What is Sentence Structure?
Sentence structure is the order of the elements in a sentence, a group of words that expresses a complete thought. In the English language, a sentence must have a subject and a predicate. Three examples of different types of sentence structure are the simple sentence, the compound sentence, and the complex sentence.
A simple sentence is one independent clause — that is, a phrase that can stand on its own as a complete thought. Compound sentences emerge if you join two or more simple sentences by a coordinating conjunction, like “and,” or a coordinating adjective, such as “however.” A complex sentence is one independent clause joined together with a dependent clause — a phrase with a subject and predicate but no complete thought. The combination of the compound sentence and the complex sentence is a sentence structure known as the compound-complex sentence. You will get this type of sentence if you combine a complex sentence with a simple sentence or another complex sentence.
Many times, but not always, the simple sentence structure starts with the subject. The subject is commonly the noun and its modifiers, but this isn’t always the case. In the sentence, “Matt washed the dishes,” the subject is “Matt.” The subject of the sentence, “cooking dinner was hard,” is “cooking dinner.” Even though “cooking” is normally a verb, here it is used as a subject because this action is what the sentence is about.
The predicate of a sentence normally comes at the end of a simple sentence structure and is usually comprised of the verb and its modifiers. In the first example sentence, “washed the dishes” is the predicate. “Washed” is the verb and “dishes” is the direct object — it tells what Matt washed. In the second example, “was hard” is the predicate. “Was” is the verb, and “hard” is the complement of the sentence. Complements always occur after linking verbs and direct objects after action verbs.
When dealing with sentence structure, beware the fragment. A fragment is an incomplete thought. And, as such, is not a sentence. This italicized phrase is an example of a fragment. Notice this phrase does not express a complete thought on its own. Some fragments may have both a subject and a predicate, but if it does not express a complete thought, it is a dependent clause and not a sentence.
Fragments must not be confused with a type of sentence known as an imperative — that is, a sentence that gives a command. The subject of an imperative sentence is the “understood you.” “Come here” is an example of an imperative. If someone said this to you, you understand that the speaker meant, “You, come here.” To determine if a sentence is an imperative rather than a fragment, try adding a “you” at the beginning of the sentence and see if it makes sense.
Written by M.R. Anglin
