SENTENCE, CLAUSE AND PHRASE

WHAT IS A SENTENCE? A sentence is a group of words that expresses a complete thought. If a group of words does not express a complete thought, it is not a sentence. A sentence must have two parts, the subject and the verb. The main aim of grammar is to describe the way the sentences of a language are constructed. In a broader term, A sentence is the chief means we have of organizing our thoughts so that they make sense, both to ourselves and to others, in speech and in writing. Sentence is the largest unit of language which makes sense. In writing, sentences are marked by beginning with a capital letter and ending with a full stop (.), question mark (?) or exclamation mark (!). In spoken language, the definition of a sentence is problematic. There are no water-tight definitions of the sentence, but it is useful to think of the canonical sentence as a largest unit of grammar, at the head of a hierarchy of grammatical units: A sentence consists of one or more clauses. A clause consists of one or more phrases. A phrase consists of one or more words.
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A word consists of one or more morpheme.

Clause
A clause is a group of words containing a subject and a predicate (finite verb of its own). Clauses can be Independent and Dependent.

Phrase
A phrase is group of related words that does not have a subject and a verb. Alternatively, a group of words that make sense but not complete sense is called a phrase. In the park An interesting story Let us again look three terms, Phrase, clause, and sentence:

A phrase: no finite verb (limited by number, person and tense) A clause: one finite verb A sentence: at least one finite verb
A sentence has as many clauses in it as the finite verb it has. If a sentence has only one finite verb in it, it means it is made up of only one clause.
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There is one more distinction that should be clearly understood.

A phrase can never stand on its own. A sentence can always stand on its own. A clause may or may not be able to stand on its own. (This is a crucial distinction between a clause and a sentence, as both of them have a subject and a finite verb)
Construction of a sentence
When you construct a sentence, there are three important points to bear in mind.

Sentence needs to be complete Sentences need to be grammatical Sentences can be of any length.
Sentence needs to be complete.
If a string of word is counted as a sentence, it must be able to stand by itself, and feel finished. The following word strings cannot be sentences, because something is missing:
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The fast ferry bigger than which of all the books because Mary said can be done so On the other hand, nothing seems to be missing in these word strings: The fast ferry is bigger than the slow ferry. I believe the job can be done because Mary said so.

Sentences need to be grammatical

The words in a sentence can appear in certain patterns, and these patterns reflect the rules of grammar. Some rules control the order in which the word appear. Others control the endings certain words have (inflections like s/es). If a sentence is constructed according to these rules, we call it grammatical .Grammatical sentences feel natural and acceptable. If a sentence breaks the rule, we call it ungrammatical. The man saw a car (grammatical) The a car saw man (Ungrammatical) The clock is ready (grammatical) The clock is be ready. (Ungrammatical) What and why did she go? (Ungrammatical)

Sentences can be of any length.

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Most sentences consist of several words, but it is possible to have a sentence which is just one word, such as Sorry! Others can be hundreds of words long indeed, for example one can have a sentence beginning I saw a cat and a dog and a car, it can go forever! However, if the sentence is too long, it can be difficult to work out what is being said.

Nature of sentence
Sentences can be divided according to their functions and structures Sentences according to function A sentence can function like An assertive or declarative SENTENCE 1. He is a good cricketer 2. His name is Amarnath. 3. Amarnath comes from East Punjab. These three sentences are simple statement of facts. They state or assert or declare something and, therefore, they are called ASSERTIVE or DECLARATIVE SENTENCES. 2) Imperative sentence 1) Shut the door 2) Please get me a glass of water
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3) May god bless you! One can notice command, request and a wish. A sentence which expresses a command, a request, or a wish is called an IMPERATIVE SENTENCE.

An exclamatory sentence
What a fool he is! How generous of you to have helped him like that! What a pity you couldnt come! These sentences express a strong and sudden feeling: of amusement or anger in the first sentence, of appreciation and gratitude in the second, and of sorrow and sympathy in the third. A sentence which expresses such sudden feeling is called an exclamatory sentence Interrogative sentences Have you done your homework? Where do you propose to go in summer holidays? Did you hear the bell? As you can see all these are questions. A sentence which asks a question is called an interrogative sentence.
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Important
All sentences should begin with a Capital Letter, and end with a Full Stop, an Exclamation Mark, or a Question Mark, according to the type to which they belong.

Sentences according to structure

A sentence can be

Simple Compound Complex Compound complex

Simple sentence: A sentence which has only one subject and predicate is called a simple sentence

Subject The sky The annual sports The Compound Sentence

Predicate Is blue Will be held tomorrow

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A sentence which consists of two or more Co-ordinate clauses is called a Compound Sentence. 1. Ruchi went to the station and boarded the Bombay train 2. You can go by bus or by train 3. He went to Chennai, got his visa and came back.

The Complex Sentence

A sentence which consist of one Main Clause and one or more Subordinate Clauses is called a complex sentence. 1. I shall do as I like. 2. When we went there we found that he had gone. The Compound- Complex Sentence A sentence containing two or more main clauses and at least one subordinate clause is called a Compound Complex Sentence. While the man played the harmonium, the boys sang and the girls danced.

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