THE FIVE BASIC TYPES OF SENTENCE STRUCTURES

Let's quickly look at the basic sentence structures

1. Subject - Verb

Examples:

* The child cries.

* Mother sings.

* Dogs bark.

2. Subject - Verb - Object

Examples;

* He loves cricket.

* The children eat ice-creams.

* The men play chess.

3. Subject - Verb - Adjective

Examples;

* The paintings are lovely.

* She was excited.

* The flowers are fragrant.

4. Subject - Verb -Noun

Examples;

* You are the boss.

* Dad is a physician.

* She is an expert swimmer.

5. Subject - Verb - Adverb

Examples;

* The cat jumps high.

* Please walk slowly.

* He cried silently.

The examples cited above are basic sentences. They can be modified and lengthened using adjectives and adverbs.Adverbs

Examples from above;

* The little child cries loudly.

* Dogs bark at night at strangers.

* The children eat strawberry ice-creams at the beach.

* The mural paintings at the exhibition are lovely.

* The white flowers mother bought are fragrant.

* My dad is a well-known physician.

* The black cat jumps high up the wall.

* Rohan cried silently when he failed the test.

Sentences can be Simple or Compound or Complex

They aren't as frightful as they may sound. Simple sentences are very uncomplicated and straightforward. They are just one independent clause. 

Gosh !! now what is a clause ???

Easy .... it is a group of words with a subject and a predicate ! A clause that can stand on its own is called an Independent Clause.

Example;

My friend left for England today. ( The Subject in red, the rest is the predicate,'left' meaning 'went' which is the Verb)

A Simple Sentence is made up of a single Independent Clause and may have a singular subject ( the man) or a plural Subject ( the man and his wife).

It can be enhanced using adjectives, adverbs and prepositions.

As long as it has a subject and a predicate and can stand independently, it is a Simple Sentence. 

A Compound Sentence is two or more Independent Clauses joined together usually by a coordinating conjunction. ( Please go back and refer to my blog post on Conjunctions)

Each of the two Independent Clauses will have its own Subject and Predicate. They follow the same rule as mentioned above. Each Independent Clause is a Simple Sentence on their own. They are joined together to form the Compound Sentence using Conjunctions such as and, for, but, so, yet, then etc.

Example ; 

* He shouted and everybody waved.

* They searched everywhere, but could not find the man.

* Their car broke down, so they will be late coming.


A Complex Sentence has an Independent Clause and two or more Dependent Clauses.  

Examples ;
* Since I have holidays, I am going to Goa. 
( The first part is a Dependent Clause as it has no meaning  on its own, the second is an Independent Clause, 'since' is a conjunction.)

* I am going alone, because my friends are busy.

Isn't it interesting to play with sentences using your knowledge of the parts of speech ? We can thus form various sentences by just knowing the basic structure. I am sure you will enjoy doing so just as much as I enjoyed making this lesson easy and interesting.