F2F Class Notes (Tony)

Complex Sentences

Complex sentences describe more than one thing or idea and have more than one verb in them. They are made up of more than one clause, an independent clause (that can stand by itself) and a dependent (subordinate) clause (which cannot stand by itself).

For example:

“My mother likes dogs that don’t bark.”

Dependent clauses can be nominal, adverbial or adjectival.

The anatomy of a sentence

The Verb

The verb is the fundamental part of the sentence. The rest of the sentence, with the exception of the subject, depends very much on the verb. It is important to have a good knowledge of the forms used after each verb (verb patterns), for example: to tell [someone] TO DO [something]

Here we can see that the verb to tell is followed immediately by a person (the indirect object, explained later), an infinitive with ‘to’, and, possibly, an object for the verb you substitute for DO.

Verbs also show a state of being. Such verbs, called BE VERBS or LINKING VERBS, include words such as: am, is, are, was, were, be, been, being, became, seem, appear, and sometimes verbs of the senses like tastes, feels, looks, hears, and smells.

For example:

• “Beer and wine are my favourite drinks.” The verb “are” is a linking (be) verb.

Fortunately, there are only a limited number of different verb patterns. Verbs can descibe the action (something the subject actually does) or state (something that is true of the subject) of the subject.

For example:

• ACTION: I play football twice a week.
• STATE: I’ve got a car.

Some verbs can represent both actions and states, depending on the context.

For example work:

• ACTION: David’s working in the bank.
• STATE: David works in a bank.

Finding the Verb

When you analyze a sentence, first identify the verb. The verb names and asserts the action or state of the sentence.

For example:

• “Working at the computer all day made David’s head ache.”

The main verb of the sentence is “made“, not working.

Verbs identify our activity or state.

For example:

• eat, sleep, run, jump, study, think, digest, shout, walk ….

The Subject

The subject is the person or thing the sentence is ‘about’. Often (but not always) it will be the first part of the sentence. The subject will usually be a noun phrase (a noun and the words, such as adjectives, that modify it) followed by a verb.

Finding the Subject

Once you determine the verb, ask a wh…? question of the verb. This will locate the subject(s).

For example:

• David works hard.
  • Who “works hard”?=David does=the subject.
• Beer and wine are my favourite drinks.
  • What “are my favourite drinks”? Beer and wine are=the subjects.

The subject(s) of a sentence will answer the questions, “who or what.”

The Predicate

Once you have identified the subject, the remainder of the sentence tells us what the subject does or did. This part of the sentence is the predicate of the sentence.

The predicate always includes the verb and the words which come after the verb. For example:

• Michael Schumaker drove the race car.
  • “Michael Schumaker” is the subject; “drove the race car” is the predicate.

Vocabulary

dry joke – in Chinese, A “cold joke”

eg: He has a very dry sense of humor. He is always making dry jokes and people think he is serious.

hang out with – spend time with

eg: I hang out with myself a lot, haha, I’m lazy.

eg: I was hanging out with my friends the other night, and we went to a sushi place.

slightly (ADV.) – just a little

eg: Can you move slightly to your right?

How to make Longer Sentences:

I made a decision.

I made a hard decision.

I recently made a hard decision.

Grammar Words Review

What is a _____?

A ______ is a word that ______.

Example:  What is an Adjective?

An Adjective is a word that describes things or people. = ( An adjective is a word.  + An adjective describes things or people. )

What is an Article?

An article is a word, like A, An, The

A noun is a word that names things. (Person, Place or Thing)

An Adverb is a word that changes the meaning of the verb slightly.

A preposition is a word that relates one thing to another.    eg: It is next to my phone.

A verb is an action word.

Complete Sentences:

Must have a Subject and a Verb.

eg: Cassie cooks.  (Complete)

eg: Yesterday Cassie will. (Incomplete)

Simple Two Part Sentence:

eg: Cassie cooks and cleans the kitchen.

Pronunciation

Decision – De Sih Shun     De Zih Shun