© 2019 Steve Campsall
© 2019 Steve Campsall
|
the simple sentence (1) |
|
In grammar, a sentence is called simple not because it is short - or even because it is easy to read or understand. It is a simple sentence because it is composed of a single main clause.
|
1. The cat sat on the mat.
2. The short-tailed, long-haired Abyssinian pedigree cat with the rather grand name of Arthur of Geneve had been sitting on the Etruscan camel-skin mat in front of the roaring log fire.
The above two grammatical structures are both simple sentences: the second seems 'complex' in its form, yet it still only contains a single subject/verb unit and so is still a simple sentence, i.e. it consists of one main clause.
The subject of the main clause is the rather oddly long noun phrase: 'The short-tailed, long-haired Abyssinian pedigree cat with the rather grand name of Arthur of Geneve...' and the head word of that phrase is...? ...cat; the verb (a verb phrase or string in this example) is 'had been sitting'. The remaining part of the sentence is a pair of adverbial phrases that simply add extra information to tell more about how the cat was sitting.
|
When you see this box on a page - click to consolidate what you have learned. |
|
