UNIT 4

BASIC SETENCE PATTERN IN ENGLISH

0. Learning Objectives
After completing this unit, you will:
- be able to mention the English basic sentence pattern,
- be able to explain the main feature of each pattern,
- be able to construct English basic sentences correctly

1. Patten 1: Intransitive Verb

Study the following diagram of the Pattern 1! Tell the class what you have in
mind after studying the pattern below.

Pattern 1: S + [P + Ø]

S P

P+ Ø

Noun Verb Phrase

Phrase (Intransitive)

He runs
48 | Technical English 1

The above pattern can also be presented as follow.

0 SENTENCE
1 S P
2 S P + Ø (ZERO)
Noun Phrase Intransitive Verb
3
(NP) (VP)
+ Ø (ZERO)
4 He runs + Ø (ZERO)
5 He runs [Dia berlari]

The sentence “He runs” represents a complete thought. Of course, you can add
more information. But, the sentence “he runs” can already stand sufficiently by
itself without any additional information. The constituent Subject must be filled
with Noun Phrase (NP) and Predicate must be filled with Verb Phrase (VP). The
VP which fills the slot P is Intransitive Verb. Intransitive Verb is a type of Verb
which does not require an Object. How do you know whether a verb is
intransitive or transitive? You have to look up your dictionary. Let’s see the
example of the verb “RUN” in the online Merriam-Dictionary.
 English Basic Senten ce Patte rn | 49

The dictionary gives you these important points related to the information you
are searching.
1. You can see there on the left column that verb RUN can be VERB, NOUN,
and ADJECTIVE. They have the same form. So, you have to be careful when
you come across the word RUN. It is not always a VERB; it may be a NOUN
or ADJECTIVE.
2. You can also see that the conjugation for the PAST, the and PAST
PARTICIPLE form is the same, i.e. RAN. However, it also says that some
dialects may have the same form, i.e. RUN, for the PRESENT, the PAST, and
the PAST PARTICIPLE. Meanwhile, the PRESENT PARTICIPLE form
doubles the final consonant to become “RUNNING”.
3. You can see that the first information of the Verb type is intransitive verb
there. This
information is
essential because it
is directly related to
sentence
constructions.
When you are going
to construct an
English sentence
you must know the
transitivity of the
Verb; otherwise you
may have wrong
sentence
construction. If you are not sure of the verb type, you must look up your
dictionary. That is why the discussion of how to use a dictionary is
presented before the discussion of the English basic sentence. You will rely
very much on your dictionary when you are trying to improve your English.
It is not only concerned with the verb type but also with the word category
and other information.
4. The dictionary also informs that there are more than one meanings of the
verb RUN. You can go through all the meaning to build your English
vocabulary.
50 | Technical English 1

To sum up, the obligatory constituents in Pattern 1 are (1) NP for the Subject
and (2) intransitive VP for the Predicate. This is the minimal feature for Pattern.
You can add some more additional information and it becomes, for example,
He runs quickly to the school every day. The phrase “quickly to the school
every day” is additional information. Of course, when they are deleted you
miss the precise information. But, the sentence “He runs” can still stand alone
grammatically and that is the basic form of Pattern 1. You may give a lot of
additional information; but if the basic form is not fulfilled, you still do not
have correctly grammatical sentence.

Write down 15 sentences with intransitive verbs!

1. ……………………………………………………………..
2. ……………………………………………………………..
3. ……………………………………………………………..
4. ……………………………………………………………..
5. ……………………………………………………………..
6. ……………………………………………………………..
7. ……………………………………………………………..
8. ……………………………………………………………..
9. ……………………………………………………………..
10. ……………………………………………………………..
11. ……………………………………………………………..
12. ……………………………………………………………..
13. ……………………………………………………………..
14. ……………………………………………………………..
15. ……………………………………………………………..
 English Basic Senten ce Patte rn | 51

2. Pattern 2: Transitive Verb + Object

Pattern 2: S + [P + O]

S P

P+ O

Noun Verb Phrase Noun

Phrase (Transitive) Phrase

He runs a business

The above pattern can also be presented as follow.

0 SENTENCE
1 S P
2 S P + O (Object)
Noun Phrase Transitive Verb Noun Phrase
3 +
(NP) (VP) (NP)
4 He runs + a business
5 He runs a business [Dia menjalankan usahanya]

The main difference between Pattern 1 and Pattern 2 lies on the verb type which
fills the Predicate. When the verb RUN is INTRANSITIVE, it can stand alone as
52 | Technical English 1

a complete meaning [he runs; dia berlari]. It is already a complete thought.

When the verb RUN is TRANSITIVE, it cannot stand alone as a complete
meaning [he runs ……; dia menjalankan …?......].

Different from Intransitive Verb, TRANSITIVE VERB is a type of Verb which

requires an Object. How do you know whether a verb is intransitive or
transitive? You have to look up your dictionary. You have known the verb
“RUN” as an intransitive verb from the online Merriam-Dictionary in the
previous discussion. Let’s see the verb “RUN” as a transitive verb.

There are sixteen (16) meanings of the transitive verb “RUN” mentioned in the
online Merriam-Webster Dictionary. Therefore, there are also 16 possible uses
of the transitive verb “RUN”. This is one of best ways to build your vocabulary
in English. First, you know that many English verbs can be an intransitive verb
and a transitive verb. Secondly, both the intransitive form and the transitive
form have more than one meaning.
 English Basic Senten ce Patte rn | 53

Look at the following groups of words. There is a group of Subject, Predicate,

and Object. Construct meaningful sentences from the list of transitive verbs
below.

Write down the sentences here!

1. ……………………………………………………………..

2. ……………………………………………………………..

3. ……………………………………………………………..

4. ……………………………………………………………..

5. ……………………………………………………………..

6. ……………………………………………………………..
54 | Technical English 1

In Unit 3 you have learned the definition of Subject and Predicate. Do you still
remember what
Subject is and
what Predicate
is? In this unit
you just
encountered a
new term, i.e.
Object. The
presence of
Object is
required by the
transitive verb.

Notice the flowing sentence transformation!

The word “the house” in the active sentence appears because it is required by
the transitive verb “clean”.

My sister cleans.  Clean what?

The sentence “My sister clean” sounds incomplete because you will ask “what
does she clean?”. The transitive verb “CLEAN” requires another part or
constituent to complete its extended meaning. The syntactic relationship
between “CLEAN” and “THE HOUSE” is much closer that the relationship
between “CLEAN” and “MY SISTER”. Therefore the constituent “My House” is
directly part of the Predicate as shown in the diagram of Pattern 2. Because the
 English Basic Senten ce Patte rn | 55

constituent “THE HOUSE” can become the Subject when the active sentence is
transformed into the passive sentence, the constituent “THE HOUSE” is called
“Object”.

Now it is clear what the distinctive feature of Object is. Object is the
constituent of an active sentence which can function as the Subject
when the sentence is transformed into the passive construction.

What about the sentence “The food looks delicious”. The Subject is “THE
FOOD” and the Predicate is “LOOKS DELICIOUS”. Surely the constituent
“DELICOUS” is part of the Predicate. It must be there otherwise the sentence
becomes weird, i.e. “The food looks”. It still does not make any sense and you
will ask “Looks what?”. Do you think that the constituent “DELICOUS” is the
Object? You can examine it by transforming the sentence and we will discuss it
in more detail in the following part.

3. Pattern 3: Complement

Pattern 3: S + [P + C]

S P

P+ C

Noun Verb Phrase Noun, Adjective

Phrase (Transitive) Phrase

He looks good
56 | Technical English 1

The above pattern can also be presented as follow.

0 SENTENCE
1 S P
2 S P + C (Complement)
Intransitive Verb
Noun Phrase Noun Phrase
3 (VP) +
(NP) (NP)
4 He looks + happy
5 He looks happy [Dia terlihat bahagia]

4. Pattern 4: Ditransitive Verb + Object + Complement

Pattern 4: S + [P + O + C]

S P

P+ O + C

Noun Verb Phrase Noun Noun

Phrase (Transitive) Phrase Phrase

He gives his sister a present

The above pattern can also be presented as follow.

 English Basic Senten ce Patte rn | 57

0 SENTENCE
1 S P
2 S P O (Object) + C (Complement)
Noun Phrase Ditransitive Verb Noun Phrase Noun Phrase
3 +
(NP) (VP) (NP) (NP)
4 He gives his sister + a present

5 He gives her sister a present [Dia memberi adiknya sebuah hadiah]

The main difference between Pattern 1 and Pattern 2 lies on the verb type which
fills the constituent P. When the verb RUN is INTRANSITIVE, it can stand
alone as a complete meaning [he runs; dia berlari]. It is already a complete
thought. When the verb RUN is TRANSITIVE, it cannot stand alone as a
complete meaning [he runs ……; dia menjalankan …?...]. You

element. A Sentence contains Subject and Predicate. Both Subject and Predicate
may be composed by a lot of constituents and they make a very long sentence.

5. Exercise
Sentence constitutes the The Greetings are expressions used to acknowledge