SFL/METU October 2016 Dept. of B.E. WHO 1 ELEMENTARY GROUP Student s Copy SIMPLE SENTENCE OBJECTIVES: 1. raise awareness about the word and the parts of speech of words, 2. raise awareness about how to form a simple sentence and help students to form simple sentences, 3. raise awareness about sentence fragments, run-on sentences, parallel structures and subject/verb agreement, 4. conform to parallelism when listing items or ideas and joining ideas with and, but, also, when, and because, 5. write about yourself in 4-5 complete sentences with correct punctuation and capitalization, 6. edit other s sentences to correct mistakes. Writing requires certain skills. These skills include using the correct sentence structure (how to arrange words in a sentence), organization (how to arrange ideas in a paragraph), correct language and punctuation. The writing handouts aim to help you gain these necessary skills while you are writing by moving from words to sentences and then to paragraphs. I. THE WORD A word is the smallest meaningful part of a sentence. We use words to form sentences. Words can be grouped under the following headings according to their use. These are called parts of speech. PARTS OF SPEECH A NOUN names something: a person, an animal, a place, a thing or an idea. A PRONOUN is used instead of a noun to avoid repeating the noun. Subject Pronouns: I, you, he, she, it, we, you, they Object Pronouns: me, you, him, her, it, us, you, them Possessive Adjective: my, your, his, her, its, our, your, their Possessive Pronouns: mine, yours, his, hers, its, ours, yours, theirs A PREPOSITION usually comes before a noun, pronoun or noun phrase. It joins the noun to some other part of the sentence. A VERB tells us about the action or state in the sentence. An ADJECTIVE describes a noun. It answers the question: What kind of? OR Which? An ADVERB describes a verb, an adjective, or another adverb. It answers the questions: Where, When, How, How long, How often and Why? EXAMPLES weather, coast, drought, happiness, Siberia * People don t mind cold weather. They enjoy a lot of outdoor sports in winter. * They want to spend their vacation with us. * We need your suggestions for our new holidays in Latin America. * I have lost my holiday brochure. Can I use yours? * We go skiing on Mondays. * It is very cold in Siberia. * Rain usually falls in the summer months. * People are waiting for help. * England is experiencing a serious drought. * The weather affects the life of people seriously. * It is extremely foggy in my city. * He drives incredibly carelessly. 1
TASK 1. Identify each bold word in the sentences as a: noun, adjective, preposition, pronoun, verb, or adverb. The best time to visit Mallorca is in the spring when the sun is not very strong. At this time, prices are still quite low, but the weather is often warm and it is possible to enjoy the beaches. However, it can still be damp and cold, especially in the mountains, so come prepared. II. THE SENTENCE A simple sentence is a group of words that expresses a complete thought. A simple sentence generally includes a SUBJECT and a VERB. The subject tells who or what the sentence is about. It can be a noun (Jason, classroom, students), a noun phrase (my friends, a black dog, her husband s two cousins) or a subject pronoun (I, you, we, they, he, she, it). The verb usually espresses the action (jump, work, sleep) of the sentence or a condition (is, was, become). * Warm seas cause hurricanes. subj verb * It is often snowy in Siberia. subj verb TASK 2. Find the subject(s) (S) and the verb(s) (V) of the sentences. e.g. Jason plays the guitar. S V 1. My class has 18 students. 2. Jim and Sue are going abroad this summer. 3. My little brother is in the fifth grade. 4. One of Jack s brothers studies history. 5. He is watching TV and doing his homework. 6. His job is easy and pays well. 2
Sentences can make a statement, question, imperative, or exclamation a statement a question an imperative (command / request) an exclamation My brother listens to awful music. What did you say? Stop shouting at me! Great! * It was a fine day. * We were very happy. * Speed kills. * Are you hungry? * Finish the project as soon as possible. * Hurry! (The subject in this sentence is you ) CAPITALIZATION AND PUNCTUATION Sentences need capital letters and punctuation. A sentence begins with a capital letter and has a punctuation mark at the end. 1. Use a capital letter for: the first word of a sentence the first-person singular pronoun (I) names of people and their titles nationalities, languages, religions names of languages days of the week and months of the year * My neighbour is a doctor. * My friends and I often study together. * Professor Patrick Jones * Mr. and Mrs. Simpson * English, Spanish, Muslim * English, Russian * Friday, May, September 2. Put a period (.) after a statement. * The class starts at 8:40. 3. Put a question mark (?) after a question. * Do you have any questions? TASK 3. Editing for errors with capital letters and periods. Correct the errors in the following paragraph. M My name is mayra. I am from the dominican republic. my first language is spanish i live in Hartford today is my first day in this school i want to learn english it is very important for my future. 3
TASK 4. Now you are going to write about yourself. Think about what information you want to give in your paragraph. Check ( ) four or more boxes in the list and write 4-5 sentences. my name where I live the language(s) I speak my home country my family my classes at school my age what I like to do in my free time TASK 5. Do peer editing. Sit with a partner and exchange papers. Give each other feedback. Follow the steps below. 1. Read all of your partner s sentences. PEER EDITING 2. Underline any part that you do not understand. Ask your partner to explain it. 3. Use the list below to check your partner s paper. Mark any problems on the paper. Check ( ) each item in the list as you finish. subject + verb in each sentence correct capitalization a period after every statement a question mark after a question 4. Ask questions to get more information about your partner. 5. Return your partner s paper. 6. Look at your own paper. If you do not agree with the feedback on it, ask another student or your teacher. 4
a. Sentence Fragments COMMON MISTAKES WHEN FORMING SENTENCES While you are writing a simple sentence, you should always make sure that you include a subject and a verb. If your sentence does NOT have a subject or a verb and if it does not express a complete thought, it becomes a sentence fragment; i.e. an incomplete sentence. In order to avoid making this mistake, you must add the missing elements to the sentence. * The winters usually cold. (fragment - no verb) The winters are usually cold. (sentence) * Is generally sunny in Brazil in the summer. (fragment - no subject) It is generally sunny in Brazil in the summer. (sentence) * A lot of noise in the city center. (fragment - no subject; no verb) There is a lot of noise in the city center. (sentence) * So people left the buildings. (fragment not a complete thought) There was a terrible storm, so people left the buildings. (sentence) TASK 6. Read each group of words and decide which ones are complete sentences and which ones are not. Correct them to make complete sentences and write them in the blanks. Example: ( ) I covering the windows with wood. I am covering the windows with wood. 1. ( ) Is very cold today. 2. ( ) Ölüdeniz a small village and beach resort in Fethiye. 3. ( ) We a skiing holiday every winter. 4. ( ) The summer season in the Antarctic is not very long. 5. ( ) Thousands of people waiting for help in the area. 6. ( ) Every year there are strong hurricanes. 7. ( ) A lot of air pollution in the northern part of the city. 8. ( ) He usually football with his friends at the weekend. 5
b. Run-on Sentences When we join simple sentences together, it is important to use the correct punctuation or a linking word. Sentences that run together without these are called run-on sentences. In order to avoid writing run-on sentences, first identify the separate ideas, and then use either the correct punctuation or a linking word. * It was rainy yesterday we stayed at home. It was rainy yesterday. We stayed home. It was rainy yesterday, so we stayed at home. * Jack is not a good student, he is lazy, he never studies. Jack is not a good student. He is lazy, and he never studies. TASK 7. Correct the following run-on sentences. 1. The waiters are friendly they speak good English. 2. You can go white-water rafting in this area you can t go kayaking. 3. New York City is very cosmopolitan there are people from many cultures. 4. We were very tired we decided to stay in our rooms. c. Parallel Structures Parallelism means that each item in a list follows the same grammatical pattern. When you are listing items or ideas using and, or, and but, each item in your sentence should have the same grammatical pattern. If, for example, you are writing a list and the first item in your list is a noun, you have to write the following items as nouns. a) Steve and his friend are coming to dinner. I don t like coffee or tea. b) My grandparents are poor but happy. The old man is kind and generous. c) She speaks angrily and rudely. He works slowly but effectively. d) He is waving his arms and (is) shouting at us. You can walk there or take the bus. e) You can lie down on the bed or on the sofa. This was in the book but not on the exam. f) He wants to watch TV or (to) listen to music. People like skiing and swimming in icy water during winter in Siberia. a) noun + noun b) adjective + adjective c) adverb + adverb d) verb + verb e) prepositional phrase + prepositional phrase f) infinitive + infinitive gerund + gerund 6
When and connects only two items within a sentence, no comma is used, but when and connects three or more items, a comma is used to divide each item. Only the last item is connected with and with no comma. * Everyone takes part in this community event men, women and children. TASK 8. Use parallel grammatical structures to make correct sentences. 1. She loves mountain biking and ride a horse. 2. He wants to be a doctor, a social worker or teach English. 3. White-water rafting is an interesting but danger sport. 4. The students tried to finish their assignment quick and accurately. 5. During a job interview, you must be well-dressed, nice and politely. TASK 9. Use a parallel structure to complete the sentences. 1. Most people want to find a well-paying and job. 2. Travelling to a foreign country and can be a wonderful experience. 3. To learn a foreign language, you must practice speaking, reading, and. d. Subject-Verb Agreement The subject and the verb of a sentence should agree, that is; when the subject is singular, the verb should be singular too, or when the subject is plural, the verb should be plural, too. 1. The nights are very short in summer. (plural subject - plural verb) 2. The name doesn t describe it well. (singular subject - singular verb) 3. There are heavy storms in the UK. (plural noun - plural verb) 4. Mauna Loa and Mount Fuji are famous volcanoes. (plural subject - plural verb) 7
Subject- verb agreement is sometimes confusing in these situations: 1. When a subject-verb combination begins with the word there + the verb BE. * There is a library in the city center. * There are good restaurants in my hometown. 2. Prepositional phrases can come between a subject and its verb, but they are not the subject. You should cross them out when deciding if the verb should be singular or plural. * The price (of NBA tickets) is high. (The subject is price, not NBA tickets.) * The fans (at an NBA game) are noisy. (The subject is fans, not game). 3. Some subjects that refer to groups of people can take singular and plural verbs. * My family comes from the Middle East. * My family are coming over from England to celebrate the New Year. * The committee is going to meet tomorrow morning. * The committee are going to discuss the budget. 4. Some nouns which have two parts require plural verbs. * Those scissors are not sharp enough. * These trousers look fashionable. 5. Some words with s ending look like plurals but require singular verbs. * Physics is my favorite subject at school. * The news is on at 6 o clock. TASK 10. Choose the correct form of the verb that agrees with the subject. 1. Annie and her brothers (is / are) at school. 2. George and Tamara (doesn't / don't) want to see that movie. 3. One of my sisters (is / are) going on a trip to France. 4. The man with beard (live / lives) on my street. 5. Your pants (is / are) at the cleaner's. 6. (Does / Do) the students in the class have their books? 7. There (is / are) twenty-one students in our class. 8. Where (does / do) your parents live? 9. Mathematics (is / are) John's favorite subject. 10. My sisters boss (has / have) four children. 8
TASK 11. Are the following sentences correct in terms of subject/verb agreement? If they are correct, put a tick. If there is a mistake, correct it. 1. The colour of the mountains are the same everywhere. 2. Wales and the north of England are hilly. 3. The apple snail cause a lot of damage in Southeast Asia because it loves to eat rice plants. 4. There are very few positive side to these animal invasions. 5. There is big differences in climate among different parts of the island. 9