Sentences and Clauses

last changed 29 May 2003

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Teaching about sentences and clauses

Self-assessment on sentences and clauses

Introduction

Sentence and clause elements and their functions

o the verb as the clause's head
o subject
o verbs and verb chains
o object
o indirect object
o complement
o adverbial

Variations on the basic pattern of clause elements

o variations according to purpose (interrogative, imperative, negative)
o passives

Clause types
o main
o subordinate

Subordination signals

Finite and non-finite clauses

Noun clauses

Relative clauses

Adverbial clauses

Nested subordinate clauses

Sentences and Clauses - introduction

There are four types of sentence:

Simple

Compound

Complex

Minor

A clause is a group of words which acts as a single unit and is built round a verb, for
example:
he lives in America
Compound and complex sentences contain two or more clauses:
Simple:
John is living in America.
Compound:
He lives in America, but his family is still in Wales.
Complex:
While his family is still in Wales, Johns staying with friends.
Minor: A minor sentence is one without a verb, e.g:
First, a word about sentences.
America, of all places!
To produce varied, interesting writing with effective changes in rhythm, pupils need
to be able to use a variety of sentence types. They need to learn to exploit the