Explaining sentence structure for PCS - E3-02W

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Intermediate English grammar: explaining sentence structure.

 

 

 

In order to complete successfully the exercise on clause, phrase and sentence, we need to understand how a typical sentence is structured in English. This is often explained as being based on subject, verb and object, in that order.

 

The verb can be one word or more, depending on whether or not there is an auxiliary or supporting verb. The verb says what the action is:

 

Ate                  walks             is sleeping                will not open               has taken

 

Before this verb, a subject must be placed. This is the person or thing which is the author of the action – the one doing whatever it is:

 

Lion                 father              girl                               Prince                        She

 

The subject is a noun, but is often accompanied by other words - ‘determiners’ such as this, my, the, some and so on, and / or adjectives like tall, happy etc.

 

The lion           my father        the little girl                 The Prince of Wales

 

The subject can also be a pronoun, which is a word used instead of a noun: She, it, they etc

 

Combining the two, we get

 

The lion ate                My father walks          The little girl is sleeping        The Prince of Wales will not open               She has taken

 

Notice that one of these combinations - The little girl is sleeping. – is already finished. It does not need an object. The verb sleep is one of those which we call ‘intransitive’ – it is not followed by an object.

 

Three of the other verbs are transitive: The lion ate… who? Or what?….

 

The lion ate the tourist.         The Prince of Wales will not open the new swimming pool.         She has taken a holiday.

 

Tourist, swimming pool and holiday are the answers to the question: who or what was the action done to? Who or what was the recipient of the action? These words are objects of the verbs ‘ate’, ‘will not open’ and ‘has taken’ respectively.

 

My father walks by the sea every day.

 

In this case, walk is also intransitive – there is normally no object of the verb walk. In fact, in one case there can be: My father walks the dog twice a day. In this special case, question: walks who or what? – answer: walks the dog.

So, a sentence with an intransitive verb can be complete when it has a subject and a verb:

 

Paul fell over. The ghost appeared.            I became very frightened.

 

(In the last case, very frightened refers back to the subject – I – and is what we call a complement.)

 

On the other hand, a sentence with a transitive verb must have subject, verb AND object to be complete:

 

Maria writes books.        The boy bought a bicycle.              Tom doesn’t like fruit.

 

A phrase has no verb, so one or more phrases cannot make a sentence:

 

Behind the door in our kitchen…

 

This is unfinished, and a sentence is a finished idea: 

 

Behind the door in our kitchen there is a dishwasher.

 

Again, a sentence with a conjunction added is turned into a clause:

 

It was four o’clock in the morning. – sentence

 

Although it was four o’clock in the morning – clause, beginning with the conjunction ‘although’.[this piece of language is now incomplete.]

 

I couldn’t sleep, although it was four o’clock in the morning. – sentence with two clauses: I couldn’t sleep; it was four o’clock in the morning, now complete again.

 

Note that: ‘I couldn’t sleep’ can be a sentence on its own – its meaning is complete – see also the ‘main and subordinate clauses’ explanation file.

 

Conclusion

In order to create a sentence, you must have one complete idea. With an intransitive verb, this requires only subject and verb, with a transitive one, an object is also needed.

The normal word order for positive or negative statements (but not questions) in English is: subject, verb, object.

 

In questions, an auxiliary verb is needed and the subject is placed between the auxiliary and the main verb:

 

Did the lion eat the tourist? Is the little girl sleeping? Has she taken a holiday?

See also the question formation file.