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Their types, uses and components
Devised by Jo Killmister, Skills Enhancement
Program, Newcastle Business School
Definition of a sentence
A sentence is:
 A complete thought or idea
 A two-unit construction, including a subject and a predicate
Subject: what the sentence’s idea is really about, what it
refers to
Predicate: what we are saying about the subject
(At minimum, a predicate must consist of a verb, but a
predicate’s verb usually has an object as well, as in “My
program finishes next trimester.”)
Devised by Jo Killmister, Skills Enhancement
Program, Newcastle Business School
Classification of sentences
Regular sentences are divided into the following types:
 simple
 compound
 complex.
The bases of sentence classification are:
 the number of clauses in a sentence
 the relationship between those clauses.
(Remember that a clause is a group of words consisting of a
subject, verb and, perhaps, other words. It expresses an idea or
thought, although it may share a sentence with other thoughts.)
Devised by Jo Killmister, Skills Enhancement
Program, Newcastle Business School
Simple Sentences
A simple sentence consists of one main clause – for example,
“The storm flooded Newcastle’s streets,” or, “Pharlap was a
famous Australian racehorse.”
Subject: i) The storm
ii) Pharlap
Predicate: i) flooded Newcastle’s streets
ii) was a famous Australian racehorse
Each of these constructions expresses a complete idea and so
satisfies the definition of a sentence. It is very important in
academe to develop your ideas in the form of well-constructed,
complete sentences.
Devised by Jo Killmister, Skills Enhancement
Program, Newcastle Business School
Compound sentences
A compound sentence consists of two or more main clauses, equal
in status.
Here are two examples:
1. The storm flooded Newcastle’s streets and caused a great deal of
damage.
2. Pharlap was a famous Australian racehorse but died in America.
Note that in each case there are two equal ideas linked by a
conjunction such as ‘and’ or ‘but’. (In these examples, ‘The
storm’ and ‘Pharlap’ are each understood to be the subject of
their particular sentence’s second clause as well as the first.)
Devised by Jo Killmister, Skills Enhancement
Program, Newcastle Business School
Complex sentences
When a sentence consists of a main clause and one or more lesser clauses
we call it a complex sentence.
We call the lesser clauses in a complex sentence ‘subordinate’ (or
‘dependent’) because subordinate clauses, although they contain a
verb, cannot be fully understood without the main clause.
Because the clauses are unequal, in that one is the main clause and the
other(s) is subordinate to it, their relationship is complex.
The heart of that complexity is the precise nature of the relationship
between the main clause and the lesser or subordinate clause.
Note: choosing the right conjunction from words like ‘although’, ‘unless’
and ‘since’ to establish the nature of that relationship is very important
to keeping your ideas clear in academic written tasks.
Devised by Jo Killmister, Skills Enhancement
Program, Newcastle Business School
An example of a complex
sentence:
 The storm, which occurred on June the 8th, flooded Newcastle’s
streets.
Here, the subordinate clause, the idea between the commas, adds a little
bit of information about the time of the storm but is secondary to the
main idea, ‘The storm flooded Newcastle’s streets’.
That main idea could stand alone without the subordinate clause. On the
other hand, if we had to rely on the subordinate clause, we would not
know what was so noteworthy about the occurrence on June the 8th.
When we look at conjunctions (joining words) we’ll look at their different
types and roles. Some conjunctions can only be used for certain kinds
of joining purpose.
In the example above, the subordinate (or dependent) clause has been
joined to the main clause with ‘which’, a relative pronoun which acts as
a type of conjunction.
Devised by Jo Killmister, Skills Enhancement
Program, Newcastle Business School
Four main uses of sentences
So far, we’ve looked at different kinds of sentence
construction. Now, we’ll look at how sentences can be
used:
 Statements make declarations
 Questions request information
 Imperatives issue directions or commands
 Exclamations express strong emotion
While you will have occasion to use all four in the course of
your spoken English, your written academic English will, of
course, chiefly consist of smoothly linked statements.
Devised by Jo Killmister, Skills Enhancement
Program, Newcastle Business School
Basic punctuation of sentences
 Sentences always begin with a capital or upper case letter.
End marks:
 Statements use full stops. (Full stops look like this.)
 Questions need question marks - ?
 Exclamations need exclamation marks - !
 Imperatives may use either full stops or exclamation marks,
depending on the degree of emotion behind the idea of the
sentence concerned.
(Of course, there are many other types of punctuation marks,
which we will revise in a later series.)
Devised by Jo Killmister, Skills Enhancement
Program, Newcastle Business School
Active & passive voice
Apart from deciding whether to phrase a series of ideas
in simple, compound or complex sentences, and what
kind of function he or she wants the sentences to
serve, a writer has to decide whether to use active voice
or passive voice in each sentence.
 In the active voice, something is doing or being
something.
 In the passive voice, something is having something
done to it.
Devised by Jo Killmister, Skills Enhancement
Program, Newcastle Business School
Active & passive examples
Active voice:
 New South Wales electricity workers oppose the privatisation of
the power industry.
 Ellen rode on an elephant.
 The Australian Tax Office is investigating twenty wealthy
Australians.
Passive voice:
 Privatisation of the power industry is opposed by New South
Wales electricity workers.
 An elephant was ridden by Ellen.
 Twenty wealthy Australians are being investigated by the Tax
Office.
Devised by Jo Killmister, Skills Enhancement
Program, Newcastle Business School
Active/passive continued:
 Whenever possible, especially when writing for
business purposes, whether academic or professional,
try to use the active voice in your writing. It gives
your expression a snappier, more energetic tone and
helps you to express your ideas in more concise form.
 It is certainly wise to avoid writing in the first person
(“I”) in academic writing, but there are many ways of
doing so other than by resorting to the passive voice.
Devised by Jo Killmister, Skills Enhancement
Program, Newcastle Business School
References:
 King, G. (2000). Good Grammar. Glasgow, UK: HarperCollins. (Some
examples were drawn from this text.)
 Dr Jim Jose, Associate Professor, School of Economics, Politics &
Tourism, for his guidance through my reference to his Study Skills
Online (2000).
 Sinclair, C. (2007). Grammar: A Friendly Approach. New York, USA:
McGraw-Hill.
Recommended source of practice:
Murphy, R. (2004). English Grammar in Use (3rd ed.). Cambridge, UK:
CUP. Units 42-46.
Devised by Jo Killmister, Skills Enhancement
Program, Newcastle Business School