Syntax - English sentence structure

Introduction: This page contains some basic information about sentence structure (syntax) and sentence types. It also includes examples of common sentence problems in written English. ESL students who understand the information on this page and follow the advice have a better chance of writing well.

Subject/predicate: All sentences are about something or someone. The something or someone that the sentence is about is called the subject of the sentence. In the following sentences the subjects are shown in red. Note how the subject is often, but not always, the first thing in the sentence.

• John often comes late to class.
  My friend and I both have a dog named Spot.
• Many parts of the Asian coastline were destroyed by a tsunami in 2004.
• The old hotel at the end of the street is going to be knocked down to make way for a new supermarket.
• Sitting in a tree at the bottom of the garden was a huge black bird with long blue tail feathers.
• The grade 7 Korean boy who has just started at FIS speaks excellent English.
• On Saturdays I never get up before 9 o'clock.
• Before giving a test the teacher should make sure that the students are well-prepared.
• Lying on the sofa watching old films is my favourite hobby.

The predicate contains information about the someone or something that is the subject. The example sentences above are shown again, this time with the predicate marked.

• John often comes late to class.
  My friend and I both have a dog named Spot.
• Many parts of the Asian coastline were destroyed by a tsunami in 2004.
• The old hotel at the end of the street is going to be knocked down to make way for a new supermarket.
• Sitting in a tree at the bottom of the garden was a huge black bird with long blue tail feathers.
• The grade 7 Korean boy who has just started at FIS speaks excellent English.
• On Saturdays I never get up before 9 o'clock.
• Before giving a test the teacher should make sure that the students are well-prepared.
• Lying on the sofa watching old films is my favourite hobby.

Simple subject/predicate: As you can see from the example sentences above both the subject and the predicate can consist of many words. The simple subject is the main word in the subject, and the simple predicate is the main word in the predicate. The simple subject is always a noun/pronoun and the simple predicate is always a verb. In the following sentences the simple subject is shown in red and the simple predicate is shown in green. My ESL teacher speaks a little Russian. The young girl with the long black hair fell from her bike yesterday in heavy rain. At the back of the line in the cafeteria yesterday was a large brown dog with a yellow collar around its neck! My friend and I are going on holiday together this year. Your mother or your father must come to the meeting. Sitting in a tree at the bottom of the garden was a huge black bird with long blue tail feathers. From the last three examples sentences above you will notice that the simple subjects and simple predicates can be more than one word.

Advice: To write strong, clear sentences you must know who or what you are writing about (subject) and what you want to say about them or it (predicate). Your writing will be more interesting if the subject is not the first thing in every sentence you write.

Sentence types: One way to categorize sentences is by the clauses they contain. (A clause is a part of a sentence containing a subject and a predicate.) Here are the 4 sentence types: Simple: Contains a single, independent clause. I don't like dogs. Our school basketball team lost their last game of the season 75-68. The old hotel opposite the bus station in the center of the town is probably going to be knocked down at the end of next year.

Compound: Contains two independent clauses that are joined by a coordinating conjunction. The most common coordinating conjunctions are: and, or, but, so.) I don't like dogs, and my sister doesn't like cats. You can write on paper, or you can use a computer. A tree fell onto the school roof in a storm, but none of the students was injured.

Complex: Contains an independent clause plus one dependent clause. (A dependent clause starts with a subordinating conjunction. Examples: that, because, although, where, which, since.) I don't like dogs that bark at me when I go past. You can write on paper, although a computer is better. None of the students were injured when the tree fell through the school roof. Note: A dependent clause standing alone without an independent clause is called a fragment sentence - see below.

Compound-complex: Contains 3 or more clauses (of which at least two are independent and one is dependent). I don't like dogs, and my sister doesn't like cats because they make her sneeze. You can write on paper, but using a computer is better as you can easily correct your mistakes. A tree fell onto the school roof in a storm, but none of the students was injured although many of them were in classrooms at the top of the building.

Advice: Writing that contains mostly short, simple sentences can be uninteresting or even irritating to read. Writing that consists of mostly long, complex sentences is usually difficult to read. Good writers, therefore, use a variety of sentence types. They also occasionally start complex (or compound-complex) sentences with the dependent clause and not the independent clause. In the following examples the dependent clause is shown: Although it was raining, we decided to go fishing. If it doesn't rain soon, the river will dry out. Because the road was icy and the driver was going too fast, he was unable to brake in time when a fox ran into the road in front of him. Note: Sentences can also be categorized according to their function.

Note: Independent clauses are also called main clauses. Dependent clauses are also called subordinate clauses.

Problematic 'sentences': To write a correct sentence, you need to have a good understanding of what a sentence is. Students who don't have this understanding, or don't take care, often include problem sentences in their writing. Native English speakers are just as likely to write problem sentences as ESL students. There are three main types of problem sentence: Run-on sentences: These are two sentences that the writer has not separated with an end punctuation mark, or has not joined with a conjunction. (Click the following run-ons to see where they should be separated into two sentences.) I went to Paris in the vacation it is the most beautiful place I have ever visited. It's never too late to learn to swim you never know when you may fall from a boat. If you're going to the shops can you buy me some eggs and flour I want to make a cake. I like our new math teacher, she always explains the work very clearly. He was late to school again, his bus got caught in heavy traffic. Advice: It is helpful to read your written work aloud. When you speak, you will make natural pauses to mark the end of your sentences or clauses. If there is no corresponding end punctuation mark in your writing, you can be almost certain that you have written a run-on sentence.

Sentence fragments: Fragment sentences are unfinished sentences, i.e. they don't contain a complete idea. A common fragment sentence in student writing is a dependent clause standing alone without an independent clause. In the each of the following examples the fragment is the second 'sentence', shown in red: I don't think I'm going to get a good grade. Because I didn't study. She got angry and shouted at the teacher. Which wasn't a very good idea. He watched TV for an hour and then went to bed. After falling asleep on the sofa. She got up and ran out of the library. Slamming the door behind her. I have to write a report on Albert Einstein. The famous scientist who left Europe to live in the USA. After riding my bike without problems for over a year, the chain broke. 40 kilometers from my house! Advice: If your 'sentence' is a dependent clause, or it doesn't contain both a subject and a predicate, then it is not a proper sentence. You can often detect fragments if you read your writing backwards sentence by sentence, i.e. from the last sentence to the first one. You can usually correct a fragment by connecting it to the sentence before or after it. Good writers, who have a full understanding of the sentence, occasionally choose to write a sentence fragment. So you may see sentence fragments in the fiction or even some of the non-fiction you read. As an ESL student, however, you should avoid fragments (except when writing your own creative stories).

Rambling sentences: A rambling sentence is a sentence made up of many clauses, often connected by a coordinating conjunction such as and, or, so. John usually gets up before 7 o'clock, but yesterday his alarm clock did not ring, so he was still asleep when his boss called him at 10.30 to ask where he was and tell him that he would lose his job if he was late again. Although the blue whale has been protected for over 30 years and its numbers are increasing, especially in the North Pacific, where whale hunting has been banned, it is still at risk of extinction as its habitat is being polluted by waste from oil tankers and its main food, the plankton, is being killed off by harmful rays from the sun, which can penetrate the earth's atmosphere because there is a huge hole in the ozone layer over Antarctica. Advice: A rambling sentence is quite easy to spot. You have almost certainly written one if your sentence contains more than 3 or 4 conjunctions. If you read the sentence aloud and run out of breath before reaching the end of it, you have written a rambling sentence. If your sentence stretches over many lines of writing, you have certainly written a rambling sentence and most probably a run-on sentence too. Unlike run-ons or fragments, rambling sentences are not wrong, but they are tiresome for the reader and one of the signs of a poor writer. You should avoid them. General advice: If you are not sure whether you have written a good, correct sentence, ask your teacher! And remember: The more you read in English, the better a writer you will become. This is because reading good writing provides you with models of English sentence structure that will have a positive influence on your own written work. Note: Good writing consists not only of a string of varied, correctly-structured sentences. The sentences must also lead from one to the next so that the text is cohesive and the writer's ideas are coherent. For information on these two important concepts, go to the Language words for non-language teachers page and click on Cohesion. Source: http://esl.fis.edu/learners/advice/syntax.htm

NC7: Post day pill (morning-after pill)

Today we can see the technology advancements not only affects us on items, but also on goods, and services, since few years sexual head and pregnancy control has been driving the attention of scientist whom created few new methods to control pregnancy, morning-after pills are pregnancy preventative pills that are taken after unprotected sexual intercourse or a failed contraceptive method. This method is controversial due several factors, for example, if this process is abortive, and is it correct to finish a life at this point? Is it legal? The topic has several pros an cons which are going to be developed whenever or not it is fine and why it is right or not to implement this kind of method.

First of all the pros of the uses of post day pill, being in favor of its use, this pill can prevent one in four pregnancies that are presented in unprotected sexual intercourse, and that consequently, decrease markedly the nearly 5 million abortions a year that are produced in Latin America, because this treatment reduces the risk of pregnancy by 89%. Another advantage is that this type of emergency contraception is a method approved by the World Health Organization and the National Drugs and Drug Administration (FDA).

Although this contraceptive method has pros it also has many reasons to doubt on it. Pregnancy is medically defined as when a blastocyst implants into the womb. The morning-after pill makes that this egg implanted cannot got into the uterus, this because the mechanism irritated the line of the uterus making impossible for the egg to implant on it, which will be considered as chemical abortion. Antiabortion groups strongly opposed to the move. They say that the pill is nothing more than an easy method for abortion. Well, "emergency contraceptive pill" is sort of a scary name, and what we're talking about is a pill that women take immediately after unprotected sex, and then again 12 hours later for the express purpose of preventing a pregnancy. The cons, of course, have been associated this with being a pseudo-abortion pill. That is sort of the biggest stumbling point right now.

To conclude without doubt is a very controversial topic in our society, it all depend as when you may consider the formation of a human being had started, if from the moment of fertilization or from the time the embryo positioned in the uterus and begins developing the new human. What should be a priority in this area is the responsibility of every person and as partners with the responsibility to assess the possibilities of give a birth to a child to the world, knowing all the attention that this brings to his training as an adult and at the same time consider world situation today, that does not come to have needs or intended to be an unwanted pregnancy, you should also inform the public about various contraceptive methods which take into account the beliefs and moral practices and welfare of people.

A songs

1. You don´t bring me flowers

2. Shoulder to shoulder





Enjoy it! ;-)

NC6: Secretariat

This movie shows the true history of a woman that is an interest example of perseverance, effort and constancy in the dreams and goals that she has. Through of Big Red “Secretariat” and their groups of friends, she began to change the future of her life professional, familiar and personal. The Penny´s profession before the changes was a simple housewife, but a good day she decided work in the stables of his ailing father.

Since that time, Penny became interested in the world of horse racing. Assisted by veteran trainer Lucien and thanks to the speed of the horse Red, Penny is converted to the first woman to win the Triple Crown, something very important, especially if we remember that at that time the riding was very masculine and male chauvinist. She overcame the obstacles of debts, criticism, ridicule, tax problems and even bigger winner excelled as a business man, always holding his ideals and the best.

On the other hand, at the beginning of the movie we can see the mother´s dead and sometime later the father is also sick and then dies. She has to separate the family to take care of the farm and attend the family business, in this time she faces the difficulties of living without their children having problems with his brother and asked him to sell the farm, the Treasury will request payment of taxes and is only supported by the housekeeper, the coach and the farmer.

At the end of the film are notorious for their family reunion and recognition of their work to achieve success and stability. And finally we have the personal changes, she showed at the beginning as a simple and loving personality of each with great charisma and humility. Upon arrival the problems have to face the challenges, seems unsure and no opportunities. In the film we have two heroes horse Secretariat and Penny, both very gentle and charismatic. She has faith in his horse and track the target makes you stand out in the races, gain confidence, experience, achieve the admiration of his family and the entire country as well as strengths to function in that specific business world.

In conclusion was a very rich experience see this movie, because this woman and their house show how to overcome successfully the obstacles, is an example to apply in our life for the messages and values of perseverance, interest, love, power, beliefs, know how to loss and the more important how to know and most importantly how to know to get up and demonstrate an absolute win.

Secretariat Belmont Stakes 1973:

NC5: Globalization Effects

What´s mean Globalization? According with the Levin Institute Globalization is a process of interaction and integration among the people, companies, and governments of different nations. That mean what the process would be managed by the international trade and investment and aided by information technology. Globalization is a key of the dynamic process and it is produced meanly by the societies, and they live under the democratic capitalism.

Regional economies, societies, and cultures have become integrated through a global network of big political ideas though communication, transportation, and trade. However the globalization has effects on the environment, culture, political systems, economic development and prosperity.

First, the globalization helps people to improve the life quality in different ways. As an example today we have big advance in technology. That mean the health is better; the people could build better, easy communication, more opportunities in offices, new accessories and information. Against with the above points are the consumerism and the poverty. The consumerism are increasing every day because the people want to buy anything, the people make a bad use of the credit card, loans and dummy life.

Globalization brings the opportunity of grow around the worldwide production markets and broader access to a range of foreign for products and companies meanly in the democratic capitalism. Particularly movement of material and goods between and within national boundaries international trade in manufactured goods increased more than 100 times in the 50 years since 1955. In contrast with the opportunities, social and communism governments experience the in-quality, instability and absence of international investments. As a result we have poor people and they have a lot of needs. The country couldn´t be integrated to the Global Economy.


The last reason is the environment challenges around the Land Planet, it´s a consequence or impact caused by the human been. Since many factories are built in developing countries with less environmental regulation, globalism and free trade may increase pollution and impact in the fresh water resources. The principal catastrophe is the damage of the basic conditions of life and it´s affecting our Planet, the destruction of the flora and fauna are the cause of the Global Warming.

In conclusion Globalization is recognized as being driven by a combination of economic, technological, socio-cultural, political and biological factors. The key point of the Globalization is how the human been could make the things. The people must learn how they can use the natural resources, because this is the most important in the world. Also the people need to understand the correct use of the artificial resources, since they couldn’t exceed the limits.

Words Cited:

http://www.wikipedia.com/

Oxford English Dictionary

http://www.gestiopolis.com/canales/economia/articulos/no19/efeglobal.htm

NC4: Ethnic Conflicts

Ethnic conflict is a sociological term to define any conflict of a violent nature, war or military between two or more ethnic groups, groups of people from different cultural, religious, racial, or geographical. Undoubtedly, in many areas since the early days till now live political conflicts, economic, cultural, social, physical, where violence persists, the mistreatment of the population and instability. We will see then in a brief but clear the case of the Holocaust, the Lebanese Civil War and recently the case of Egypt.

The Holocaust was one of the worst atrocities of humanity; this epoch was characterized by persecution and murder of six million Jews by the Nazi government in the twentieth century. Everything is made based on the belief that the Germans were considered a superior race, and therefore the Jews were a race considered inferior and deserved to die. Furthermore, the Germans considered the Roma racially inferior, disabled, and some groups such as Poles and Russians. For political reasons, other groups were persecuted homosexuals, Jehovah's Witnesses, Communists and Socialists. Before World War II began, the Germans had established concentration camps to imprison all persecuted groups. During the war, the Nazis created temporary detention camps and forced labor camps, which totaled about 400. In them, the Jewish population forced to live in really miserable, isolated from the non-Jewish population as well as other Jewish communities and subjected to torture or death "useless people" according to their rules.

Moreover we have the Lebanese Civil War, which was a conflict that occurred in Lebanon between Christian and Muslim populations in the country, with aid from Syria and Israel, carried out between 1975 and 1990. The war had four main stages: first, from 1975 to 1977, with clashes and bloodshed between religious communities, and the Syrian intervention in Lebanese Parliament's request, the second between 1977 and 1982, characterized by the involvement of Israel in the south Litani River Operation Litani through the third, between 1982 and 1984, with the invasion of Israel, the takeover of Beirut and the subsequent United Nations intervention, and the latter between 1984 and 1989. With the "Taif Accords”, signed in Saudi Arabia, tensions began to quiet down until the final end in 1990.

In the case of Egypt, after three decades in power, people were unwilling to continue with President Mubarak in power and did not want his successor and son Gamal as leader of his country. Generated demonstrations in Egypt were aimed solely protest against the government of Hosni Mubarak. The clash arises as a protest against excessive police brutality, state emergency laws, high rates of unemployment, the desire to increase the minimum wage, lack of housing and food, inflation, corruption, lack freedom of opinion and poor living conditions. In addition to this international assessment, this is considered authoritarian and dictatorial governments, as obsolete. After many protests and confrontations of the population, this culminates in the abandonment of power by Mubarak, leaving it in the hands of the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces, Egypt today and fight to improve stability.

Finally the ethnic conflicts have always existed and as human beings do not change our way of thinking towards a peaceful coexistence, these problems do not cease to exist, governments often do not measure the serious impact on society with social conflicts, problems economic, cultural consequences, including assaults and deaths in mainly the damage to the needy classes who see their post-conflict actually getting worse without a secure future or a certain stability to the hand and now we see that the bad experiences we have not been served as an example to improve in this area. Remembering John Paul II: "Let no one be under any illusion that the mere absence of war, even as desirable, is equivalent to a real peace. There is no true peace but comes without fairness, truth, justice and solidarity."

Works Cited

http://www.proverbia.net/citastema.asp?tematica=143

http://www.segunda-guerra-mundial.com/2gm-holocausto-judio.html http://www.google.co.cr/#q=actualidad+egipto&hl=es&biw=1259&bih=823&prmd=ivnsu&ei=gmF4TfT0IYbGlQfm9_i1BQ&start=10&sa=N&fp=88e7c88d11db47e5

http://www.cholonautas.edu.pe/modulo/upload/CONFLICTOS%20ETNICOS.pdf

http://jai.com.uy/historia/holocausto.htm

http://www.worldlingo.com/ma/enwiki/es/Lebanese_Civil_War

http://www.telemadrid.es/?q=programas/01resavi

NC3: Immigration

Immigration is the arrival in a country to settle in it, especially with the idea of forming new colonies or domiciled in the already formed in our world today this situation has both advantages and disadvantages arise because of economic reasons, social, political or environment. In our country we have the first lead is brought migrants are more willing to fill vacancies in jobs that local people are not willing to take, for example includes roles such as agriculture, child care, construction and cleaning services. Another advantage is that migrants can have access to better social welfare services in place to migrate, as in the case of the CCSS and better education through the government. Moreover we have some disadvantages among which we should mention the availability of work as this may be temporary, unpredictable, dangerous or illegal to some extent where not respected the guarantees provided in our legislation. A further disadvantage is the social and economic burden posed by people who come to seek a better future in our country, where people often have to respond to the sudden arrival of large numbers of illegal migrants, and people come with good intentions there are others that come to increase more crime and insecurity. According to the report of social violence in Costa Rica (2003) of those accused of child abuse "... of all foreigners involved (42%) appear first Americans (9.5%), followed by Colombians (3.7%) in 21.8% of cases of foreign nationality is unknown.” Undoubtedly immigration has positive and negative points for people who need a better future, openness and good help these nations always come and work in dignity and to bring benefits to the host country a better nation for all.