Simple Sentence
- A simple sentence is one which contains just one finite verb.
- It expresses a single thought or statement.
- For example:
- John went home.
- The girl wept bitterly.
- The gardener, with a native hoe in one hand and a large stick in the other, swiftly killed the poor little goat about to enter grandfather’s cabin.
- The third example, which contains 25 words is still a simple sentence because it contains just one finite verb (killed), and it expresses one thought (the gardener killed the goat)
Parts of a Simple Sentence
- There are five main parts of a simple sentence:
- Subject,
- Verb,
- Object,
- Complement, and
- Adverb/Adjunct
- For example:
- Mary (subject) cooks (verb)
- We (subject) ate (verb) pawpaw (object) yesterday (adverb)
- Her parents (subject) love (verb) her (object)
- Mary (subject) sings (verb) melodiously (adverb)
- She (subject) is (verb) their teacher (complement)
- That she is beautiful (subject) is (verb) a fact (complement)
Subject
- A subject is usually the first part of the sentence.
- The subject is the actor or performer of an action. For example:
- Mary (noun)
- We (pronoun)
- Her parents (noun phrase)
- That she is beautiful (noun clause)
- The subject is a noun, pronoun, a phrase, or a noun clause.
- Subjects appear in simple, compound or complete forms
- Simple Subject:
- This consists of a single noun
- For example:
- John is to pay
N20 - The customer is to pay
N20 - They are to pay
N20
- John is to pay
- Compound Subject:
- A compound subject consists of two or more subjects usually joined by ‘and’, or ‘nor’.
- For example:
- James and Chike are here.
- Neither Nkechi nor Chinyere is here
- The carpenters and masons will report on Monday
- Complete Subject:
- A compound subject contains a simple or compound subject and its modifiers and related words.
- For example:
- Any student absenting himself from class on Monday will be punished.
- Buyers and sellers of goods all over the country today are in trouble.
- Predicate:
- The predicate is anything that is said about the subject in a sentence.
- It usually comes after the subject as such, it shows action performed in a sentence.
- Predicates may be simple or complex.
- For example:
- I love banana (simple)
- I am not a donkey (complex)
- Chioma must have been running (complex)
- Sura is a diligent student (simple)
Modifiers, Qualifiers, and Complements
- Modifiers:
- A modifier is a word, sometimes a group of words, which modify, describe, or restrict the meaning of other words in a sentence.
- It mostly precedes the headword in a group
- For example:
- John has a nice shirt
- He lives in a recently painted house
- Jane owns a brand new Mercedes
- Qualifiers:
- They are group of words that add to the meaning of the headword in a group.
- This unusually follows the headword.
- For example:
- Jack lives in the house painted red
- I met Jonas, the new chairman
- The house across belongs to Joan’s family
- A complement is a word or group of words that completes the meaning of a verb. It is usually a direct object, indirect object, objective complement, predicate noun or predicate adjective.
- Direct Object:
- A direct object names the receiver of the action of a verb usually showing the result of a transitive verb.
- For example:
- Chike killed a bird
- We bought a new car
- Nkem planted ten trees last year
- Indirect Object:
- An indirect object indicates to whom, for whom, or to what or for what the action of a transitive verb is done.
- For example:
- The father gave her a present
- We did Joseph a great favor
- The painter gave the wall a good varnish coating.
- Objective Complement:
- An objective complement is used to complete the meaning of a direct object.
- For example:
- The food made John sick
- They made him a chief
- The rain made the playground muddy