The basic unit of English grammar is the clause:
[An unlucky student almost lost a 17th century violin worth almost £200,000]
[when he left it in the waiting room of a London station.]
[William Brown inherited the 1698 Stradivarius violin from his mother]
[and had just had it valued by a London dealer at £180,000.]
Clauses are made up of phrases:
[An unlucky student] + [almost lost] + [a 17th century violin worth almost £200,000]
[when] + [he] + [left] + [it] + [in the waiting room of a London station.]
[William Brown] + [inherited] + [the 1698 Stradivarius violin] + [from his mother]
[and] [had just had it valued] + [by a London dealer] + [at £180,000.]
We can join two or more clauses together to make sentences.
An unlucky student almost lost a 17th century violin worth almost £200,000 when he left it in the waiting room of a London station.
William Brown inherited the 1698 Stradivarius violin from his mother and had just had it valued by a London dealer at £180,000.
Comments
Hello MCWSL,
There are different conventions in terms of how to start a letter or email. Traditionally and still in more formal correspondence the salutation is put on a separate line with a comma after it:
In informal correspondence and in emails in particular the salutation becomes just a normal sentence at the start of the text, just as if we were speaking to the person. A full stop or (more informally) an exclamation mark can be used:
Best wishes,
Peter
The LearnEnglish Team
Hello, I guess I need more explanation in some part of this topic, they are:
1. on the phrasal verb examples above, I found [almost lost], what kind of part of speech is that? is that an adverb? But i'm not pretty sure about it.
2. Actually I still a bit confused about the differences between clause and sentence. If I say "I'm a student but I also work", is that a sentence or a clause?
3. can I say that a phrase is simply a part of speech?
Thank you,
Aisah
Hello Aisah,
1. I'm sorry, I don't see which sentence you mean. Have you looked at our verb patterns and two- and three-part verbs pages?
2. Please see this Cambridge Dictionary page on clauses and sentences for a more detailed explanation of this.
3. No, a phrase is not a part of speech, though we can speak of noun, verb or prepositional phrases (see the bottom of the page) so they do act like parts of speech.
If you have any other specific questions, please don't hesitate to ask us. The more specific, the better.
All the best,
Kirk
The LearnEnglish Team
how to use put up in
past
Hello unnati.siddhu,
'Put' is an irregular verb whose past form is the same as its present form. Thus, 'put up in' is used as both the past and present form. For example:
Best wishes,
Peter
The LearnEnglish Team
I have read this example of use of ' list '
Highlighting notes ; using study cards ; getting friends to test you and using past papers are a just a few ways to prepare for an exam.
Is the use of semicolons above correct or should there be comma in instead ?
Are the parts of the sentence separated by semicolons sentences in themselves ?
What do you say ,sir ?
Hello dipakrgandhi,
Semicolons can be thought of as being between a comma and a full stop in terms of strength. They are used between clauses when the clauses balance on another. For example:
While it is possible to use semicolons to separate items in lists this is quite unusual, I would say, and is generally only done where there are already commas in the sentence and further use of commas would be confusing. For example:
In your example I think there is no need for semicolons as commas will serve perfectly well.
Best wishes,
Peter
The LearnEnglish Team
Thank you sir
Dear Professors,
I would like to know what are the short forms of following structures;
1- I read a book which was written by Hemingway .
A- I read a book written by Hemingway >>>>
B- I read a written book by Hemingway >>>> and whether the original phrase should be in the form of passive in order to make it short or not ??
2-The children who were happy played until nine .
A-The happy children played until nine ...
B- ( the determiner is omitted ) Happy children played until nine.
Hello bany,
There are different ways you can make sentences short. Both 1A and 1B are correct, though 1B is a bit awkward since 'written' isn't usually used before a noun like this. Another possible short form is 'I read a Hemingway book', though really 1A is probably the most natural.
2A and 2B are also correct in specific contexts. I can't think of a shorter form that includes all the same information.
I hope this helps you.
All the best,
Kirk
The LearnEnglish Team
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