Basic Sentence Patterns
There are five basic sentence structure patterns:
1.
Subject --- Verb (intransitive):
EX: The wind howled
Barney rested
2. Subject ----Verb (transitive)-----Direct Object:
EX: Debbie threw the ball.
Sheldon baked a cake.
3. Subject ----Verb (linking)----subject complement (noun or adjective):
EX:
The casserole smells delicious.
Sara is an accountant.
Bill seems tired
Sandy looks angry.
NOTE: Some linking verbs require adverbial of time or place
EX: Bill is upstairs (upstairs is an adverb stating ‘where’
Sara was in the kitchen (
prepositional phrase)
The test will be on Tuesday ( prepositional phrase)
4. Subject-------Verb (intransitive)-------Indirect Object-----Direct Object:
EX: Fran gave Jenny
(indirect object) a present
( direct object).
Joe
read his sister (indirect object) a story
direct object).
5. Subject ----Verb (transitive) -----Direct Object-----Object Complement (noun or adjective):
EX:
Dr. Pine and his assistant called (transitive
verb) the project (direct
object) a failure (object complement, a noun).
The jury (subject) found (transitive verb) the
decision
( object) difficult
(adjective).
The five basic simple-sentence skeletons can be expanded with modifiers.
These do not change the structure of the sentences:
1. Subject-Intransitive Verb: The North wind howled eerily (adverb)
2. Subject-Intransitive Verb-Direct Object: Sheldon eagerly (adverb) baked a large chocolate cake (direct object).
3. Subject-Linking Verb-Subject Complement:
Sara, with the red braids (prepositional phrase), is now a certified public
accountant ( subject complement).
Parts of Speech
1. Nouns:
name persons, places, things, qualities, or ideas;
can take articles (ex: the table, an apple, a leaf); function as subjects of verbs or as objects of verbs, objects of prepositions, or as complements.
2. Verbs: identify
actions or occurrences or states of being;
end in ‘s’ or ‘es’ in the third person singular present
tense form –
EX: He catches the ball; She feels
tired; Barney
bakes a pie.
Verbs change form
to show tense –
EX: She walked to the car ( past tense).
Verbs may combine
with helping (auxiliary verbs) to
show complex time:
EX: He is being good. He has been good.
He will be good.
3. Pronouns: Pronouns usually substitute for nouns and function as nouns do –
First person: I, me, we, us
Second Person: you
Third Person: he, she, they, them, it
which, that, who, whom
4.
Adjectives: Adjectives
describe ( modify) nouns or pronouns – little, casual,
hateful, dirty, pretty, gullible, reluctant.
5.
Articles: help identify
a noun as definite or indefinite –
Definite – the
Indefinite – a/an
6.
Adverbs: modify
verbs, adjectives, or other adverbs OR whole groups of words:
Clue #1 – If a word answers an adverb question
when, where, how, how often,
then the words must be an adverb.
Clue #2 – If a word can be moved to a
different position in the sentence, then
the word must be an adverb
EX: Alice eagerly moved the bottle.
Eagerly, Alice moved
the bottle.
Toto chased cats frequently.
Frequently, Toto chased cats.
Toto frequently chased cats.
Clue #3 – An ending, such as ‘ly’ can also be a
clue to an adverb:
EX: carefully, quickly, slowly, fairly,
slowly, frequently, eagerly
7. Prepositions: show the relationship of a noun or a
pronoun to some other word in the
sentence; always take an object, which
must
be a noun or pronoun.
The resulting phrase acts as a modifier –
in,
at to, on, onto, with, of,
before, under, by, into
EX: Please put the cup on the table.
The play was written by William
Shakespeare
The dog hid under the table.
He passed the test with great
difficulty.
We went to the movies in the
evening.
8. Conjunctions: join words or groups of words( words,
phrases, and clauses).
There are two types of conjunctions -
coordinating conjunctions
and subordinating
conjunctions.
Coordinating conjunctions: are words such as
for, and, nor, but,
or, yet, & so, which join words
or groups of words
of Equal status. They can be
used to connect two sentences or independent
clauses.
EX: John loves Mary, but
Mary loves
Jack.
OR they can join single words or groups of words
that are not independent
clauses:
EX: John and Mary asked
about you.
John read the book and saw the
movie.
Subordinating conjunctions:
link subordinate
( dependent) clauses with main
(independent)
clauses. They introduce
clauses that cannot stand alone. They
include
because, although, since, if, as,
therefore, unless,
inasmuch, unless,
after, how, until, before, once, if,
while,
where,
whenever, though,
whether, than, why . . .
EX: She wore a jacket because she was
cold.
We are ready to leave unless there is
something else to do.
9. Interjections: express feeling or command attention – Wow!,
Oh!, Hey!, Welcome!
Remember, the lexical category of a word may shift according to how it is used.
EX:
She saw a kite. (verb)
She used a saw to cut off the branch.
We’ll watch the fireworks after dinner. (after acts
as a preposition with ‘dinner’as its object)
We’ll watch the fireworks after we eat. ( after acts
as a subordinating conjunction between two phrases)
Conjunctive Adverbs
Conjunctive adverbs are adverbs, not conjunctions ( they do not join clauses). Unlike other adverbs, they modify whole clauses,
sometimes whole sentences.
however
in addition similarly furthermore thus
moreover nevertheless therefore
consequently next
nonetheless
in comparison in
contrast accordingly still
hence undoubtedly
in fact
indeed
now
certainly
incidentally besides
in addition
then finally
besides
likewise
indeed
also
Unlike subordinators, conjunctive adverbs are moveable within their own clause:
EX:
Howard
wasn’t working; however, he expected to
find a job soon.
Howard wasn’t working; he expected, however, to
find a job soon.
Howard wasn’t working; he expected to find a job
soon, however.
(Note the punctuation – separating the conjunctive adverb from the rest of the
phrase with a comma)
Remember!!!! These words may have other functions in different sentences:
EX#1 : However much she likes it, Sally shouldn’t
eat a
whole gallon of ice cream.
( However is acting as an intensifier)
Sally likes ice cream; however, she shouldn’t eat
a whole
gallon.
(However is acting as a conjunctive adverb.)
EX #2: I hear your investing in the stock market;
now, don’t expect to get rich overnight.
(Now is acting as a conjunctive adverb)
I hear you’re investing in the stock market
now.
(Now is acting as an adverb
modifying the verb
investing.’)
