BASIC SENTENCE STRUCTURE IN ENGLISH

1. The Parts of a Sentence: A typical English sentence has three distinct parts:
Subject + Verb + Complement / Object

A. The Subject

Form Example
Noun Jack is a dancer
Pronoun He dances in a club
Determiner + Noun + Prepositional Phrase The principle of school is highly strict.
Finishing homework in time is important for
Gerund Phrase
him
Infinitive Phrase To be a good student requires hard work.
What I learn at the school is important for
Noun Clause
my future.
The research that she makes at the labotary is
Det. + Noun Clause + Relative Clause
vital
A computer capable of doing fast calculations
Det. + Noun + Reduced Relative Clause
is needed.
Jack, a highly eager science student, studies his
Noun + Reduced Relative Clause
lessons regularly.

2. Structures Used in the Subject Position * (The subject can be preceeded by an

adverbial expression; otherwise, it comes first in the sentence.

This extremely tiring job should be boring as

Det. + Adv. + Adj. + Noun + Det. + Noun well
Jack’s birthday should be this month
To be invited by jack must be a shock for her.
Infinitive For Jack to invite her must be a shock.

Being invited by Jack should be nice for Alice

Gerund
Jack’s inviting her should be nice for Alice
That Jack has invited her should make her
happy.
Noun Clause The fact that Jack has sent her an
invitation should make her happy.

The invitation, which is sign of Jack kindness

should make Alice happy.
Det. + Noun + Relative Clause
The invitation, which was sent by Jack, shoul
make Alice happy.
The invitation, a sign of Jack’s kindness,
should make her happy.
Det. + Noun + Reduced Relative Clause
The invitation, showing Jack’s kindnes, should
please Alice
-EVER Clauses Whatever Jack says seems to please Alice.
George has sent Alice an invitation. It should
Pronoun
please Alice

B. The Verb

Subject
Noun Verb Phrase Notes
Phrase
Alice Studies chemisty at college Active Verbs in different
Will have graduated from college by next july. tenses
Hopes to go to England to practive her English. V + “to” infinitive
Enjoys practising English V + Gerund
1
 May be offered a scholarship to study in the UK
Has already been granted a scholarship to study in Passive Verbs
France
Has had student visa extended Causative form
Hopes that she she will be able to Verb + That Clause

C. The Object: Like the subject, the object of a sentence must be a noun
phrase

Noun I like Jack

Pronoun I like him because he is so kind
Adj + Noun I like kind people
Gerund I like singing songs.
Infinitive I like to sing songs.
I don’t remember what I did
I admit that I make mistakes
Noun Clause I don’t know whether I’ll be able to get permission from
my parents
You can do whatever you want
Det. + Noun + Relative Clause I hate people who don’t keep their promises

The man called the woman, a well-known model

Det. + Noun Reduced Relative
The man called the woman dressed in a striped shirt
Clause
The man called the woman sitting next to him

D. The Complement: Structures that can function as complements

One problem we are faced with is air pollution

Noun + Noun + Det +
The principal problem facing many developing countries is the lack
Noun + Prep. Phrase
of capital to finance large scale projects
Adj. + Noun + Relative The main problem confronting us today is environmental
Clause deterioration, which has reached dangerous proportions
One of the aims of education is to train the personnel needed by
Infinitive
different sectors.
Gerund My hobby is collecting stamps
The problem is that the available resources are inadequate
What is not clear is what caused the fire
What seems uncertain now is whether he will become a
Noun Clause
candidate
What remains a mystery is how the spy gained access to the
secret documents

E. Summary

Subject V C
Det + N The agreement
Det + Adj + N The new agreement
Det + N + N The trade agreement
Signing the agreement
Gerund
The signing of the agreement
Infinitive To sign the agreement is important
Det + N + Relative The agreement which was signed
Clause The agreement signed yesterday
When the agreement was signed
Noun Clause Whether the agreement was signed yesterday
That the agreement was signed yesterday

2
 S V Object
Det + N We support the agreement
Det + Adj + N We support the new agreement
Gerund They avoid signing the agreement
Infinitive They want to sign the agreement
We support the agreement [which was] signed yesterday
Det + Noun + Relative Clause I’ll visit the town where the agreement was signed
I remember the day when agreement was signed
He when the agreement was signed
remembers that the agreement was signed yesterday
Noun Clause
He claims whether the agreement was signed yesterday
I don’t know or not

S V Complement
Noun Phrase What is important the agreement
Gerund The problem signing the agreement
Infinitive The problem to sign the agreement
Det + N + Relative
the agreement [which was] signed
Clause What they oppose is
yesterday
that the agreement was not signed
The problem
Noun Clause yesterday
The question
whether the agreement will be signed or not

Identifying the subject

 A highly ambitious project has been prepared to create new jobs.

 A democratically elected government is now ruling the country.
 No progress has been achieved in the negotiations yet.
 Both of the suggestions which were made by him should be discussed.
 What is urgently needed is a strong government which can tackle these
problems.
 In a effort to combat poverty, the government of Ruritania introduced a series
of economic measures.
 Whatever the objectives of the program are, reading and writing skills should
not be neglected.
 Every conceivable means will be used to the release of the hostages.
 Neighter proposal seems to be satisfactory.
 Owing to the recent floods, many people in the region are now homeless.