Sentence Formation in English - Subject, Predicate - Phrase & Clause Tenses

I owe everything of mine, if there is any, to the Almighty, my teachers and my parents. My humble respects to them. 

 Sentence -- Phrase & Clause

Human beings have a tendency to share their feelings, emotions and experiences with others. One needs a suitable medium to convey all this to others. Language is the best suited medium used for this. But the language differs from place to place & person to person. Language is a broader term.

However a sentence is used to convey the message.

Language is  the most effective system for communication created by human beings. It records and describes every activity performed by them, establishing  very succinctly the truth of the adage"mind over matter". When we use language we are constantly transforming matter into words through the help  of sounds. 

If gone by dictionary meaning, a sentence is a combination of words arranged in a systematic and meaningful way.

A group of jumbled words without any meaning does not form a sentence.

EXERCISE FOR PRACTICE

Arrange the following jumbled words to form a meaningful sentence.

1. Time in nine stitch a saves.
2. Heavy  a water of there in the river was flow.
3. Raining clouds and started it thundered.
4. Beauty of thing for a  joy is a.
5. Players winning among the principal prizes distributed the.


ANSWERS:

1. A stitch in time saves nine.
2. There was a heavy flow of water in the river.
3. Clouds thundered and it started raining.
4. A thing of beauty is a joy for ever.
5. The principal distributed prizes among the winning students.

A sentence basically comprises of three main parts namely Subject, Verb & Object. The latter two collectively form predicate.

Instead of going after nomenclature one should try to understand the basics or facts. It is therefore very essential to learn the formation of a sentence. 

For formation of a sentence we make use of TENSES.

Tenses denote time when a particular work is being accomplished. 

The term 'Tense' refers to the form of a verb which in turn shows the time at which an action happened. So the tense shows :

1. time of the action 

2. state expressed by verb. 

In other words tense tells about the verb used in the sentence.

For example :

1. She sings a song. 

2. She sang a song.

 3. She will sing a song. 

The verbs sings, sang and will sing in the above sentences 1,2,and 3 refer to Present, Past and Future time respectively. 

Time has three divisions first now going on, second already happened and third going to happen in the time to come. 

Tense and Time are not same thing. Tense shows state of a verb in a sentence whereas time refers to division of time of the action shown by the verb i.e. present,past and future.

In many cases the state of time and tense may not be the same.

For example : 

1. He is about to go.

Tense of the verb is present but action will take place in future. 

2. His marriage falls on next Monday. 

Tense of verb is present but action will be in time to come.

3. He does not pay attention to his work. 

Tense is present but time includes past as well as present.  

So time and tense are expressed in different terms.

Tense is used to understand ----

the correspondence  between the form of verb and the concept of time (present,past or future).

Time and tense are not the same thing. Time is a universal concept whereas tense is related only to the verb.

Tenses are of following types.

Before learning about  Tenses it is necessary to know that

In a sentence there is a person or a thing named and something about that is described.  Thus a sentence comprises of two  parts i.e name of a person or a thing and description of that.

The word  about  whom or which something is said in the sentence is called Subject  and the remaining part of the sentence which describes all  about the subject is called Predicate.

For Example

Sentence                                        Subject                       Predicate

Girls are singing a song.   

             Girls   .....Subject               are singing a song....Predicate

Bill did not learn his lesson.   

        Bill ..... Subject                      did not learn his lesson.
                    .....Predicate

They will not help us. 
They......Subject               will not help us....... Predicate

She painted a beautiful picture.   

  She  ....... Subject        painted a beautiful picture........ Predicate.



Generally Subject is used before Predicate in a sentence but occasionally it comes after Predicate.



For example : 

 Down went the house like a pack of cards.


In fact this sentence is :

The house went down like a pack of cards.

But to put more emphasis formation of the sentence has been changed.

 In this sentence, 'the house' is Subject and 'went down like a pack of cards' is Predicate.

In Imperative sentences,  Subject is understood and is omitted in the sentence.  In sentences like

1. Go away at once.
2. Thank you.

Subject has not been used and it is understood or implied. In sentence (1)  Subject is 'you' and in (2) it is 'I'.

Exercise No.1

Identify  Subject and Predicate in the following sentences.

1. Birds are chirping in the trees.

2. Cattle are grazing in the fields.

3. My mother cooks food for me.

4. She carried a beautiful child in her lap.

5. They invited us to dinner last night.

Exercise No.2

Identify  Subject and Predicate in the following sentences.

1. His father is running a factory.

2. She resembles her mother.

3. He did not look after his parents.

4. Elephants eat pieces of sugarcane.

5. Boys are playing cricket.

Exercise No. 3

Match Subject listed in Table A with appropriate Predicate in Table B

Table A                                                           

1. Cattle                                                       

2. Birds                                                       

3. Travellers                                               

4. They                                                       

5. She                                                         

Table B       

A. rested for sometime after a long journey

B. were grazing grass in fields.

C.  was painting a beautiful picture.

D. were chirping in trees.

E. did not recognise her.

Exercise No. 4

Identify and give  Subject implied in the following Imperative sentences :

1. Distribute sweets among children.

2. Make haste to reach in time.

3. Follow the instructions strictly.

4. Good bye, friends.

5. Wish you, all success in life.

Exercise No. 5

Supply a suitable Subject to each Predicate in the following sentences :

1. ................. moves around the sun.

2. ............. was begging alms.

3. ................say he is a cheat.

4. ............... was ploughing the field.

5. ...............presided over the meeting.

Exercise No. 6

Supply a suitable Predicate to each subject in the following sentences :

1.  The boys ..........

2. The sun ..............

3. The Principal ..........

4. The judge ............

5. Everybody .............

SENTENCE , PHRASE  &  CLAUSE

A group of words that makes a complete sense or meaning is called a Sentence. It comprises of two parts, Subject and Predicate.

Sugar tastes sweet.     

Sugar -- Subject            

tastes sweet. -- Predicate   

The rose is a lovely flower.

 The rose -- Subject         
 is a lovely flower....... Predicate


A group of words that makes sense but not a complete sense

 is called a Phrase.

For example -

The sun rises in the east.

 In this sentence words 'in the east' give some meaning but do not form a complete meaning or sense. So 'in the east' is a phrase.

People from far and wide came to see the fair.

In this sentence words 'from far and wide' give some meaning but do not form a complete meaning or sense.

 So 'from far and wide' is a phrase.

A group of words which forms a part of larger sentence

and contains a Subject and Predicate and forms a meaning 

or sense is called a clause.

For example : 

She wears ornaments which are made of gold.

In this sentence 'She' is subject and 'wears ornaments' is Predicate.
But this sentence containsa second group of words 'which are made of gold.' 

This part contains

a Subject 'which'  and 

a Predicate 'are made of gold.' 

Such a group of words in a larger sentence which forms a meaning in itself and has its own Subject and Predicate   but cannot  be used as independent sentence is called a  Clause.

Exercise No.7

Identify  Phrase  in the following sentences.

1. Birds fly in the sky.    

2. She was sitting on a chair.

3. He is a very good singer.

4. He played a funny part.

5. She wears a ring of gold.

Exercise No.8

Identify  Clause  in the following sentences.

1. We met a boy who was hungry.

2. People who are fair in their dealings are always trusted.

3. She believes that he is not a wise man.

4. It started raining when I reached there.

5. Those who work hard are sure to rise.

(ANSWERS)

Exercise No.1

SUBJECT                          PREDICATE

1. Birds                                      are chirping in the trees.

2. Cattle                                     are grazing in the fields.

3. My mother                             cooks food for me.

4. She                                         carried a beautiful child in her lap.

5. They                                       invited us to dinner last night.

Exercise No.2

SUBJECT                            PREDICATE

1. His father                                  is running a factory.

2. She                                            resembles her mother.

3. He                                             did not look after his parents.

4. Elephants                                  eat pieces of sugarcane.

5. Boys                                          are playing cricket.

Exercise No. 3

Table A                      Table B

1. Cattle                           B. were grazing grass in fields.                           

2. Birds                            D. were chirping in trees.                           

3. Travellers                    A. rested for sometime after a long journey.     
                        
4. They                           E. did not recognise her.     
                     
5. She                             C. was painting a beautiful picture.
                                       

Exercise No. 4

1. Distribute sweets among children.         (You)

2. Make haste to reach in time.                  (You)    

3. Follow the instructions strictly.              (You)

4. Good bye, friends.                                  (I )...bid

5. Wish you, all success in life.                  (I)

Exercise No. 5

1. ................. moves around the sun.        (The earth)

2. ............. was begging alms.                   (The beggar)

3. ................say he is a cheat.                    (People)

4. ............... was ploughing the field.         (The farmer)

5. ...............presided over the meeting.      (The chairman)

Exercise No. 6

1.  The boys ..........       were playing cricket.

2. The sun ..............        is stationary.

3. The Principal ..........  fined the student.

4. The judge ............     announced his judgement.

5. Everybody .............    knows him.

Exercise No.7

  Phrase  in the following sentences (Underlined and in italics).

1. Birds fly    in the sky.    

2. She was     sitting on a chair.

3. He is      a very good singer.

4. He played         a funny part.

5. She   wears      a ring of gold.

Exercise No.8

Clause  in the following sentences (Underlined and in italics)

1. We met a boy who was hungry.

2. People who are fair in their dealings are always trusted.

3. She believes that he is not a wise man.

4. It started raining when I reached there.

5. Those who work hard are sure to rise.

DO SEND/EMAIL YOUR COMMENTS IF YOU LIKE OR SUGGESTIONS FOR  IMPROVEMENT