English Proficiency Programme

Parsing: Analysis of sentences.

• A subject and a single verb in the proper role of a verb: A clause.
  [Not counting 3rd/5th forms and "to + verb" structures]

• A sentence having a single clause: A simple sentence.

• A sentence having two or more equally prominent clauses: A compound sentence.
  [Recall Connections studied earlier.]

• A sentence having one main clause and one or more other clauses operating as the subject/object (noun), qualifying (restricting) a noun/pronoun (adjective) or something else (adverb): A complex sentence.

• A sentence may also be of a more involved structure. At the top level, it may show one structure but individual clauses may show different kinds of interior structures.

• Some examples from "The Resident Patient" by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle.