Everything about Sentence Linguistics totally explained
In
linguistics, a
sentence is a grammatical unit of one or more words, bearing minimal syntactic relation to the words that precede or follow it, often preceded and followed in speech by pauses, having one of a small number of characteristic intonation patterns, and typically expressing an independent statement, question, request, command, etc. Sentences are generally characterized in most languages by the presence of a
finite verb, for example "
The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog".
Components of a sentence
A simple
complete sentence consists of a
subject and a
predicate. The subject is typically a
noun phrase, though other kinds of phrases (such as
gerund phrases) work as well, and some languages allow subjects to be omitted. The predicate is a finite
verb phrase: it's a finite verb together with zero or more
objects, zero or more
complements, and zero or more
adverbials. See also
copula for the consequences of this verb on the theory of sentence structure.
Clauses
A clause consists of a subject and a verb. There are two types of clauses: independent and subordinate (dependent). An independent clause consists of a subject verb and also demonstrates a complete thought: for example, "I am sad." A subordinate clause consists of a subject and a verb, but demonstrates an incomplete thought: for example, "Because I'd to move."
Classification
By structure
One traditional scheme for classifying
English sentences is by the number and types of
finite clauses:
By purpose
Sentences can also be classified based on their purpose:
A declarative sentence or declaration, the most common type, commonly makes a statement: I am going home.
An interrogative sentence or question is commonly used to request information — When are you going to work? — but sometimes not; see rhetorical question.
An exclamatory sentence or exclamation is generally a more emphatic form of statement: What a wonderful day this is!
An imperative sentence or command is ordinarily used to make a demand or request: Go do your homework.
Major and minor sentences
A major sentence is a regular sentence; it has a subject and a predicate.
For example: I have a ball. In this sentence one can change the persons: We have a ball. However, a minor sentence is an irregular type of sentence. It doesn't contain a finite verb. For example, "Mary!" "Yes." "Coffee." etc. Other examples of minor sentences are headings (for example the heading of this entry), stereotyped expressions (Hello!), emotional expressions (Wow!), proverbs, etc. This can also include sentences which don't contain verbs (for example The more, the merrier.) in order to intensify the meaning around the nouns (normally found in poetry and catchphrases).
Further Information
Get more info on 'Sentence Linguistics'.
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