BBB3013 Building Sentences

SEMANTIC BLOCK

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Building Sentences

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Wan Nurhafeza Wan Salam

​ELC/PPAL/UMT

Multiple Choice

A sentence must have:

• Subject

• Predicate

• Both, a Subject and a Predicate

• Both, Subjects and Predicates

Each sentence is:

• made of a SUBJECT (N or NP) & a PREDICATE (V or VP) ( the two basic components of a sentence)

• made longer by adding modifiers (REFER to Lesson 4: Modifiers), and

• each modifier is actually a meaningful unit or a semantic block which is added to the main sentence to modify or change its meaning by adding more information to the sentence, and thus manages to make it more interesting. 

Multiple Choice

Okaaaay, but what should you ALWAYS identify FIRST in a sentence?

• Subject (Noun or Noun Phrase)

• Verb Phrase / Main or Head Verb (Predicate)

In order to find the subject of a sentence, you must find the verb first.

Why?

A sentence's subject is NOT defined as what the sentence is about, but rather who/what is acting on the verb.

Multiple Choice

How to identify Main or Head Verb (V) in a sentence?

A main verb will usually come right AFTER the subject (N or NP).

• True

• False

To build a meaningful sentence, it's very important for you to write Subject & Predicate in a sentence.

Since Verb including Verb Phrase is very, very, veerrrrrry important, let's go through Verb lesson first

Verb? Or Main/Head Verb?

Multiple Choice

"is, are, was, were" are categorised as State-of being Verbs

• True

• False

Multiple Choice

The state-of-being Verb OR we call it -Be Verb is part of Helping Verb and DO NOT suggest or perform action.

• True

• False

then, Verb Phrase?

= ( V +V ) or = [(helping Verb) + (Main Verb)]

HELPING VERB OR MODAL AUXILIARY VERB

ONE MAIN VERB!!!!

Multiple Select

What is the category of Subject "There.." in the previous slide?

(You can choose more than one)

• (DET) Determiner

• (N) Noun

• (NP) Noun Phrase

• Adjective

Multiple Select

Select all the important elements to build a meaningful sentence.

• Subject or Noun Phrase

• Main Verb or Verb Phrase

• Preposition

• Adjective

• Punctuation (.)

To build a meaningful sentence, it's very important for you to write Subject & Predicate in a sentence.

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Similarly,

if you want to identify errors in a sentence OR rewrite jumbled-up words, start by 1. identifying the Predicate of the sentence, then 2. Subject.

You can use WH-questions to build sentence, too.

students / is / management / important /university / . / skill / for / to / master / an /Time​

Rearrange this jumbled-up words to form a meaningful sentence:​

​Step 1:

​1. Remember, identify PREDICATE first. Therefore, look for Verb or Verb Phrase. Hint: be-verb or aux./modal verbs.

students / is / management / important /university / . / skill / for / to / master / an /Time​

students / is / management / important /university / . / skill / for / to / master / an /Time​

​Step 2:

​2. Identify a word with capital letter(s).

students / is / management / important /university / . / skill / for / to / master / an /Time​

​Step 3:

​3. Identify Nouns.

students / is / management / important /university / . / skill / for / to / master / an /Time​

​Step 4:

​4. Arrange possible phrases. Look for prepositions, adjectives, determiners or adverbs.

​Capital letter:

Time + management

Phrases:

for (someone?) university student

​ to master

​ an important skill

students / is / management / important /university / . / skill / for / to / master / an /Time​

​Step 5:

​5. Re-arrange phrases by answering WH-questions.

​Time management

is an important skill

for university students

to master.

​Answer:

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Time management is an important skill for university students to master.

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Rearrange this jumbled-up words to form a meaningful sentence:​

students / is / management / important /university / . / skill / for / to / master / an /Time​

​Incorrect Answer:

Time management for university students is an important skill to master.

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​Explanation: 'for' is used to explain a reason or purpose and here it uses to explain the Noun phrase 'an important skill' in Predicate rather than the Subject 'Time management'.

​Answer:

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Ministry of Health updates the number of cases in Telegram every day.

Rearrange this jumbled-up words to form a meaningful sentence:​

cases / of / Ministry / day /. / every / updates / the / number / of / in / Telegram / Health

Open Ended

Any questions/comments?