In the last lesson, we talked about compound sentences such as:

1. Beth said hello to her mother's friend and then she walked outside.

Each of the sentences (clauses) that is part of the compound sentence plays an equal role in the sentence; one clause is not superior to or more important than the other, in terms of the structure of the sentence.

Now let's look at some other sentences:

1. 2. Harry was only fifteen when his mother sent him away to school.

2. 3. Mr. Edwards looked her straight in the eye although he wasn't really sincere.

3. 4. I won't tell you the answer unless you agree to help.

Sentences 2–4 also each contain two sentences, or clauses, which are combined to make a larger sentence. However, one of these sentences is more important than the other. The more important sentence is called the main clause, or independent clause; the less important sentence, the one that is a subpart of the main clause, is called the dependent clause or subordinate clause (see Lesson 19). Each clause, whether it's a main clause or subordinate clause, has its own subject and verb phrase. Sentences that contain a main clause and at least one dependent clause are called complex sentences.

Just as you know a lot about word categories without necessarily realizing that you do, you know a lot about combining words into phrases and phrases into sentences. As we talk about phrases and sentences, we'll be referring to many of the word categories you learned about in Part I, so check back there if you need to.

Let's start by taking a look at the following sentence:

1. The little boy laughed.

If you were asked to divide the sentence into two parts, what would the parts be? Speakers of English typically separate the sentence after the word boy:

1. 2. The little boy + laughed.

Other groupings, like the ones below, generally seem unnatural to native speakers of English:

1. 3. The + little boy laughed.

2. 4. The little + boy laughed.

That is, we all sense that the little boy forms a unit and that laughed forms another unit. Units like these are called phrases.

So we can start off our discussion by suggesting that there are two parts to sentence. We could call them Part A and Part B, or Harry and George, but we'll use the terminology of modern linguistics and refer to them as the noun phrase and the verb phrase. The noun phrase in our sentence is the little boy; the verb phrase is laughed. Of course, there are other phrases as well. We'll look at the most common ones in the units of Part II.

Test yourself 18.1

1. You can hide between trips and make believe you're innocent.

2. Was it near here or over there?

3. Roger looked around but he didn't see anything.

4. They'll eat chicken or turkey for dinner.

5. Mr. Joseph pulled out three letters and handed one to each of the men.

Test yourself 18.2

1. Mr. Eagle was called away on business, so Mrs. Broxton took his place at the meeting. sentences

2. He'd heard of it, but he didn't like the idea. sentences

3. Erin felt real excitement and enthusiasm. nouns

4. It was raining hard, yet we went to the ball game. sentences

5. The airline attendant asked,“Would you like coffee or tea?” nouns

Test yourself 18.3

1. I'll be near or between the stacks. prepositions

2. He came up with a quick and effective remedy. adjectives

3. I hope you won't worry or brood too much about it. verbs

4. This trip will be expensive but worthwhile. adjectives

5. I am at or near a breakthrough. prepositions