# English in Use/Sentences Overview

This section will serve as a basic overview of sentences. Each topic
will be discussed in more detail in subsequent chapters.

### Phrases

A **phrase** is a group of words which contains neither a subject nor a
verb. (It may, however, contain a verbal form such as an infinitive, a
participle, or a
gerund.)1

### Clauses

A **clause** is a group of words containing at least a subject and a
verb (the baby ate), and frequently it lets its hair down by containing
some kind of a complement as well (the baby ate the goldfish). There are
two kinds of clauses: independent and
dependent.2

## Forms

There are three forms of a sentence: simple, compound, and complex, and
one combined form: compound-complex.

### Simple

### Compound

### Complex

### Compound-complex

It is a sentence which is made to by joining two or more simple
sentences.

## Purposes

Sentences are created for four main reasons: to declare, to command, to
question, and to exclaim.

### Declarative

### Imperative

### Interrogative

### Exclamatory

## Sentence diagrams


