Page 106 - DENG101_Communication Skills-I

Unit 10: Kinds of Sentences

Notes
Examples:
1. I gave her a red rose smiling at her, or
2. He asked me why I sat on the pink chair coming towards me.

Obviously, after hearing or reading such sentences, one is bound to get confused in the
meaning.
The first sentence if interpreted literally means that I gave her the red rose which was smiling at

her. Can a rose smile? No. So what is the sentence trying to mean?
Read it now:
Smiling at her, I gave her a red rose.
I am sure, the meaning is clear.

Similarly example 2, if interpreted literally means that He enquired from me the reason for which
I was sitting on a pink chair that was coming towards me. Is it possible that somebody sits on a
chair and the same chair can still come towards him/her? Obviously not.

Then what is it trying to mean?
Read it now:
Coming towards me, he asked why I sat on the pink chair.
So it is very important for each of us to use the right kind and formation of sentences to make
our communication effective. This importance is even higher for the professionals like managers,
lawyers, teachers, etc., as their individual effectiveness is virtually determined by their oral as
well as written communication.

10.1 Sentence

What is a sentence? The most popular defi nition of a sentence is that it is a meaningful collection
of words.
A rather technical definition may be that a sentence is a grammatical unit that is composed of one or

more clauses.
Clause? What is that? OK. Let us understand a few concepts related to the general formation of
sentences.
A sentence has primarily two parts, viz. Subject and Predicate:
Subject: The subject can also be said to be the topic of a sentence. A simple subject may a noun or
pronoun. Depending on the need, a subject can be singular, plural, or compound.
Sometimes, a sentence has a long subject. In such cases, a complete subject is a simple subject
with all of its modifi ers.

Examples:
1. I gave you a pen.
2. The dress with the colourful motifs is very expensive.

In the first sentence, the subject is I, while in the second sentence, the subject is The dress with the
colourful motifs.

LOVELY PROFESSIONAL UNIVERSITY 99