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Understanding Sentence Types Understanding Sentence Types

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Information for Teachers A grammar task Identify the sentence types that are highlighted in the extract from Skellig by David Almond and explain your decisions Choices are simplecompoundcomplexminor ID: 603552

clauses sentence clause verb sentence clauses verb clause finite conjunctions relative town subordinating conjunction sentences verbs complex examples ordinating simple compound participle

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Slide1

Understanding Sentence Types

Information for TeachersSlide2

A grammar task: Identify the sentence types that are highlighted in the extract from ‘

Skellig

’ by David Almond, and explain your decisions. Choices are: simple/compound/complex/minor

I

found him in the garage on a Sunday afternoon.

It was the day after we moved into Falconer Road. The winter was ending. Mum had said we’d be moving just in time for the spring. Nobody else was there.

Just me

.

The others were inside the house with Doctor Death, worrying about the baby

.

He was lying

there

in the darkness behind the tea chests, in the dust and dirt.

It was as if he’d been there forever.

He

was filthy and pale and dried out and I thought he was dead.

I couldn’t have been more wrong. I’d soon begin to see the truth about him, that there’d never been another creature like him in the world.

 

We

called it the garage because that’s what the estate agent, Mr Stone, called it.

It was more like a demolition site or a rubbish dump or one of those ancient warehouses they keep pulling down at the quay.

Stone led us down the garden, tugged the door open and shone his little torch into the gloom.

We shoved our heads in at the doorway with him.Slide3

I

found him in the garage on a Sunday afternoon.

A simple sentence which has one finite verb

(found).

Just

me

.

A minor sentence which does not have a verb.

The others were inside the house with Doctor Death, worrying about the baby.

A complex sentence which

has

one

main clause with a finite verb

(were)

and one

subordinate

clause, formed with

a non-finite verb ending in –

ing

(worrying).

He

was lying

there

in the darkness behind the tea chests, in the dust and dirt.

A simple sentence with one verb (

a verb phrase – was lying

)Slide4

He

was

filthy and pale and dried out and I

thought

he

was

dead.

 

A complex sentence with three clauses (verbs underlined). The third clause is a subordinate clause with an elided relative

pronoun, a ‘zero that’ clause

I thought/

(that

) he was dead

We

called

it the garage because that

’s

what the estate agent, Mr Stone,

called

it.

A complex sentence with three clauses (verbs underlined) and the subordinate

clauses

beginning with a subordinating conjunction ‘because

’ and relative pronoun ‘what’

Stone

led us down the garden, tugged the door open and shone his little torch into the gloom.

A compound

sentence with three co-ordinated clauses, with ‘and’ and a comma acting as co-

ordinating

conjunctionsSlide5

Extract from From

Arthur, High King of Britain

by Michael

Morpurgo

When Arthur first sees Excalibur…

Where

is this Excalibur?’ I asked yet again. ‘And what is it anyway? Can’t you tell me?’

‘Oh, be still with your questions, Arthur,’ said Merlin. Suddenly he leaned forward and pointed. ‘Look.’

I looked, but I could see nothing at first

. But then as I looked I saw the surface of the lake shiver and break.

And, to my amazement, up out of the lake came a shining sword, a hand holding it, and an arm in a white silk sleeve.

‘There,’ Merlin whispered. ‘

You have your answer

. That is Excalibur. It comes from the half-world of Avalon, the blade forged by elf-kind, the scabbard woven by the Lady

Nemue

herself, the Lady of the Lake, and my lady too.’ And as he spoke her name, his voice faltered. ‘See, here she comes.’

And out of the mists came a figure in flowing green, walking across the water

. Yet the water seemed undisturbed beneath her feet as if she was walking on air. She came towards us, holding a scabbard in both her hands, and a

swordbelt

hanging from it.

Slide6

Definitions of sentence types

It’s all about clauses and conjunctions!

A simple sentence has one clause.

A compound sentence has more than one clause, linked by co-ordinating conjunctions.

A complex sentence has more than one clause, linked by subordinating conjunctions, relative pronouns; or containing a non-finite clause.Slide7

Examples

A simple sentence has one clause.

You

have

your answer

.

We

found

him in the garage on a Sunday afternoon

.

A compound sentence has more than one clause, linked by co-ordinating conjunctions

.

Suddenly

he

leaned

forward

and

pointed.

I

looked

,

but

I

could see

nothing at first.

Stone

led

us down the garden,

tugged

the door open and

shone

his little torch into the gloom

.Slide8

Examples

A

complex sentence has more than one clause, linked by subordinating conjunctions, relative pronouns; or containing a non-finite clause.

Yet

the water

seemed

undisturbed beneath her feet

as if

she

was walking

on air.

[as if = subordinating conjunction]

The

man

swept

the hall with terrible eyes, wolfish eyes

that

froze

the courage in a man’s

veins

.[that = relative pronoun

]

He

was

filthy and pale and dried out and I

thought

[that]

he

was

dead

.

[

that = relative pronoun

]

A tricky example (although a common construction) because ‘that’ is omitted.

And out of the mists

came

a figure in flowing green

,

walking

across the

water

[walking

= non-finite verb]Slide9

Practice!

Check your understanding of this by looking

back to the texts from ‘

Skellig

’ and ‘Arthur, High King of Britain’. See if you can find more examples of each sentence type that match those on the slides.Slide10

Clauses

One of the most reliable ways to identify sentence types is first to identify all the clauses in a sentence.

The most reliable way to identify clauses is to identify all the verbs and verb phrases in a sentence: each one will be in a clause.

Easy: when the verb is a single word

Suddenly

he

leaned

forward and

pointed.

Two verbs,

leaned

and

pointed

, so two clauses.

Quite

easy

: when there is a verb phrase (a sequence of verbs together)

I

looked

, but I

could see

nothing at first.

One single word verb,

looked

and one verb phrase,

could see

,

so two

clauses.Slide11

Clauses

More complicated: where is a non-finite verb.

A non-finite verb is an infinitive (to dance); bare infinitive (dance); present participle (dancing) and past participle (danced)

She

stood

over the burial casket of a knight and

began

to speak

in a

strange

language, the words

flowin

g

from her lips like a dark song.

Two single word finite verbs,

stood

and

began

: two

clauses

One non-finite (infinitive),

to speak

: one clause

One non-finite verb (present participle),

flowing:

one clause

So this sentence has

four

clauses in total.

T

he

lady’s voice

grew

stronger and more insistent, until almost

shrieking

, she

spoke

the name, ‘

Uther

Pendragon

!’

Two single word finite verbs,

grew

and

spoke

: two clauses

One non-finite verb (present participle),

shrieking

: one clause

So this sentence

has

three clauses in total.Slide12

Clauses: Non-finite Complications

A present participle

(ending –

ing

) could

also be a noun or an adjective

But so intent

was

she on

her playing

that she

NOUN

And out of the mists

came

a figure in

flowing

green, walking across the

water… ADJECTIVE

And

, to my amazement, up out of the lake

came

a shining sword, a hand

holding

it, and an arm in a white silk sleeve

.

VERB

If it is a non-finite verb, you can always expand the verb into a full clause with the main verb,

very

often the verb

to be:

…up

out of the lake

came

a shining sword,

and a

hand

that

was holding

it…

This does not work if the present participle is a noun or adjectiveSlide13

Clauses: Non-finite Complications

Past participles and past tenses can look exactly the same:

I

danced

:

past tense (you can change it back to present -

I

dance

)

I

have

danced:

past participle (changing the tense of the phrase

makes

no difference to the participle –

I had

danced

)

Many past participles end in –

ed

, but several don’t: I spoke/I have spoken; I sang/ I have sung; I drew/I have drawn

Adjectives can end in –

ed

and may look like a past participle:

Yet the water seemed

undisturbed

beneath her

feet…

(You can check word class through substitution

eg

The water seemed cold/bottomless/calm beneath her feet)

For these reasons, it is wise not to rely solely on definitions of non-finite verbs as ‘ending in –

ing

’ or ‘ending in –

ed

’.Slide14

Practice!

Check that you agree with th

e number of clauses in the following sentences by highlighting the verbs and naming their type or function:

It

comes from the half-world of Avalon, the blade forged by elf-kind, the scabbard woven by the Lady

Nemue

herself, the Lady of the Lake, and my lady

too. (3 clauses)

She

came towards us, holding a scabbard in both her hands, and a

swordbelt

hanging from it

. (3 clauses)

But then as I looked I saw the surface of the lake shiver and break. (4 clauses

)Slide15

Connectives: why not?!

The term ‘connective’ is used widely in our schools but it is really too broad a term to be useful, and thus unwittingly it causes confusion because children learn that connectives are all the same grammatical structure, whereas there is a major syntactical difference between

conjunctions

and

relative pronouns

which

link two clauses together

, and the

connecting adverbs

like ‘however’ which

connect ideas across a sentence or across two sentences.Slide16

Connectives: why not?!

Conjunctions and relative pronouns:

I went into town

and

bought my wedding dress.

and

:

co-ordinating conjunction

I went into town

because

I wanted to buy my wedding dress.

because

:

subordinatin

g

conjunction

I went into town,

which

was horribly busy,

because

I wanted to buy my wedding dress

.

which:

relative pronoun

because:

subordinating conjunction

Conjunctions and relative pronouns join clauses in a sentence.Slide17

Connectives: why not?!

Connecting

adverbs

(

eg

meanwhile

; however, nevertheless; therefore

) do not join clauses in a sentence: they link ideas across

sentences.

I went into town

because

I wanted to buy my wedding dress. However, it was impossible.

CORRECT

I went into town

because

I wanted to buy my wedding

dress, however

, it was

impossible.

INCORRECT: FULL STOP NEEDED (OR AT LEAST A SEMI-COLON)

Connecting

adverbs are very mobile: they can be moved around the sentence and retain their meaning and grammatical correctness.

I went into town

because

I wanted to buy my wedding dress. I

t

was

impossible, however.

I went into town

because

I wanted to buy my wedding dress. I

t was, however,

impossible.

Note that

connecting

adverbs need commas to mark them.Slide18

Co-o

rdinating conjunctions

T

he most frequent co-ordinating conjunctions are

and, but

and

or.

So

is a co-ordinating conjunction if it is about sequence, rather than about purpose. If you can substitute

so

with

so that

, then it is about purpose and so is a subordinator.

I was late

so

I ran.

(co-ordinator)

I went to town

so

[that] I could buy some shoes

. (subordinator)

Formal, sophisticated writing will also make use of more complex co-ordinators: neither…nor; not only…but also

He could

neither

walk,

nor

stand.

Not only

is fox-hunting cruel,

but also

it is ineffective as a control

.

Don’t forget that in many sentences where there is a sequence of clauses, a comma is used to substitute for

and

:

I went into town, bought some shoes, had a quick lunch and met Mum

.

I went into

town

and

bought some

shoes

and

had a quick lunch

and

met Mum

. (Four clauses)Slide19

Practice!

In ‘Arthur, High King of Britain’ there are several examples of sentences that begin with a co-ordinating conjunction, e.g

.

I looked, but I could see nothing at first.

But

then as I looked I saw the surface of the lake shiver and break.

And

, to my amazement, up out of the lake came a shining sword, a hand holding it, and an arm in a white silk sleeve.

A student might say ‘You shouldn’t start a sentence with ‘and’ or ‘but’.’ Using the examples above, what would you say?

A student might say ‘and

an arm in a white silk

sleeve’ is a clause because it starts with ‘and’. What would you say?Slide20

Subordinating Conjunctions

This is a much bigger group

Some examples are –

when; because; if; since; that; unless; where; although; why; how; …

But there are no major complications with these! The only catch is that in many sentences, the ‘that’ subordinator is left out.

I

believe

that you

are

wrong.

I

believe

[that] you

are

wrong.

By identifying first your verbs, this alerts you to the fact that there are two clauses in this sentence, and it is often a missing

that

which makes it look like one clause.Slide21

Subordinating Conjunctions

The only other possible confusion is between words that can function as either a preposition or a subordinating conjunction, according to context e.g.

after, before, until, as, since

:

He watched television

until

his bedtime. (preposition)

He watched television

until

it was time for bed. (conjunction)

He’s been watching television

since

he came home from school. (conjunction)

He’s been watching television

since

four o’clock. (preposition)

After

this programme, you need to go to bed. (preposition)

He went to bed

after

the programme had finished. (conjunction)

Look for the verb! A subordinating conjunction introduces a subordinate clause, which will have a verb.

A preposition introduces a phrase, which does not have a verb.Slide22

Practice!

Check your understanding of this by looking

back to the texts from ‘

Skellig

’ and ‘Arthur, High King of Britain’. See if you can find more examples of

subordinating conjunctions that introduce subordinate clauses. What variety is there in the choice of conjunctions?Slide23

Relative Pronouns

A small group of words:

who, whose, whom, which, that

Relative pronouns are linked to nouns, and relative clauses give more detail and information about a noun.

It was her

fingers

, long, white and dancing,

that

I loved first.

… a

giant of a man rode in on a towering

warhorse

that

pawed the

ground…

I swear that his

hai

r,

which

was as long as mine is now, was green too.

The

Green Knight

who

lives there fights anyone who goes near.Slide24

Practice!

We called it the garage because that’s what the estate agent,

Mr

Stone, called it.

Many of the students we interviewed identified ‘

Mr

Stone’ as ‘an embedded clause’ and a few said it was

a relative clause’. They said that the pair of commas made it a clause.

How would you explain that ‘

Mr

Stone’ is not a clause?

Clarify your own understanding of the term ‘relative clause’

eg

by providing examples that could be added to the sentence above. Slide25

Sentence types

Now you are an expert on sentence types!

Remember, first identify your clauses by finding the verbs/verb phrases so you know how many clauses there are in the sentence.

Next, look at how the clauses are being connected: by co-ordinating conjunctions (compound sentence); by subordinating conjunctions, relative pronouns or non-finite verbs (complex sentences).

And remember the little catches: a comma can be substituting for and in a compound sentence, a

that

may be missing in a complex sentence

.Slide26

Misleading Explanations

A simple sentence is a short sentence.

It can be short, but it can be

long. Length has nothing to do with whether it is simple or not.

That is Excalibur.

At

that moment, from outside in the courtyard, came the clatter of horses’

hooves

on the cobbles.

A compound sentence is two simple sentences joined by a connective.

It can be, but very often it is not (as there may be more than two clauses).

Then

he turned away from me, mounted

Gringolet

, his black warhorse, and

rode

off.

The term ‘connective’ is a problem too as it can lead to students joining sentences with an adverb, and thus punctuating two sentences as though they are one.

I went as fast as I could however I still came last

. x

I went as fast as I

could. However

I still came last

.

Slide27

Misleading Explanations

A compound sentence is two clauses which make sense on their own.

This notion of making sense should be avoided as it doesn’t make sense to children!

Cake

makes sense on its own;

very angry

makes sense on its own.

More importantly, the idea that compound sentences are two separate sentences joined by ‘and’ really misleads.

I went into town

and

I bought some shoes.

[co-ordinated]

I went into town. I bought some shoes.

I went into town

because

I wanted to buy some shoes.

[

subordinated]

I went into town. I wanted to buy some shoes.Slide28

Teaching Implications

Keep it simple at first and build understanding over time.

Start by noticing the co-ordinating and subordinating conjunctions.

Give basic examples which are easy to identify: the KS2

SPaG

test uses basic examples.

Build more complex understanding gradually.

But don’t teach definitions or explanations which

m

islead!

Your knowledge needs to be much stronger than theirs

!

The National Curriculum suggests that the

terms ‘single clause sentence’ and ‘multi-clause sentence’ might be more helpful than ‘simple sentence’

, ‘compound sentence’ and

‘complex sentence

’.

T

hese ‘new’ terms emphasise the importance of the clause, and hence of the verb at its heart

.