The Writing Sentence The Types of Sentence

2. The Writing Sentence

The word sentence in a number of handbooks will probably find a different definition in each one. According to the Oxford Dictionary of English Grammar, sentence is the largest unit of language structure treated in traditional grammar; usually having a subject and predicate, and when written beginning with a capital letter and ending with full stop. 45 While Donald Hall and Sven Birkerts in their book Writing Well state that sentence is a group of words with a period, an exclamation point, or a question mark at the end. A sentence is also a verbal structure that reflects something about the world. It puts words in relation in order to map our understanding of the sensible structure of things. 46 In addition Enno Klammer explains that sentence is an independent unit of expression. Moreover she explains that sentence is a group of words containing a subject and a predicate and expressing a complete thought. 47

3. The Types of Sentence

According to Bob Brannan, there are four types of sentences they are simple sentence, compound sentence, complex sentence, and compound-complex sentence. 48 a. Simple Sentence A simple sentence contains one main clause with no subordinate clauses. It may be short and truly ‘simple’, as in uncomplicated, or it may have several phrases that lengthen it and add complexity. Here are several examples: Aaron likes ice cream. 45 Chalker, Weiner, The Oxford..., p. 358. 46 Donald Hall, Sven Birkerts, Writing Well. 9 th Ed , Washington D. C: Addison Wesley Longman, 1998, p. 126. 47 Enno Klammer, Paragraph Sense: A Basic Rhetoric, New York: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, Inc, 1978, p. 2. 48 Bob Brannan, A Writer’s Workshop Crafting Paragraph, Building Essays, New York: McGraw–Hill, 2003, p. 502-503. Aaron and his younger sister like ice cream. b. Compound Sentence A compound sentence merely adds one or more main clause to a simple sentence. A sentence has two sets or more of subjects and verbs that are usually divided with a coordinating conjunction like and or but and a comma-or a semicolon if the conjunction is omitted. Compound sentence may be uncomplicated or may contain a great deal of information, but it may not contain a subordinate clause. Here are several examples: Aaron likes ice cream, so he eats a lot of it. Aaron and his younger sister like ice cream, so they eat a lot of it. c. Complex Sentence Complex sentence is not necessarily any more “complex,” as in complicated, than simple or compound sentences, but it does certain another kind of clause-the subordinate or dependent clause. A complex sentence, then consist of one main clause and one or more subordinate clauses along with whatever other phrases the sentence accumulates. Here are several examples: Aaron likes ice cream because it tastes sweet. Aaron and his younger sister like ice cream because it tastes sweet. d. Compound-Complex Sentence The compound-complex sentence is just a combination of the two preceding sentence types. It consists of two or more main clauses with one or more subordinate clauses along with accompanying phrases. Here are several examples: Aaron likes ice cream because it tastes sweet, so he eats a lot of it. Aaron likes ice cream that is full of chocolate chips, so he eats a lot of it. While John Langan in his book Sentence Skill also divides the sentence into four types as simple, compound, complex, and compound- complex. 49 Each is explained below. a. Simple Sentence A simple sentence has a single subject-verb combination. A simple sentence may have more than one subject or more than one verb. For example: The game ended early. Lola and Tony drove home. The children smiled and waved at us. 49 Langan, Sentence Skills …, p. 139-146. b. Compound Sentence A compound sentence, or “double,” sentence is made up of two or more simple sentences. The two complete statements in a compound sentence are usually connected by a comma plus a joining word and, but, for, or, nor, so, yet. For example: The rain increased, so the officials canceled the game. Martha wanted to go shopping, but Fred refused to drive her. c. Complex Sentence A complex sentence is made up of a simple sentence a complete statement and a statement that begins with a dependent words such as, after, as, because, etc. For example: Because I forgot the time, I missed the final exam. d. Compound-Complex Sentence A compound-complex sentence s made up of two or more simple sentences and one or more dependent statements. For example: When the power line snapped, Jack was listening to the stereo, and Linda was reading in bed.

CHAPTER II THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK

C. Error

When the students write in English, they can make a lot of errors. It seems impossible if the learners or students have never been made some errors in their language learning process, because do some errors is human and natural.

4. The Definition of Error

There are many definitions of errors. According to Geographical Webster , Revised Home and Office Dictionary of the English Language, “Error is a mistake made in writing or other wise, a wondering or deviation from the truth, 50 it means that error can be found in the writing covering a phoneme, a word, a phrase, a clause, a sentence, a paragraph, a discourse. While in Merriam Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary Eleventh Edition, “Error is an act involving an unintentional deviation from truth or accuracy”. 51 Dullay stated, “Errors are the flawed side of learner speech or writing.” 52 It means that there is something wrong in norms of language performance. As the writer said before, that making errors are unavoidable in learning process. Besides making errors are parts of learning and no one can learn language without hisher first making errors. 50 Geographical Webster Revised Home and Office Dictionary of the English Language Chicago, p. 384. 51 Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary Eleventh Edition Springfield, Massachusetts: Merriam-Webster, Inc, 2003, p. 425. 52 Heidi Dullay, et. al., Language Two New York: Oxford University Press, 1982, p.138.