Sentence Structure in English
Sentence Patterns
The first pattern is the most basic one: subject/verb
Examples: We relaxed (intransitive verb)
I haven't been practicing
Henry and his friends are going to be performing
The second pattern has one more element
Subject/verb/direct object
Example: They played music (transitive verbs)
An object: It's anything that behaves like a noun thus
- A pronoun
- A gerund
- A clause
The third pattern is subject/verb/adverbial
Subject/verb/object/adverbial
An adverbial means an added information that’s answers the
question why, when, how, which, who, where, and, what can be a
single word, a phrase, or a clause. Most adverbial goes in the
manner, place, time, system
Examples: subject/verb/adverbial
The children played in the sand
My mother work at a big company.
Examples subject/verb/object/adverbial
They sang songs last night.
They sang songs on the beach last night.
Last night they sang songs on the beach.
Tom and his roommate live there.
The party lasted until dawn.
I put my name on the waiting list.
The fourth pattern is subject/verb/complement.
Examples: Today was fun
She is a doctor
You seem confused
Complements are usually nouns and adjectives
Verbs
Verbs are doing words. They show action done by things or people.
Verbs are divided into several categories:
Linking verbs
Main verbs
Auxiliary verbs
Action verbs
State verbs
Helping verbs
Linking verbs
They are verbs that behave as conjunctions
Appear sound
Be taste
Become
Feel
Look
Seem
Example
I appear to be serious about studying English
You seem lucky to have new clothes
I feel sick today morning I can't come to class
Main verbs
These are the verbs that are not helping verbs in a sentence.
Helping verbs are: am, is, are, do, did,……
Examples:
Mr Black is traveling to Geneva now
The above sentence helping verb is "is"
Main verbs are divided into two categories
Regular verbs
Irregular verbs
Regular and irregular verbs only appear in the past tense, so the
main verbs word structure in the past is either added an ed or the
word structure changes
Examples:
Walk is a main verb when its changed into the past it becomes
walked thus an ed is added at the end of the word. Walk is a
regular verb
Go is a main verb when it is changed into the past it becomes went
thus the word has changed completely
Irregular and regular verbs can be learned if they are practiced.
They appear differently in different structures
Action verbs
These are verbs that represent an action.
Examples:
Walk put
Talk see
Speak write
Move hide
cut throw
State verbs
State verbs are verbs that don’t represent an action
Examples:
need involve
succeed improve
achieve develop
study enable
appear conclude
Auxiliary verbs
Auxiliary verbs are verbs that connect with subject to show a
specific verb tense.
Examples:
Mr Black is going to watch a film
They don’t go to the gym
The house has been completed.
Modal auxiliary verbs
verbs are verbs that represent a specific situation in English
Examples:
Should……….represents an advice or a rule
Would………..represents a request
Could………….represents ability
Examples of sentences:
I see the doctors are very tired they should have a rest
Would you please give me a cup of tea?
i could speak English well with perfect practice
Intransitive verbs
They are verbs that don't require an object to complete the
meaning
Examples:
Mr. Blue walks.
The woman woke up.
The doctor treats.
Transitive verbs
Transitive verbs are those verbs that need an object in a sentence
Examples:
The man ate pizza.
The children study Science.
The nurse talks to the doctor.
