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What is a sentence?: Difference between revisions

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"A sentence is a unit of language charecterized in most languages by the presence of a finite verb" (wikipedia). Sentences  are classified two ways: according to their structure (simple, compuond, complex, and compound-complex) and according to their purpose (declaritive, imperative, interrogative, and exclamatory) (Hacker 463).  The basic unit in writing is the sentence.
"A sentence is a unit of language charecterized in most languages by the presence of a finite verb" (wikipedia). Sentences  are classified three ways: according to their structure (simple, compuond, complex, and compound-complex) and according to their purpose (declaritive, imperative, interrogative, and exclamatory), and according to grammar types (transitive verb: S-TV-O, S-TV-DO-IO, and S-TV-DO-OC; intransitive verb: S-IV; linking verb: S-BV-N or Adj, S-BV-Adv, S-LV-N or Adj, S-BV-Adj-PP or NC) (Hacker 463), (Rodby 45-49).  The basic unit in writing is the sentence.


===Structure===
===Structure===
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*Complex sentence: A complex sentence is composed of one independent clause with one or more subordinate clauses (Hacker 464).
*Complex sentence: A complex sentence is composed of one independent clause with one or more subordinate clauses (Hacker 464).


*Compound-complex sentence:A compound-complex sentence contains at least two independent clauses and at least one subordinate clause (Hacker 464).  
*Compound-complex sentence:A compound-complex sentence contains at least two independent clauses and at least one subordinate clause (Hacker 464).


===Purpose===
===Purpose===
There are four major patterns that function in a sentence.
There are four major patterns that function in a sentence.
*Declaritive sentences make statements (Hacker 465)."The weather is nice today."
*Declaritive sentences make statements (Hacker 465)."The weather is nice today."
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*Exclamatory sentences make exclamations (Hacker 465).  "What a fun ride"!
*Exclamatory sentences make exclamations (Hacker 465).  "What a fun ride"!


===Grammar===
There are eight basic sentence types or kernals within three verb types (transitive, intransitive, and linking).
*Transitive
**Sentence with a transitive verb and an object: "The girl sees the tree" (Rodby 45).
**Sentence with a transitive verb and a direct object and an indirect object: "The professor gives the students an assignment" (Rodby 45).
**Sentence with a transitive verb and a direct object and either a noun or an adjective as a complement: "Milly calls Jane a fool" (Rodby 46).
*Intransitive
**Sentence with an intransitive verb: "The man sleeps" (Rodby 46).
*Linking
**Sentence with a ''be'' verb and a noun or adjective: "The man is nice" (Rodby 46).
**Sentence with a ''be'' verb and an adverb of time or place or both: "The meeting is here" (Rodby 46).
**Sentence with a linking verb followed by a noun or an adjective: "The dog becomes vicious" (Rodby 46).
**Sentence with a ''be'' verb or a linking verb, an adjective, and either a prepositional phrase or a noun clause: "The dog was aware that he was cold" (Rodby 46).
==How to make a sentence==
==How to make a sentence==


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*Hacker, Diana. ''A Writer's Reference.'' 5th Ed. Boston: Bedford/St. Martin's, 2003.
*Hacker, Diana. ''A Writer's Reference.'' 5th Ed. Boston: Bedford/St. Martin's, 2003.
*Rodby, Judith. "The Uses of Grammar." 2nd ed. Anderson, South Carolina: Parlor Press, 2012.


*Wikipedia. "Sentence Linguistics." 27 Jun 2006. Online. 12 Jul 2006.
*Wikipedia. "Sentence Linguistics." 27 Jun 2006. Online. 12 Jul 2006.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=sentence_%28linguistics%29&oldid=60811791>
<http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=sentence_%28linguistics%29&oldid=60811791>
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