A simple sentence can also be referred to as an independent clause.

A compound sentence refers to a sentence made up of two independent clauses (or complete sentences)
connected to one another with a coordinating conjunction. Coordinating conjunctions are easy to remember if
you think of the words "FAN BOYS":

 For
 And
 Nor
 But
 Or
 Yet
 So

A complex sentence is made up of an independent clause and one or more dependent clauses connected to it.
Dependent clauses begin with subordinating conjunctions.

The term periodic sentence is used to refer to a complex sentence beginning with a dependent clause and ending
with an independent clause.

These verbs which change according to words I, we, you, he, she, Anita, and they, are called Finite Verbs.

Non finite They are verbs which do not change. Verbs of this type are...

 the infinitive,

 the gerund, and

 the participle.

No finite verb, no sentence! They may be transitive, intransitive or linking.

the non-finites often act like nouns, and sometimes like adjectives or adverbs.

If it is based on a finite verb, it is called a finite clause.

If it is based on a non-finite verb, it is called a non-finite clause.

clauses that describe a noun are called adjective clauses.

They are also known by the name relative clauses, because they always begin with a relative pronoun or
relative adverb.
Words that tell us something more about verbs are called adverbs. Therefore, clauses which do the same job are
called adverb clauses.

In sentence 3—We are declaring to you 'what we have seen'—if we ask the question, "are declaring what?", we get
the answer 'what we have seen'.

A word which has this kind of relationship to a verb is called an object. To be an object is the privilege of nouns,
pronouns, noun phrases, and noun clauses. So, 'what we have seen' is a noun clause.

If we look at the function, that is, the work an infinitive does in a sentence, >we see the following:

1. It often acts as both a noun and a verb.

2. Occasionally, it acts as an adjective or adverb, despite being a verb in meaning.

I like to finish the work quickly.

In this sentence, the phrase 'to finish' does the following jobs:

 It is the object of the finite verb 'like' - therefore to finish is similar to a noun (because being an object is a
noun's job).

 The phrase 'to finish' has its own object, 'work' - so to finish is a verb (since verbs have objects).

 The adverb 'quickly' modifies (i.e. tells us something more about) to finish. Since the phrase to finish is
modifiable by an adverb, it must be a verb.

In some cases...

 It behaves even like an adjective, as in the following sentence.

That was a game to watch!

In this sentence, to watch tells us something more about the quality of the game (a noun). Describing a
noun is the work of an adjective.

 Sometimes it behaves like an adverb. The sentence below illustrates this.

Her voice is pleasant to hear.

The phrase to hear tells us something more about the quality of being pleasant. The word pleasant is an
adjective, and words that tell us more about an adjective (adjective modifiers) are traditionally
called adverbs.
It has an "-ing" ending. That does not mean that all verbs ending in "-ing" are gerunds. Present participles too have
the same ending.

The Gerund does the work of a noun in a sentence. This means, it can be any one of the following:

1. The Subject of a Verb...

as in the sentence...
Swimming is good exercise.
The word swimming is the subject of the verb is.

2. The Object of a Finite Traansitive Verb...

as in...
You enjoy learning a new language.
The word learning is the object of the finite verb enjoy.

3. The Object of a Non-finite Verb

She intends to begin writing the story soon.

The word writing is the object of to begin, an infinitive (i.e. a non-finite verb).

4. The Object of a Preposition

He is interested in joining the group.

The word joining is the object of the preposition in.

5. The Indirect Object of a Verb

She gave reading great importance in her life.

The word reading is the indirect object of the verb gave.

The Gerund is also a name. It is the name of an activity.

 In so far as it is an activity, it is a verb.

 In so far as it is a name, it is a noun.

 walking stick – the word walking looks like an adjective describing stick; but it is not.

walking stick is not a stick which walks. It is a compressed form of "stick for walking". So walking is the
object of the preposition for. So walking is a Gerund.

 reading room – the phrase does not mean that the room reads. It is a compression of "a room for (the
purpose of) reading". So reading is a Gerund.
A participle is a verbal adjective.
It is by birth a verb,
but mostly serves nouns and pronouns as an adjective does.

This non-finite verb can be recognized from its -ing ending (e.g. eating, playing, singing, studying, sleeping).
However, this fact alone is not enough to recognize it for sure, because the gerund also has the same ending.

 A present participle does the work of an adjective, but a gerund does the work of a noun. I
enjoy singing.
('singing' is the object of the verb 'enjoy' - being an object of a verb is the mark of a noun -
therefore, 'singing' is a gerund.)

 She is a singing girl.

('singing' describes the noun 'girl' - describing a noun is the function of an adjective - therefore 'singing' is a
participle.)

All past participles do not have one type of form.

As Part of Some Finite Verb Phrases...

The Present Participle is the word in any finite verb phrase that shows the continuous (progressive) aspect.

If you go to the page on list of verbs, you will see all the finite verb phrases that can be formed from the verb eat.

Out of these forms, I will take four examples and show you what I mean:

 am eating
 had been eating
 was being eaten
 will be eating

These phrases show the aspect of continuity. The word in bold in each of these phrases is the word which is
specially responsible for expressing continuity and that word is a present participle.

(Please be aware, that this participle can sometimes occur along with a past participle, as in the second and third
examples above, where been and eatenare past participles.)

As a Predicative Adjective...

Look at this sentence:

The little boy is smart.

The adjective smart is an essential part of the predicate. If you remove smartfrom the sentence, you don't have a
sentence. The adjective smart is called a predicative adjective. The other adjective little (an attributive adjective) can
be removed and we would still have a sentence.
A present participle can be used as a predicative adjective...
as in the following sentence:

The news is disturbing.

If you remove the present participle (disturbing) from this sentence, you will not have the sentence.

Pronoun Type Members of the Subclass Example

Possessive mine, yours, his, hers, ours, theirs The white car is mine
myself, yourself, himself, herself,
Reflexive itself, oneself, ourselves, He injured himself playing football
yourselves, themselves
Reciprocal each other, one another They really hate each other
Relative that, which, who, whose, whom, The book that you gave me was
where, when really boring
Demonstrative this, that, these, those This is a new car
who, what, why, where, when,
Interrogative What did he say to you?
whatever
Indefinite anything, anybody, anyone,
something, somebody, someone, There's something in my shoe
nothing, nobody, none, no one

An adverb of time tells us when something is done or happens. We use it at the beginning or at the end of a
sentence. We use it as a form of emphasis when we place it at the beginning. Adverbs of time
include afterwards, already, always, immediately, last month, now, soon, then, and yesterday.

An adverb of place tells us where something is done or happens. We use it after the verb, direct object or at the end
of a sentence. Adverbs of place include words such as above, below, here, outside, over
there, there, under, upstairs.

An adverb of manner tells us how something is done or happens. Most adverbs of manner end in –ly such
as badly, happily, sadly, slowly, quickly, and others that include well, hard, fast.

An adverb of degree tells us the level or extent that something is done or happens. Words of adverb of degree
are almost, much, nearly, quite, really, so, too, very, etc.

An adverb of frequency tells us how often something is done or happens. Words used as adverbs of frequency
include again, almost, always, ever, frequently, generally, hardly ever, nearly, nearly
always, never, occasionally, often, rarely, seldom, sometimes, twice, usually, and weekly.

Among the three types of conjunctions, this is probably the most common one. The main function of coordinating
conjunctions is to join words, phrases, and clauses together, which are usually grammatically equal. Aside from that,
this type of conjunctions is placed in between the words or groups of words that it links together, and not at the
beginning or at the end.

This type of conjunctions is used in linking two clauses together. Aside from the fact that they introduce a dependent
clause, subordinating conjunctions also describe the relationship between the dependent clause and the independent
clause in the sentence.

List of Common Subordinating Conjunctions:

 while
 as soon as
 although
 before
 even if
 because
 no matter how
 whether
 wherever
 when
 until
 after
 as if
 how
 if
 provided
 in that
 once
 supposing
 while
 unless
 in case
 as far as
 now that
 as
 so that
 though
 since
a subordinating conjunction can be found either at the beginning of the sentence or between the clauses that it links
together. Aside from that, a comma should also be placed in between the two clauses (independent clause and
dependent clause) of the sentence.

The correlative conjunctions are simply pairs of conjunctions which are used to join equal sentence elements
together.

List of Common Correlative Conjunctions:

 either… or
 neither… nor
 not only… but also
  both… and
 whether… or
 so… as
Although a conjunctive adverb is not a real conjunction, this kind of words functions as conjunctions in a sentence.
Some examples of conjunctive adverbs are:

 in addition
 for example
 however
 therefore
 on the contrary
 hence
 in fact
 otherwise
 as a result
 indeed
 still
 thus
 on the other hand
 furthermore
 instead
 incidentally
 after all
 finally
 likewise
 meanwhile
 consequently

1. Alliteration: The repetition of an initial consonant sound. Example: She sells seashells by the seashore.

2. Anaphora: The repetition of the same word or phrase at the beginning of successive clauses or
verses. Example: Unfortunately, I was in the wrong place at the wrong time on the wrong day.

3. Antithesis: The juxtaposition of contrasting ideas in balanced phrases. Example:As Abraham Lincoln said, "Folks
who have no vices have very few virtues."

4. Apostrophe: Directly addressing a nonexistent person or an inanimate object as though it were a living
being. Example: "Oh, you stupid car, you never work when I need you to," Bert sighed.

5. Assonance: Identity or similarity in sound between internal vowels in neighboring words. Example: How now,
brown cow?

6. Chiasmus: A verbal pattern in which the second half of an expression is balanced against the first but with the
parts reversed. Example: The famous chef said people should live to eat, not eat to live.

7. Euphemism: The substitution of an inoffensive term for one considered offensively explicit. Example: "We're
teaching our toddler how to go potty," Bob said.
8. Hyperbole: An extravagant statement; the use of exaggerated terms for the purpose of emphasis or heightened
effect. Example: I have a ton of things to do when I get home.

9. Irony: The use of words to convey the opposite of their literal meaning. Also, a statement or situation where the
meaning is contradicted by the appearance or presentation of the idea. Example: "Oh, I love spending big bucks,"
said my dad, a notorious penny pincher.

10. Litotes: A figure of speech consisting of an understatement in which an affirmative is expressed by negating its
opposite. Example: A million dollars is no small chunk of change.

11. Metaphor: An implied comparison between two dissimilar things that have something in common. Example: "All
the world's a stage."

12. Metonymy: A figure of speech in a word or phrase is substituted for another with which it's closely associated;
also, the rhetorical strategy of describing something indirectly by referring to things around it.

Example: "That stuffed suit with the briefcase is a poor excuse for a salesman," the manager said angrily.

13. Onomatopoeia: The use of words that imitate the sounds associated with the objects or actions they refer
to. Example: The clap of thunder went bang and scared my poor dog.

14. Oxymoron: A figure of speech in which incongruous or contradictory terms appear side by side. Example: I am
as graceful as a bull in a china shop when I dance.

15. Paradox: A statement that appears to contradict itself. Example: "This is the beginning of the end," said Eeyore,
always the pessimist.

16. Personification: A figure of speech in which an inanimate object or abstraction is endowed with human qualities or
abilities. Example: That kitchen knife will take a bite out of your hand if you don't handle it safely.

17. Pun: A play on words, sometimes on different senses of the same word and sometimes on the similar sense or
sound of different words. Example: Jessie looked up from her breakfast and said, "A boiled egg every morning is
hard to beat."

18. Simile: A stated comparison (usually formed with "like" or "as") between two fundamentally dissimilar things that
have certain qualities in common. Example:Roberto was white as a sheet after he walked out of the horror movie.

19. Synecdoche: A figure of speech in which a part is used to represent the whole. Example: Tina is learning her
ABC's in preschool.

20. Understatement: A figure of speech in which a writer or speaker deliberately makes a situation seem less
important or serious than it is. Example: "You could say Babe Ruth was a decent ballplayer," the reporter said with a
wink.