Identifying main clauses
Dahlia Bartley, Contributor

Welcome to today's lesson students! I hope you did your homework. You were asked to identify the main clauses in some sentences, so here are the answers:

1. 2008 was a good year for our athletes.

2. My brother will visit us tomorrow.

3. (i) [y]our mother called (ii) the postman left you a package.

4. (i) I will lend you the newspaper (ii) you will have to use it now.

5. Sit down!

6. The lady is a friend of my sister

7. Can you hear me?

8. I watched in awe

9. This is the passage

10. The girl will visit us next week.

With this out of the way, let us continue to do some more work with the sentence. We can categorise sentences into four main types, depending on the number and type of clauses they contain. So that you can use a variety of sentences as you write, here is a quick review guide:

In each case, I have underlined the main clause for you. Have you noticed that the subordinate clauses 'extend' the simple sentence?

Effective communication requires not only that you write complete sentences, but also that you write sentences that say exactly what you mean. Now that you know you have four different sentence types at your disposal, you should decide which sentence type to use and when. Please bear the following in mind:

Every sentence should give clear and complete information.

Nearly all effective sentences are to the point, getting across their meaning in as few words as possible. The most significant detail is stressed in effective sentences. In most cases, the main point is placed in the main clause to make it easier to find.

All good writers use a combination of all four sentence types to add variety to their work. You, too, should aspire to do the same. The use of too many simple sentences can make your writing 'choppy' and can prevent your work from flowing smoothly.

On the other hand, there are those students who overuse the compound sentences. Coordinating conjunctions such as 'and' and 'but' are used to convert simple sentences to compound ones. The compound sentence is weakened when these coordinating conjunctions are overused. For example:

The man entered the room and sat on the bed and then he turned on the television and watched the news.

There are far too many students who write in this manner. Let's see how this sentence may be improved.

Having entered the room, the man sat on the bed, and then turned on the television to watch the news.

You could also use two sentences: Having entered the room, the man sat on the bed. He then turned on the television to watch the news.

Carefully review today's lesson and then do the following for homework:

Classify each of the following sentences as simple, compound, complex or compound-complex.

1. If at first you don't succeed, try again.

2. In my opinion, Jimmy Cliff is a great songwriter.

3. While you were at the flower show, your mother called and I told her about the course.

4. I will lend you my notes, but you will have to use them now.

5. Please bake me a cake for my birthday.

6. The song which started the show was written by Ewan.

See you next week.

Samuel Cameron (left), first vice-president of the St Catherine Co-operative Credit Union, and Paul Passley (centre) share a joke with David Nelson of St Jago High. Nelson and Sade Dunbar (right) of Immaculate Conception High School are this year's recipients of the Winston Passley Scholarship. Also in the photo are past scholarship winners: Sukina Powell (background right) of Denbigh High and Hope Graham of Ardenne High. At second left is Deborah Manning. - Rudolph Brown/Chief Photographer

Dahlia Bartley teaches at Glenmuir High School.