Lecture Notes on Sentence Structure and Types

Key Concepts

Noun and Verb Identification

• Noun: Likeness
• Subject: Students
• Modifiers: Some, many, a lot of, few, etc.

Sentence Components

• Head Subject: The main subject of the sentence (e.g., Students)
• Verb Slot: Head verb (e.g., like)
• Complement Slot: Completing the idea (e.g., like to study)

Sentence Structure

• Simple Sentence:

  • Contains one verb and one subject.
  • Example: "Students like to study."
  • More than one subject is allowed (e.g., "Juan and Arturo play football.")

• Compound Sentence:

  • Contains two independent clauses connected by coordinators (e.g., and, but, or).
  • Example: "Alejandro played football, and Maria went shopping."

Coordinators and Commas

• Use a comma before coordinators when connecting different subjects.
• Example of correct usage: "I try to speak Spanish, and my friend tries to speak English."
• Fanboys: For, And, Nor, But, Or, Yet, So (acronym for coordinating conjunctions).

Complex Sentences

• Contains one independent clause and one or more dependent clauses.
• Uses subordinators (e.g., because, since, although) instead of coordinators.
• Example: "The students are studying because they have a test tomorrow."

Comma Usage with Complex Sentences

• No comma needed if the subordinate clause is in the middle.
• A comma is required if the subordinate clause is at the beginning.
• Example: "After she noticed the error, the teacher returned the homework."

Types of Sentences

• Declarative: Statements
• Imperative: Commands
• Interrogative: Questions
• Exclamatory: Strong emotions

Summary

• Understanding sentence structure is crucial for grammar and syntax.
• Pay attention to how subjects, verbs, and clauses interact within sentences.
• Practice identifying and using various sentence types for clear communication.