7. The structure of the simple sentence.

The structure of a phrase, a clause and a sentence.

The phrase is the syntactic unit used as a notional part of a sentence. As a level-forming unit, it is characterized by some common and some differential features with the unit of the lower level, the word, and the unit of the upper level, the sentence. A phrase lacks both the subject and the object. Hence, a phrase cannot stand alone to give complete meaning. The function of a phrase depends upon its construction and place in a sentence.

A clause is a group of words which acts as a single constituent and is built round a verb, for example: He lives in America. A clause is a statement or a question that generally consists of a subject and a verb phrase and constitutes a complete thought.

A sentence is generally understood to be a unit of one or more words distinct from preceding and following text. A sentence can consist of a single clause or several clauses.

The subject, the predicate, the object, etc. (Syntactic roles).

The nominative parts of the simple sentence, each occupying anotional position in it, are subject, predicate, object, adverbial, attribute, parenthetical enclosure, addressing enclosure; a special, semi-notional position is occupied by an interjectional enclosure.

Thus, the subject is a person-modifier of the predicate. The predicate is a process-modifier of the subject-person. The object is a substance-modifier of a processual part (actional or statal). The adverbial is a quality-modifier (in a broad sense) of a processual part or the whole of the sentence (as expressing an integral process inherent in the reflected event). The attribute is a quality-modifier of a substantive part. The parenthetical en-closure is a detached speaker-bound modifier of any sentence- part or the whole of the sentence. The addressing enclosure (address) is a substantive modifier of the destination of the sentence and hence, from its angle, a modifier of the sentence as a whole. The interjectional enclosure is a speaker-bound emotional modifier of the sentence.

Criteria applied to establishing syntactic roles.

The functional criterion concerns the syntactic role of words in the sentence typical of a part of speech or methods of combining with other words in the phrase. For example, verb combines with a noun (write a letter), with an adverb (write quickly) and in the sentence functions as a predicate

A simple sentence has only one clause: The children were laughing. John wanted a new bicycle. All the girls are learning English.

In its simplest form, a simple sentence consists of a subject and a verb (predicate). We can add more meaning to the sentence by including qualifiers, objects, complements etc. Sitting on a branch, the monkey gibbered. The little girl was carrying a basket on her head.

A simple sentence structure contains one independent clause and no dependent clauses. - I run. This simple sentence has one independent clause which contains one subject, I, and one predicate, run. The girl ran into her bedroom. This simple sentence has one independent clause which contains one subject, girl, and one predicate, ran into her bedroom. The predicate is a verb phrase that consists of more than one word. In the backyard, the dog barked and howled at the cat. This simple sentence has one independent clause which contains one subject, dog, and one predicate, barked and howled at the cat. This predicate has two verbs, known as a compound predicate: barked and howled. This compound verb should not be confused with a compound sentence. In the backyard and at the cat are prepositional phrases.