Campus Recruitment – Verbal Ability – Sentence

Campus Recruitment – Verbal Ability – Sentence

SENTENCE

A sentence is a group of words which makes complete meaning or sense. Hence a sentence has ‘sense’. Sentences are of four kinds depending on their function.

Declarative or assertive: these are sentences which make statements or assertions.
E.g :

• Japan is an Island.
• The Blue Whale is the largest mammal.
• A huge earthquake destroyed many buildings.

Interrogative: these are sentences which ask questions,
E.g :

• Where are you from?
• How often do you come here?
• Do you play chess?
• Were you present for the last class?

Imperative: these sentences express command, request, suggestion, advice etc.
E.g :

• Be quiet.
• Don’t pluck these flowers.
• Take these tablets two times a day.

Exclamatory: these express sudden, strong feelings,
E.g.: Wow! What a great shot! Awesome!

All these sentences say something about a person or a thing. The person or thing about which the sentence says is the subject of the sentence. The subject of a sentence is usually a Noun or a Pronoun and may be just one word or more than one. The subject of a sentence usually comes at the beginning of a sentence You may also notice that ‘it’ is also a subject. ‘It’ is called an implied subject.

• Suresh is working for a reputed firm in Bangalore.
• This is not my book.
• It is an enchanting place.
• The children of this school participate and win prizes in many competitions.
• The boy in the blue shirt is my brother.

What the sentence tells about the subject is the Predicate. All the sentences given above have subject as well as predicates, the only exception being imperatives. Imperative sentences are usually addressed to the person in front of us and so the subject is omitted

• The boys are playing well.
• This businessman invests in shares.
• Apples are healthy.
• The Pacific Ocean is the largest ocean on Earth.
• The recent earthquake in Nepal lead to a loss of lives and property.

Phrase:
A Phrase is a group of words which make some sense but not complete sense. Phrases can also be classified as noun phrase, adjective phrase and adverb phrase, depending on the work they do. A phrase which does the work of a noun is a noun phrase, which does the work of an adjective an adjective phrase and an adverb an adverb phrase.
For example,
I do not know his needs (what he needs) – noun phrase.
He likes mystery stories (stories which are mysterious.) – adjective phrase.
On his return from the tournament, he was given a grand welcome.
(when he returned from the tournament) – adverb clause.
The bank is located at the comer.
Her bangle is made of gold.
These are all examples of phrases.

Phrasal Verbs:
Verbs followed by adverbs or prepositions are called phrasal verbs. These are also called idioms as the combination of a verb and an adverb or preposition give a different meaning to phrase and cannot be taken literally. These expressions are peculiar to the language and play an important part in understanding the language.
E.g.:

• The examination was put off. (to postpone)
• The thieves broke into the bank.(entered by force)
• The Union called off the strike.
• She broke down on hear the news.

Clause:
A clause is a group of words which contain a subject and a predicate but still does not make complete sense.
E.g.:

• He is the boy who lost his bag.
  (who – subject; lost his leg – predicate)
• I believe he is telling the truth.
  (he – subject, is telling the truth- predicate)

Hence we see that a sentence needs a subject and a predicate to make complete sense. The other words in a sentence are also categorized according to the role or part they play in the sentence.