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Academic Writing Syntax

1) The document discusses sentence structure and syntax, focusing on simple sentences that have one subject and one verb. It provides examples of subjects, verbs, and different types of complements that can be included in simple sentences. 2) It also discusses subject-verb agreement and how prepositional phrases can sometimes make it difficult to identify the subject. It defines prepositional phrases and provides examples of how to determine if a subject is singular or plural when a prepositional phrase follows. 3) The document concludes with exercises for students to practice identifying subjects, verbs, and complements in sentences and rewriting incomplete sentences to add the missing elements of subject, verb, or complement.

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43 views

Academic Writing Syntax

1) The document discusses sentence structure and syntax, focusing on simple sentences that have one subject and one verb. It provides examples of subjects, verbs, and different types of complements that can be included in simple sentences. 2) It also discusses subject-verb agreement and how prepositional phrases can sometimes make it difficult to identify the subject. It defines prepositional phrases and provides examples of how to determine if a subject is singular or plural when a prepositional phrase follows. 3) The document concludes with exercises for students to practice identifying subjects, verbs, and complements in sentences and rewriting incomplete sentences to add the missing elements of subject, verb, or complement.

Uploaded by

nanadegyn
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© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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SYNTAX

SENTENCE STRUCTURE

Simple Sentences / Part of a Sentence

A sentence is a group of words that contains at least one subject and one verb. A sentence
expresses a complete thought. A simple sentence has one subject and one verb. The subject
tells who or what did something. The verb tells the action or condition. These are examples
of simple sentences:

Subject verb Notice that the subject in a simple


sentence may be compound:
I study.
My head and neck hurt.
I study and work.
My head hurts.
Also, the verb in a simple sentence
My head and neck hurt.
may be compound:
It is raining.
I study and work.
The students are reading.
In the sentence:
A sentence may also have a complement but it does not
Save your money, the
have to have one. The complement completes the
subject you is understood and not
meaning of the verb and adds more information to the
included, so, it is a complete
sentence. There are many types of complements. A
sentence.
complement in a simple sentence may be a noun,
pronoun, adjective or adverb.

Subject verb complement


I study English. (noun)
I don’t understand you. (pronoun)
His girlfriend is pretty. (adjective)
It is raining now. (adverb)

A complement may also be a noun phrase, a verb phrase or a prepositional phrase.

My father owns his own business. (noun phrase)


My girlfriend wants to get married. (verb phrase)
The students are reading in the library. (prepositional phrase)

A complement may also be a combination.

I study English at Rolling Hills College.


(noun + prepositional phase)
She wants to get married soon. (verb phrase + adverb)

1
SUBJECT – VERB AGREEMENT

You already know that subjects and verbs must agree in number. You should write:

My sister is married. (sing.)


My sisters are married. (pl)
My brother and my sister are single. (pl)

Sometimes we make mistakes in subject – verb agreement when the subject has a
prepositional phrase following it. For this reason, you should learn to recognize
prepositional phrases.

A prepositional phrase is a group of words that begins with a preposition and ends with a
noun. A prepositional phrase usually tells where, when, how or why.

from Mexico City in the morning


on December 25th of my sisters
to my best friend around the room
by bus because of the weather

A prepositional phrase may come after the subject of a sentence, but it is not part of the
subject. Therefore, you should ignore it most of the time when you are trying to decide
which verb form to use.

One (of my sisters) is also a singer.

The subject is one, which is singular.

Here are some other examples:

Singular subjects
One of my brothers is a musician.
Neither of my parents is living.
Much of my time is spent in the library.
Each of my brothers wants his own car.
Either of my sisters can babysit for you tonight. can, should, may, must, could...

Plural subjects
Both of my parents are teachers.
Several of the teachers speak my language.

But sometimes telling a singular subject from plural one is not that easy, unfortunately. A
few words can be either singular or plural. In these cases, you must refer to the noun in the
prepositional phrase.
Some of the money was missing. (sing.)
Some of the students were missing. (pl)
All of my time is spent in the library. (sing)

2
All of my brothers are singers. (pl)
Most of the ice was melted. (sing)
Most of the ice cubes were melted. (pl)
A lot of the work was too easy. (sing.)
A lot of the people were angry. (pl)

PRACTICE: Identifying subjects, verbs and complements.

Underline the subjects, verb and complements in the following sentences and write S, V or C
above them. Also, put parentheses ( ) around prepositional phrases.

S V C
1. My name is Roberto Sanchez.
2. I was born (on September 21st, 1989) (in the city) (of San Juan, Puerto Rico).
3. My oldest sister is married and has two children.
4. I am a student (at Green Hills College)(in Boston, Massachusetts.)
5. Boston is the capital (of Massachusetts.)
6. Some of
( my classes)are difficult.
7. Some (of the homework) is boring.
8. Most (of my classmates) are friendly.
9. None (of my classmates)speaks Spanish.

( my classes) are in( Dante Hall.)


10. A lot of
11. A lot (of my time) is spent (in the student lounge.
)
(
12. I am from Puerto Rico.)
13. My native language is Spanish.
14. My father works (in an office.)
15. I have two brothers and one sister.
16. None (of us)is married.
17. All of
( us) are single.
18. My youngest brother and sister are still in
( Junior School.)
( the morning)and goes swimming in
19. My oldest brother studies in ( the afternoon.)
20. (In the evening,) I watch TV or go (to internet.)
21. My father understands English but does not speak it.
22. Neither (of my parents) has been (to the United States.)

3
REWRITE each incomplete sentence and add the missing element: subject, verb or
complement: classmate , workmate
1. My roommate’s name Alex. My roommate’s name is Alex.

2. Is (from the East Coast.) He/ She/ Alex etc. is from the East Coast.

3. Alex’s family lives. Alex’s family lives in Boston.

Alex and I study in the dorm.


4. Alex and I in the dorm. _________________________________________________
5. Our room very small. __________________________________________________
Our room is very small.
Our schedules are different.
6. Our schedules different. ________________________________________________
7. I like to sleep late, but Alex gets up.
I like to sleep late, but Alex gets up early.
___________________________________________________________________
Tayná tries not to wake me up.
8. Tries not to wake me up.________________________________________________
Euliane is a very considerate roommate.
9. Is a very considerate rommate. ___________________________________________
He is pretty.
10. He is ________________________________________________________________
11. (In the afternoon)we_____________________________________________________
In the afternoon, we work hard.
12. Alex speaks __________________________________________________________
Alex speaks Spanish.
Alex helps me with my homework.
( my homework)_____________________________________________
13. Alex me with
14. We often go swimming. /
_________________________________________________________
We often go (to church).
after

Adapted from:
OSHIMA, Alice; HOGUE, Ann. Introduction to Academic Writing. 3rd Edition. The Longman
Academic Writing Series, Level 3. Longman: Oxford, 2015.

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