As mentioned earlier, this book will cover almost everything, right from the very basic of English grammar. So, keeping that in mind, let us begin the first chapter.

✨ THE SENTENCE ✨

The most basic thing that we use as we write or speak are the words. Words, indeed, one of the most powerful weapons that we have been blessed with. But can we make any sense just by using a couple of words? Or do we need a particular format?

As an example, let us take a few words first:

sweet, how, rose, this, smells

Now, let us try to assemble the words and make two arrangements:

Arrangement 1: Sweet this smells how rose!
Arrangement 2: How sweet this rose smells!

In here, does the first arrangement make any sense?

Well, not exactly.

And if we talk about the second arrangement, then, yes, of course. The speaker, in here, is appreciating the fragrance of the rose, stating that the flower has a very sweet smell.

In short, we can say that the second arrangement makes complete sense. So, out of the two arrangements of the words above, we can call only the second arrangement as a sentence. However, the first arrangement is just a group of words.

Deducing from the example above,
A group of words that makes complete sense is called a Sentence.

Each of the words in a sentence can be used in particular ways to form sentences. So, each can be allocated to a word class (or, often known as the ‘part of speech’). This word class will be discussed in the upcoming chapters.

PARTS OF A SENTENCE

By putting the words into classes, we can know about how the words are used, but it doesn’t tell us much about how sentences are constructed. To do that we need to look at sentences in a different way. We can do this by looking for patterns in which the sentences are constructed.

Every sentence consists of two major parts:

I)The first part is the one which names the person or thing we speak about. This part of the sentence is called the Subject.

II)The second part tells us what is said of the person or thing denoted by the subject. This part of the sentence is called the Predicate.

For example,
A bad workman blames his tools.

In the above sentence, we are talking about a person who is a bad workman. So, a bad workman is the subject of the sentence.

What a bad workman does? He blames his tools. So, blames his tools is the predicate of the sentence.

TYPES OF SENTENCES

We can use sentences for four main purposes in communication. Depending on these four purposes, sentences have been broadly classified into four types.

So, to begin with let us see what all a sentence can do. A sentence can:

I)Make a statement. For example,

a)The sun rises in the east.
b)The car is traveling very fast.

A sentence that states or declares something is called an Assertive or Declarative sentence. A period or a full stop (.) is always placed at the end of such a sentence.

II)Ask a question. For example,

a)Does the sun rise in the east?
b)Is the car breaking the speed limit?

A sentence that asks a question is called an Interrogative Sentence. A question mark (?) is always placed at the end of such a sentence. 

III)Express some command, request, entreaty or wish. For example,

a)Lend me your pen, please.
b)You should not drive that fast.

A sentence that expresses a command, a request, an entreaty or a desire is called an Imperative Sentence. These type of sentences usually end with a full stop (.), but in some cases they can end with an exclamation mark (!) as well.

IV)Express some strong or sudden feeling. For example,

a) What a foolish boy you are!
b)How fast that car is traveling!

A sentence that expresses some strong or sudden feeling is called an Exclamatory Sentence. An exclamation mark (!) is always placed at the end of such a sentence.

PLEASE NOTE:

~ A sentence always begins with a capital letter.

~ It is not necessary for the subject to always come at the beginning of the sentence. For example,

I)Sweet are the uses of adversity.
II)Across the path lay a frozen snake.

~ In Imperative Sentences, the subject is generally left out. For example,

I)Thank you. (Here, the subject I is understood)
II)Do this, please. (Here, the subject You is understood.)

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✨ PRACTICE EXERCISES ✨

Now, here are the practice exercises for this week. Please stay true to yourself and do not look for the answers in any book or online. The answers will be posted on Saturday. By that time you can give your answers in the inline comments over here.

EXERCISE 1: Divide the following sentences into subject and predicate–

1.The boy stood on the burning deck.
2.Don’t make a noise.
3.Strange are the ways of God.
4.No man can serve two masters.
5.The singing of the birds delight us.
6.Work hard.
7.Delhi, the capital of India, stands on the bank of the Yamuna.
8.Our friends at number 29 are visiting their relatives in Australia
9.Maria gave her brother a present.
10.The company made Peter Smithson Managing Director.

EXERCISE 2: Rearrange the following words to make meaningful sentences–

PART A:

1.she interested that was in proposal said she the
2.every delicious father cooks evening pasta
3.at top voice, the man his of demanded the admission shouting
4.effect we in did much sales last not year improvement
5.one of friends a best good our is book

PART B:

6.the same / and it / it is / change / will never / today that / it always was
7.turn its / in times / it does / of adversity / back upon / or distress / not / us
8.healthy person / germs / a / carry / may / of / in / body / typhoid / his / cholera / dysentery / etc.
9.colored bus / children / we saw / full of / a yellow / excited
10.they were / we guessed / on the / planetarium / way / to the

EXERCISE 3: Identify the type of following sentences and write the correct punctuation mark after each of them–

1.I am so excited
2.Please pass the lemonade
3.Could you please give me the hose
4.Reading mythology will get you excited about traveling
5.Come with us
6.Hercules, Achilles, and Perseus are all heroes found in Greek mythology
7.This summer, my family will travel to Himachal Pradesh
8.My arms are aching from digging the flower beds
9.I can’t get down
10.What a fool you are

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✨ WORD OF THE WEEK ✨

METROPHOBIA

Pronounced as: me-truh-foh-bee-uh

Meaning: an irrational or disproportionate fear of poetry

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Last week, I had asked a question. ‘How do you think grammar is helpful to you?’

I would like to appreciate the efforts put in by Ownscribbler NikkithaKJ and jasmine_r22. All three of them have answered the question beautifully in their own way.

The answer that I liked the most was the one written by Ownscribbler. Here is the answer:

All these while, even I must have referred grammar as just the rules to be followed. Of course this grammar makes the language perfect. And I do believe that grammar emphasis the real content we wants to convey. Just assembling some words don't exactly let us decipher things. As yarns can only be weaved into a beautiful fabric with a needle or any other alternative, grammar is also the basic thing that weave the words into a beautiful language. From my personal experience, all I got to know is grammar is something that standardizes our language making others keen to read more. Other than grammar, there are also quite a lot of things making our language worthful. But grammar is a link to explore more into the wave of words you put in for deciphering its exact radiance. The competitive world we are living in demands efficiency of language to it's peak. And here the good language definitely has a role in paving the way to great platforms, making you meritorious.

But the answers given by NikkithaKJ and jasmine_r22 are appreciable as well. I really liked the simplicity of both the answers. So, I’m posting those two answers as well.

NikkithaKJ

I would like to throw light on how grammar is helpful in effective communication through an example.
Example: Rachel finds inspiration in cooking her family and her dog
This sentence sounded disturbing when I read it for the first time and, when I read it for the second time, I found it funny. 
Literal interpretation: Rachel finds it inspiring to cook her family and her dog.
Reasonable interpretation: Rachel finds it inspiring to cook "for" her family and her dog.
Do you see how missing out a preposition can change the meaning of the sentence drastically?

Grammar is the key to effective communication. There should be mutual understanding of the message between the speaker/writer and the listener/reader. Grammatical errors and sometimes even spelling mistakes can cause huge misunderstandings. This is why, proper grammar usage is one of the most helpful means to achieve mutual understanding.

jasmine_r22

Grammar has always been a part of our life, though how much ever we neglected it, scolded it or cursed it, it has always been an important part in our life.

Either be it writing or speaking, we do use grammar be it appropriate or not, we do use then like comma, inverted and all time famous being full stop. While others, we do get confused and use it in wrong situations, but make sure that the feelings are shown though it might be used in not needed situation or statement.

A sentence or a para without using any punctuations or inappropriate grammar always seems to be confusing. Though the person might be genuinely speaking, but that makes the other person feel rude or forces a person to re read it for more than three times to exactly understand what does that person meant to say.

A bit of knowledge towards grammar is important, irrespective of the language. Because it's due to grammar a sentence becomes worth reading or understanding.

You all have done great! Thank you so much for your active involvement.

That is all we have for this week. See you all with the answers this Saturday. Do let me know what you think about the chapter as your feedbacks are really important for me.

Till then, stay blessed and happy reading!

With love,
Stella ❤️