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Unit 2. sentence patterns *

* This unit is based on «Let's Write English George E. Wishon» by and Julia M. Burks

    This section deals with three types of sentences:

I. Simple

II. Compound

III. Complex

I. Simple sentences

There are nine basic patterns:

Sentence Pattern 1

The first pattern to be discussed is one that is simply limited to actor-action, or to put it another way, to subject-predicate. It has only two basic elements: Noun and Verb. (In sentence pattern 1, as in all the sentence patterns that follow, a pronoun may substitute for a noun.) In this pattern the actor acts, but the action stops with the verb. There are no complements, and there are no objects. The verb in this pattern is called intransitive for the very reason that no action is transferred to an object. Observe the example sentences, then complete the unfinished sentences.

Sentence Pattern 2

Thispattern is only a slight variation of pattern one. In fact, it is formed simply by adding an adverb complement, which gives some information about the verb. Observe the pattern and the example sentences. Remember that a pronoun may substitute for a noun. Complete the unfinished sentences.

Sentence Pattern 3

In this sentence pattern, a noun or noun-substitute follows the verb. This new element is called a direct object. The verb is called transitive because it transfers the action of the verb to the direct object. The direct object receives the action of the verb. Observe the pattern and the example sentences. Complete the unfinished sentences.

Sentence Pattern 4

The following pattern is a further extension of the combination Noun + Verb + Noun. In this pattern, two nouns follow the verb. The pattern looks like this: Noun + Verb + Noun + Noun. The last noun is the direct object, and the inside noun (the one next to the verb) is the indirect object. The two objects refer to different things. Observe the pattern and the example sentences. Complete the unfinished sentences.

Here are some verbs that function in this pattern: afford, allot, bring, cause, deny, do, envy, fetch, grant, guarantee, hand, lease, leave, lend, make, offer, owe, pass, pay, play, rent, sell, send, show, spare, tell, throw.

You will notice that certain sentences using some of the verbs listed above behave differently from the sentences given inside the frame. All of the sentences in the frame can be rewritten with a preposition to produce the same meaning.

The man teaches the students English.

The man teaches English to the students.

He gives them lessons.

He gives lessons to them.

Tom wrote his mother a letter.

Tom wrote a letter to his mother.

But consider these sentences:

                                                        I envy Mary her long eyelashes.

We should spare him that humiliation.

  Can you afford me a little of your time?

These sentences cannot be rewritten with prepositions. Although they have two objects they do not exactly follow the pattern of sentences with a direct object and indirect object. Verbs that occur in sentences like these include spare, envy, afford, cost, deny.

Can these sentences be rewritten with prepositions?

She saved him a seat.

         She saved him a phone call.

The first sentence can be She saved a seat for him without a change in meaning. The second sentence, rewritten in the same way, would lose its original meaning. In this instance, the same verb, depending on its meaning, occurs in either variation of the pattern.

Sentence Pattern 5

This pattern appears at first to be closely related to sentence pattern 4, but on closer examination, it proves to be quite different. In sentence pattern 4 (Noun + Verb + Noun + Noun), the two nouns that followed the verb each referred to different things. In sentence pattern 5, also Noun + Verb + Noun + Noun, the verb is followed by two nouns, but the two nouns refer to the same thing. The first noun after the verb is the direct object, and the second, or last noun, is the object complement. There is an important modification of this pattern, in which the object complement is an adjective instead of a second noun. In this case, the adjective describes the direct object, but is also related to the action of the verb. Observe the pattern and the example sentences below. Complete the unfinished sentences.

Sentence Pattern 6

In this pattern, a linking verb (LV) connects the subject to a complement which tells something about the subject. The complement is a noun.

The most common linking verb is be. Notice how it is used in the following pattern, but also notice how related linking verbs, become and remain, are also followed by nouns as subject complements in the pattern. Observe the pattern and the example sentences. Complete the unfinished sentences.

Sentence Pattern 7

This pattern features the linking verbs be, remain, become, but also includes linking verbs such as appear, continue, feel, grow, seem, taste, turn etc. In this pattern, however, the subject complement is an adjective, or (after be and a few other verbs of this group) an adverb of place or adverbial prepositional phrase. Observe the pattern and complete the unfinished sentences.

Sentence Pattern 8

Another frequently used pattern combines there as a sort of dummy subject with a linking verb. But there is really not the subject of the sentence at all, as will be seen in the examples. Observe the pattern and the example sentences. Complete the unfinished sentences.

The sentences below are a simple rearrangement of the elements of sentence pattern 2. They should not be confused with sentences in pattern 8. When these sentences have a pronoun for a subject the order of subject and verb is reversed.

There he is.                                                 There it goes.

There she stood, fratically dipping water out of the boat.

Sentence Pattern 9

Another pattern similar to sentence pattern 8 uses it as a dummy subject, but in this case, there is no other subject. Although it has not real meaning, it remains the subject. Observe the pattern and the example sentences. Complete the unfinished sentences.

Exercises:

Now do the exercises related to simple sentence patterns in Unit 1 of Section II [Part II]. Then continue with part II, III and IV of this unit (Expanded Simple Sentences, Compound Sentences; and Complex Sentences).

II. Expanded Simple Sentences

All simple sentence patterns may be expanded by the addition of modifying words and phrases.

If a noun is preceded by modifiers of more than one class, the general order is determiners, then adjectives, then participles, and last, nouns.

A. Types of Modifiers that can precede the noun:

Notice how this unusual combination would appear in a sentence.

Example:The city will demolish those houses.

               The city will demolish those five red brick houses.

               Those houses are unsafe.

               Those five fine old red dilapidated brick houses are unsafe.

B. Types of Modifiers that follow the noun:

Adverbs of place — e.g. «there»; «inside»

«I like the food in there».

«I smelled smoke inside».

2. Prepositional phrases (phrases beginning with a preposition)

«I like the food in that restaurant».

3. Adjectives following the direct object/complement.

 «He likes his coffee hot».

«Work makes her happy».

4. Participial phrases (phrases beginning with a participle)

«the girl smiling at her mother».

«the man hidden behind the curtain».

5. Infinitives

«a place to go».

C. Types of Modifiers that precede the Verb:

Auxiliaries («was»; «have» etc.)

Modals («may»; «should» etc.)

D. Types of Modifiers that follow the verb:

adverbs and adverbial phrases

«He will go happily».

«He will go early tomorrow».

2. Prepositional phrases

«He lives in Chicago».

3. Nouns or noun phrases

«He will come home».

E. Types of modifiers that precede the adjective:

Intensifiers (e.g. «extremely»; «unusually»; etc.)

«He is unusually gifted».

2. Nouns

«ice cold»; «sky blue»

3. Adverbs

«sadly beautiful»

F. Types of modifiers that follow the adjective

Prepositional phrases

«ready for anything»

Infinitives

«good to eat»

G. Types of modifiers that precede the adverb

1. Intensifiers

very slowly

H. Types of modifiers that follow the adverb

1. comparatives

(as) slowly as he could.

Exercises:

Now do the exercises related to expanded simple sentence patterns in Unit 1 of Section II [Part II] above. Then continue with parts III and IV of this Unit (Compound and Complex sentences).

III. Compound Sentences (two or more sentences combined by coordination). The following are the connectors used:

A. Conjunctions — sentences may be expanded by combining two or more simple sentences in a single compound sentence. This is done with the use of connecting words called conjunctions (of which there are 7).

«and»; «or»; «nor»; «but»; «for»; «so»; «yet»

These conjunctions may also be used to form compound subjects and predicates in simple sentences: e.g. «Mother and father are away.»; «Did you look at home or in the office?»

B. Correlative Conjunctions - These are used in pairs to join two single sentences.

e.g. «either ... or»; «neither ... nor»; «not only ... but also» etc. (these may also be used to join two parallel sentence elements of any kind: e.g. «Either you or I will give it to her»).

C. Connectors (or conjunctive adverbs)

The principal ones are: however; else; therefore; otherwise; moreover; nevertheless; futhermore; hence; also; then; besides; accordingly; consequently; likewise; meanwhile.

D. Compound Connectors

These consist of more than one word: e.g. «in fact»; «on the contrary».

E. The semicolon (;)

This can be used without any other connector e.g. «Cowards may die many times before their deaths; the brave men dies but once».

Exercises:

Now do the exercises related to Compound Sentence patterns in Unit 1 of Section II [Part II] above. Then continue with Part IV of this unit (Complex Sentences).

IV. Complex Sentences (two or more sentences combined by subordination)

Sentences may be expanding by combining two or more simple sentences using subordinators. The result is a complex sentence having a main clause and one or more subordinate clauses.

TYPES OF SUBORDINATE CLAUSES:

1. Noun clauses

A. Noun clauses in a subordinate clause used as a noun. He noticed her nervousness. He noticed that she was nervous.

Like any noun, the noun clause can occur either as the subject of the sentence (before the verb) or in the predicate (after the verb).

Types of Noun Clauses:

«Where he is going is a secret».

(subject of the sentence)

«That is what I think».

(as a predicate complement)

«I will give whoever wins the prize»

(as an indirect object).

«She will name him whatever she wants».

(as the complement of the object «him»)

«She worried about how ill he was».

(as the object of the preposition «about»)

«One fact, that he is brilliant, cannot be denied».

(as an appositive, in apposition to «fact»)

«Remembering what he said, I was careful to be

on time»

(as the object of the participle «remembering»)

«He asked her to read what he had written»

(as the object of the infinitive «to read»)

«Knowing that he is here is a comfort».

(as the object of the gerund [i.e. the present participle] «knowing»).

B. Subordinators which introduce noun clauses can be of the following types:

a. subordinate conjuction: e.g. how (I don't know how he can do it) why (I don't know why he does it» etc.)

b. relative pronouns

When a relative pronoun is used as a subordinator, it sometimes acts as a noun, and sometimes as a determiner (i.e., it can either replace a noun, or come before a noun).

We know who wrote the letter, (as a noun) We know which way they went (as a determiner)

2. Adjective clauses

These are used, like an adjective, to modify a noun or a pronoun.

Usually they are introduced by relative pronouns

(e.g. That's the man who came to dinner). Sometimes they are introduced by subordinating conjunctions such as «when»; «where»; and «why»

(e.g. «There's no reason why this should happen»). Sometimes the connective is omitted (though it is understood to be there). This occurs only when the information in the subordinate clause is essential in defining the noun it modifies.

(e.g. This is the place [where] we saw the accident).

3. Adverb clauses

An adverbial clause is a dependent clause used as an adverb; it therefore can modify a verb, an adjective, a verbal, and another adverb.

Adverb:            He studies hard.

Adverb clause: He studies as all his brothers before him have studied.

Adverb:            He went home early.

Adverb clause: He went home as soon as he could.

Although adverbs usually follow the verb of the sentence, adverbial clauses do not occupy any fixed position. The adverbial clause frequently precedes the subject of the sentence. It also may be found in the middle of the clause it is related to. e.g.  He went home as soon as he could. As soon as he could he went home.

Subordinating Words in Adverb Clauses

A subordinate conjunction, or connective, introduces the adverb clause and connects it with a word in the main clause. The following are frequently used subordinate conjunctions:

Exercises:

Now do the exercises related to Complex Sentence pattern in Unit 1 of Section II [Part II] above.