It's a fact: To be proficient in speaking and writing, you should master and practice grammar and word usage whether you are in the intermediate grades, in high school or in college. With a well-rounded knowledge of writing concepts and processes, you'll be able to give facts and express your opinion with clarity, variety, and style.

You must be proficient in writing a sentence: combining a subject and a verb to express a complete thought. Moreover, you should be able to combine two sentences into one by using the so-called coordination conjunctions, such as and, or, either...or, and others.

This chapter discusses sentence structure.

I. The Sentence Structure

This section discusses a group of words, a single word, the kinds of sentences, the parts of a sentence, the main sentence forms, the types of sentences, and the paragraphs.

A. A Group of Words. A sentence is a group of words consisting of a subject and a verb and expressing a complete thought.
Examples:

* The world is round. (World is the subject and is is the verb.)
* John went to school. (John is the subject and went is the verb.)

Sometimes, a single word or verb can also be a sentence if it expresses a complete thought. This is usually done by professional writers. Example: Concentrate. (It is understood that a you precedes concentrate.)

B. The Kinds of Sentences. The four kinds of sentences are declarative, interrogative, imperative, and exclamatory .

1. Declarative Sentence. A telling statement, a declarative sentence ends with a period.
Example: Gorbachev has a map on his head.

2. Interrogative Sentence. Asking a question, an interrogative sentence ends with a question mark.
Example: In what part of Israel did the Scud land?

3. Imperative Sentence. A statement giving a command or making a request, an imperative sentence ends with a period.
Example: You go to school today.

4. Exclamatory Sentence. Telling excitement or surprise, an exclamatory sentence ends with an exclamation mark.
Example: The marathoners are coming!

The Marathoners Are Coming!

C. The Parts of a Sentence. A sentence consists of a subject and a verb. The subject, usually placed before the verb, is the person or thing spoken or written about which may answer the question Who? or What? The verb, which may consist of a word or a group of words, shows the subject's action or state of being. However, the part of the sentence that tells something about the subject, which may include an action verb or a linking verb, is commonly called a predicate.
Examples:
* The wind is cold. (Wind is the subject that answers the question of what? and is is the verb. The word group is cold is called the predicate.
* The player hits the ball. (Player is the subject and hits is the verb. The word group hits the ball is called the predicate.)

D. The Main Sentence Forms. The main sentence forms are (1) the word, the major sentence structure which serves as a part of speech; (2) the phrase, which represents a group of words; and (3) the clause , which also represents a group of words. We will discuss the phrase and the clause.

1. Phrases. Not containing a subject-verb combination, a phrase is a group of two or more words serving as a part of the sentence. The main types of phrases are:

a. Verb phrase
b. Gerund phrase
c. Participial phrase
d. Prepositional phrase
e. Infinitive phrase

Example of a phrase: The athlete is running. (Here, is running is the phrase.)

(Note: For definitions and examples of the above phrases, see Chapter 20.)

2. Clauses. A clause is a group of two or more words containing a subject-verb combination, usually forming part of a compound or complex sentence The main types of clauses follow:
a. Independent Clause . An independent clause is a group of two or more words that expresses a complete thought.
Example: Johnny rides the bicycle, and his sister plays the piano .
b. Dependent Clause. A dependent clause is a group of two or more words that expresses an incomplete thought.
Example: After she finished the job, she left to see a movie.
The bold-type group of words comprises the dependent clause.

E. Types of Sentences. The independent and dependent clauses combine to form various types of sentences, such as simple, compound, complex, and compound-complex sentences. 1. Simple Sentence. A simple sentence, which has an independent clause, makes a single statement. It has a subject-verb combination.
Example: * Charles flies a kite.

2. Compound Sentence. A compound sentence is a sentence containing two or more independent coordinate clauses. Examples:

* He drives the station wagon, but he prefers the Mustang.
* Linda works during the day, and her husband goes to school at night.

3. Complex Sentence. A complex sentence is a sentence composed of one or more dependent clauses.
Example: * He waters his grandparents' plants whenever he goes to their house .

The bold-type group of words comprises a dependent clause.

4. Compound-Complex Sentence. Having two or more independent clauses serving as modifiers, the compound-complex sentence has two or more subject-verb combinations. It has also one or more different clauses serving as modifiers.

F. The Paragraphs . A paragraph is a group of sentences with a single thought. It has a topic sentence that expresses the main idea.

II. The Parts of Speech

Grammar is the science of studying and analyzing the functions of words in a sentence. These sentence functions are generally known as the parts of speech, which are noun, pronoun, verb, adjective, adverb, preposition, conjunction, and interjection.

A. Nouns. A noun names or identifies a person, a place, a thing, an idea, a quality, etc., (man, book, bomb).
1. Proper Noun. A proper noun is the name of a person or a thing (Schwarzkopf, Cuba, Buick). It is always capitalized whether at the beginning or in any other parts of a sentence.
2 Common Noun. A common noun is any one of a class of persons, places, or things (soldier, desert, jet). Unless placed at the beginning of a sentence, a common noun does not begin with a capital letter.
3. Collective Noun. A collective noun is the name of a group of persons or things (squad, division, branch).

B. Pronouns. A pronoun is any one of the class of signal words that assumes the place of a noun.
Examples:
My (mine), your (yours), his (his), her (hers), its (its), our (ours), and their (theirs).
Myself, yourself, himself, herself, itself, ourselves, yourselves, and themselves.
When, whom, whose, that, and which.

C. Verbs. A verb expresses action, occurrence, or state of being (is/was, are/were, goes/went, play/played).

D. Adjectives. An adjective is a modifier that describes a noun or a pronoun (big, wide, beautiful).

E. Adverbs. An adverb is a modifier that describes a verb, another adverb, an adjective, a phrase, or a clause (when, then, slowly).

F. Propositions. A preposition is a relation or function word that connects a noun or a pronoun to another element of the sentence (in, to, of, for).

G. Conjunctions. A conjunction is a word or a group of words that connects words, phrases, clauses, or sentences (and, or, but, either...or, not only...but also).

H. Interjections. An interjection is an exclamatory word inserted into an utterance (Wow! What a beautiful dress!)

III. The Verbs

A. Kinds of Verbs. The two major kinds of verbs are the regular verbs and the irregular verbs. Regular verbs are those verbs whose past tense can be formed by adding ed (talk/talked). Irregular verbs cannot add ed to past tense (speak/spoke ).

1. Regular Verbs

Examples of regular verbs

Infinitive
to launch
to advance

Present
launches
advances

Past
launched
advanced

Past participle
had launched
had advanced

As you'll notice in regular verbs, the past tense and the past participle are the same.

2. Irregular Verbs

Examples of irregular verbs

Infinitive
to drive
to know

Present
drives
knows

Past
drove
knew

Past Participle
had driven
had known

In irregular verbs, the past tense and the past participle are the same.

The irregular verb to be contains the verbs is, am, are, was, were, be, being, and been.

3. Linking Verbs. A linking verb is a verb that doesn't show action. Its job is to link the subject with a noun, a pronoun, or an adjective.
Examples:
* My wife is a doctor.
* Karla looked pale after her speech before the class.

4. Transitive Verbs. A transitive verb is a verb that needs a direct object to complete its meaning.
Example of a transitive verb:
* He blew the horn .

In the example, blew is the transitive verb and horn is the direct object.

5. Intransitive Verbs. An intransitive verb is a verb that does not need an object to complete its meaning.
Example of an intransitive verb:
* The students are coming.

In the example, are, a verb of to be, is intransitive; it doesn't need a direct object to complete its meaning.
B. Verb Voices. A verb has two voices: active and passive. A verb in the active voice is a verb whose subject does something while a verb in the passive voice is a verb whose subject gets the action.
Example of active voice:
*An Egyptian soldier killed two Iraquis.
Example of passive voice:
* Two Iraquis were killed by an Egyptian soldier.
As you can see, the above sentence was inverted to change the voice from active to passive. In the first example, the subject does something, while in the second example, the subject receives the action.

C. Verb Parts. The three major parts of a verb are the present, the past, and the past participle. To form the past and the past participles in regular verbs, we have to add d, ed, or t to the present form. (Sometimes, however, the fourth part of a verb is called a present participle.)

Present
walk
negotiate
spend

Past
walked
negotiated
spent

Past Participle
had walked
had negotiated
had spent

Present participle
walking
negotiating
spending

D. Subject-Verb Agreement. The most common errors among students in English composition pertain to the subject-verb agreement. The rule dictates that if the subject is singular, the verb must be singular, and if the subject is plural, the verb must be plural, too. This is done in both regular and irregular verbs.
Examples:
* He walks slowly
* The U.S. commander meets the Egyptian general in the Sahara desert.

In the above regular (walks) and irregular (meets) verbs, we add s to form the present tense.
However, in some irregular verbs, es, not merely s, is added to the verb to form the present tense for singular subjects.
Example: Michael punches his rival on the nose.

Furthermore, it is understood that if the subject is plural, the verb must be in plural form; it doesn't need the addition of s or es.
Examples:
* The athletes meet in the gym every day.
* Peter and his group attend an evening class.

E. Verb Tenses. The verb tenses discussed in this subsection are present, past, future, present perfect, past perfect, future perfect, present progressive, past progressive, and future progressive.

1. Present, Past, and Future Tenses
a. Present Tense. The present tense of a verb shows action that is happening at the present time (now or today).
Example:
* Some people view paintings at the museum.

b. Past Tense. The past tense of a verb shows action that happened in the past.
Example:
* Whitney Houston sang the Star Spangled Banner during a Super Bowl.

c. Future Tense. The future tense of a verb shows action that is going to happen (this afternoon, tomorrow, or any other day to come).
Example:
* Madonna will get married soon.

Recapitulation: Here are more examples:
Present tense: eat/eats, bark/barks
Past tense: ate, barked
Future tense: will eat, will bark

2. Present Perfect, Past Perfect, and Future Perfect Tenses
a. Present Perfect Tense. The present perfect tense of a verb shows action that has been completed by the present time, but without stating any specific time.
Example:
* The hunters have come home from the mountains.

b. Past Perfect Tense. The past perfect tense of a verb shows action that had been completed during a definite period in the past before another happening.
Example:
* We had flown three hours before we knew that one of our companions was not on the plane.

c. Future Perfect Tense. The future perfect tense of a verb shows action that will have been completed anytime in the future.
Example:
* Catherine will have been graduated from college by the time she reaches 25.

Recapitulation: Here are more examples:
Present Perfect: has, have
Past Perfect: had
Future Perfect: will have, shall have, will have been, shall have been

3. Present Progressive, Past Progressive, and Future Progressive Tenses.
a. Present Progressive Tense. The present progressive tense shows action at the present time, using the to be verbs is, am, or are with the present participle.
Example:
* President Clinton is reading the book I've Gone to the Persian Gulf by Dan Quayle.

(In this example, is is the verb and reading is the present participle; hence is reading expresses the present progressive tense.)

b. Past Progressive Tense. The past progressive tense shows action in the past using the to be verb was or were with the present participle.
Example:
* My girlfriend was doing her homework when I came.

c. Future Progressive Tense. The future progressive tense shows action in the future using the to be verbs will be or shall be with the present participle.
Example:
* They will be meeting in the classroom tomorrow.

Recapitulation: Here are more examples:
Present Progressive: am writing, is writing, are writing
Past Progressive: was writing, were writing
Future Progressive: will be writing, shall be writing

IV. The Rules of Capitalization

Here are some rules on capitalization:
1. Capitalize the first letter of the first word in each sentence.
2. Capitalize the word I.
3. Capitalize the first letter of all proper names of persons (Noriega, Khadafy, Baker).
4. Capitalize the first letter of the days of the week, the months of the year, and any special days (Monday, January, New Year's).
5. Capitalize the first letter of all other proper nouns, such as cities, states, countries, rivers, and mountains (Farmington Hills, New York, Mississippi River).
6. Capitalize the first word, the last word, and all important words in any title, except the words a, an, of, the, and, but, or, and nor, and other prepositions with four or less letters, except when placed as the first word of a title (For Dreams Must Die, The Making of an Honor Student.)
7. Capitalize the titles of people (Dr., Mr., Mrs.)
8. Capitalize the names of languages and religions (English, Roman Catholic).
9. Capitalize the names of significant events (The Day the Earth Stood Still).
11. Capitalize the first letter of all words used in the greeting and the first word in the closing of a letter (Dear Laura, Lovingly yours).
12. Capitalize the names of companies and organizations (Johnson Painting Company, Madonna Fan Club).
13. Capitalize the first word of a direct quotation ("Read my lips; there will be no new taxes," President Bush said)

V. The Uses of Punctuation Marks

The following are some rules on punctuation: 1. Use a period at the end of every declarative (statement) and imperative (command) sentence.

Example:

Statement: Brook Shields doesn't want to marry a prince.
Command: Go to the reunion, now!

2. Use a period after initials and abbreviations (M., V., S., Lt., Capt.).
3. Use a comma to separate the day and the year (February 14, 1991); to separate the city and the state (Detroit, Michigan); and to separate words or phrases in a series (actors, singers, and dancers).
4. Use a comma before and after an appositive to separate it from the rest of the sentence (Arthur, the valedictorian of the class, will take up medicine in college).
5. Use a comma between two parts of a short compound sentence if punctuation is needed for clarity (I have been courting her for the past everal years, and I am happy that she has decided to marry me).
6. Use a question mark to end every sentence asking a question (Where are you?).
7. Use an exclamation mark at the end of an exclamatory word or sentence (Oh No! You should not have done that!).
8. Use an apostrophe to shorten a word or a phrase (you are-you're; who is-who's).
9. Use an apostrophe and an s to show ownership of a noun (city's water system). When a word ends with an s, put an apostrophe after the s to how possession (Jones' car).
10. Use quotation marks at the beginning and the end of direct quotations ("Come and get me!" the kidnapers barked.).
11. Use a semicolon to separate two closely related main clauses in the absence of a conjunction, such as and (Terry will go to the movie; his friends will see the football game.).
12. Use a semicolon to separate clauses joined by such words as however, hence, and therefore (He didn't pass the entrance exam; hence, he can't go to college this fall.).
13. Use a semicolon to separate enumerated items if they are long or have too many commas. Example:

The candidate for the position must have the ability to use mechanical, electrical, and electronic test equipment; to provide technical supervision and guidance to supervisors and technicians; and to plan and coordinate alteration, maintenance, and repair activities with contractors, managers, and maintenance and operations supervisors.
14. Use a colon at the end of a formal greeting in a letter. (Dear Sir: Dear Madam: Dear Gentlemen:).
15. Use a colon to introduce a list (The recipe must include the following: 1 cup sugar, 2 cups lemonade, 2 pieces bread, and 5 slices meat.)
16. Use a hyphen to separate compound words. Use a hyphen if the pair of words forms an adjective that is placed before the noun. (Well-known author, first-class service.)
17. Use a hyphen for fractions serving as adjectives. (A two-thirds can of coke.)
18. Use dashes instead of parentheses (In case you go to the picnic-if you would really like to meet me-bring samples of your writings.).
19. Use dashes to separate an "aside" from the rest of the sentence. (At the class reunion-people coming from different parts of the country-Peter and Joann, former high school sweethearts, met for the first time after not seeing each other for 20 years.)
20. Use parentheses to enclose additional material that would interrupt the flow of the sentence. (As he talked with Elizabeth (after learning that she is still single), Ronald expressed his interest in seeing her again.).
21. If what is inside the parentheses is a complete sentence, put a period at the end of the sentence. (See Writing, Chapter 20 of this book.).

VI. The Idiom

An idiom is an expression whose meaning is not predictable from the standard meanings of its constituents as beating around the bush. An idiom usually involves the combination of two things, for example, a noun or verb with a proposition. Examples: