For grammar , a sentence is an utterance or a fragment of speech . It is a structure that is generally composed of a subject and a predicate, although this is not an exclusive property.
Depending on their characteristics, sentences can be qualified in different ways. If we take into account its divisibility, we speak of unimembrane sentences and bimember sentences .
Unimember sentences are those that have only one member . For this reason they cannot be divided into subject and predicate , because they have a single syntactic element.
For example: “It's raining” , “That's great!” , “Good afternoon” , “No smoking” .
It is possible to construct single-member sentences in different ways. Sometimes they present an impersonal verb , while in other cases they indicate only the subject with its modifiers . Vocatives , exclamations and interjections can also be constituted as single-membered sentences.
Let's look at each of these concepts separately. Let's start with the vocatives , those words that are used to call, name or invoke a person or an object that we want to personify, that is, attribute personal qualities to it, when we address them. The most common example of a vocative is none other than the person's proper name, which we use very often in communication, but it is important to note that a name of someone does not work this way if we are simply mentioning them but not engaging in a conversation. conversation with him.
If we are talking to someone and we want to use their name to get their attention, we can put together a sentence like the following: "Don't be angry, Pedro." If we are talking about him with another person, however ( "I told Pedro to come" ) the name does not function as a vocative. Vocatives can also be common names (indicating your family or social position), titles or professions. In this way the following sentences may arise: "Teacher, can you explain this statement to me, please?" "Mom, the office is calling."
Exclamations, on the other hand, are also very common among single-membered sentences, since they are not usually very long. Generally, in everyday speech and in a situation that surprises us, we express in a few words the effect it has on us, instead of telling everything from beginning to end: "It doesn't turn on!" , instead of explaining "The computer I bought just a month ago won't turn on!" . This complementary information is usually added in another sentence when they ask us "what's wrong with us."
Note that a vocative can also be used in an exclamation to give rise to a single sentence: "Roberto!" . With respect to interjections , they are a class of terms that serve to express a vivid feeling, to describe an action in a rudimentary way or to attract someone's attention. For example: "Oops!" , “Plum!” , “Hey!” .
An answer to a question can be a single sentence: “The black jacket” ( “What coat will you wear tonight?” ), “Diluvia” ( “How is the weather?” ), “Me!” ( "Who feels like going out for ice cream?" ).
If we want to convert a single-member sentence into a two-member sentence, generally we must add the predicate: "The coat I will wear tonight is" + "the black jacket."
When the impersonal verb is conjugated in the third person singular, it can form a single-member sentence. Many times these expressions are used to refer to a specific circumstance or a meteorological phenomenon: “We have to fix the lock,” “It's raining like never before,” “There was too much trouble this summer.”
Bimembered sentences , unlike unimembered ones, have two syntactic constituents . That is why its structure can be analyzed in parts : “The boy was playing soccer,” “John went to the market,” “Mary is radiant.”