Sentences in English

Begin all sentences with a capital letter. End all sentences with a period (.) or with a question mark (?). Do not end sentences with commas (,).

The following are all sentences. Each of these sentences represent the 7 things that we do in English.

(1) Good morning. (We say hello.)

(2) See you soon. (We say good-bye.)

(3) Thank you for calling. (We thank.)

(4) Oh, my goodness. (We exclaim.)

(5) I don't eat nopalitos. (We give information.)

(6) Do you like nopalitos? (We ask for information)

(7) Please don't add nopalitos to my tacos. (We make requests. = We ask people to do things.)

In English, whenever you say hello, say good-bye, thank, exclaim, give information, ask for information and make requests we need to start with a capital letter and end with a period (.) and a question mark (?).

Number five (5) above is a sentence that gives information. Statements are sentences that give information. When we give information we use statements that fall into one of these 4 categories:

Simple

The simple statement follows this pattern: subject + verb + blah blah blah.

Including a time phrase at the beginning or at the end of this pattern is ideal. Using one of these three patterns is about the clearest and unambiguous ways that people communicate successfully in English.

time phrase, + subject + verb + blah blah blah.

subject + verb + blah blah blah.

subject + verb + blah blah blah + time phrase.

The "verb" may be active or passive. The "verb" may be in one of any of the 12 English verb tenses.

Here are some examples of time phrases:

yesterday

earlier today

later

next week

last year

on my birthday

every Monday

at 6:00AM

Here are some examples of simple statements:

The day after tomorrow, I will have classes with Nely, Alejandra and Ricardo.

Kevin and Edwin live in the United States of America.

My father and I ate escargots at a small French restaurant in San Francisco many years ago..

Now, the sun is shining brightly.

Compound

The compound statement follows this pattern: subject + verb + blah blah blah, FANBOYS subject + verb + blah blah blah.

The ", FANBOYS" is the glue that legally joins two simple statements.

, FANBOYS is an easy way to remember:

, for

, and

, nor

, but

, or

, yet

, so

Here are some examples of compound statements:

I live in Mexico, and my family lives in the USA.

I loosened the dog's collar, but the dog's owner tightened it again.

Clutter annoys me, so I avoid it at all costs.

Complex

A complex statement is a simple statement with a dependent clause either before or after the simple statement. A dependent clause is a series of words in a certain sequence that cannot stand alone as any kind of statement.

The dependent clause contains the subject verb blah blah blah pattern, but it begins with a conjunction. Some dependent clauses function as time phrases

Here are some examples of complex statements:

I studied music theory after I learned to play the piano.

After I learned how to read sheet music, I leaned how to sight-sing.

Compound-complex

A compound-complex statement consists of a compound statement with a time phrase at the beginning or the end of one of the component independent clauses. The time phrase should have a subject and a verb. The time phrase should not be able to stand along as a sentence.

Here are some examples of compound-complex statements:

When I was growing up, I had piano lessons, and I took ballet classes, too.

If you are hungry, get something to eat, or you'll starve for no reason.