SENTENCE PATTERN DEFINITION

There are five important components in a sentence.

e.g.

Subject (S)	Verb (V)	Object (O)
Complement (C)	Adverbial (A)

 

1. SUBJECT (S)

Definition :

To get ‘S’ ask the quesiton ‘Who?’ before the verb.

e.g.

Nancy danced well	(Here “Nancy” - Subject)
The child broke the glass	(Here “The child” - Subject)

Subject (S)	consists of nouns or pronouns
	occurs before a verb

 

2. VERB (V)

Definition :

In every sentence the most important word is the verb. A verb shows action or activity or work done.

e.g.

He is a doctor	(“Be” form verb)
Jems wrote a letter	(Main verb)
The baby is crying	(auxiliary verb + Main verb)

Verb (V)	consists of (a) auxiliaries
	(b) finite verbs

(a) Auxiliaries

e.g.

am, is, are ,was, were

has, have, had

does, do, did

Modals : can, could; will, would; shall, should; may, might; must

Semi-modals / Quasi Modals : dare to; need to; used to; ought to

(b) Finte verbs - denote action

e.g.

talk, sing, write, make, dance, play, cook, leave, teach, sleep

- verbs occur after the subject

- vebs occur before the object

3. OBJECT (O)

Definition :

To get the object ‘O’ ask the question ‘What’ or ‘Whome’. ‘What’ is for things and ‘Whome’ is for persons. Persons may be nouns or pronouns.

e.g.

He bought a pen	(a pen = Object)
He handles the computer	(computer = Object)
I saw him	(him = Object)

Object (O) - consists of nouns or noun phrases or noun clauses

(a) Do	- direct object
	- answers the question ‘what’

e.g.

S	V	O (what)
I	likes	animals

(b) IO	- indirect object
	- answers the question ‘whom’

e.g.

S	V	IO (whom)	DO
I	gave	Rosy	a pen

4. COMPLEMENT (C)

Definition :

The words required to complete the meaning of a sentence are called Complement of the sentence.

e.g.

S	V	C
He	is	a dentist
She	became	a journalist
It	grew	dark

Complement (C) - from the word ‘complete’

- completes the meaning in the sentence

- wihtout it the, meaning is incomplete

- wihtout it the, meaning changes

occurs in two pattern. (i) S V C pattern. (ii) S V O C pattern

(i) In S V C pattern, the complement C

- complements the subjects

- tells about the subject

- wihtout it the, meaning changes

- without C, the sentence is incomplete or the sentence changes its meaning

- use to be forms, grew, became, seems for verb

e.g.

S	V	C
They	are	players
She	was	angry
It	seems	absurd

(ii) In S V O C pattern

- the complement tells about the object

- the complement and object are of the same person or thing

e.g.

S	V	O	C
They	called	David	a genius
I	found	her	crying
They	elected	Michle	leader

Types of Complement

1. Subject Complement

Definition :

The complement which expresses the quality or identity or condition of the subject is called Subject Complement.

e.g.

She is a doctor

She looks sad

2. Object Complement

Definition :

The complement which expresses the quality or identity or condition of an object is called Object Complement.

e.g.

They made her angry

She called him a liar

Adjunct or Adverbial

Definition :

To get ‘A’ ask the question why, when, where or how.

The use of adverbial is optional whereas complement is essential. It has adverb phrase, adverbial clause, noun-phrase and prepositional phrase.

e.g.

Why? (reason)	When? (Time)	Where? (Place)	How? (Manner)
due to cold	now, later	here, there	by bus / cycle
through floods	after 2 years	every where	through efforts
under compulsion	when young	in the sky	by mixing
carefully	in the morning	at home	by hard work

Adjunct - A - answers the questions where? when? how? why?
- without A, any change in the meaning of the sentence

Examples of Adjuncts in sentences

e.g.

S	V	A
She	Comes	every day
-	Sit	here

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