, indicating their more conversational use. Sometimes the tag is fully spelt out.

You left the party early, did you not?

There were several reasons for what you did, were there not?

This suggests a much greater formality, such as would be found in, for example, legalistic contexts.

Commands

Sentences can also be used to give commands, in the course of which they enter what is known as the imperative mood:

Sit down.

Don’t do that.

Come over here this minute.

These are all examples of command sentences and you should notice that in these sentences the verbs have all lost their personal pronouns. This is normal in commands, although it is possible in some varieties of English to produce sentences such as:

You sit down. Don’t you do that.

You come over here this minute.

Obviously, it is impossible to command someone to do something in the past, so the imperative mood refers to actions in the present or immediate future.

Exclamations

A fourth purpose for sentences is to express an emotion. The term ’exclamation’ refers to any expression used to communicate a strong attitude towards some individual, situation or event. This type of sentence is usually indicated by the use of the exclamation mark at the end and often this mark is the only way of distinguishing an exclamation from a statement.

Many exclamations, however, do not consist of fully formed sentences, and usually lack a main verb. They are a special kind of sentence fragment known as ’interjections’:

For goodness sake!

Good gracious!

Oh no!

and many others that cannot be printed here!

Because they do not conform to the requirements of full sentences, sentence fragments such as these can be referred to as ’minor sentences’.

Simple and complex sentences

Sentences also vary in their levels of complexity, with four main types being apparent, depending on the number and type of clauses they contain.

✵ Simple sentences contain one independent clause.

We drove from London to Edinburgh in six hours.

✵ Compound sentences contain more than one independent clause, joined by a connecting word or phrase known as a conjunction.

We were exhausted, but we arrived in time for my mother’s birthday party.

✵ Complex sentences contain one independent clause and at least one dependent clause.

Although he is now 79 years old, he still claims to be 65.

✵ Compound-complex sentences contain more than one independent clause and at least one dependent clause.

After it was all over, my dad claimed he knew we were planning something, but we think he was really surprised.

The component parts of a sentence

To understand the ways in which such variations in complexity are achieved, we need to understand the building blocks of the English sentence, clauses and phrases.

REFLECTIVE TASK

Read the following sentence:

The scruffy boy with the torn jumper was throwing stones into the river and laughing with glee as they sent splashes into the air.

What would you say is the subject of this sentence?

How many clauses does the sentence contain?

How many phrases can you spot?

Subjects, objects and predicates

Every complete sentence contains two parts: a subject and a predicate. The subject is what (or whom) the sentence is about, while the predicate tells something about the subject. In the following sentences, the predicate is enclosed in braces ({ }), while the subject is underlined.

Joanne {runs}.

Joanne and her dog {run on the beach every morning}.

To determine the subject of a sentence, first isolate the verb and then make a question by placing ’who?’ or ’what?’ before it. The answer is the subject.

The crowd littered the terraces with empty paper cups and discarded newspapers.

The verb in the above sentence is littered. Who or what littered? The crowd did. The crowd is therefore the subject of the sentence. The predicate (which always includes the verb) goes on to relate something about the subject. What about the crowd? It littered the terraces with empty paper cups and discarded newspapers — this is therefore the predicate.

Imperative sentences (sentences that give a command or an order) differ from conventional sentences in that their subject, which is always ’you’, is understood rather than expressed.

Stand on your head. (’You’ is understood before stand.)

Every subject is built around one noun or pronoun (or more) that, when stripped of all the words that modify it, is known as the simple subject. Look at the following example:

A piece of pepperoni pizza would satisfy his hunger.

The subject is built around the noun piece, with the other words of the subject (a and of pepperoni pizza) modifying the noun. Piece is the simple subject.

Likewise, a predicate has at its centre a simple predicate, which is always the verb or verbs that link up with the subject. In the example above, the simple predicate is would satisfy.

A sentence may have a compound subject — a simple subject consisting of more than one noun or pronoun, as in these examples where the subjects are underlined:

Football scarves, rock posters and family photographs covered the boy’s bedroom walls.

My uncle and I walked slowly through the art gallery and admired the paintings which were hanging there.

The second sentence above also features a compound predicate, a predicate that includes more than one verb pertaining to the same subject (in this case, walked and admired).

As well as its central verb, the predicate may also contain an object that completes the verb’s meaning. Two kinds of objects follow verbs: direct objects and indirect objects. To determine if a verb has a direct object, isolate the verb and make it into a question by placing ’whom?’ or ’what?’ after it. The answer, if there is one, is the direct object. Look at the examples:

The footballer kicked the ball into the net.

The verb here is kicked so the question becomes, ’what did he kick?’ The answer the ball is the object.

John’s teacher gave him an excellent mark in the test.

The verb here is gave so the question becomes, ’what did he give?’ The answer an excellent mark is the object.

This sentence also contains an indirect object. An indirect object (which, like a direct object, is always a noun or pronoun) is, in a sense, the recipient of the direct object. To determine if a verb has an indirect object, isolate the verb and ask ’to whom?’, ’to what?’, ’for whom?’, or ’for what?’ after it. The answer is the indirect object. In the sentence above, therefore, the answer to the question, ’To whom did the teacher give the excellent mark?’ is him, i.e. John, who is the indirect object.

Not all verbs are followed by objects. Look at the verbs in the following sentences:

The speaker rose from her chair to protest.

After work, Winston usually jogs around the canal.

There is no answer to the questions, ’What did she rise?’ and ’What did he jog?’ These verbs do not have objects. Verbs that take objects are known as transitive verbs. Verbs not followed by objects are called intransitive verbs.

In addition to the transitive verb and the intransitive verb, there is a third kind of verb called a linking verb. The word (or phrase) that follows a linking verb is called not an object, but a subject complement. The most common linking verb is ’be’. Other linking verbs are ’become’, ’seem’, ’appear’, ’feel’, ’grow’, ’look’, and ’smell’, among others. Note that some of these are sometimes linking verbs, sometimes transitive verbs, or sometimes intransitive verbs, depending on how you use them. The subject complements are underlined in the following sentences:

He was a radiologist before he became a full-time yoga instructor.

Your home-made apple pie smells delicious.

Note that a subject complement can be either a noun (radiologist, instructor) or an adjective (delicious).

An object complement is similar to a subject complement, except that (obviously) it modifies an object rather than a subject. Consider this example of a subject complement:

The driver seems tired.

In this case, as explained above, the adjective tired modifies the noun driver, which is the subject of the sentence. Sometimes, however, the noun will be the object, as in the following example:

I consider the driver tired.

In this case, the noun driver is the direct object of the verb consider, but the adjective tired is still acting as its complement.

In general, verbs that have to do with perceiving, judging or changing something can cause their direct objects to take an object complement. In the following examples the object complements are underlined:

Paint it black.

The judge ruled her out of order.

I saw the Prime Minister sleeping.

In every case, you could reconstruct the last part of the sentence into a sentence of its own using a subject complement:

It is black.

She is out of order.

The Prime Minister is sleeping.

PRACTICAL TASK

In the following sentences, identify the subjects and predicates and say whether the main verb is transitive or intransitive.

The boy quickly jumped over the barbed wire fence.

I thought there would be something to pay.

The teacher finally finished his marking at 11.30 that night.

The day you realise that new clothes cost money will be the day you start dressing sensibly.

By accident, the girl broke three pieces of pottery while she was in the antique shop.

The clause

A clause is a group of related words containing a subject and a verb. A clause can be usefully distinguished from a phrase, which is a group of related words that does not contain a subject—verb relationship, such as ’in the morning’ or ’running down the street’ or ’having grown used to the noise’. Sometimes a phrase will contain a verb form and a noun:

He wrote a letter suggesting that the teacher was to blame.

The underlined phrase still contains no subject—verb relationship, so does not qualify as a clause.

Clauses can be categorised into independent and dependent clauses. This simply means that some clauses can stand by themselves, as separate sentences, and some cannot. Another term for dependent clause is subordinate clause: this means that the clause is subordinate to another element (the independent clause) and depends on that other element for its meaning.

Independent clauses could stand by themselves as discrete sentences. The ability to recognise a clause, and to know when a clause is capable of acting as an independent unit, is essential to good writing and is especially helpful in avoiding sentence fragments and run-on sentences.

It is important to understand how to combine independent clauses into larger units of thought. Look at the following sentence, for example:

Jill didn’t mean to do it, but she did it anyway.

This is made up of two independent clauses: ’Jill didn’t mean to do it’ and ’she did it anyway’. These are connected by a comma and a co-ordinating conjunction (’but’). If the word ’but’ was missing from this sentence, the sentence would be called a comma-splice: two independent clauses would be incorrectly connected with only a comma between them.

Clauses can be combined in three different ways: co-ordination, subordination, and by means of a semicolon.

Co-ordination involves joining independent clauses with a co-ordinating conjunction such as ’and’, ’but’, ’or’, ’nor’, ’for’ and ’yet’. Clauses connected like this are usually well balanced both in length and importance.

James arranged to join the local youth club, but he forgot to tell his parents about this.

Subordination involves turning one of the clauses into a subordinate element (one that cannot stand on its own) through the use of a subordinating conjunction (’although’, ’because’, etc.) or a relative pronoun (’which’, ’who’, ’that’, etc.). When the clause begins with a subordinating word, it is no longer an independent clause; it is called a dependent or subordinate clause because it depends on something else (the independent clause) for its meaning.

Although James arranged to join the local youth club, he forgot to tell his parents about this.

James did not tell his parents about joining the youth club, because he was afraid they might stop him.

Semicolons can connect two independent clauses, although this is less common in modern English.

James has an outgoing personality; many of his friends think he would be an excellent member of the youth club.

Dependent clauses cannot stand by themselves and make good sense. They must be combined with an independent clause so that they become part of a sentence that can stand by itself. Dependent clauses can perform a number of functions within a sentence. They can act either in the capacity of some kind of noun or as some kind of modifier. There are three basic kinds of dependent clauses, categorised according to their function in the sentence.

✵ Adverbial clauses provide further information about what is going on in the main (independent) clause: where, when, or why. (The dependent clauses in the following sentences are underlined.)

When the film is over, we’ll go for a meal.

We wanted to write this book because we think it will be useful to teachers.

Notice that these adverbial clauses might come before or after the main clause. When they come before the main clause, they are known as ’fronted adverbials’, that is, they ’front’ the sentence. We will discuss this phenomenon in more detail in the next chapter but, for now, it would be worth considering whether the meaning is changed at all by the order in which the adverbial and the main clause come in the sentence. So, if both orders are possible, does the order chosen make a difference? Look at the following two sentences:

Unless you study carefully, you will never learn this material.

You will never learn this material unless you study carefully.

You will probably agree that the difference between these two meanings is very subtle, if there is one at all. As we will see in the next chapter, however, fronted adverbials can sometimes have a more dramatic effect on meaning than this.

✵ Adjectival clauses work like multi-word adjectives.

My brother, who is a teacher, told me about this book.

The examination that I took last summer was dreadfully difficult.

✵ Noun clauses can do anything that nouns can do.

What he does with his life is no concern of mine. [The noun clause here is the subject of the sentence.]

Do you understand what he is talking about? [Here the noun clause is the object of the verb.]

Dependent clauses can also be classified as restrictive and non-restrictive. A non-restrictive clause is not essential to the meaning of the sentence; it can be removed from the sentence without changing its basic meaning. Non-restrictive clauses are usually set apart from the rest of the sentence by a comma or a pair of commas (if they are in the middle of a sentence).

The teacher, who used to be a secretary, could type very competently.

Notice the difference in meaning that is caused when a clause is changed to a restrictive clause, a change that is signalled purely by punctuation.

The students, who were penniless, could not afford to buy books.

The students who were penniless could not afford to buy books.

In the first sentence of this pair, the non-restrictive clause ’who were penniless’ clearly applies to all of the students referred to in this sentence. Its omission from the sentence would result in less information but would not significantly change the meaning.

In the second sentence, however, ’who were penniless’ acts as a limiting modifier of the students; it only applies to some of them and it is this subset who are the subject of the sentence. This restrictive clause could not be omitted from the sentence without severe disruption to the meaning.

Relative clauses are dependent clauses that are introduced by a relative pronoun (that, which, whichever, who, whoever, whom, whose, etc.). Relative clauses can be either restrictive or non-restrictive.

Phrases

A phrase is a group of related words that does not include a subject and verb. There are several different kinds of phrases. Basically, any of what were traditionally called ’parts of speech’ (nouns, verbs, adjectives, etc.) can consist of single words or groups of words. These groups are phrases and they take their type from their grammatical function in a sentence. (In the following sentences, the phrases being described are underlined.)

✵ A noun phrase comprises a noun and any associated modifying words.

The long and winding road leads to your door.

Children sometimes make fun of people with glasses.

✵ A prepositional phrase consists of a preposition, a noun or pronoun that serves as the object of the preposition, and, sometimes, an adjective that modifies the object.

The boy jubilantly kicked the ball into the gaping net.

He clearly heard his mother’s cheers from across the vast field.

Prepositional phrases usually tell when or where, for example ’in forty minutes’, ’in the sun’ and ’against the side’; that is, they are adverbial or adjectival.

✵ An adjectival phrase consists of a group of words that do the job of an adjective in modifying a noun.

The children were afraid of the teacher with the loud laugh.

Students with long memories will remember their first reading books.

✵ An adverbial phrase consists of a group of words that modify a verb. They usually provide answers to questions such as when, where, how, why and for how long.

The game was played in one half of the pitch.

The politician resigned his seat for personal reasons.

A SUMMARY OF KEY POINTS

A sentence is a group of words containing a subject and a predicate.

A sentence has a capital letter at the start and a full stop at the end; usually, it will express a thought that can stand by itself.

There are two common ways in which this structure is misused: the use of sentence fragments and of run-on sentences.

Sentences can have different purposes, including statements, questions, commands and exclamations, and can vary in length and complexity.

Sentences are made up of different components, such as a subject, an object and a predicate.

Clauses are groups of related words containing a subject and a verb. They can be independent (i.e. they could stand by themselves as discrete sentences) or dependent (i.e. they cannot make sense by themselves).

Phrases are groups of related words that do not include a subject and a verb.

M-LEVEL EXTENSION

A useful way of checking your understanding of the construction of sentences in English is to play the expanding sentence game (you can try this with children too).

Begin by thinking of a simple sentence.

The cat sat on the mat.

Change the articles in this sentence.

A cat sat on a mat.

Change common nouns to proper nouns

Tibbles sat on the Isfahan.

Change the nouns and the verb

The feline squatted on the rug.

Add adjectives to the nouns

The dirty, flea-ridden cat sat on the pristine, silk mat.

Add adverbs

The cat sat prissily and disdainfully on the mat.

Add adjective phrases

The cat with the squint sat on the mat in the corner.

Add an adverb phrase

The cat sat with undue caution on the mat.

Add relative clauses

The cat, who really wanted his dinner, sat on the mat, which he then proceeded to chew.

Make a compound sentence

The cat sat on the mat and began to growl menacingly.

Make a complex sentence

The rather aloof cat, having recovered from the earlier blow to its delicate ego, sat gingerly on the very soft mat, against which it purred in a whining manner.

Combine any of these changes

Mistress Cholmondely, the very superior Persian who was gracing us with her presence while her real owners were abroad, delicately perched her silken rear on the rather worn rag rug my grandmother had left us as a doormat and I have to admit I was struck by the incongruity of this act.

When using the expanding sentence game with children, consider which year groups you feel would be appropriate for each expansion type.

FURTHER READING

Chalker, S. and Weiner, E. (1998) The Oxford Dictionary of English Grammar. Oxford: Oxford University Press. A comprehensive resource for queries about grammar.

DfE (2013) Teachers’ Standards. London: DfE. (www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/208682/Teachers__Standards_2013.pdf)

Hughes, A. (2011) Online English Grammar. (www.edufind.com/english/grammar). An excellent online resource.

Newby, M. (1987) The Structure of English: A Handbook of English Grammar. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Well-written and engaging account of English grammar.

University College London (2011) The Internet Grammar of English. (www.ucl.ac.uk/internet-grammar/home.htm). An excellent online resource.