English Grammar and Composition chapter 7: Sentences

UNIT 7 Sentences

Lesson 1: An Introduction

Read the following letter written by a student to a friend.

Dhaka

20 October 2016

Dear Mahjabin,

I hope you are fine. Our school is going to be closed from 25 November for three weeks. Each year, we have the winter vacation at this time. Do you have the vacation at the same time?

This year I am going to visit my grandparents’ place in Netrokona. What are you doing during this vacation? I’d like to invite you to my grandparents’ village. I am sure you will love the place. How fantastic it will be to spend the vacation together!

I hope you will agree to join us. Give me details about your vacation plan.

Please reply as soon as possible.

Yours ever Mita

Now, discuss these questions in pair.

a. How many sentences are there in the letter?

b. What are some of the essential features of a sentence?

c. What does each sentence begin with and what does it have at the end?

d. What are the two parts in a sentence?

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Now, read the following and check your answers to the questions.

A sentence is a set of oral or written words in proper order that expresses a complete thought.These words are commonly named as Parts of Speech.These Parts of Speech are placed according to the work they do in a sentence. The first word of a sentence is capitalised and the sentence ends with a full stop (.), question mark (?) or exclamation mark (!).

A sentence contains a subject and a predicate. Sometimes, the subject is not mentioned explicitly in some sentences. It is only ‘understood.’ Examples of such sentences can be found in the letter above: (You) Give me details about your vacation plan. Here the subject you is not mentioned by the letter writer but we understand that Dalia was asking her friend Mahjabin to give her the details of her vacation plan.

Rearrange these words to make meaningful sentences:

1. ship violently the storm rocked the

2. painting artist with great patience the his worked at

3. gift free a he offered the hotel by the was.

4. I read paper in the road was blocked the that.

5. began cricketers the ground at their familiar practising.

6. wore a hat he of coconut made fibre his on head.

7. parts many coffee popular in world the is very of.

8. cave could explore not they torch the without a.

9. the storm shed damaged the was during.

10. the poor girl Jamil and talked sat next to her.

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Can you say what a subject and a predicate are in a sentence? Identify subjects and predicates in the following sentences:

1. The results of the test are not known yet.

2. There have been many incidents of robbery in the past.

3. Why did he take the new bike back to the dealer?

4. My name was written on the document in three places.

5. She will be going to the dentist later this afternoon.

6. Will Jewel be taking his cricket bat on this trip?

Lesson 2: Affirmative and Negative sentences

Read the sentences in column A and B of the following table. In pairs, discuss the differences between the sentences given in column A and B.

What differences have you identified between the two types of sentences? You might have already found that we call these two types of sentences as Affirmative Sentences and Negative Sentences.

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In pairs, discuss what you know about the formation and use of Affirmative Sentences and Negative Sentences.

Affirmative Sentences

One of the commonly used structures in English is subject-verb-object.

e.g. The rabbit eats carrots.

The rabbit is the subject, eats is the main verb, and carrots is the object.

Negative Sentences

The negative form of this sentence is a little different.

The rabbit does not eat carrots.

Choose the sentence from column B to match the sentences having the same meaning in column A.

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Lesson 3: Interrogative Sentences

Read the short text on a popular sport star. Make a list of what you have already known about her.

Stephanie Rice is renowned as one of Australia’s golden girls. She is Olympic Gold Medalist and world record-breaking swimmer. Stephanie knew she wanted to be an Olympic swimmer from the young age of four. The talented swimmer first caught Australia’s attention in 2006. Then at 17 years of age, she won gold at the Melbourne Commonwealth Games. She then went on to win more medals at international levels. She showed her best at the 2008 Beijing Olympic swimming when she won three Gold Medals and set new world records.

[adapted]

Imagine that you have a chance to meet Stephanie Rice who offers advice to young athletes. You will be allowed to ask her questions only. Now write the five questions that you would like to ask her.

Compare your questions with a partner. Make a final list of 5 questions to ask Stefanie Rice.

You might have already discussed that the sentences we use for asking questions are known as Interrogative Sentence.

Read the sections below to check your understanding of the form and use of Interrogative Sentences.

Interrogative sentences are used to ask questions: They are also easy to spot because they end in a question mark.

'yes' 'no' interrogative:

Example: Is it raining?

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Notice that the interrogative above is a simple 'yes', 'no' question. The response may be given by 'yes' or 'no'.

Alternative interrogatives offer two or more alternative responses:

Example:

Should I telephone you or send an email? Do you want tea or coffee?

Yes/no interrogatives and alternative interrogatives are introduced by an auxiliary verb.

WH- interrogatives are introduced by a wh- word, and the response is open-ended.

Examples:

What happened? Where do you work? Where do you live?

Questions are sometimes tagged at the end of a statement.

Examples:

Sumon plays the piano, doesn't he? We've forgotten the milk, haven't we? It’s hot today, isn’t it?

These are known as tag questions. They consist of a main or auxiliary verb followed by a pronoun or introductory there.

Transformation of assertive sentences to interrogative

Read the following rules to remember while transforming assertive sentences to interrogative.

• You cannot change the meaning of sentences.

• If the assertive sentence is in affirmative or positive, you have to use negative expression in interrogative and if it is in negative, you will use the affirmative or positive expression in interrogative.

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• An interrogative sentence may start with either a wh-word or an auxiliary verb.

Here are some examples with explanations.

Examples:

Assertive: He is a famous player of this country.

Interrogative: Is he not a famous player of this country? (To show positive sense)

Assertive: We do not play in the sun.

Interrogative: Do we play in the sun? (To show negative sense)

Explanation: Here, you only have to place the auxiliary verb at first and then the subject. And, the sentence which is positive, is changed into negative and which is in negative, is changed into positive.

Examples:

Assertive: My brother has never visited India.

Interrogative: Has my brother ever visited India?

Explanation: Here, only the word 'never' is changed into 'ever' and the rest are in the same structure.

Examples:

Assertive: He has nothing to do in this situation.

Interrogative: Has he anything to do in this situation?

Explanation: Here, only the word 'nothing' is changed into 'anything' and the rest are in the same structure.

Examples:

Assertive: Everybody wants to be happy in life.

Interrogative: Who does not want to be happy in life?

Assertive: All were present in the last meeting.

Interrogative: Who were not present in the last meeting?

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Explanation:

Here, you have to use a wh-words-'who' in the beginning and the rest parts are in same structure. And 'Everybody/everyone/all' are positive in sense, so the interrogative structure should be negative.

Examples:

Assertive: Nobody believes a liar in this world.

Interrogative: Who believe a liar?

Assertive: None helped him yesterday.

Interrogative: Who helped him yesterday?

Explanation: Here, you have to use a wh-word-'who' in the beginning and the rest are in same structure. And 'Nobody/none/no one' are negative in sense so the interrogative structure should be affirmative.

Exercise:

Change the following assertive sentences into interrogative.

1. It was a great sight.

2. No one can tolerate this.

3. Nobody salutes the setting sun.

4. Gulliver could hear his watch ticking in his pocket.

5. It is useless to cry over spilt milk.

6. The beauty of nature is beyond description.

7. Everybody has heard of Darwin.

8. He has his dinner at seven every evening.

9. I told him to practise regularly.

10. Virtue has its own reward.

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