Ch. 15.2 Types, Patterns, & Structure Overview

Meaning flows from subject > verb > objects, etc. Hence, these are SVO sentence patterns.

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Note: All of the patterns 1-5 in section B are simple sentences.

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Note: Prepositional phrases do not have a grammatical function in sentences. They add flavor and detail but cannot do any of the "heavy lifting" in the sentence. They cannot be subjects, verbs, objects, or complements. For more information about types of verbs, see Ch 14.2 Verbs.

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English divides sentences into types, patterns, and overall structure.

*Sentence Types: What is the sentence doing? -Declarative -Imperative -Interrogative -Exclamatory

1. Declarative

Declarative sentences literally declare something. Ex: Today is Tuesday. My name is Jean. The weather is lovely today. I read books to my children. Javier collects unusual postcards from around the world. My company laid off over one hundred employees.

2. Imperative

Imperative sentences give orders or make requests. Ex: Take out the garbage. Come here! Help me. Have a nice day. Get well soon. Let me get that door for you. Please let me know if you have any questions. Stop that! Watch out for that pothole! Don't forget my birthday! (Note that imperatives can use either periods or exclamation points.)

Most simple English sentences conform to these five (5) patterns:

1. Subject—Linking Verb—Subject Complement (S LV SC) Ex: Good researchers are curious. S LV SC What is the sentence about? The subject is "researchers." What are the researchers doing? They "are" being something. What are they being? Curious. "Curious" is complementing the subject here, giving more information about it—the subject complement.

This is based on their structure in terms of the different kinds of clauses (independent and dependent) that they contain instead of the individual word functions. An independent clause has a subject and a predicate and can stand on its own as a complete sentence. Ex: I arrived late. Ex: The bus ride was long.

A dependent clause has a subject and a verb, but it has some other words that make it dependent on the rest of the sentence to be complete. Ex: When I arrived late . . . Ex: Because the bus ride was long... see page 8/10 for extra note

C. Sentence Structure

Another way to look at sentences is seeing them as a mixture of four (4) different types or structures: simple, compound, complex, and compound-complex.

2. Subject—Transitive Verb—Direct Object (S TV DO)

Ex: An antihistamine may prevent an allergic reaction. S TV DO What is the sentence about? The subject is "antihistamine." What is the antihistamine doing? It "may prevent" something. What is being prevented? The allergic reaction. The reaction is directly receiving the action of the verb, so it is the direct object.

3. Complex A complex sentence contains one independent clause and one or more dependent clauses (IC DC) or (IC DC DC).

Ex: I drove the car while I listened to the radio. IC DC Ex: I drove the car while I listened to the radio IC DC because my favorite song was on. DC

2. Compound A compound sentence contains two independent clause (IC IC) connected by a coordinating conjunction.

Ex: I drove the car, and I listened to the radio. S TV DO S ITV IC IC Ex: I wanted to mow the grass, but it was raining outside S TV DO S LV SC again. IC IC Ex: I was tired, so I went home early. S LV SC S ITV IC IC

4. Compound-Complex A compound-complex sentence contains two independent clauses and one or more dependent clauses (IC IC DC) or (IC DC IC) or (DC IC IC) etc.

Ex: I drove the car, and my brother told me where to IC IC turn while I listened to the radio. DC Ex: My brother told me where to turn while I listened IC DC to the radio, and I drove the car. IC Ex: While I listened to the radio, I drove the car, and my DC IC brother told me where to turn. IC

1. Simple A simple sentence contains one independent clause (IC).

Ex: I drove the car. S V Ex: I walked to school in the driving rain. S V Ex: My grandmother and grandfather met in New York S S V years ago.

Ex: I gave John my notes. S TV IO DO What is the sentence about? Me, or in this case, I. The subject is "I." What did I do? I "gave" something to someone. What did I give? My notes. "Notes" is the direct object; it is what is given. Who indirectly received my notes? John, so "John" is the indirect object.

Ex: Ron gave Hermione a dozen roses. S TV IO DO What is the sentence about? Ron. What did Ron do? He gave something to someone. What did Ron give? Roses. "Roses" is the direct object. Who received those roses? Hermione. "Hermione" is the indirect object.

3. Subject—Transitive Verb—Indirect Object—Direct Object (S TV IO DO)

Ex: The curry gave Jane severe indigestion. S TV IO DO What is the sentence about? The subject is "curry." What is the curry doing? It already "gave." "Gave" is the verb. What is being given? Indigestion. The verb "gave" applies to the indigestion, making this the direct object. Who is also indirectly receiving the action? Jane. "Jane" is being given indigestion, so she is the indirect object here.

5. Subject—Intransitive Verb (S ITV)

Ex: The kettle whistles. S ITV What is the sentence about? The kettle. "Kettle" is the subject. What is the kettle doing? Whistling. This is the verb. It's called intransitive because this verb doesn't "go across" the sentence to affect any other words. The kettle isn't whistling anything—it's just whistling. Intransitive verbs do not take objects.

Ex: The child on the swing laughed. S ITV What is the sentence about? The child (subject) What did the child do? Laughed (verb). That's it for this sentence. The prepositional phrase "on the swing" tells which child (the one on the swing) is doing the laughing.

Ex: The monkey to the left of the lion grinned at the S ITV people at the zoo. What is the sentence about? The monkey (subject). What did the monkey do? Grinned (verb). That's it for the sentence. Everything else is a prepositional phrase--and though prepositional phrases are great and give a lot of information, they perform no grammatical function in the sentence (they cannot be subjects, verbs, objects, or complements).

4. Subject—Transitive Verb—Direct Object—Object Complement (S TV DO OC)

Ex: The reviewer called the film a masterpiece. S TV DO OC What is the sentence about? The reviewer. The subject is "reviewer." What is the reviewer doing? The reviewer "called," so "called" is the verb What is being called? The film. "The film" is directly receiving the action of the verb called, so it is the direct object. But what is the film being called? A masterpiece. So masterpiece is giving more information about the direct object, complementing it—so it's the object complement.

Ex: The dog chewed the bone. S TV DO What is the sentence about? The subject is "dog." What is the dog doing? It is "chewing." "Chewing" is the verb. What is being chewed? The bone. Therefore, "the bone" is the direct object.

Ex: The volcano destroyed many homes. S TV DO What is the sentence about? The subject is "volcano." What is the volcano doing? It is "destroying." What is being destroyed? Homes. Therefore, "homes" is the direct object.

Ex: The weather is lovely. S LV SC What is the sentence about? The subject is "weather." What is the weather doing? The weather "is" being something. What is the weather being? Lovely. "Lovely" is complementing the subject, telling readers more about the weather, so it is the subject complement.

Ex: Thessaly is still a puppy. S LV DC What is the sentence about? The subject is "Thessaly." What is Thessaly doing? Thessaly "is" being something. What is Thessaly being? A puppy. So, "puppy" is complementing the subject, telling readers more about Thessaly, so it is the subject complement.

Ex: The Senate elected Senator Palpatine Supreme Leader. S TV DO OC What is the sentence about? The Senate (subject). What did the Senate do? Elected someone (verb). Who was elected? Senator Palpatine (direct object). What else do we know about the direct object here? Supreme Leader (object complement).

Ex: We painted the room blue. S TV DO OC Who is the sentence about? We (subject). What did we do? Painted (verb). What did we paint? The room. "Room" is the direct object. What else describes the room in this sentence? Blue. "Blue" complements the direct object "room," so it's the object complement.

Note: The order of the clauses doesn't matter when identifying sentence types—only that the sentence has them at all.

Ex: While I listened to the radio, I drove the car. DC IC Ex: Because my favorite song was on DC while I listened to the radio, I drove the car. DC IC

4. Exclamatory

Exclamatory sentences are excited about the information and usually end with an exclamation point. Ex: This is crazy! I can't believe it! I'm utterly shocked! The ordeal was over!

DO= Direct Objects directly receive the action of the verb (patterns 2, 3, and 4).

IO= Indirect Objects indirectly receive the action of the verb (pattern 3).

TV = Transitive Verbs take an object, either a direct object alone (pattern 2) or direct and indirect object (pattern 3) or a direct object and object complement (pattern 4).

ITV = Intransitive Verbs take no object (pattern 5).

3. Interrogative

Interrogatives ask something and generally end with a question mark. Ex: Who are you? Where are we going? Why are we going this way? Do you like to cook? Does anybody here know CPR? How do I open a retirement account?

Review of Terminology......

LV = Linking Verbs take a subject complement, not an object (pattern 1).

SC= Subject Complements are nouns, pronouns, or adjectives that rename the subject (usually connected by a linking verb) (pattern 1).

OC= Object Complements are nouns, pronouns, or adjectives that rename the direct object at the end of the sentence (pattern 4).

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Patterns: How is the sentence put together? *S-LV-SC *S-TV-DO *S-TV-IO-DO *S-TV-DO-OC *S-ITV

B. Sentence Patterns

Sentence structure in English can be complicated, but often, it follows this simple pattern: Subject + Predicate. The subject is the actor in the sentence. It is whatever is doing what the verb describes. The predicate includes the rest of the sentence—the verb or the action in the sentence—and anything else that the verb is affecting.

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Structure: What clauses make up the sentence? *Simple *Compound *Complex *Compound-Complex

A. Types

The easiest way to describe sentences is by what they are doing. In this sense, there are four options: Declarative, Imperative, Interrogative, and Exclamatory.