compund sentences

i really hope that my last post helped at least a few of you guys write your essays. if it didn't, i'm terribly sorry. so today, i would like to continue about sentence structure, more specifically COMPOUND sentences. it's a little tricky so read carefully in order to understand.

generally, a compound sentence is a combination of two or more simple sentences or even complex sentences (we'll go through complex later). here's the tricky part; the sentences MUST both be independent clauses making statements, questions or commands. so to be a little more specific, a compound sentence is a sentence which contains two or more INDEPENDENT CLAUSES.

so what are independent clauses? they are sentences that can stand on its own. in other words, they are complete sentences which can be understood.
example of a complete sentence: i lack confidence.
example of an incomplete sentence: i lack. (hence, cannot be considered as an independent clause)

back to the main topic of this post, compound sentences are sentences which contains two or more independent clauses joined together by coordinators. coordinators are easy to remember if you remember this acronym. FANBOYS. For, And, Nor, But, Or, Yet and So. these coordinators act as a bridge between two seperate independent clauses.

example A:

1. Mr. Firdaus sent a bouquet of roses to Mrs. Haziah, FOR she has stolen his heart.
2. Mrs. Haziah has stolen Mr. Firdaus's heart, SO he sent a bouquet of roses to her.

from these two examples, there are three main points that i would like to highlight.

FIRSTLY, you can now see the usage of coordinators (for, so) in compound sentences.

SECONDLY, in both sentences, u can see the common arrangement of subject (mr. firdaus, mrs. haziah), followed by a verb (sent, stolen), thus continued with a comma and the coordinator as a bridge in the middle of the sentences. *note that commas are only used in long compound sentences*

THIRDLY, choice of coordinators directly affects the meaning of the sentence. in the A(1) example, the coordinator FOR gives the information that the event of Mrs. Haziah stealing Mr. Firdaus's heart occurs first although it is written in the 2nd independent clause. In the A(2) example, the coordinator SO shows that due to the event of Mrs. Haziah stealing Mr. Firdaus's heart, hence Mr. Firdaus sends her a bouquet of roses.

example B

1. Syahmi did his Biolody homework AND Hafizi did his Chemistry homework.
2. Bella did not see the frog on the floor, NOR did she intentionally step on it.
3. Wafi has a serious face, BUT he also has a great sense of humour.
4. Would you like an ice cream OR a cotton candy?
5. The water tank seems so peaceful YET haunting to look at.

AND of example B(1) simply connects independent clauses.

the coordinator in example B(2) which is NOR is considered as a paired conjuction, as it is usually paired as 'not...nor'. it represents a negative idea. other examples of paired conjuctions are:

both..and
either..or
neither..nor
not..but
not only..but also
whether..or

in example B(3), the word BUT combines statements that are quite contrast or contradict one another.
in example B(4), the coordinator OR allows us to write different choices in a sentence.
last but not least, YET in example B(5) is somewhat similar to BUT or nevertheless.

i hope this post about compound sentences will at least improve your writing in English a bit, if not much. if there are any enquiries about this topic or if it is quite hard to truly understand, feel free to ask anytime for further enlightenment. =)

as fellow emc's, the pleasure is ours =D

this might help

so everyone's writing their essays right? man i'm jealous. you guys better nail the interview. i received a help request for the essay from someone, so here goes.

so from what i know, you guys have to write about yourself right? well, there actually isn't much i really CAN help, because the person who knows yourself is, well, yourself. so what i'm going to give here are just guidelines, tips, what to write, what not to write and so on.

keep in mind that this is a FORMAL essay. so no informal words, colloquials, jokes or whatever. keep it straightforward and serious, so don't put too much weird stuff or make them wonder of anything. what you write is what yourself is. if you write a joke-like essay, they will think of you as a joker who can't take things seriously, so beware. assess their attention, make them think you're worthy of the scholarship.

basically, in an essay about yourself, you would need to explain who you are. so explain, but not too much details like you have two cats or that your grandfather is a hippy or whatever. DO NOT MAKE A JOKE OUT OF YOUR FAMILY OR HUMILIATE THEM. that's for the first paragraph or so.

you ARE allowed to brag, mind you. tell them you are great. tell them your strengths. they want to know, trust me. if you're a good footballer, tell them. if you can talk in public without breaking a sweat, tell them. i'm sure ALL of you have AT LEAST a few strengths. you guys are not shortlisted for the interview for nothing. it is TABOO to tell them your weaknesses (oh do i need to tell that?) so never ever talk about your lack of maths ability or whatever.

including future plans are a good thing as well. tell them what you dream of (a relevant dream of course). impress them with it. if you need to make up a good enough dream, make it up. just make sure you remember it during the actual interview. it's a dream. everyone is allowed to dream, so dream on. just don't make up childish dreams like conquering everest or uniting the world under one ruler. use logic, you bunch of smart kids (you can just smell the jealousy).

oh and you need to tell what you want to be. this should be done before future plans. sorry for the mess up. you also need to explain why you want to be what you want to be. again, impress them. so you want to be a doctor. why? because you can't stand watching sick people lying in hospital beds waiting for the very limited doctors nowadays and you want to change that. of course you can just make up some more if you want. just don't make it too cheesy.

and maybe this might help as well. DO NOT OVERBOAST YOURSELF. keep it low. you want to impress them, and in a way, seem humble enough. too much bragging will make them think you're a brat and maybe a little annoying. that is maybe the hardest part of the essay, but don't sweat it. like i said, you guys are not shortlisted for nothing :)

well i hope that helped. any other suggestions can be made in the comment box. goodluck for those who are doing the essay and for the interview. and thanks for the enquiry. i'm always glad to help :)

oh my God i forgot this. THE MOST IMPORTANT THING OF ALL. GRAMMAR. find the time to go see someone and have them check your essay. a tiny bit or two would escape the eye (if your essay is eye-catching enough) but a whole mess of mistakes would spell doom.

basic sentence structure

so here is where everything starts. so everyone now knows the components in english right? then let's get on with how to construct sentences. we'll go through the most simple of sentence structuring first.

basically every ACTIVE (we'll go through passive later) sentence starts with a SUBJECT (i'll be referring it as S from now on) and MUST contain at least a verb (V) or the sentence would be just plain wrong. there are five (5) basic patterns in constructing sentences, which are;

1. S+V (subject+verb)
e.g: Azzam sleeps
Azza is eating

2. S+V+O (subject+verb+object)
e.g: i like rice
Baam loves his job

3. S+V+Adj (subject+verb+adjective)
e.g: Amer is lazy
Anep is fierce

4. S+V+Adv (subject+verb+adverb)
e.g: Rul is here
Mizi is everywhere

5. S+V+N (subject+verb+noun)
e.g: Jimi is my godfather
Akmal is a rugby player

if you notice, for every sentence, the bond between S and V is inseparable. they're in love, so never separate them because it hurts. they're the heart of every sentence, so if you ever break the bond, the sentence will never come alive.

enough literature. let's carry on. so like i said, don't ever separate S and V, but you actually add other elements in the sentence, just to make them more interesting, though it is not essential. just don't break their bond and everything will be fine.

here are examples on how you can add other elements.

for S+V

She sleeps
(core sentence)

She sleeps soundly
(an adverb is added to describe how she sleeps)

She sleeps on a bed
(a prepositional phrase is added to show where she sleeps)

She sleeps every afternoon
(a time expression is added to show when she sleeps)

She is sleeping right now
(the tense is changed, but S+V bond remains)

Amal will sleep later
(subject is named and another tense is used)

note that ANY action verb can be used with this pattern

for S+V+O

they like rice
(core sentence)

the people like rice
(the subject is specified)

the mad people like rice
(subject modified with an adjective)

the people in TGB like rice
(subject is added with a prepositional phrase)

the people like fried rice
(object modified with an adjective)

the people like spicy fried rice
(another adjective is added)

ONLY transitive action verbs can be useed with this pattern

for S+V+Adj

he is handsome
(basic santence with "be" verb)

he seems ugly
(basic snetence with anotherlinking verb)

Abu is tall, muscular and handsome
(series of very, very true adjectives)

he appears very happy
(adverb or intensifier added)

Iman became sick last night
(different tense and linking verb)

ONLY linking verbs can be used with this pattern

for S+V+Adv

the teacher is here
(core sentence)

the teacher is over there
(using an adverb phrase)

teachers are everywhere
(plural noun and verb used)

the teachers are in the lobby
(prepositional phrase functioning as adverb)

ONLY linking verbs are suitable for this pattern

for S+V+N

the man is a plumber
(core sentence)

the women are plumbers
(using plural noun and verb)

my father is a nice man
(modified subject and complement)

my grandparents ade senior citizens
(modified plural subjects and complement)

ONLY linking verbs can be used with this pattern

that's it for now. i hope you all can understand. eheh. i tried keeping it simple but if there is anything that you don't understand, feel free to ask at the chat box or just chat with me privately (yahoo messenger blue_dragon1717). thanks for dropping by :)

BUT BEFORE THAT...

let's do some vocab. here are some useful words

SCRUPULUOS (skrupieles)
Meaning 1: careful about paying attention to small details/meticulous
e.g: She's very scrupulous about hygiene when cooking.
Meaning 2: ~(in doing something/in something) careful to be honest and do what is right
e.g: he was srcupulous in all of his business dealings.


SERPENTINE (serpentain)
Meaning: bending and twisting like a snake
e.g: the serpentine course of the road made my stomach churn.


RAVENOUS (ravenes)
Meaning: extremely hungry
e.g: He was absolutely ravenous after he was lost in the woods for days.

basic english first

so, english. it's arguably the most important language in the world. we have learnt the language since kindergarten. yet some still struggle to even splurt a single sentence in english (no offence). well, there's the system to blame (again, no offence) but we ourselves must be willing to learn.
actually i don't want to touch that topic. so i'm goin to leave that for everyone to ponder. english IS important. i can't stress it out more. so i'll cut the crap and continue.
in this lesson, i'm going to show you some very, very basic english, especially for those who want to start from scratch. i'll be including the pronunciation as well.

ENGLISH CONSISTS OF:

VERB (verb)
e.g: eat, sleep, walk, talk, run, drink etc

ADJECTIVE (adjektiv)
e.g: tall, small, big, handsome, ugly, pretty etc

NOUN (naun)
e.g: water, table, chair, cat, human, house etc

PRONOUN (pronaun)
e.g: this, that, each, either, few etc

ADVERB (adverb)
e.g: beautifully, strongly, too, quite, downward stc

PREPOSITION (preposishen)
e.g: after, to, between, during, on, at etc

CONJUCTION (konjankshen)
e.g: but, and, or, either...or, niether...nor etc

ARTICLE (artikel)
e.g: the, a, an

AUXILIARY VERB (okzilieri verb)
e.g: am, are, be, been etc

MODAL VERB (model verb)
e.g: can, must, will, may etc

that's the VERY VERY simplified version of it. just to get it all started. if you have any confusions or you don't get the differences or anything related to this topic, feel free to ask at the comment box. in the next lesson i'll be showing some sentence structure. thanks :)

welcome

hey everybody. this blog is especially for those who want to learn english or improve themselves in the language. it's free so don't worry (duh). what this blog is going to teach you are mostly grammar and vocabulary. if you have any questions or whatever, do ask me and i'll try to answer the best i can. thank you

whether you want to learn or not is ENTIRELY optional. if you don't like my style of teaching or anything, keep it to yourself if you want to bad mouth me, though i do appreciate constructing criticism :)

i'll try keeping things as simple as possible so that everyone can fully understand what i'm explaining. but if you don't understand something, feel free to ask. don't be shy :)

finally, i do hope you enjoy learning here and ultimately improve your english, as that is my main goal in creating this blog, and do support my blog by spreading it around to people who need help, as that is also my goal :)

thank you :D
let's learn english shall we?