The Structure of Sentence in the English Language in Linguistic System
Back to: Pedagogy of English- Unit 4
Sentence structure refers to a sentence’s physical nature and how the elements of that particular sentence are presented. Similar to word choice, writers must seek to have a variation in their sentence structure if they want to create rhythmic prose and keep their readers invested in the written material. Sentences that need a variation often repeat subjects, lengths, or types. It refers to the grammatical arrangement of sentences. The structure of a sentence in your writing includes where the noun and verb fall within an individual sentence.
According to Ralica Rangelova,
“It explains how words and phrases are arranged to form correct sentences. A sentence could make no sense and still be correct from the syntax point of view as long as words are in their appropriate spots and agree with each other.”
Having a good understanding of the sentence structure enables one to produce and form grammatically correct sentences.
The basic sentence structure of English is Subject-Verb-Object. For example, the girl read a book.
- Girl – Subject
- Read – Verb
- Book – Object
To add more detail, the subject can further be combined with descriptive phrases or adjectives. For example, The pretty girl read a book where pretty is the added adjective.
The structure of sentences can be organized into four groups: simple, compound, complex, and compound-complex sentences.
Simple Sentences
These sentences have an Independent clause and convey only one main idea. For example, We received a gift.
Compound Sentences
These sentences consist of two or more simple sentences which are joined together to express more than two main ideas at once. For example, John painted the table green and blue, and Tina moved the chairs from the car to the rooms.
Complex & Compound-Complex
These sentences contain an independent clause and a dependent clause. For example, Even though I was furious with him, I opened the door.
The number of main ideas or complete thoughts they contain is what categorizes each sentence.
- Independent Clause: A complete thought is also known as an independent clause which refers to a sentence that has at least one subject and a verb that can exist on its own and conveys a clear message.
- Dependent Clause: If a sentence sounds unclear or incomplete, it’s a dependent clause because it has a subject and a verb but does not convey a complete meaning. Hence, it needs to be combined with an independent clause to create a clear and meaningful sentence.
According to Vocabulary.com, “Sentence structure depends on the language in which you’re writing or speaking. It’s common in English for a simple sentence to look like this: “She throws the ball.” In this case, the sentence structure is “Subject, verb, object.” There are many ways to make the sentence structure much more complicated while still providing a framework for the information you’re conveying and being grammatically correct.”
