Source

Introduction

Greetings and welcome to my blog! Are you ready to learn? Lets go.

As stated in last lesson, this content is designed to help steemians who in one way or the other have challenges in grammar, effective use of English and communication skills, spellings and vocabularies. Reading this with undivided attention will be of great benefit to us all.
It will help us improve our writing and communication skills as bloggers.

Meaning of sentence.

A primary definition of sentence is simply that it is a group of words containing a subject and a predicate that expresses a complete thought.

Examples:

Subject	Predicate
Atim	stole my notebook
The man	killed the rat
I	have a biro pen
The tall man	is our teacher
A girl	made a first class

Sentences as shown above have a subject which normally is a noun or pronoun and sometimes modified by other words; and predicate which carries the verb, object and complement.

A sentence is divided into two major groups:

(1.) Sentence types according to function:
There are four types in this category.

(i) Declarative Sentence: Some authors called it assertive sentences.
They exist to make ordinary statements or deny same.

Examples:

• Jesus is Lord
• Today's youth are creative
• The earth is not flat

(ii) Interrogative Sentences: This sentence type ask question. The question may be the wh type or polar type. Polar questions answer yes/no.

Examples:

• Where are you now? (wh-)
• What business is she doing? (wh-)
• Is it true? (polar)
• Did you steal the book? (polar)

(ii) Imperative Sentences: This sentence gives command. It may be mild/polite or hash/impolite. It may also direct or make a request.

Examples of hash sentences

• Get out
• Shut up
• Keep away

Examples of polite sentences

• Please sit down
• Can you please see me in my office

(iv) Exclamatory Sentences: This means a sentence with emphasis. It usually ends with an exclamatory mark (!)

Examples:

• Wa O! Such a damsel
• Horrible experience!
• What a nuisance!

(2.) Structural Sentences
(i) Simple Sentence: A Simple Sentence conveys only one independent clause. It is so called because no complexities are involved.

Examples:

• Jesus wept.
• This lecturer is too strict.
• The girl has good shoes.
• Keep medicine out of children's reach.

Coordinated thoughts expressed in three or more independent clauses

Examples:

• Susan cuts the grass//raked the grass//and//swept in.
• Kenny sold his house,//bought a flight ticket//and//traveled to America
• I came,//I saw//and//I conquered.

Linguistics elements of the sentence

Traditionally, the major components of the sentence are:
(1) Subject
(2) Predicate
(3) Complement
(4) Adjunct/Adverbial
(5) Object

(1) The Subject: This is usually a noun or pronoun. Normally, it begins the sentence. Oftentimes, the subject may comprise of more than one noun head. The subject may be expanded with the help of articles, determiners, and adjectives See lesson 5

Consider these examples:

• Men are busy beings.
• A boy stands at the door.

(2) Predicate: The predicate embodies other parts of speech. But we shall only take the verb. Verb denotes action. It tells the action of the subject. e.g,

• The tall boy came yesterday
• The artist arrives, Uyo
  In the examples above, the words "came" and "arrives" are verbs. See Lesson two for details

(3) Complement: Simply completes the meaning of the sentence. It can be a noun or pronoun. It normally takes a linking verb.

Examples

• Balogun is a fraudster
• Emmanuel became Governor
• Buhari was elected President.

(4) Adjunct/Adverbial: It tells the time or manner of an action.

For example:

• Immediately the teacher left the class, she stood up.
• He spoke angrily
• The time to repent is now

(5) Object: It is that part of a sentence that suffers the action of the subject. It may be direct or indirect.

Examples

• Gina bought him a gift ( him is an indirect object while gift is direct object)
• Mary gives some oranges to Paul. (some oranges are direct objects while Paul is an indirect object)
• He killed the snake (Snake is a direct object).

Conclusion

That is the end of the lesson presented in this article. I believe you have learned something in this lesson as usual. Please drop your questions and suggestions at the comment section. I will be glad to hear from you and don't forget to read lessons 1, 2, 3, 4 , 5, 6 and 7 below.

• Effective Communication and Language Skills: Lesson 1 (Word Class)

• Effective Communication and Language Skills: Lesson 2 (Verbs)

• Effective Communication and Language Skills: Lesson 3 (Adjectives)

• Effective Communication and Language Skills: (Adverbs)

• Effective Communication and Language Skills:(prepositions, Pronouns, Conjunctions,
  articles and determiners)

• Effective Communication and Language Skills (Vocabularies development part one)

• Effective Communication and Language Skills(Vocabularies developmentpart two