Language is about building meaning and then communicating it to other people in a way that allows the ideas in your head to somehow be transported, without damage, to another person.  Every language has a different way of doing this.  They all have words and phrases and some sort of grammatical structure, but the way that they do that can be very different from one language to the next.  In this chapter, we will learn about how people create meaning using the English language.

There are different aspects about our world and about our lives that we somehow mix and bake together to create a ‘thought cake’.  If you have ever baked a cake, you know that there are many ingredients that are mixed together, and you have to do things in a certain order; otherwise, it ends in disaster.  However, there are also different kinds of cakes, and while some ingredients are necessary for any cake, some cakes use some ingredients that others don’t.

In English, there are certain things you need in the ‘sentence cake’.  English is sort of like a layer cake.  You have one layer, which could be a cake on its own, but you can also add other layers to it.  They all have the same basic ingredients, but some can use different flavors, like chocolate or vanilla.

Our world is basically the same no matter which country you live in or which language you use, so some parts of language are the same for any language.  Languages are built on the things around us—the things we own or use, the things that we do, and how we do certain things.  These are all parts of language throughout the world; however, there are differences in how people communicate these things.  Most languages talk about something in a sentence, and they usually talk about an action.  There are other things that sentences include. There are different approaches to what you can include in sentences.  Some things that you don’t need in a sentence in another language are absolutely necessary in English.

1.0 Language and Culture: High-Context vs. Low-Context (Explicit) Languages

Some languages, such as Japanese, developed in very stable environments.  Japan is an island and, as a result, it did not have as much interaction with other cultures and languages as countries such as England did.  During its development, England was constantly being attacked and taken over by other countries, each of which added elements of their own language’s vocabulary and grammar to the mix that makes up English.

In Japan, it is easier to predict what others may be thinking or what they are going to say—this is the context of what is being communicated.  Japanese is known as a high-context language.  Many aspects of communication can be assumed and don’t have to be said out loud.  In England, on the other hand, with so many cultures and languages in the mix, you can’t predict nearly as much.  In English, everything must be explicitly stated directly, completely, and clearly.  It is known as a low-context language.

In some languages, for example, you don’t always need to say who or what is the source of an action.  In English, you usually would say, “This room is cold—or it’s cold in here”. In Japan, however, you might just say, “寒い—Samui—cold.” If you are both in the room, you can assume that both of you feel the cold and that you are talking about the room.

In English, almost everything must be explicit—very direct and clear.  All the parts of the sentence must be included, and a lot of detail is often given.  To convey complex meanings, academic English uses complex sentence structures that allow the speaker to include a lot of detail and to form complex ideas.

Noam Chomsky, a language expert, once said that language is culture and culture is language.  You cannot separate the two.  So, to communicate in English, it is important to start to think in an ‘English way’ by using English sentence structure.

2.0 The Parts of a Sentence

Some things are needed in all sentences in English, while other things are optional.

In English, you must identify what you’re talking about.  This could be an object, a person, a place, a time, or even an idea.  We call all of these things a noun.  We can see, taste or touch most of the things we talk about, but there are things that you cannot see—like ideas.  These are known as being abstract.  The noun that is the topic of what we are talking about is called the ‘Subject’.

A noun can have different jobs in a sentence.  It can be the source of an action—what starts an action.  It can also receive an action or be used to perform an action.  It can be a place where an action happens or a time when an action happens.  When a noun or noun phrase is the source of an action or is being described, then it is the subject of the sentence.

From the subject, the sentence can go in two directions.  The subject can either do something or the subject is described—it is something.  The action word that we use is called the ‘verb’.

If the subject does something, it could just do the action, but it might use something when it does the action.  Or something might be the object of the action—it might ‘receive’ the action.

There is also another possible thing that is involved in the sentence.  Something or someone can give something or do something for another person, animal, or thing.

There is another possible kind of sentence that talks about action.  It is a command or an instruction (how to do something).   Here, the person doing the action is always ‘you’—one or more people.  So, here, you are the subject.  You are not doing the action yet, but you are commanded or instructed to do the action.

When someone gives a command, however, they don’t say ‘You’—that would be sort of rude.  Instead, everyone will know that the person who is giving the command is talking to you.  They know that you are the subject, and you know that you are the subject.  Everyone understands that you are supposed to do the action.

So, here, the subject is understood and not given.  The sentence simply starts with the verb.

3.0 Sentences that Describe the Subject (Someone, Something, a Place, an Animal, or an Idea)

An English sentence can also have a verb that means ‘existence’.  This verb is not an action.  No one or no object is doing something.  Instead, it just ‘IS’ something In this sentence, we are describing something.  The verb that we use is called the verb ‘BE’.   ‘Existence’ means that something is rather than is not.  When you exist, you might not be doing anything—you simply are.

The verb could also be something that is very similar to the verb ‘BE’—it is called a ‘Linking Verb’ because it links or connects a describing word to the subject of the sentence.

In many countries, houses are made from wood boards.  These boards are joined together using nails to make the ‘frame’ of a house.  It is the basic shape of a house.  Of course, the house would not be complete without covering the frame with something and without other things such as windows, doors, and plumbing.

When building a house, the frame creates the basic shape and function of the house.  In English, the basic frame of a sentence creates the basic meaning of the sentence, and it is made up of subjects, verbs, objects, and indirect objects; however, to this, we add words that make the sentence more useful, descriptive, or accurate.  These words include adverbs, adjectives, and articles.

First, let’s start with the basic frame of the sentence.  There are only five sentence frames in English, and every sentence is made up of one of these.  The basic frame is normally called a ‘clause’, and different clauses can be connected to create a larger and more complex sentence.

The five sentence patterns in English are as follows:

4.0 Five Sentence Patterns

4.1 Subject-Verb

Someone/something does something—an abstract noun can also do something.
 

John

skates (every day)

• We can add adjectives, adverbs, and preposition phrases to make our clause more descriptive, accurate or interesting.

  Examples

  Birds fly in the sky.  (preposition phrase used as an adverb)

  Careful organization clearly helps.  (adjective and adverb)

  People live here.  (adverb)

• Sometimes there is more than one subject or verb.

  Examples

  Birds fly, walk and sometimes swim.  (3 verbs)

  Careful organization and clear goals help.  (2 nouns)

  People live and work here.  (2 verbs)

4.2 Subject–Verb-Object

Someone/something does something with another something or to another something.
 

John

hits

the baseball

• Again, we can add adjectives, adverbs, and preposition phrases to make our clause more descriptive, accurate or interesting.

  Examples

  Subjects are in bold, verbs are underlined, and objects are italicized.
   

  • Good parents support their /young/ children.  (adjective)
  • /Busy/ squirrels eat /fallen/ nuts from the ground.  (adjective and preposition phrase)
  • Competition can create conflict.
  • Over-consumption is depleting (using up) the earth’s resources.
• Here also, there is sometimes more than one subject, verb or object.

  Examples

  Subjects are in bold, verbs are underlined, and objects are italicized.
   

  • Good parents support and encourage their children.  (2 verbs)
  • Squirrels eat nuts and seeds. (2 objects)
  • Competition and lack of resources can create conflict.  (2 subjects)
  • Over-consumption is depleting (using up) the earth’s water and other resources.  (2 objects)

4.3 Subject-Verb-Indirect Object-Object

Someone/Something does something with something for someone/something.  There are two ways to write this pattern.

The first way is Subject + Verb + Indirect Object + Object.
 

Abdul

gave

his friend

a gift

 
The second way is Subject + Verb + Object + ‘to’ + Indirect Object.
 

Abdul

gave

a gift

to his friend

4.4 Implied Subject-Verb-Indirect Object-Direct Object

This pattern is used to give commands or instructions.  Any of the other three sentence patterns that have a subject and a verb may be used.  In other words, it could be a sentence with no object of the verb, or it may have an object of the verb and even an indirect object.  It is useful to think of this pattern as having a ‘ghost subject’—it is there, but we don’t see or hear it.  It is an implied subject.  That is, everyone knows that the person speaking is talking to YOU.  It is YOU who is supposed to do the action.
 

/You/

Study!

4.5 Subject-Linking Verb-Modifier

This type of sentence is used to describe, define or identify the subject of the sentence.  The subject of the sentence is a linking verb, which is a non-action verb.  It links or connects the subject to a word that tells us more about the subject.  The modifier follows the subject and is the word or phrase that describes, defines or identifies the subject of the sentence.

The modifier can be a noun or noun phrase, an adjective (including participles) or adjective phrase, or a certain kind of adverb.  Adverbs have many functions, but we do not use any that tell us more about an action, such as an adverb of manner, which tells how something is done.  Really, the only adverb that follows a linking verb is an adverb of place, such as ‘here’ or a preposition phrase that acts as an adverb of place, such as ‘at the hospital’.

5.0 Adding to the Sentence Frame

The frame of a house is the basic shape of the house and the rooms that are used in different ways by the people who live there.  The house usually has a kitchen, bathroom, bedroom and a living room. In addition, we usually add things to the house to make it more useful and beautiful.  In the same way, when we ‘build’ a sentence, we add things to make it more accurate, descriptive, and functional.  The things we add are adverbs, adjectives, preposition phrases, modals, and a few others.

6.0 Introduction to Combining Clauses into Compound and Complex Sentences with Adverb Clauses)

All five of the sentence patterns that we have looked at can make up a clause.  A single clause can be a sentence, but we can also combine two or more clauses to make a longer sentence.  There are two ways of doing this. We can join an independent clause with another independent clause to make a ‘Compound Sentence’, or we can also join a dependent clause with an independent clause to make a ‘Complex Sentence’.

An independent clause must have a subject or implied subject (for commands or instructions) and a verb.  It may also have an object and an indirect object.  A clause used to describe, define or identify the subject of the sentence must have a subject, a linking verb, and a modifier.  The idea of the independent clause is also complete, so an independent clause can be a single-clause sentence.

A dependent clause must also have a subject or implied subject (for commands or instructions) and a verb.  It may also have an object and an indirect object.  It could also be a ‘Subject + Linking Verb + Modifier’ sentence used to describe, define, or identify the subject of the sentence.  It must be complete grammatically.  However, the idea in the dependent clause is not complete, or it is part of the idea of the main clause.  It could be an adverb clause, an adjective clause, or a noun clause.  However, it must always be attached to another clause—an independent clause—in order to complete the idea.

A good way to think of independent and dependent clauses is to describe them as an adult or a child.  Adults can take care of themselves—they can live independently.  Although they may be connected in a relationship to another adult in some way, such as a friend or partner, they don’t usually need another person to live—they can live separately.

A ‘dependent clause’ is like a child.  A child needs to be connected to an adult in order to live.  In the same way, an adverb, adjective, or noun clause must always be connected to an independent clause.

6.1 Connecting Clauses

Independent clauses and dependent clauses are connected in different ways.

6.1.1 Compound Sentences

When two connected clauses are both independent, the longer sentence is called a ‘Compound Sentence‘.

In a compound sentence, two Independent Clauses are connected by Coordinating Conjunctions.  The Coordinating Conjunctions are For, And, Nor, But, Or, Yet, So.  These Coordinating Conjunctions always come between two independent clauses, and a comma always comes before them.

The conjunction creates a certain kind of relationship between the two clauses:

For: A cause of something or the reason for it

And: Adds an idea

Nor: Not ‘this’ and not ‘that

But: An opposite idea

Or: A choice between ‘this’ or ‘that’

Yet: Expresses an opposite idea, but one that is perhaps not expected

So: An effect of something

6.1.2 Complex Sentences: Adverb Clauses

There are three kinds of complex sentences that join a dependent clause with an independent clause: Adverb Clauses, Adjective Clauses, and Noun Clauses.  In this chapter, we will focus on Adverb Clauses.

An adverb clause acts as an adverb to the main clause.  For example, in the sentence, “We will watch a movie after we eat dinner”, the dependent clause tells WHEN we will watch a movie.  It is no different than saying, “We will watch a movie at 7:00 p.m.”

A complex sentence joins a dependent clause with an independent clause.  Adverb clauses are dependent clauses—the idea of the adverb clause is not complete if it is not connected to an independent clause.  For example, if we say, “After we eat dinner”, it will leave someone wondering what the rest of the information is . . .  “What will happen after we eat dinner?”

Dependent Adverb Clauses are joined in a different way than when two independent clauses are joined into a Compound Sentence.  In a compound sentence, the Coordinating Conjunctions (FANBOYS), come between the two clauses.  However, in an adverb clause the Subordinating Conjunction must always stay with the dependent clause.  If the dependent clause is moved (i.e.  the adverb clause comes first in the sentence or comes second in the sentence), the Subordinating Conjunction must come with it.