Dian Mayangsari

Name: Dian Mayangsari Npm: 10211210333 Class: 3C Writing in Professional Context 2 Simple Sentences: Subject and Predicate A sentence is a group of words that you use to communicate your ideas. Every sentence is formed from one or more clauses and expresses a complete thought. The form basic kinds of sentences in English are simple, compound, complex, and compound complex. The kind of sentence is determined by the kind of clauses used to form it. According books which I read, they are Write in English, Developing Writing, Guided Writing, simple sentence is one independent clause. But many sources that explain about simple sentence and the points of simple sentence are same. Simple sentences are independent clauses. They contain a subject and a predicate. A sentence with only one independent clause (also known as a main clause). The simple sentence is one of the four basic sentence structures. The other structures are the compound sentence, the complex sentence, and the compound-complex sentence. Many ways or rules in making a simple sentence, they are: Rule 1: Simple sentences can be very short, consisting of only one word (a noun) for the subject and one word (a verb) for the predicate. The noun is called the simple subject, and the verb is the simple predicate. John laughed. Rule 2: Simple sentences can be long, although they still consist of one subject (a noun and modifiers) and one predicate (a verb and other elements). The noun is called the simple subject, and the verb is the simple predicate. The tall, good-looking boy with the curly blond hair laughed uproariously at his best friend’s suggestion. Rule 3: Simple sentences can be declarative or interrogative. You can shop at the mall on the weekend. (declarative) Can you shop at the mall on the weekend? (interrogative) Rule 4: Simple sentences can have a verb in any tense (past, present, future), mood (indicative or imperative), or voice (active or passive). My friend shops at the mall on the weekend. (present) My friend shopped at the mall last weekend. (past) My friend will shop at the mall next weekend. (future) You shop at the mall every weekend. (indicative) Shop at the mall this weekend! (imperative; subject is “you” understood) The next player at bat hit the baseball into left field. (active) The baseball was hit into left field by the next player at bat. (passive) Think of baby sentences: Johnny hungry. Cat run. English sentences are composed of a topic and something said about that topic, commonly referred to as the subject and predicate. SENTENCE = SUBJECT + PREDICATE The subject and predicate are often described as a topic and a comment, what is being talked about (the subject) and what is being said about it (the predicate). Each of these elements is characterized by a combination of three elements or perspectives: • a position or slot within a sentence • a certain form or type of grammatical construction • a certain meaning Thus the subject of a sentence typically • occurs at the beginning of the sentence (position), • consists of a noun phrase (form), and • indicates the topic of the discussion (meaning). The predicate • follows the subject, • starts with a verb indicating an action or state of being, and • conveys a thought about the subject. The surest test of the complete subject in a sentence is to turn a statement into a yes/no question. All men are created equal. Make a yes/no question Are all men created equal? The subject (all men) is the part around which the initial question word (are) moves. Are All men are created equal. ________ With some sentences you have to make the verb emphatic to form a question—for example, change ran into did run —to pick up the part of the verb that moves forward to make the question. He ran to the store. He did run to the store. Did he run to the store? Here the verb did moves around the subject He. A subject and predicate, together, form a simple sentence. As used here, the term "simple" refers to the basic structure of a sentence. Simple sentences can be short or long, and can express simple or complex thoughts and may contain complex constructions, but the basic structure of the sentence is simple’. As we know that simple sentence is a sentence that has one independent clause, so we can use simple sentence to express or show the subject or object. In writing we can use simple sentence because it is so easy and can help us to understand the sentences. We can learn about simple sentence in many sources. I think simple sentence is the one lesson that is easy to learn for the person who learns first but maybe some people have different opinion about simple sentence. Some people think that simple sentence is making confused for them and the other sources have different structure or pattern about simple sentence but the point is similar. In my opinion, the different ways about simple sentence makes some people confused but I think it is making much knowledge about simple sentence. Simple sentence is useful to write the sentence or paragraph because it is a simple to write sentence and we can learn is very easily. References Cullup, Michael, Write in English, Nelson, Hongkong 2006. Peterson, Patricia Wilcox, Developing Writing, English Teaching Division Educational and Cultural Affairs, United States Information Agency, Washington, 2007. Richards, J. C., et. al., Guided Writing through Pictures, Oxford University Press, London, 2005. http://www.wikipedia.com