The sentence: definitions of key terms

No discussion of the sentence is possible without an understanding of the terms finite verb, phrase, clause and sentence

A finite verb must normally have

- a subject (which may be 'hidden') e g He makes They arrived We know Open the door (i e You open the door)

- a tense e g He has finished She will write They succeeded

So, for example, he writes she wrote and he has written are finite, but written, by itself, is not Made is finite if used in the past tense and if it has a subject (He made this for me), but it is not if it is used as a past participle without an auxiliary (made in Germany) The infinitive (e g to write) or the present and past participles (e g writing written) can never be finite Modal verbs [> Chapter 11] are also finite, even though they do not have tense forms like other verbs e g he must (wait) he may (arrive), as are imperatives e g Stand up! [> 9.51-56]

A phrase is a group of words which can be part of a sentence A phrase may take the form of

- a noun phrase e g a tube of toothpaste

- a prepositional (or adverbial) phrase e g over the bridge

- a verb phrase, e g a single verb-form built (in stone) or a combination of verbs e g will tell have done

- a question-word + infinitive e g what to do when to go

A clause is a group of words consisting of a subject + finite verb (+ complement [> 1.9] or object [> 1.4, 1.9] if necessary)

A sentence which contains one clause is called a simple sentence

Stephen apologized at once [> 1.7] Or it may contain more than one clause, in which case it is either a compound sentence [> 1. 17]

Stephen realized his mistake and (he) apologized at once or a complex sentence [> 1.21]

When he realized his mistake Stephen apologized at once

A sentence can take any one of four forms

- a statement The shops close/don t close at 7 tonight

- a question Do the shops close at 7 tonight?

- a command Shut the door!

- an exclamation What a slow tram this is!

A sentence is a complete unit of meaning When we speak, our sentences may be extremely involved or even unfinished, yet we can still convey our meaning through intonation, gesture, facial expression, etc When we write, these devices are not available, so sentences have to be carefully structured and punctuated A written sentence must begin with a capital letter and end with a full stop (.), a question mark (?) or an exclamation mark (!)

One-word or abbreviated utterances can also be complete units of

Sentence word order

meaning, particularly in speech or written dialogue e g All right¹ Good¹ Want any help? However, these are not real sentences because they do not contain a finite verb