Basic sentence structures

English has five basic sentence structures As we have learnt any complete sentences include
some combination of a number of common elements subject predicate predicativesubject
complement object object complement and adverbial Now let’s look at the possible combination
of these elements

Structure 1 Subjectpredicate (SP)
The SP sentence structure consists of a noun pronoun or other nominal as the subject of the
sentence and an intransitive verb or verb phrase as the predicate
Time flies
Dead dogs don’t bite
Money talks
The large yellow bus has stopped

Structure 2 Subjectlinking verbpredicative subject complement (SLVC)
The words acting as a predicative may be a prepositional phrase to show the place of the subject
or a noun to identify or rename the subject or an adjective to indicate the state of the subject
Speech is a picture of the mind
Every beginning is hard
The firefighters are inside the building
The corn is growing tall

Structure 3 SubjectPredicateObject (SPO)
The verb acting as a predicate in the SPO sentence structure is a transitive verb which may take
a direct object or both a direct object and an indirect object
Poverty tries friends
Many hands make light work
Nature taught the boy the meaning of fear
The Liberian handed me a Spanish dictionary

Structure 4 SubjectPredicateObjectAdverbial (SPOA)
The words acting as an adverbial may be adverbs prepositional phrases or adverbial clauses
They provide information about time place manner and reasons
You never miss the water till the well runs dry
No man can make a good coat with bad cloth
My daughter finished her homework quickly

Structure 5 SubjectPredicateObjectObject Complement (SPOOC)
Different from an indirect object which is the receiver of the direct object an object complement
completes the meaning of the direct object Object complements can be nouns adjectives or
prepositional phrases
The villagers found their bedrooms ankledeep in water
The captain named his small boat the Flying Fish
The friendly mood makes us comfortable


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