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EQUIPO DIDÁCTICO ACADEMIA 21 INGLÉS SECUNDARIA

23. LA ORACIÓN SIMPLE: TIPOS, ESTRUCTURA Y ELEMENTOS CONSTITUYENTES. FENÓMENOS DE CONCORDANCIA.

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TOPIC 23. SIMPLE SENTENCE: CLAUSE TYPES, STRUCTURE AND CONSTITUENTS.

CONCORD.

ABSTRACT ____________________________________________________________ 2

1. SIMPLE SENTENCE: INTRODUCTION, BOUNDARIES, SUBJECT OF STUDY ________ 2

On the Curriculum ________________________________________________________ 2

On Sentence, Sentence types. ______________________________________________ 4

Sentence Structure _______________________________________________________ 7

Sentence Elements: _______________________________________________________ 8

Types of Sentence Structure. _______________________________________________ 12

Variations according to purpose ___________________________________________ 12

2. AGREEMENT _______________________________________________________ 15

3.1 Subject-Verb Agreement. _________________________________________________ 15

3.2 Notional Concord and Proximity ____________________________________________ 16

3.3 Collective Nouns _________________________________________________________ 16

3.4. Coordinated subject _____________________________________________________ 16

3.5 Indefinite expression of amount. ___________________________________________ 17

3.6 Concord of Person. _______________________________________________________ 18

3.7 Other types of concord. ___________________________________________________ 18

CONCLUSION ________________________________________________________ 19

BIBLIOGRAPHY _______________________________________________________ 19



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ABSTRACT

With the present paper we move from single morphological elements to the category

of syntax, covering an essential element in language use: sentence. To provide a

comprehensive study, we will see the importance of this element as imbued in our

curriculum to move on to set the concept within the field of linguistics and in

comparison with other features, stating the boundaries of the term sentence itself in

relation to clause type. Then, we will mainly concentrate on the simple sentence,

though a brief review to complex and compound sentences will be included for

purposes of clarification. We will then revise main types, structure and constituents to

end up with the agreement phenomena before we move a step further into more

complex sentence types.

1. SIMPLE SENTENCE: INTRODUCTION, BOUNDARIES, SUBJECT OF STUDY

1.1 On the Curriculum

Before getting into the specific elements of simple sentence, we find it useful to place

the need of teaching this item within our current educational guidelines and scientific

research. According to the Common European Framework for Languages (CEFRL),

language learning comprises actions performed by persons who develop a range of

competences, both general and in particular communicative language competences.

Communicative language competences empower a person to act using:

1) Linguistic Competence (Knowledge)

2) Sociolinguistic Competence (Skills)

3) Pragmatic Competence (Know-how)

Linguistic competence includes grammatical, lexical and semantic knowledge and

skills that we will deal with in this topic, though clearly treated not in isolation but

linked with communicative actions and as tools for communication.



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GRAMATICAL

Therefore, linguistic competence implies LEXICAL knowledge and skills.

SEMANTIC

The Spanish Curriculum is based on a set of principles which include:

1) Language as communication

Language is conceived as a dynamic phenomenon, a system of communicative acts and

situations. Consequently, learning a foreign language implies the manipulation of

linguistic structures and the knowledge of vocabulary and phonetic features applied to

communicative situations in order to improve the students’ cognitive competence.

2) The language syllabus, which covers the knowledge of rules that govern the

combination of linguistic units to produce words, phrases, sentences and texts:

- Grammar: construction of sentences and texts.

- Lexical fields, vocabulary.

- Phonetics and spelling elements: sounds, stress, rhythm, intonation, connected

speech, etc.

Grammar therefore constitutes one of the major components of the linguistic system

and of Foreign language teaching and learning curriculum. Our students need to know

the main elements at syntactic level, starting by the simple sentence.

Grammar is made up o two main features: morphology and syntax.

Morphology: How words are organised

Eg: Cooks = the morpheme cook + the morpheme –s.

Grammar

Syntax: How words are combined into larger unit such as phrase and

sentence. Eg: She cooks everyday.

The following table shows model of the structure of English as we will analyze next:



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GRAMMAR

Morphosyntax (Form + Function)

Morphology; Form and Parts of words

Syntax: Use and order of words in a sentence

morphemes

↓

words

phrases

↓

clauses

↓

sentences

1.2 On Sentence, Sentence types.

We will first deal with the greater structure, that of sentence. According to Downing,

the term “sentence” is widely used to refer to quite different types of unit.

Grammatically, it is the highest unit and consists of one independent clause

(simple clauses) or two or more related clauses (complex clauses).

Orthographically and rhetorically, it is that unit which starts with a capital letter

and ends with a full stop, question mark or exclamation mark.

Thus, we find the following sentence types:

Simple Sentences contain only one clause, which has a subject and a verb, and

sometimes an object.

My friend invited me to a party.

Compound Sentence consists of two or more independent clauses (or simple

sentences) joined by co-ordinating conjunctions like "and," "but," and "or":

My friend invited me to a party, but I do not want to go.

Complex Sentence contains one independent clause and at least one

dependent clause. Unlike a compound sentence, however, a complex sentence

contains clauses which are not equal

Although my friend invited me to a party, I do not want to go.

http://www.uottawa.ca/academic/arts/writcent/hypergrammar/claustyp.html#independent%20clause

http://www.uottawa.ca/academic/arts/writcent/hypergrammar/conjunct.html#co-ordinating%20conjunction

http://www.uottawa.ca/academic/arts/writcent/hypergrammar/claustyp.html#dependent%20clauses



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SENTENCE TYPES

SIMPLE SENTENCE

Contains a simple clause.

COMPOUND SENTENCE Adsd two coordinate clauses

COMPLEX SENTENCE uses subordination to link clauses

I love cakes

We travelled abroad

I love cakes and I can cook

them well

I think this should be smaller.

A sentence is the highest unit and consists of one independent clause (simple clauses) or

two or more related clauses (complex clauses). In many respects, sentences can be

analysed in the same terms as clauses, that is, separating the elements into the categories

of subject, object, verb, complement and adverbial.

The dog barks

Even the addition of adjectives, adverbs, and prepositional phrases to a simple

sentence does not change it into a complex sentence.

The brown dog with the red collar always barks loudly.

Even if you join several nouns with a conjunction, or several verbs with a conjunction,

it remains a simple sentence.

The dog barked and growled loudly.

However, sentences are also described in terms of:

How clauses are arranged.

Functions of the sentence.

Traditional patterns which are used for particular effects in

speech and writing.

Once we know what we understand by sentence, it is time to look at the parts of a

sentence and distinguish between clause and sentence. According to Swam, a clause is

a part of a sentence which contains a subject and verb, and usually joined to the rest

of the sentence by a conjunction. A sentence is made of clauses. A clause may be

short or long, but must contain at least one main, finite verb. Professor Crystal

describes a clause as:

A structural unit smaller than a sentence but larger than phrases or word.



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Simple sentences and main clauses almost always have a subject and a verb, and

sometimes have an object. In some cases a clause may appear identical with a

sentence or phrase. A short clause may in fact be identical with a verb phrase. If you

are analysing a sentence, you will look first for clauses; if you wish to see how words

have been combined in simple sequences, you will look for phrases. Clause is the main

field of written formal language.

That [she answered the question correctly] pleased him greatly.

The italicizing is intended to emphasize the similarity between subordinate (or

dependent) clauses and independent sentences.

The structures realizing sentence elements are composed of units referred as parts of

speech, which include:

I. Open Class Items: They are indefinitely extendable.

Nouns: John, I, room, game, answer…

Adjective: happy, free, new,large…

Adverb: completely, steadily, very

Verb: go, come, search, ask, study…

II. Closed-Class Items: They cannot normally be extended by the creation of

additional members.

Article: the, a(n)

Demonstrative: this, that.

Pronoun: he, they, anybody, one, which

Proposition: of, at, without, in spite of

Conjunction: and, that, when, although

Interjection: ah! Ugh, phew

The distinction between both types must be treated cautiously, as parts of speech tend

to be rather heterogeneous.



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1.3 Sentence Structure

According to David Crystal there are only seven basic sentence types:

1. Subject + Verb (only): S + V

I /yawned.

Maria/ is working.

It/ has been raining.

Of course, we can add extra information if we want to, but the extra

information is not necessary to make sense:

Maria is working very hard these days

I has been raining for day

2. Subject + Verb + Noun Phrase (S + V + O)

Fred/opened/the door

My friend/met/me

John/is/the best player

These sentences are not complete without the noun phrase.

3. Subject + Verb + Complement (S + V + C)

Dinner/ is/ ready

The noise/was/terrible

She/looked/beautiful

4. Subject + Verb + Adverbial (S + V + A)

Dick/ went/ to London

John/ run/ 6 miles.

5. Subject + Verb + Object + Object (Noun Phrase). S + V + O + O

Romeo / gave / Juliet / a kiss

I gave/my sister/a present

He/told/me/ a joke

Sentences of this type can be made with verbs such as: ask, bring, find, leave,

make, offer, sell, send, teach or wish.



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6. Subject + Verb + Object + Complement (S + V + O + C)

Henry / got / his feet / very wet

I/kept/myself/warm

It/made/him/angry

7. Subject + Verb+ Object + Adverbial S + V + O + A

Sam / put / the bottles / in the cellar

She/took/things/outside

We/put/the kettle/on the table

Clauses that function as subject, object or complement replace noun phrases, so they

are called nominal clauses. Those that function as adverbs/adjectives are

adverbial/adjectival clauses.

Let`s see in further detail the sentence elements:

1.4 Sentence Elements:

According to Quirk, a sentence may be seen as comprising five units called ELEMENTS

OF A SENTENCE (or Clause structure):

Subject (S), object (O), verb (V), complement (C), adverbial (A)

1. Subject: The subject is a noun or noun phrase, pronoun or subordinate clause.

o The dog was sick. (n)

o Pretty girls laughed out loud. (NP)

o I am happy. (pn.)

o What she said is untrue. (sub.clause)

2. Object: usually follow the verb. They may be direct or indirect.

o Direct object: I sent an e-mail.

o Indirect object: I sent an e-mail to my boss

3. Verb: This is the central and obligatory element. A clause must contain at least one

verb phrase. I have been living here for ages.

4. Complement: is anything which adds to the meaning of the subject or object.

o Subject complement follows the verb. She is a doctor

o Object complement follows the direct object. He makes me happy



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5. Adverbial: Add to or complete the meaning of the verb: I sat comfortably

Let`s see them into further detail:

1. Subject: Some of the simplest sentences and clauses consist of a verb and a

noun, a pronoun or a noun phrase acting as the verb's subject. The subject normally

stands just before the verb. In order to find the subject, once you determine the verb,

ask a wh...? question of the verb. This will locate the subject(s):

SUBJECT VERB

She won.

The girl with brown hair slipped.

Moving my arm hurts.

2. Verb: The verb is the fundamental part of the sentence because it is

essential. 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]. The verb is

In English, as in other languages, the rest of the sentence may be seen as an expansion

of the verb. If the verb is won, we know that the sentence is about an incident in which

someone won something.

Each of the other elements in the sentence answers some question about the verb:

Who won? She won.

What did she win? She won the first race.

When did she win? She won yesterday.

How did she win? She won by cheating.



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We can classify verbs according to different types:

a) Intensive vs Extensive verbs: Intensive verbs have subject complements.

She is a new student

The rest can be considered extensive and can be classified as:

b) Transitive vs Intransitive. Transitive verbs take a direct object whereas intransitive

verbs take an indirect object:

I love sports I saw her However, some verbs permit both direct and indirect objects becoming ditransitive:

I gave my parents a big surprise

A few verbs such as make, take an object complement and they become complex

transitive:

I made him work c) We also find a difference in meaning between State vs Action Verbs. 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.

3. Object: The object is the person or thing affected by the action described in

the verb. Objects come in two types, direct and indirect.

The direct object refers to a person or thing affected by the action of the verb.

He opened the door

The indirect object refers to a person or thing who receives the direct object.

I gave him the book here

The verb - or the last verb in a chain - may be accompanied by a second noun, pronoun

or noun phrase or clause. This is the verb's object, which normally follows the verb.

http://www.learnenglish.de/grammar/sentencetext.htm#Actions

http://www.learnenglish.de/grammar/sentencetext.htm#State



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We can find transitive object, intransitive object and complements.

4. Complements: Some verbs, for example be, seem appear, get, become, sometimes

need their basic meaning to be completed. This 'complement' (c) which 'completes'

the verb normally follows both the verb and the object (if there is one).

5) Adverbial: They modify the verb's meaning by adding information about time,

place, manner etc. (a)because this is the main role of adverbs. Adverbials are not fixed

to one position but move fairly freely: they can be at the start (a1), in the middle (a2)

or at the end (a3).



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1.5 Types of Sentence Structure.

Bringing together the distinction so far made, we can present some basic sentence-

structure diagrammatically.

Intensive: She is in London (Place)

Stative He is a student (Complement) Extensive and Transitive: I heard the noise

Intensive: She became famous (after her film)

SENTENCE

Dynamic Mono: They ate the meal

Transitive Di He offered her a drink

Extensive Complex They made him boss

Intransitive The train arrived

So far we have provided a complete vision of the main morphological and syntactic

elements of the English language. It is time now to look at the communicative

structures and situations where we can use these elements for communicative

purposes.

1.6 Variations according to purpose

According to Quirk simple sentences may be divided into four major syntactic classes:

Statements, Questions, Commands and Exclamations, which correspond with four

communicative functions: Declaratory, Interrogative, Imperative and Exclamatory.

Let`s focus then on these major syntactic classes.

1. Declarative is the simplest clause form. Here the subject is before the verb as

in: You are my friend.

2. Interrogatives can be divided into:

Yes/no' interrogative (expecting the answer 'yes' or 'no').

Did you see that?/Are you my friend?

'Wh' interrogative:

Who are you?/When is the party?



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3. Exclamative. Here too there is a 'wh-word' at the beginning, but the subject is

in its normal position before the verb.

What a friend you are!

How tall you are!

4. Imperative: they lack a subject, as it is clearly presupposed to be the person

addressed directly:

Go out!

Variables according to discourse function:

When we speak or write to each other, we perform acts, such as thanking and

promising. These are “speech acts”. Certain general types of speech act are very basic

in that most, if not all, languages have ways of representing them by means of the

grammar. These are:

1) Statements: primarily used to convey information.

2) Questions: intended to seek for information of a specific point

3) Directives: aimed at instructing somebody to do something

4) Exclamations: with the idea of expressing the extent to which the

speaker is impressed by something.

The basic correspondence between clause type and speech acts is summarized as

follows:

Clause Type Basic Speech Act Example

Declarative making a statement You are careful

Interrogative asking a question Are you careful?

Interrogative asking a question How careful are you?

Exclamative making an exclamation How careful you are!

Imperative issuing a directive Be careful!

We can also deal with another type: the Passives.

Many verbs can be either active or passive, a contrast which is traditionally called

'voice'.

Active: Sam built this house.



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Passive: This house was built by Sam.

The information is the same but the focus is different.

The first sentence is about what Sam did, so Sam is the subject of the active verb. The

second sentence is about the house, and the house is the subject of the passive verb.

Passive verbs have a different form (was built) from active verbs

The active verb's object (the house) is the passive verb's subject.

The active verb's subject (Sam) may be omitted in the passive, or may be

included with by.

In an active clause the "doer" or agent is always clear:

Moriati shot the stranger.

But in a passive clause it is possible not to reveal "who done it":

The stranger has been shot.

Or a doer can be identified using by :

The stranger has been shot by Dr Watson.

The passive form is the same as the past participle, and is often combined with the

auxiliary be:

We saw it It was seen

I have mended it It has been mended

We must finish it It must be finished

David is painting it It is being painted by David

Sometimes we use get instead of be:

He got arrested.

When to use the passive

In order to leave the actor unspecified, perhaps because we don’t know 'who



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done it', or don’t want to say, or because the actor remains to be decided.

A report should be written …

Application forms must be returned.

I have been told about these rumours.

To focus attention on the actor, by adding the by phrase, normally at the end

of the clause.

The best essay was written by the youngest pupil.

It was broken by vandals.

To change the position of the natural subject and object, in order to link back

to what has gone before.

Q. Who ordered pizza and who wanted pasta?

A. The pizza was definitely ordered by John. I’m not sure about the pasta.

2. AGREEMENT

We will finally concentrate of the rules of agreement or concord (as stated by Quirk)

which can be found in the simple sentence. We will establish relations between the

main elements:

2.1 Subject-Verb Agreement. It is the most important type of concord in English. The verb agrees with its subject in

number and person. For all verbs other than be the distinctions are only found in the

present tense, where the 3rd person singular has the –s whereas the rest keep the base

form.

The girl lives here

The girls live here

There are further distinctions as it is the case of the verb be, which changes with 1st,

2nd and 3rd person. The girl is /was here

The girls are/were here

The agreement affects the first verb in the verb phrase, whether it is a main

verb or an auxiliary verb. Modal auxiliaries do not make distinction, however,

between number or person:



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The girl is/was living here The girls are/were living here

The girl may live here The girls may live here

Noun Phrases coordinated with and are generally plural.

The president and the Vice President were at the ceremony

Clauses are generally singular:

Going trekking is very relaxing

2.2 Notional Concord and Proximity. According to Quirk, Notional agreement is

agreement of verb with subject according to the idea of number rather than the actual

presence of a grammatical marker for that idea. Thus, collective nouns such as “the

government” can be treated as plural or singular.

The government have broken their agreement

The principle of proximity denotes agreement of the verb with whatever noun or

pronoun closely precedes it.

No one except his own supporters agree with him

One in ten take drugs

2.3 Collective Nouns In British English, collective nouns, notionally plural but grammatically singular, obey

notional concord in examples where American English usually shows the singular:

The public are (UK)/is (US) tired of demonstrations

The audience were (UK)/was (US) enjoying

The choice is mainly based on whether the group is being considered as a single

undivided body or as a collection of individual. Thus, plural is more likely than singular.

Contrastingly, singular has to be used in sentences like

The audience was enormous!

2.4. Coordinated subject When a subject consists of two or more noun phrases coordinated by and, a distinction

must be made between apposition and non-appositional coordination.

Tom and Jerry are on TV (Tom is on TV and Jerry is on TV)

What I say and what I think are my own business (what I said, and what I

think….two things)



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A singular verb , however is used with cojoinings which represent a single entity:

The hammer and the sickle (hoz y martillo) was flying from a tall flag pole

With the less common appositional coordination, no such reduction is possible, as the

coordinated structures refer to the same thing, hence using singular:

The temple of ugliness and memorial to bad taste was erected

Some latitude is allowed in the interpretation of abstract nouns:

Your fairness and impartiality has/have been appreciated.

In some cases we may find a non-count noun subject preceded by a plural verb:

Good and bad taste are inculcated by example

In the cases of concord involving (either…) or we find clear cases such as:

Either you or me is going to come

In cases of conflict, the principle of proximity intervenes:

Either your eyesight or your brakes are at fault

Correlatives neither…nor behave like and as regards concord:

Neither he nor his wife have arrived

Grammatical concord is usually obeyed for more than:

More than a thousand people attend the demonstration

More than one person has already complained.

2.5 Indefinite expression of amount.

It involves cases such as none, neither or either.

I have ordered the drinks, but none (of them) have/has arrived

Grammatical concord suggests that none is singular, but notional concord invites a

plural verb. Have is more idiomatic and Has is more conventionally “correct”.

The proximity principle abovementioned can also be applied to concord between



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indefinites such as each, every, everybody, anybody and nobody which go with

a plural noun:

Nobody, not even the teachers, were listening

And with singular nouns of kind or quantity:

A large number of people have applied for the job

2.6 Concord of Person.

As well as concord of number, there is concord of person between subject and verb:

I am your friend (1st person singular concord)

He is ready (3rd person singular concord)

Following the principles of proximity, the last noun phrase of a coordinate subject

determines the person of the verb:

Either your wife or I am going

2.7 Other types of concord.

Subject-Complement Concord Concord of number happens in SVC types: The child was an angel The children were angels There are some exceptions such as: Good manners are a rarity What we need most is books.

Subject-Object Concord of number, person and gender is necessary where the second

element is a reflexive pronoun:

He hurt himself with a knife/ You should ask yourself why

In British English, collective noun subjects permit plural concord:

The Navy congratulated themselves on the victory

Pronoun concord: Personal pronouns in the 3rd person agree with their antecedents

both in number and in gender:

John hurt his foot/Jane hurt her foot



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CONCLUSION

The present topic dealt with the basic structure of the highest element in syntax, the

sentence. We provided a general review including definition, setting the boundaries of

the concept, the types, structure and constituent elements to end up with a final

revision of the most significant cases of agreement/concord problems in the English

language. Learning to make simple sentences is a first basic step for students to help

master the grammar of a language, which will make him/her possible to communicate.

Once students know how to make a simple sentence, it is possible to apply strict

mechanical "rules" to move into both compound and complex sentences, as we will

see in next topics. And with just these three sentence types, it is possible to make

good discourse, with good sentence variety, perfectly acceptable to become

competent language users in the foreign language, our main aim in teaching English.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Dawning A., Locke, P. English Grammar. A University Course. Routledge, 2006.

Greenbaum, S and Nelson, G An Introduction to English Grammar. Pearson,

2002.

Huddleston, R. and Pullum, G. The Cambridge Grammar of the English

Language. Cambridge Univ. Press, 2002.

Leech, G. Startvik,J. A Communicative Grammar of English. Pearson Education,

2002.

Murphy, R. English Grammar in Use, Cambridge University Press, 1990.

Quirk. R and Greenbaum. S. A University Grammar of English. Longman Group:

England,1993.

Quirk, R. Sidney Greenbaum, Geoffrey Leech, Jan Svartvik. 1985. A

Comprehensive Grammar of the English Language. London: Longman. 1993.

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