2024年5月15日发(作者：ipad上市时间顺序)

The Sentence

I. What is a sentence ?

A sentence is a sequence of words that express a complete idea, beginning with a capital

letter and ending with a period, a question mark or an exclamation mark. The words forming a

sentence must be organized in a certain order to convey ideas clearly and also to avoid ambiguity.

(1) I like English.

Like I English.

English like I.

English I like.

It is easy for us to see that only the first sentence among the four is acceptable according to

English grammar. The other three sentences can just be regarded as word-groups that cannot

clearly show what they mean owing to word-order fault.

(2) Jim loves Alice.

Alice loves Jim.

Although the two given sentences are correct in grammatical terms, they differ slightly in

their meanings. In the first sentence, “Jim” is the subject of the verb “love”, while “Alice” is the

subject of the verb “love” in the second sentence, so accurately, we cannot know whether the

object in each sentence also loves the other person.

Besides, a grammatically acceptable sentence contains at least a subject and a predicate verb,

though in many cases, other sentential elements are added to make the sentence more expressive.

It is of rather great help to study what elements a sentence can contain and how those elements can

be placed in suitable ways to form different types of sentences in English language learning.

II. Classification of sentences

Sentences can be divided into different classes from different perspectives, which will be

further manifested as follows.

2.1 From the perspective of function

According to function, we have declarative, interrogative, imperative, exclamatory and

optative sentences. Undoubtedly, the five types of sentences are used to help speakers or writers

achieve their different purposes in language use.

A declarative sentence provides a statement, either affirmative or negative. What’s

noteworthy is that a negative sentence must contain a negative or semi-negative word (no, not,

never, nothing, hardly, few, etc).

(3) A light heart lives long. — William Shakespeare (an affirmative sentence)

(豁达者长寿。)

The maternal love never changes. (a negative sentence)

(母爱永恒。)

An interrogative sentence is used to raise a question, which can be further classified into five

sub-categories, namely, simple question, special question, alternative question, disjunctive

question, and rhetorical question. A simple question begins with an auxiliary verb, a modal verb,

or the verb “be”, and in most cases calls for a “yes” or a “no” as its answer. For this reason, a

simple question can also be called a yes-no question.

(4) Does it matter who can be elected Chairman of the Student Union?

(谁会被选为学生会主席重要吗？)

Can diligence alone always lead to success?

(仅仅勤奋能成功吗？)

Is it necessary for students of English to read some western literary works?

(英语专业的学生有必要读一些西方文学作品吗？)

A special question, or a wh-question, as the term itself implies, begins with a wh-word, in

other words, an interrogative pronoun (who, whom, whose, what, which) or an interrogative

adverb (when, where, why, how). We should not forget that the word “how” is generally believed

to be a wh-word, notwithstanding its different initial letters. And questions of this type often

require specific answers.

(5) What do you suppose are the main causes of global warming?

(你认为全球变暖的主要原因何在？)

Why are so many teenagers addicted to Internet games?

(为什么如此多的青少年对网络游戏上瘾呢？)

An alternative question, or a question of choice, provides us with two or more choices, which

are connected by the coordinating conjunction “or”.

(6) Should college students read extensively or selectively?

(大学生应该精读还是泛读？)

Does e-mail make people get closer or drift apart?

(电邮是把人们拉近了还是疏远了？)

What is the most popular sport among teenagers, basketball, football, or swimming?

(青少年当中最受欢迎的运动项目是什么，篮球、足球、还是游泳？)

A disjunctive question, or a tag question, means a short question following a statement.

Generally speaking, an affirmative statement precedes a negative short question, while a negative

statement is followed by an affirmative short question.

(7) The Internet has become the chief source of information, hasn’t it?

(因特网已成为主要的信息来源，不是吗？)

E-friends can never take the place of our real-life friends, can they?

(网友决不能够取代现实生活中的朋友，是吗？)

A rhetorical question is one that is asked to make a point rather than to expect an answer. It is

often regarded as a figure of speech in the form a question, which is more emphatic than an

ordinary statement. We should also notice that this type of questions can end with a period, an

exclamation mark, as well as a question mark.

(8) What can prevent us from making greater progress if we persevere with our work?

(=Nothing can prevent us from making greater progress if we persevere with our work.)

(如果我们坚持工作，谁能够阻止我们取得更大的进步呢？)

This is my kingdom. If I don’t fight for it, who will?

(这是我的王国，为之奋战，舍我其谁？)

Why should I believe you, a guy who never tells the truth?

(我为什么应该相信你这么一个从不说实话的家伙？)

By using imperative sentences, the speaker intends to give advice, instructions, requests, or

commands. Despite some few exceptions, a bare infinitive or the auxiliary verb “do” combined

with “not” is often required to be placed at the beginning of an imperative sentence, which is

believed to have an implied second-person subject in most cases.

(9) Pursue breakthroughs in your life. (在生活中寻求突破。)

Do not take for granted what you get from your parents.

(不要将父母的给与认为是理所应当的。)

Never put off till tomorrow what you can do today.

(绝不将今日之事推至明天。)

No chatting in class. (课堂上不得聊天。)

A sentence that expresses some kind of strong emotional feeling like joy, surprise,

disappointment, or sorrow, is categorized as an exclamatory sentence, which normally ends with

an exclamation mark. Differently from the Chinese language, English starts an exclamatory

sentence with “what” or “how”.

(10) What a pity it is that inadequate importance has been attached to teenagers’ psychological

health!

(青少年的心里健康未得到足够的重视，真可惜！)

How stupid it is to expect a winning game only with words!

(光用嘴说会获胜，真蠢了！)

When we need to express a hope or wish, we can use an optative sentence, which, in the

English language, bears a close relation to subjunctive mood. There is no morphological optative

but various patterns with optative meanings. The modal verb “may”, the phrase “if only” with a

verb in subjunctive mood, the verb “wish” with a double-object construction, or the present

subjunctive is used for this purpose. An exclamation mark is often required at the end of this type

of sentence.

(11) May our country become more and more prosperous and powerful!

(愿我们的国家越来越繁荣、强大！)

If only we students did not have so much homework!

(但愿学生没有如此多的作业！)

Wish you all greater achievements in the near future!

(祝你在不久的将来取得更大的成就！)

God bless you in the job interview!

(祝你面试成功！)

2.2 From the perspective of structure

In terms of structure, we have the following four types of sentences: simple, compound,

complex, and compound-complex sentences. The concept “subject-predicate construction” is

helpful for a better understanding of them.

A subject-predicate construction is one that comprises a subject and a predicate-verb. The

compound subject or compound predicate-verb cannot be mistaken as two or more of them.

However, it lays no limits on the number of other sentential elements. A subject-predicate

construction is also called a clause, which can be independent or dependent. An independent

clause is a clause that can stand by itself, that is, it can form a sentence alone, while a dependent

clause, also called a subordinate clause, can provide an independent clause with additional

information, but cannot stand alone as a sentence. What can help us to make a distinction between

the two types of clauses is that a dependent clause usually begins with a dependent word, namely,

a conjunctive pronoun or adverb, a relative pronoun or adverb, or a subordinating conjunction.

A simple sentence contains only one independent clause and no dependent clause. It usually

appears in five patterns, including SV, SVO, SVP, SVOO, and SVOC.

(12) Great minds think alike. (SV)

(英雄所见略同。)

Achievement provides the only real pleasure in life. — Thomas Edison (SVO)

(人生真正的快乐是成功。)

Living without an aim is like sailing without a compass. — Alexander Dumas (SVP)

(生活没有目标就如同航海没有指南针。)

We will give him the dose of his own medicine. (SVOO)

(我们将以其人之道还治其人之身。)

A hedge between keeps friendship green. (SVOC)

(君子之交淡如水。)

A compound sentence consists of two or more independent clauses and no dependent clause.

The clauses should be joined by a coordinating conjunction with or without a comma, a correlative

conjunction with or without a comma, a semicolon, or a conjunctive adverb following a semicolon.

Unlike in the Chinese language, a comma alone cannot be used to join two coordinating clauses,

and the use of a comma in this way is called comma splice, which is generally considered

unacceptable in English.

(13) We cannot always build the future for our youth, but we can build our youth for the future.

---- Franklin Roosevelt, American president

(我们不能总是为我们的青年造就美好未来，但我们能够为未来造就们的青年一代。

--- 富兰克林·罗斯福,美国总统)

I am a slow walker, but I never walk backwards. ---Franklin Roosevelt

(我走得很慢，但我从不后退。--- 富兰克林·罗斯福,美国总统 )

Not only does television offer us news around the world, but it also works as a free source

of entertainment for us.

(电视不仅为我们提供全球新闻，而且也是一种免费的娱乐方式。)

A complex sentence is composed of one independent clause and one or more dependent

clauses. The dependent clauses (subordinate clauses) modify the independent clause or serve as

components of it. The independent clause is termed as the main clause of a complex sentence, and

dependent clauses can function as subject, object, predicative, appositive, attribute or adverbial,

which are respectively referred to as subordinate clauses of different types.

(14) What one thinks and feels is mainly due to tradition, habit and education.

-----Galsworthy, British novelist

(一个人的思想和感情主要归因于传统，习惯和教育。---约翰·高尔斯华绥,英国小说家)

I will just say whatever comes to my mind. ----Bernard Shaw, British dramatist

(我怎么想，就怎么说。---萧伯纳,英国剧作家)

That is just where we fundamentally disagree with him. --- Snow

(这就是我们和他的根本分歧所在。 ---斯诺)

He came to the decision that he must act at once. --- Thedore Dreiser

(他作出了立即行动的决定。---西奥多.德莱赛)

The books which help you most are those which make you think most. ---Theodore Parker

(对你帮助最大的书是最能让你深思的书。---西奥多.帕克)

I never resist temptation, because I have found that things that are bad for me do not tempt

me. ---Bernard Shaw，British dramatist

(我从不抵制诱惑，因为我发现对我有害的的事物对我没有丝毫的诱惑。

---萧伯纳,英国剧作家)

A compound-complex sentence is made up of at least two independent clauses and one or

more dependent clauses, in other words, it is a compound sentence which includes a subordinating

clause in at least one of its coordinating clauses.

(15) There is no royal road to science, and only those who do not dread the fatiguing climb of

its steep paths have a chance of gaining its luminous summits. — Karl Marx

(在科学上没有平坦的大道，只有不畏劳苦沿着其崎岖之路攀登的人，才有希望达到

它光辉的顶点。---卡尔.马克思)

The people who get on in this world are the people who get up and look for circumstances

they want, and if they cannot find them, they make them. ---Bernard Shaw

(在这个世界上，取得成功的人是那些努力寻找他们想要机会的人，如果找不到机会，

他们就去创造机会。---萧伯纳,英国剧作家)

2.3 From the rhetorical perspective

Rhetorically, sentences can be grouped into loose, periodic and balanced sentences, mainly in

accordance with the positioning of the main idea of sentences. A loose sentence puts the main idea

at the beginning of it, whereas a periodic sentence delays the main idea till the end of it. Readers

may understand a loose sentence when they have just read a few words of it, but can never know

what a periodic sentence means until they have read the whole of it. A sentence which contains

two or more parallel clauses similar in length and importance is regarded balanced, and a sentence

of this type is easily confused with antithesis, which means a balanced sentence that makes a

contrast.

(16) We observe today not a victory of party but a celebration of freedom, symbolizing an end

as well as a beginning, signifying renewal as well as change. --- John Kennedy，American

president (loose)

(

今天我们庆祝的不是政党的胜利，而是自由的胜利。这象征着一个结束，也象征着

一个开端,意味若延续也意味若变革。--约翰.肯尼迪，美国总统)

And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries, and all knowledge;

and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, and have not charity, I am

nothing. ---The King James Bible (periodic)

(我若有先知讲道之能，也明白各样的奥秘、各样的知识，而且有全备的信，叫我能

够移山，却没有爱，我就算不得什么。)

Every man has a right to utter what he thinks truth, and every other man has a right to

knock him down for it. ---Samuel Johnson, British writer and critic (balanced)

(每一个人都有权说出自己认为是真实的事情，而其他人又有权因此把他打倒在地。

---塞缪尔·约翰逊,18世纪英国作家，批评家)