Comprehensive Study Guide: ATI TEAS Sentence Structures (E.1.3)

General Goal: Use correct sentence structures to express complete thoughts accurately.
Specific Objectives: * Identify and use correct sentence types, including simple, compound, and complex sentences. * Combine dependent and independent clauses correctly when prompted. * Distinguish and understand the functions of the eight parts of speech: noun, pronoun, verb, adjective, adverb, preposition, conjunction, and interjection. * Create coherent sentences using sentence parts correctly, including subjects, predicates, objects, indirect objects, and complements.

Sentence Definition: A set of words ordered to express a complete thought.
Clause: A group of words that contains both a subject and a verb. * Independent Clause: Contains a subject and a predicate (which contains a verb and states something about the subject). It can stand alone as a sentence because it expresses a complete thought. * Example: "I am studying." (Subject = "I"; Predicate = "am studying"). * Dependent Clause: Begins with a subordinating word (such as "although," "because," or "since") and cannot stand on its own because it does not finish a complete thought. * Example: "Although I feel confident in my skills…"
Phrase: A group of words that does not have a subject or a verb and functions as a single part of speech. * Example: "for my TEAS exam."
Synthesis Example: By attaching a dependent clause and a phrase to an independent clause, a complex sentence is formed: "Although I feel confident in my skills, I am studying for my TEAS exam."

Simple Sentence: Contains exactly one independent clause. * Example: "Charlie studies every day."
Complex Sentence: Contains one independent clause and one or more dependent clauses. * Example: "Charlie studies every day because he wants to get good grades."
Compound Sentence: Contains two or more independent clauses joined by a coordinating conjunction (such as "and," "but," "or," "for," or "so") or by a semicolon. * Example: "Charlie studies every day, and he turns in his homework on time."
Compound-Complex Sentence: Contains two or more independent clauses and at least one or more dependent clauses. * Example: "Because Charlie studies every day and turns in his homework on time, he is passing all his classes, and he will graduate with honors."

Noun: A person, place, thing, or idea. Examples include: brother, school, computer, philosophy.
Pronoun: A word that takes the place of a noun. Examples include: she, he, they, we.
Verb: A word that describes an action or state of being. Examples include: walk, grasps, questioned.
Adjective: A word or phrase that describes or modifies a noun or pronoun. Examples include: frozen, ridiculous, excitable.
Adverb: A word or phrase that describes or modifies adjectives, verbs, or other adverbs. Examples include: easily, quickly, triumphantly.
Preposition: A word that describes the relationships between other words (often relating to time, space, or direction). Examples include: before, according to, since.
Conjunction: Connecting words that join words, phrases, or clauses. Examples include: and, so, but.
Interjection: Short bursts or phrases that represent emotion or regard. Examples include: Hey! Ouch! Yay!

Subject and Predicate: A complete sentence must contain both. * Simple Subject: A noun or noun substitute (such as a pronoun). * Complete Subject: Includes the simple subject plus all its complements and modifiers. * Simple Predicate: The verb of the sentence. * Complete Predicate: Includes the verb and all its complements and modifiers.
Modifier: A word or phrase that makes the meaning of other words more specific. Example: In "green shirt," the word "green" is an adjective modifying "shirt."
Complement: Words required to complete a thought in a sentence; they usually cannot be removed without changing the sentence's meaning. * Example: In "Math is fun," "fun" is the complement that completes the sentence idea.
Direct Object: Receives the action of the sentence. To find it, ask "what?" after the verb. * Example: In "She kicked the ball," "ball" is the direct object (She kicked what? Ball).
Indirect Object: Expresses to whom or to what the action was done. * Example: In "He left me a ticket at the information desk," "me" is the indirect object (To whom was the ticket left? Me).

Example 1: "The eager, enthusiastic child told the teacher his story in an excited voice." * Simple Subject: "child" * Complete Subject: "The eager, enthusiastic child" * Simple Predicate: "told" * Complete Predicate: "told the teacher his story in an excited voice" * Indirect Object: "the teacher" * Direct Object: "his story" * Modifier (Prepositional Phrase): "in an excited voice"
Example 2: "She seemed happy with the result." * Subject: "She" * Complete Predicate: "seemed happy with the result" * Verb: "seemed" * Complement: "happy" * Prepositional Phrase: "with the result"

Visualizing Construction: Diagramming illustrates how parts of speech and sentence parts function together.
Key Rules: * The primary sentence parts (subject, verb, and object) are written on a horizontal line, separated by vertical lines. * Modifiers for these parts extend below the horizontal line on slanted lines. * For prepositional phrases: The preposition is placed on a slanted line extending from the word it modifies, and it introduces the prepositional object, which sits on a horizontal line.
Diagramming Example: "The agile surfer rode that wave with expert balance." * Main Line: surfer | rode | wave * Modifiers of Surfer: "The" and "agile" (slanted lines below "surfer"). * Modifier of Wave: "that" (slanted line below "wave"). * Prepositional Phrase: "with" (slanted line below "rode") leading to "balance" (horizontal line), with "expert" (slanted line below "balance").

Fragment: An incomplete sentence; typically lacks a subject, a verb, or a complete thought.
Diction: The style of language used.
Grammar: The set of rules governed by language to convey meaning.

Question 1: Which of the following examples is a compound-complex sentence? * A. The large amusement park was packed with people, and they had all come for the opening of a new roller coaster. * B. Although the weather forecast called for rain, people came to the park to ride the roller coaster. * C. Just as the roller coaster was about to open, the crowd looked to the cloudy sky, and a wonderful sight appeared. * D. The sun came out and was surrounded by a rainbow that brought gasps of awe from the crowd.
Question 2: In the sentence "The new building gives students more spaces to study," which of the following is the simple subject? * A. building * B. gives * C. students * D. spaces
Question 3: Which of the following are dependent clauses? (Select all that apply.) * A. Swimming is a great form of exercise. * B. Even though swimming can be difficult. * C. There are four main swimming strokes to learn. * D. Including the backstroke and the sidestroke. * E. Although learning to swim is time-consuming, everyone should do it.
Question 4: Diagram the sentence: "The parents served their children fresh vegetables."
Question 5: Use a dependent clause and an independent clause to write a complex sentence about one of your hobbies or favorite activities.