English Language Tutor: Agnes Chan

Sentence Structures, Sentence Constituents & Thesis Statements

Section I - English Grammar Review

Before we learn how to write a simple sentence, let’s learn the basic sentence constituents in a sentence.

Subject – the person or thing that performs the action of a verb. It can be a noun, a noun phrase or a
noun clause.
e.g. Vegetables are beneficial to our health. (vegetables = noun: Subject)
e.g. The exhibition centre is located in Central. (The exhibition centre = noun phrase: Subject)
e.g. What she has done to her daughter is unacceptable. (What she has done to her daughter = noun
clause)

Verb – A word or phrase that describes an action, condition, or experience.

e.g. James likes taking risks to try new things. (likes = verb)
e.g. Venice is taking notes for this meeting. (is taking = verb phrase)
e.g. The project is accomplished. (is accomplished = verb phrase, passive voice)

Object – A noun / noun phrase that is affected by the action of a verb or that follows a preposition.
e.g. Karen has written a book. (a book = object, noun)
e.g. Charles admitted his fault. (his fault = object, noun phrase)
e.g. She left a memo on the table. (a memo = object, noun phrase)

Complement – A part of a clause that usually follows the verb and adds more information about the subject
or object.
e.g. Jenny is an English teacher. (an English teacher = Complement, noun phrase, referring to Jenny)
e.g. This project is difficult. (difficult = Complement, adjective, describing this project)

Adverbial – Adverbials are words that we use to give more information about a verb. They can be one word
(e.g. angrily, here) or phrases (e.g. at home, in a few hours) and often say how (manner, attitude), where,
when or how often something happens or is done, though they can also have other uses. An adverbial can
appear in many different positions in a sentence. Let’s take a look at some examples:

e.g. He was standing by the table. (➔ adverbial, telling the location where he was standing)
e.g. Last night the group celebrated their accomplishment of the project. (Last night = time)
e.g. Jessica has already finished her project. (already = adverb. It’s an adverbial)
e.g. Jessica has finished her project within just a few days. (➔ adverbial, telling the speed)

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English Language Tutor: Agnes Chan

Word Class in a Sentence

There are four major word classes (noun, verb, adjective, adverb) and five other word classes
(determiners, prepositions, pronouns, conjunction, interjection), making nine word classes (or parts of
speech) in total. In this handout, we are focusing on these word classes: noun, verb, adjective, adverb,
determiners, prepositions, pronouns, and conjunctions.

1) Nouns 名詞 – Nouns are words for people, places or things.

e.g. Peter, English, Hong Kong Cultural Centre (Proper Nouns 專有名詞)
e.g. plants, computer, table, calculator, tissue (Concrete Nouns 實質名詞)
e.g. heroism, physics, love, courage, faith, confidence (Abstract Nouns 抽象名詞)
e.g. equipment, furniture, audience, orchestra (Collective Nouns 集合名詞)

2) Verbs 動詞 – Verbs are action or state words.

e.g. run, play, drink, study, conduct, reserve, be, seem,

3) Adjectives 形容詞 – Adjectives are words that describe nouns.

e.g. expensive, conservative, confident, aggressive, kind, clever, smart

4) Adverbs 副詞 – Adverbs are words that modify verbs, adjectives or other adverbs.
e.g. She runs very quickly.

e.g. The baby has a very sweet smile.

5) Determiners 限定詞 – Determiners are words used before a noun to show which particular example of
the noun you are referring to. Words like a, an, the, this, that, these, those, his, her, your, our, five, one
thousand, etc. are determiners. There are a few classes of determiners:
a) Articles 冠詞 – e.g. a, an, the
b) Demonstrative determiners 指示限定詞 – e.g. this, that, these, those
c) Possessive determiners 物主限定詞 – e.g. his, her, my, our, your, their, its
d) Quantifiers 量詞 – e.g. five, a hundred, several, a few, many, much, some, a little, little, etc.

6) Prepositions 介詞 – Prepositions are words usually in front of a noun or pronoun and expressing a
relation to another word or element, telling us time, location and sometimes manner.
e.g. in, on, at, in front of, across, after, down, near, of, with, under, etc.

7) Pronouns 代名詞 – Pronouns are words that replace nouns, e.g. me, you, him, it, he, she, it, they, we,
you, that, mine, yours, who, what, etc.

8) Conjunctions 連接詞 – Conjunctions are words that connect two simple clauses.
e.g. and, or, but, as, although, because, since, unless, etc.

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English Language Tutor: Agnes Chan

A simple sentence is formed by words. Each word performs its specific function in a sentence. In a simple
sentence, we have people / things to perform an action. Therefore, the most basic sentence structure in the
English language is:
Subject + Verb
e.g. The plants died.

When we are going to tell / write a slightly more complex idea, we have this structure:
Subject + Verb + Object
e.g. A man killed the plants.

Sometimes we would like to describe the subject. We have this structure:

Subject + Verb + Complement
e.g. The plants are healthy.

We would also like to show the existence of something. We have this structure:
There + be + subject
e.g. There are some flowers in the garden.

Besides learning to build a sentence by individual words, we should also learn two other concepts:
Phrases & Clauses. They form a bigger unit than individual words to help expand an idea in a sentence.

Phrase – A group of words that is a part of a sentence.

e.g. The exhibition centre This book coupon a conditional offer
a wonderful journey a glamorous hall the letter with a stamp

Clause – A clauses is at least formed with a Subject and a Verb and the meaning is complete.
e.g. She cries. John is sleeping. The man has stolen a pen.
Jack is working on a project. Charles admitted his fault.

Starting from next page, we are learning some basic sentence structures to present our ideas.

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English Language Tutor: Agnes Chan

Structure 1: Subject + Verb + Object

The most basic English sentence structure is Subject + Verb + Object. Let’s take a look at some examples:
e.g. Professor Chow has written a book.
Subject Verb Object

e.g. The PR manager has answered an enquiry.

Subject Verb Object

e.g. Plants absorbs carbon-dioxide in the air.

Subject Verb Object

The above sentences can be expanded to become a longer sentence by adding Phrases/ Clauses.

e.g. Professor Chow, who teaches Marketing Communication, has written a book about Social Media
Marketing strategies.

who teaches Marketing Communication = Relative clause

about Social Media Marketing strategies = Prepositional phrase (about + noun phrase)

e.g. The PR manager who has been in the PR industry for 10 years has answered an enquiry from an
aggressive client.

who has been in the PR industry for 10 years = Relative clause

from an aggressive client = Prepositional phrase (from + noun phrase)

e.g. Plants absorbs carbon-dioxide, a gas generated from burning carbon, in the air.

a gas generated from burning carbon = a noun phrase as parenthesis (插入語)

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English Language Tutor: Agnes Chan

Structure 2: Subject + Verb + Complement

Another basic sentence structure is Subject + Verb + Complement. Let’s take a look at some examples.

e.g. This thesis statement is problematic.

Subject Verb Complement (Adjective)

e.g. Writing a thesis statement and a topic sentence is challenging for me.
Subject – Gerund phrase Verb Complement (Adjective + preposition)

e.g. Jessie is the Marketing Manager of this company.

Subject Verb Complement (Noun phrase)

Again, the above sentences can be expanded to become a longer sentence by adding Phrases/ Clauses.

e.g. This thesis statement about whether there should be a standardized charge for all three cross-
harbour tunnels is problematic.

about whether there should be a standardized charge for all three cross-harbour tunnels
➔ preposition + conjunction + clause

e.g. Writing a thesis statement and a topic sentence for this assignment is challenging for me.

for this assignment ➔ prepositional phrase (for + this assignment)

e.g. Jessie is the Marketing Manager of this company, which provides social media strategies and
webpage design services to business clients.

which provides social media strategies and webpage design services to business clients → Relative Clause

Now, you can see, one way to expand a simple sentence to a long sentence is to give more specific
information to the preceding noun.

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English Language Tutor: Agnes Chan

Structure 3: There + be + subject

When we want to show the existence of something / some people, we will use this structure.
e.g. There is a rabbit.
e.g. There are two pens on a table.
e.g. There have been people visiting this centre.
e.g. There were thieves breaking into this house.

Remember, the ‘there’ is a dummy subject. The verb has to agree with the subject coming after the
verb-to-be.
e.g. There is a rabbit.

e.g. There are two pens on a table.

e.g. There have been people visiting this centre.

e.g. There were thieves breaking into this house.

Another mistake that most Chinese students make is that they often use ‘have’ and ‘has’ in There+be
structure. This is a common grammatical mistake! ‘There has / There have’ is wrong.
It does not mean ‘嗰度有’ in Chinese. Therefore, please don’t direct translate it by writing it ‘there has /
there have’.

e.g. (WRONG) There have three thousand people visiting this centre.

(CORRECT) There ARE three thousand people visiting this centre.

e.g. (WRONG) There has a man painting the wall.

(CORRECT) There IS a man painting the wall.

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English Language Tutor: Agnes Chan

Exercise 1 – Identifying sentence constituents in a sentence (Easy)

Read the following sentences carefully and identify the sentence constituents in each sentence. The first one
has been done for you as an example.

e.g. Charles Dicken’s Great Expectations is a wonderful book.

Subject – Noun phrase Verb Complement – Noun phrase

1. This mug is dirty.

_______________________________________________________________________________

2. Euthanasia is illegal in Hong Kong.

_______________________________________________________________________________

3. Jessica has finished three books in a month.

_______________________________________________________________________________

4. English contains many foreign words.

_______________________________________________________________________________

5. Cantonese is a dialect.

_______________________________________________________________________________

6. Our native language is Cantonese.

_______________________________________________________________________________

7. What I would like to stress is the use of informal language in letters.

_______________________________________________________________________________

8. Cantonese is a dialect spoken by over 95% of people in Hong Kong.

_______________________________________________________________________________

9. English contains many foreign words, such as words from French, Italian, Japanese and even Chinese.

_______________________________________________________________________________

10. Parents should never punish children by force.

_______________________________________________________________________________

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English Language Tutor: Agnes Chan

Exercise 2 – Identifying sentence constituents in a sentence (More difficult)

Read the following sentences carefully and identify the sentence constituents in each sentence.

1. The researchers of this study admit the fault.

___________________________________________________________________________________

2. A total of 1500 respondents reflect that rote memorization is a common way to learn new words.

___________________________________________________________________________________

3. There have been researchers in Denmark who conducted research studies about eye irritation.

___________________________________________________________________________________

4. This shampoo consists of natural ingredients, such as green tea and ginger extract.

___________________________________________________________________________________

5. The questionnaire respondents are mainly teenagers from age 15 to 25.

___________________________________________________________________________________

6. In the United States, there are three out of 10 men who have been divorced.

___________________________________________________________________________________

7. Out of curiosity, they conduct a research study.

___________________________________________________________________________________

8. James sent her daughter to the hospital at midnight.

___________________________________________________________________________________

9. Cancer is a fatal disease that has taken away thousands of people’s lives every year.

___________________________________________________________________________________

10. Keto diet is a diet that promotes consumption of a large proportion of healthy fat.

___________________________________________________________________________________

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English Language Tutor: Agnes Chan

In Section I, we have reviewed some basic grammar concepts and learnt some basic sentence structures.
In Section II, we are moving on to learn how to expand a simple sentence to become a Compound Sentence
and a Complex Sentence.

Basic concepts in sentence writing:

Words → Phrases → Clause → Simple Sentence → Compound Sentence → Complex Sentence

Section II – Simple Sentence, Compound Sentence & Complex Sentence

What is a Simple Sentence?

A simple sentence is composed of at least a Subject and a Verb to make a sentence complete in meaning.
e.g. An old man died.
Subject verb

In this sentence, there is only one clause and its meaning is complete. We can also call it a Simple Sentence.

What is a Compound Sentence?

A compound sentence is composed of two independent clauses. In between clauses, we use coordinating
conjunctions to link them up, e.g. and, or, but, so, for, yet. An independent clause can stand alone as a
Complete Sentence.

e.g. He conducted a study about eye irritation and his research findings have contributed a lot to the
field.

Here in this sentence, the first clause ‘He conducted a study about eye irritation’ and the second clause ‘his
research findings have contributed a lot to the field’ are independent clauses. They are linked up by a
conjunction and here.
Some more examples:

e.g. You could stay in this room or you could walk around the garden.

e.g. She is a talented singer but she is too shy to show off her potentials.

e.g. He has hurt his legs so he cannot come to the routine weekly training session.

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English Language Tutor: Agnes Chan

What is a Complex Sentence?

A complex sentence is composed ONE independent clause and at least ONE dependent clause.
What is the difference between an independent clause and dependent clause?

As said before, an independent clause can stand alone as a complete sentence.

e.g. You could stay in this room or you could walk around the garden.

→ You can stay in this room. = independent clause, complete sentence.

→ You could walk around the garden. = independent clause, complete sentence.

However, a dependent clause CANNOT stand alone as a complete sentence.

e.g. Although he is not around, you can stay in this room.

→ Although he is not around. X = This is a dependent clause. It cannot stand alone as a complete sentence.
→ You can stay in this room. = independent clause, complete sentence.

Therefore, to complete the meaning, we need an independent clause to complete the meaning.
‘Although he is not around’ is INCOMPLETE in meaning.

More examples of Complex Sentences:

e.g. Whatever he does to please her, she is no longer interested in him.

[dependent clause] [independent clause]

e.g. Cantonese is a dialect which is spoken by 95% of the population in Hong Kong.

[independent clause] [dependent clause – relative clause]

e.g. When the singers are ready, the orchestra start playing the music.

[dependent clause] [independent clause]

e.g. While thousands of people have emigrated to another country due to their personal reasons, many
[dependent clause]
more elites and specialists have immigrated to this place which they found as a wonderful place for
[independent clause] [dependent clause – relative clause]
investment and science studies.

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English Language Tutor: Agnes Chan

Section III – Expanding a sentence from a Simple Sentence to a Complex Sentence

By now, you should have got a solid idea about how to write sentences. It is now time to introduce you the
way to expand a sentence from a Simple Sentence to a Complex Sentence.

There are several ways to expand a sentence:

1. Use of relative clause
2. Participle phrases
3. Insertion of phrases
4. Parenthesis

1. Use of relative clauses 關係句子

A relative clause is used to give additional information about the preceding noun. A defining relative clause
[限定關係句子] is used to differentiate a noun from a group of things / people, whereas a non-defining
relative clause[非限定關係句子] is purely giving extra information about the preceding noun.

Having such a concept about relative clauses, you should be able to use relative clauses to build a complex
sentence. Some examples:

e.g. The girl likes outdoor activities. She lives in Sydney, Australia.

➔ The girl who lives in Sydney, Australia likes outdoor activities. OR

The girl who likes outdoor activities lives in Sydney, Australia. (10 words)

e.g. The university where I pursued my Business Administration programme is in Xian. (12 words)

e.g. The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST), which is renowned with its
academic achievements in science, technology and business administration, is recruiting the top-notch
scholars to serve as teaching professionals and researchers to further boost its academic fame.
(40 words)

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English Language Tutor: Agnes Chan

Exercise 3 Relative clauses

Combine the following sentences by using relative pronouns and relative clauses.

1. This is a computer room. Students learn software programmes and techniques of graphic design in this

computer room. Use ‘where’ / ‘in which’.

_______________________________________________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________________________________________

2. This is a restaurant. You can find many different cuisines from all over the world in this restaurant.

Use ‘where / in which’.

_______________________________________________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________________________________________

3. The song is very famous. The song is sung by a pair of renowned vocalists in France. Use ‘which’.

_______________________________________________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________________________________________

4. The school principal would like to know the reason. The two students cheated in the exam. Use ‘why’.

_______________________________________________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________________________________________

5. Kenny is a famous pianist. He has been participating in many musical performances around the world

over the past 10 years. Use ‘who’.

_______________________________________________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________________________________________

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English Language Tutor: Agnes Chan

2. Participle phrases 分詞短語

Participle phrases are originated from the relative clauses. In many journalistic writing or even academic
essays, participle phrases are often used to give additional information about the subject / noun. Sometimes
it’s used as a parenthesis. 分詞短語演變自關係從句，在新聞或學術寫作中，很多時候會把句子縮短，
同時為主語加入額外的資訊。有時候分詞短語可用作插入語。

e.g. The girl who lives in Sydney, Australia likes outdoor activities.

➔ The girl living in Sydney, Australia likes outdoor activities. [Present participle phrase]

➔ Living in Sydney, Australia, the girl likes outdoor activities. [Present participle phrase]

e.g. The laboratory which is located on the 5th floor of the campus is spacious.

➔ The laboratory located on the 5th floor of the campus is spacious. [Past participle phrase]

➔ Located on the 5th floor of the campus, the laboratory is spacious. [Past participle phrase]

 BE CAREFUL!!! DANGLING MODIFIER  小心錯誤寫出垂修飾語！

Be careful when you are putting the participle phrase in front of the main clause.
Make sure that the subject of the main clause is referred by the participle phrase.

Example: Cheated by an unfaithful man, Jenny is getting divorced with the man.

Otherwise, the participle phrase would become a dangling modifier, an erroneous sentence structure.

 Cheated by an unfaithful man, the man is getting divorced with Jenny.

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English Language Tutor: Agnes Chan

3. Parenthesis 插入語
A parenthesis is a word, phrase, or clause inserted into a sentence as an explanation or afterthought. It is
often separated by commas, brackets, or dashes.

e.g. Jennifer, a 28-year-old woman with a two-year-old daughter, is now living in a small flat.

e.g. This ancient building – built in the 17th century – is attracting millions of visitors from all over the
world to come and see it.

e.g. A parenthesis (sometimes called ‘interrupter’) can be confusing to readers. ☹

For your essay, if you are using a parenthesis to give additional information about the preceding noun, a
phrase separated by commas is recommended.

4. Insertion of phrases 短語的插入

The meaning of a sentence can be further enriched by inserting phrases, such as prepositional phrases,
adverbials, pre-modifiers and post-modifiers. Let’s see how a sentence can be built up with the insertion of
phrases.

Prepositional phrases 介詞短語

Original: e.g. John has finished his first fiction.

New: with prepositional phrases:

➔ e.g. Within just two months and a half, John has finished his first fiction with no sweat.

Original: e.g. This cupcake is yours.

New: with a prepositional phrase:

➔ e.g. This cupcake with colorful sprinkles and some cream is yours.

Original: e.g. The shopping centre will build some barrier-free facilities.

New: with a prepositional phrase:

➔ e.g. For the sake of the disabled, the shopping centre will build some barrier-free facilities.

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English Language Tutor: Agnes Chan

Adverbials 狀語
Original: e.g. Patients with heart diseases have to take this medication.

New: with an adverbial:

➔ e.g. Patients with heart diseases have to take this medication as often as needed.

Original: e.g. The headquarter of this company is situated in Shenzhen.

New, with an adverbial:

➔ e.g. The headquarter of this company is situated in Shenzhen next to this skyscraper.

Pre-modifier 前置修飾語
Pre-modifiers are words placed in front of a noun to describe the noun. They can be determiners (this, that,
these, those), quantifiers (many, much, a lot of, etc.), numbers (a hundred of, three) and adjectives.

Determiners: e.g. Those shoes are very colourful.

Quantifiers: e.g. A lot of people flocked to see this art exhibition.

Numbers: e.g. A total of a thousand and eight hundred students have participated in this scheme.

Adjectives: e.g. She has received a bunch of beautiful flowers from her boyfriend.

Post-modifiers 後置修飾語
Post-modifiers are the words or phrases after the noun. They modify the preceding noun.
Post-modifiers can be in many forms:

A. prepositional phrases
B. participle phrases
C. relative clauses
D. that-clauses

A. Prepositional phrases
e.g. The building at the end of the block was built in 1915.
e.g. The lady in a pink T-shirt is my teacher.

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B. Participle phrases
e.g. The clothes hanging over there are mine.
e.g. The man having a meeting with his client is my boss.
e.g. The young man accused of stealing another person’s property has been fired from his position.

C. Relative clauses
e.g. The project which she worked on for a year is finally accomplished.
e.g. The manager who proposed this initiative has much experience in accounting.
e.g. Many people love to move to this place in which they can start-up their own business with the help
from the government.

D. That-clauses
A that-clause is commonly placed after nouns, such as an idea, fact, belief, suggestion:
e.g. The fact that they won the competition is unbelievable.
e.g. Kelly got an impression that her new colleagues do not support her in regard to her proposed
ideas.
e.g. John made a suggestion that the public library should be renovated.

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English Language Tutor: Agnes Chan

Writing a Thesis Statement for your essay

By now, you should have developed a solid foundation in sentence writing. It is time to move on to the final
stage – Writing a Thesis Statement for your essay.

What is a thesis statement?

In an argumentative essay, a thesis statement:
1) demonstrates the author’s stance clearly
2) outlines the arguments in a sentence

By reading the thesis statement, readers understand the author’s stance clearly while they also know exactly
what the author is going to argue in the forthcoming paragraphs in this essay.

Let’s take a look at a few examples of good thesis statements:

Example 1: Americans should add exercise to their daily morning routine because it not only keeps
their bodies at a healthy weight but also reduces the risk of high blood pressure.

Why is it good?
Stance ✓ - Americans should add exercise to their daily morning routine.
Reasons:
1) Exercising keeps their bodies at a healthy weight
2) Exercising reduces their risk of having high blood pressure

By writing this thesis statement, you have made your stance clear and readers can therefore find reasons to
be expanded in the forthcoming paragraphs in the body.

Example 2: High levels of alcohol consumption have detrimental effects on your personal health, such
as weight gain, heart disease, and liver complications.

Why is it good?
Stance ✓ - High levels of alcohol consumption have negative effects on your personal health.
Negative effects to be elaborated in the Body paragraphs:
1) weight gain
2) heart disease
3) liver complications

By writing this thesis statement, readers know that drinking too much pose many negative effects on their
body, while they can find out the details of each negative effect to their body in the Body paragraph.

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Exercise 4 Rewriting / Correcting bad thesis statements

The following thesis statements are not very well written. Rewrite them to become good thesis statements.
A good thesis statement should contain: 1) your stance, 2) essence of your arguments.

Example: Keto dieting is not suitable for everyone.

➔ Keto dieting is not suitable for everyone as it poses negative effects to our body, while a strict diet
like keto could also cause social isolation or disordered eating.

1. The new trend of exploring a potentially life-long partner’s life through cohabitation [同居] should never
be promoted.
The new trend of exploring a potentially life-long partner's life through cohabitation should never
____________________________________________________________________________________
be promoted as cohabitant couples cannot enjoy the benefits attached to married couples, including
____________________________________________________________________________________
tax, pension, medical and public housing estates.
____________________________________________________________________________________

____________________________________________________________________________________

____________________________________________________________________________________

2. Same sex marriage should never be legalized.

Same sex marriage should never be legalized as it is against the social norm in a Chinese community,
____________________________________________________________________________________
while it poses detrimental effects on the logic and traditional concept of marriage.
____________________________________________________________________________________

Other reasons: Children's rights have been violated; the legitimacy of same sex marriage
____________________________________________________________________________________
means recognition of sexual liberation, which doctrinates the distorted concept of sex education
____________________________________________________________________________________
to innocent children.
____________________________________________________________________________________

3. Educating toddlers [幼童] by force and violence, such as scolding them and giving them a slap on the

face must be stopped.

____________________________________________________________________________________

____________________________________________________________________________________

____________________________________________________________________________________

____________________________________________________________________________________

____________________________________________________________________________________

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4. Chinese medication, amid criticisms from western countries and practitioners around the world, is an

exceptional alternative in healing human lives.

____________________________________________________________________________________

____________________________________________________________________________________

____________________________________________________________________________________

____________________________________________________________________________________

____________________________________________________________________________________

5. While haters may continue their hate speech, code-mixing two languages is a gesture of proficient

bilingual speakers who can switch from one language to another.

____________________________________________________________________________________

____________________________________________________________________________________

____________________________________________________________________________________

____________________________________________________________________________________

____________________________________________________________________________________

____________________________________________________________________________________

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