VIRTUAL CAMPUS: DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION

BLA1216 : ENGLISH GRAMMAR

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UNIT TITLE : ENGLISH GRAMMAR

LECTURE HOUR : 42 HOURS

PRE- REQUISITE : NONE

PURPOSE

To survey modern Linguistic methods used to describe sounds and sentences of English
language.

Expected Learning Outcomes

By the end of the course unit, the learner should be able to:

1. Describe the structure of English language

2. Use scientific methods of language description with reference to English

3. Explain theories, principal, and sub clauses of English language

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COURSE CONTENT

An introduction to word classes (part of speech)

Theory, principal and sub clauses

Expression of morphology categories of

 Numbers
 Persons
 Gender
 Tense
 Mood
 Aspect

A description of the type and structures of phrases

Basic sentence structure (SVO, SVS, SVOO, SVOC)

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 TABLE OF CONTENT
COURSE CONTENT ................................................................................................................................. 3
TABLE OF CONTENT .............................................................................................................................. 4
INTRODUCTION TO THE GRAMMAR OF ENGLISH...................................................................... 6
LECTURE 1 ................................................................................................................................................ 7
1.0 The Word Classes ......................................................................................................................... 7
1.1 What are Word Classes? ............................................................................................................... 7
1.2 Broad classes of words.................................................................................................................. 7
ACTIVITY................................................................................................................................................ 8
LECTURE 2 ................................................................................................................................................ 9
2.0 Word Structure .............................................................................................................................. 9
2.1 Morphemes ................................................................................................................................... 9
2.1.1 Types of Morphemes .......................................................................................................... 10
2.1.1.1 Derivational Morphemes..................................................................................................... 11
2.1.1.2 Inflectional Morphemes ...................................................................................................... 15
Summary ................................................................................................................................................. 19
LECTURE 3 .............................................................................................................................................. 20
3.0 The Phrase................................................................................................................................... 20
3.1 What is a Phrase? ........................................................................................................................ 20
3.1.1 The Noun Phrase ........................................................................................................................ 22
3.1.1.1 Functions of Noun Phrases ................................................................................................. 23
3.1.2 The Adjective Phrase ................................................................................................................. 24
3.1.3 The Adverb Phrase ..................................................................................................................... 24
3.1.4 The Verb Phrase ......................................................................................................................... 24
3.1.5 The Prepositional Phrase............................................................................................................ 26
ACTIVITY.............................................................................................................................................. 27
SUMMARY ............................................................................................................................................ 27
LECTURE 4 .............................................................................................................................................. 28
4.0 THE SENTENCE ....................................................................................................................... 28
4.1 Basic Sentence Structure............................................................................................................. 28
4.1.1 The Subject and the Predicate ............................................................................................. 28
4.1.1.1 Word Order .................................................................................................................... 29
4.1.1.2 Structures Preceding i.e. Subject..................................................................................... 30

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 4.1.2 Elements of the Basic Sentence Structure ........................................................................... 31
4.1.2.1 Constituent Parts of the Sentence.................................................................................... 31
4.1.2.2 The Verb (V) and the Subject (S) ................................................................................... 32
4.1.2.3 The Object (O) ................................................................................................................ 33
4.1.2.4 The Complement ............................................................................................................. 34
4.1.2.5 The Adverbial ................................................................................................................. 37
4.2 Common Clause / Sentence Patterns .......................................................................................... 38
ACTIVITY.............................................................................................................................................. 39
FURTHER READING ........................................................................................................................... 40

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INTRODUCTION TO THE GRAMMAR OF ENGLISH

INTRODUCTION

This course introduces you to the grammar of the English Language. It begins with an
identification and classification of the words of the English Language. It then explains how the
words of the language interact and combine to form larger structures, such as phrases which in
turn combine to form clauses. The clause is the unit used by a speaker to express thoughts and
thus clearly communicate with other people. This course introduces you the basic structure of the
English language clause and how it can be used to communicate thoughts in different styles.

The knowledge of grammar that you will acquire through this course will be of several practical
applications. It will help you to think about the English Language in a more systematic way; it
will give you the terminology that enables you to discuss more effectively and problems that
may affect people’s speaking and writing the language, and it will aid your further acquisition
and mastery of English Language. Hence the grammar you learn through this course can be an
invaluable tool for increasing your mastery of communication in English.

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LECTURE 1

1.0 The Word Classes

Introduction

In lesson one we are going to look at the different kinds of words found in the English language
and provide the description of the major word classes as established by the traditional
grammarians who considered the word as part of speech that a speaker needs to understand if she
is to communicate effectively in any language.

1.1 What are Word Classes?

The word classes are also known as PARTS OF SPEECH.

The word classes are parts of speech are categories set up to group words together according to
their customary functions and their formal characteristics. We explain them in terms of their
functions and form.

1.2 Broad classes of words

The words of English that we have seen categorized in the above classes can lie divided into two
broad classes namely.

- The open class

- The closed class

OPEN: An open class is one whose membership is in principle indefinite or unlimited. It is in

this class where new words easily find their way into a language.

CLOSED: A closed class is one whose membership is fixed or limited. No new words are
expected to come into the language in this class.

The Open class members are:

 nouns
 verbs
 adjectives
 adverbs
 interjections

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The Closed class members are:

 prepositions
 pronouns
 conjunctions

No new prepositions pronouns or conjunctions are expected into the English language in the near
future.

ACTIVITY

(1) Fill in the blanks in the following sentences with the most appropriate Interjection from
the

(2) List in the bracket: (wow, sh, good luck, help, hi)

a) __________________ The show is about to begin.

b) ________________The sink is overflowing.
c) _________________I hope to see you at the finish line.
d) ______________________We just moved into the house upstairs.
e) __________________________How did you manage to win the race?

(3) Group each of the words occurring in the following extract into the OPEN class and the
CLOSED class.

“When Hildah Anyango was asked if she could contribute to the writing of n. story, she
quickly sent in a narrative about a certain happening which she considered the most
unpleasant happening of her life."

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LECTURE 2

2.0 Word Structure

Introduction

Word structure is in the domain of MORPHOLOGY which is the study of the internal structure
of words, and the rules by which words are formed. In morphology the units of study are the
word - which is the largest unit of morphological analysis, and the morpheme — which is the
basic unit that combines with other morphemes to form words.

In order to understand the words of a language one needs to know not only the categories into
which words may be classified but also how the words are formed. The English language words,
like words of any other language have a clearly definable structural organization the basics of
which we talk about in this lesson.

2.1 Morphemes

Morphemes may be defined as the minimal units of meaning. It is the minimal unit of meaning
which is also the minimal u nit of grammatical analysis. Fromkin and Rodman (1988: 128)
define the morpheme as: “The minimal linguistic sign, a grammatical unit that is an arbitrary
union of a sound and meaning and that cannot be further analyzed.” A single word may be
composed of one or more morphemes. For instance:

Boy - one morpheme - boy

Boys - two morphemes - boys +s

Boyishness - three morphemes - boy + ish +ness

The morphemes combine to form word's which units of Semantic analysis are. Whereas
Semantics studies meaning at the level of words; Morphology identifies meaning at a lower level
than the word - namely: the morpheme and looks .into the ways in which different kinds of
morphemes combine to form different categories of words. Also morphology studies how
different types of morphemes are added to other morphemes to show the grammatical roles of
the words in sentences.

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In this unit (AEN 101) we will not go deeper into morphological analysis we will limit our study
to a brief mention of the types of morphemes and how they are useful in the expression of the
morphological categories of:

Number Person

Gender Tense in the English language

Mood Aspect

2.1.1 Types of Morphemes

In terms of form, some morphemes (e.g. boy) may constitute words by themselves. Other
morphemes occur only as parts of words. The latter are affixes which may be:

Prefixed, that is, attached to the beginning of the root morpheme. E.g., unsafe

Infixed that is inserted into the middle of the root morpheme. E.g. (*)

Suffixed that is attached to the end of the root morpheme or the base. E.g., Safely

(* = there are no clear examples of in fixation in the English language.)

The morphemes that can occur alone by themselves, and have meaning, are called free
morphemes. The affixes i.e. those morphemes that have to be attached to other morphemes in
order to mate sense are called Bound morphemes because they cannot occur unattached.
Examples include:

FREE BOUND

Boy -s

Cook -ing

Farm -er

Happy -ly

Use -full

Correct in-

Kind un-

Approve dis-

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Morphologically two, types of Morphemes may be identified,

(i) Derivational Morphemes

(ii) Inflectional Morphemes

2.1.1.1 Derivational Morphemes

These are the -morphemes that are relevant to the formation of new words in English.

They do this by:

a) Adding specific meaning to existing words.

b) Adding meaning which changes a word from one word class to another.

The derivational morphemes that add specific meaning to existing words are mainly prefixes-
The prefix is added to the beginning of a base word to change its meaning, There are various
meanings involved as can be seen in the following examples of prefixes that express various
meanings:

MEANING PREFIX

NEGATION: Anti (Against) Antiestablishment,

De (opposite) Deflate

Dis( not) Dissatisfied

In, im (not) Insecure, impossible

Non (not) Non stop

Un ( not) Unimportant

TIME: Ante (Before Ante natal

Post (after) Postscript

Pre (before) preheat

Re (again) Reconsider

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NUMBER/DEGREE

Bi (two) Bicycle

Hyper (over) hypersensitive

Semi (half) Semi sweet

Super (over) Superstar

Tri ( thee) Triangle

Under (Below) underestimate

Sub (division) Subcommittee

PLACE/ DIRECTION:

Ad (add to) Admit

Circum (around) circumference

E, ex (out) Excommunicate

Inter (between) interrupt

In (in) inspect

Pro (forward) proceed

Trans (across) transfer

The derivational morphemes that add meaning by changing a word from one word class to
another are mainly suffixes. They are known as Derivations! Suffixes. And they add meaning to
a base by changing its word class and hence sentence function.

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The following are derivational suffixes forming Nouns, Verbs find Adjectives

Noun-Forming

The Noun forming suffixes may have the meaning: one who or that which, does or is connected
with. For instance!

- An, ian Beautician

- Ant, ent Assistant, occupant

- Ary Missionary

- Er Teacher

- 1st Soloist

- Or Actor

They may have the meaning: state, quality or condition of. Examples include:

- Age Bondage, drainage

- ance Attendance

- ation, ion, tion Civilization

- cy, acy Bankruptcy

- ence Excellence

- ism Patriotism

- ity, ty Activity

- ment Enjoyment

- ness Goodness

- ure Pleasure

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Verb - Forming:

The Verb-forming suffixes menu to make, do, or cause. Examples include.

- Ate Activate,

- En Weaken

- Fy Purify

- Ise, ize Unionize

Adjective – Forming

These communicate different meanings. For instance:

Full of Ful hopeful, useful

Ous Furious

Capable of Able Breakable

Ible Convertible

Doing, showing Ant Defiant

ent emergent

Made of, like En Woollen

Characteristic of Ic historic

Lending to, given to Ive Expensive

Lacking, without less Joyless

Similar, like like doglike

ly friendly

Like, showing y dirty

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Adverb Forming

The most common Adverb-forming suffix is –ly

Which generally means “in that manner” or “like that”? Examples include:

Quickly, Beautifully

Carefully, Hastily,

Funnily, Slowly,

Consistently

Other derivational morphemes are simply free morphemes which join together to form
compound words, for example,

Ice cream, Bedroom,

Bookshelf, Railway.

2.1.1.2 Inflectional Morphemes

Introduction

These are morphemes that are relevant to the grammatical categories of the words in English.
They add grammatical meanings which are also known as morphological categories of:
Number - Singular, Plural

Person - First, Second and Third

Tense - Present, Past

Aspect - Progressive, Completed

Possession - Ownership

Comparison - Comparative, Superlative

Grammatical meaning because they show additional meaning and how that meaning functions,
occurs and co-occurs in the sentence.

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Morphological category in that morphemes are involved which change forms and meanings of
words. For instance:

- Nouns change form to show: number; boy – boys; Possession John – John’s
- Verbs change to show number agreement: The boys sing; That boy sings;
- Person: I go; he goes and so on as elaborated here below.
- Adjective change to form comparison.

In English the inflections morphemes that show morphological categories are only suffixes and
they show the categories of;

- Number
- Possession
- Tense
- Aspect ;
- Comparative

NUMBER:

English a morpheme --s may be suffixed to;

Nouns, e.g., boy + s = boys to show number - i.e., the plural form of the noun;

Also it may be added to a Verb, e.g. sails as in:

- The boy sails.

This is to show number agreement, that is, that, the subject noun that is occurring with the verb
sail is in its singular form.

PERSON:

A morpheme -s may also be used as the marker of person, i.e., to show that the noun occurring
with the verb to which the -s is suffixed is a third person singular noun. For instance:

Mary /she sails - 3rd person singular

The girls sail - 3rd person plural

You sail - 2nd person singular.

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Thus the morpheme -s is added to a verb to show number and person agreement between the
subject and the verb of the sentence.

POSSESSION:

The suffix -s is added to show possession as in John's book is lost.

TENSE:

In English the Inflectional suffixes -ed and -d show the past tense of verbs. For instance:

Walk + ed = walked

Change + d = changed.

The Inflectional suffix –s is added to verbs to show present tense, as in:

He walks,

ASPECT:

Aspect is shown in English by the Inflectional suffix -ing, which shows Progressive

Aspect or action in progress, as in:

I am eating

The suffixes – en / - n, and –ed show the Perfective Aspect – action in completion as in:

- I have eaten.
- She was shaken
- I had walked

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COMPARATIVE:

The inflectional suffixes –er and –est. are added to the regular adjectives to form the comparative
and the superlative comparisons respectively. For instance:

Short shorter shortest

These suffixes may also be added to adverbs, as in:

Work hard work harder work hardest

Thus words which below to the class of Verbs generally take the inflectional morphemes

- s for number
- ing for number, aspect and tense
- ed marking.

Typical inflectional endings for Nouns are –s, for plural, and –‘s for possession, whereas
Adjectives, and at times, adverbs take the comparison morphemes,

-er and –est.

ACTIVITY

(1) Identity and list indicating the words in which they occur all the Inflectional and
Derivational Affixes used in the following extract.

… Hurriedly I walked down the path to the teacher's house, my father had instructed me to
make sure I reach there earlier than eight so that the lesson could begin on time. Although I
felt uneasy about the demand that I learn such an impossible language in just one month, I
knew that the demand was justifiable. At the end of my first English lesson, I was delighted
to have learned many words including: capable, uneducated, hopeful, happiness, trainee,
perfection, and expressive.

(2) Divide each of the following word into its constituent affixes and free morpheme.
a) Telephotographic
b) Mismanagement
c) Historically
d) Unbelievable
e) Impure

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Summary

In this lesson we have learned that the words of the English language are made of building
blocks known as Morphemes or affixes. The morphemes are the smallest units of meaning. They
combine together to form words. Some of the morphemes can stand by themselves and have
lexical meaning. Others have to be attached to other morphemes in order for them to be
meaningful. The morphemes are categorized into Inflectional Morphemes - those that add
grammatical meaning- and. Derivation Morphemes those that form new words or change
meaning of a word.

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LECTURE 3

3.0 The Phrase

Introduction

We have already 'learned about the words of English the part of speech lo which they belong and
the smaller units that combine to form the words. Words also combine to form larger units
known as phrases. A phrase is a group of words that act in a sentence as a single part or element
of the sentence, in this lesson you will learn about the different types of phrases in the English
language how they are formed, and how a speaker uses them in the structure of the sentence or
clause to communicate a complete thought.

3.1 What is a Phrase?

A phrase is a group of words that function in a sentence as a single constituent of the sentence. It
is a unit of grammar or syntactic (syntax is the study of-the sentence structure) analysis that falls
above the word but below the clause in the following rank scale of the units of grammar.

Sentence

Clause

Phrase

Word

Morpheme

The phrase, together with the clause, is the major units of syntactic description. Syntactic
description concerns the study and analysis of rules of sentence formation, or how words
combine to form sentences.

The phrase is a unit that can be identified on the basis of the word class membership of at least
one of its constituent words. The following five classes or phrases can be distinguished.

(i) Noun Phrase: A phrase which has a Noun as head - the most important
constituent,

(ii) Adjective Phrase: A phrase which has Adjective as head.

(iii) Adverb Phrase: A phrase which has an Adverb as head

(iv) Verb Phrase A phrase that is made up of only Verbal elements

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v) Prepositional Phrase A phrase that has a Preposition introducing it.

We have said that a phrase is identified on the basis of the class of its most important constituent
such that a noun phrase, for example, is a phrase whose head - most important constituent - is a
noun. But how do we determine the most important constituent? The most important constituent
of:

A Noun Phrase

An Adjective Phrase is the constituent that can replace the whole phrase without Adverb
Phrase affecting the structure or the sentence.

For example;

FULL PHRASE REPLACED BY TYPE OF PHRASE

We like classical music. We like music. Noun Phrase

Martin is very worried about his studies Martin is worried Adjective phrase

It was so cold that my fingers got frozen It was cold Adjective phrase

She drives much more carefully than her She drives carefully Adverb phrase
husband

He spoke too hesitantly to be convincing He spoke hesitantly Adverb phrase

The most important /dominant element of the phrase, that gives the phrase its name, is referred to
as the Head of the phrase.

Unlike in the phrases above, the most important element for the verb Phrase is not determined by
word membership, but by Semantic considerations, that is, the meaning expressed, and not the
syntactic structure. Actually the dominant member of the verb phrase cannot replace the whole
phrase without causing serious harm to the syntactic structure. For instance, you cannot replace:

Has been examined, the verb phrase of

Jill has been examined by the Doctor.

By examined. You cannot have:

 Jill Examined by the doctor.

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So to determine the dominant member of the verb phrase you look at the meaning expressed by
the verbs and ask: are they serving as main verbs or as helping verbs? The verb serving as the
main verb is the dominant member.

As for the Prepositional Phrase, the element that gives the phrase its name is not the head but the
item that introduces/begins the phrase.

3.1.1 The Noun Phrase

Apart from having a noun its head, the Noun Phrase (NP) is characterized as follows.

(a) Usually, it has a determiner introducing it. For instance:

 The book that I need
 My best friend
 A well designed house
(b) Has modifiers describing its head. Apart from the determiner and the head of the Noun
phrase all the other constituents of the NP function as modifiers, which describe or
qualify the NP in different t ways.

What is the difference between determiners and modifiers as constituents of the Noun Phrase?

a) Determiners are specifiers of the noun, which must occur before the head of the NP.
While
The modifiers can occur both before and after the head.

For instance: The red house is mine

The house which is red is mine

The brown lady at the back

(ii) Modifiers may be realized more than once in an NP.

The determiner occurs only once in other words, there may be more than one modifier occurring
with a noun. But the determiner must be one, as in the examples below.

That huge rugged rock at the top of the mountain.

*His a car

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(iii) The modifiers can be easily omitted?

The determiner is most of the limes obligatory.

A noun phrase may consist of one word, two words or several.

Oranges provide vitamins

The oranges provide vitamins.

All the oranges provide vitamins.

All the big oranges provide vitamins.

All the big oranges from the market provide vitamins.

There are several kinds of "noun like" words that can function as the head of a Noun Phrase. The
chief category is the Pronoun, as in the following example.

The three cats eating - Noun Phrase

The are eating - Pronoun

The pronoun in this example does not refer only to the plural noun 'cats' but to the entire NP
"The three cats"

A few kinds of adjectives may also function as heads of the noun phrase. For instance:

The Acholis are more numerous than the Lango.

The rich, the poor and the lonely were present at the polling station.

The bold and the beautiful were all acting in that play.

In these cases the adjectives are considered nouns because they perform the role of Noun Phrases
in the structure of the clause.

3.1.1.1 Functions of Noun Phrases

In the clause, Noun Phrases function as:

Subject- The house was quite empty.

Object - We bought the house

Complement She is a teacher.

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In other structures, NPs my function as:

Object of Preposition = She is in the house.

Adverb modifying an Adjective = It is a yard long.

Adverb of time = He went away many years ago.

3.1.2 The Adjective Phrase

The adjective phrase has an Adjective as its head and it performs the following functions.

 Modifier of the Noun Phrase wherever it occurs in the sentence, as in the example below
where the NP is underlined.

I am reading an extremely interesting book

 Complement in the clause, as exemplified below,

- You should be very patient with that child.
- This water is quite hot.

3.1.3 The Adverb Phrase

The Adverb phrase has an adverb as its head. It functions in the clause as an Adverbial -an
element that provides additional information about manner, frequency, time, place mid others, as
shown in the following examples where the Adverb phrases are in italics.

He reads very fast - MANNER

He reads novels in the Library - PLACE

He reads novels at night in the Library - TIME

Quite unfortunately, he reads novels in the Library at night - ATTITUDE

He visits quite often. - FREQUENCY

3.1.4 The Verb Phrase

The verb phrase is the unit that acts as the verb or predicator in the clause. In terms of structure,
the verb phrase consists of all the verbal elements occurring in the clause.

Every verb phrase has:

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 i. A dominant member - the main verb
ii. A helping member - the Auxiliary verb

The main verb is usually a lexical verb and is always the last constituent of the phrase. A lexical
verb is the verb that has semantic meaning and can covey meaning on its own.

The Auxiliary verbs that occur with the main verb may help the main verb in carrying the
information about the following.

Mood / modality: this is information in the middle part of polarity, i.e.,

Between the positive and the negative.

Yes no

Examples of middle information include possibility / can, probability / may / might and
obligation / must). For example

She might kick the ball.

Aspect

Progressive - is, was

Perfective - has, had

Tense

Present - does

Past did

Following are examples of the use of Auxiliaries in the Verb Phrase as listed above:

She can clean the house - modality

She is cleaning the house - progressive aspect

How did she clean the house - Past Tense

She has cleaned the house - Perfect Aspect

She does clean the house - Present Tense

The verb phrase could have as many as verbal elements, as exemplified below:

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He sleeps ONE

He is sleeping TWO

He has been sleeping THREE

He must have been sleeping FOUR

3.1.5 The Prepositional Phrase

These are phrases that are introduced by prepositions. They function in the clause as adverbials.
(See Adverbial functions above). Consider the following examples of PPs.

By four O’clock we had arrived at the market.

PP Clause PP

On the sea bed ties coral reef.

PP Clause

The structure of the Prepositional Phrase is P + NP (Preposition + Noun Phrase) which means
that the proposition is always followed by a noun phrase as in these examples:

In the house: after the year 2000;

Along the path; of the skies,

Over the mountains, out of the way;

At the university, off the roof

Away from home; etc

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ACTIVITY

1. Expand each of the following sentences by adding at least one adjective Phrase, and one
Adverb Phrase to each.

a) the thunder was frightening the children

b) No one had started clearing the land yet the rains were coming.
c) The horse galloped.
d) The workers piled up the stones.
e) It was interesting to watch Miss Tourism dancing.

2. Identify and list all the Prepositional Phrases and the Verb Phrases occurring in the following
two sentences. Explain the relationship between propositional phrase and Noun phrase.

a) The most demanding job of my life was managing the president’s farm at Kabarchonjo, where
he has been growing maize.

b) The very punctual member of the class must have been studying in the senior boy’s classroom
when the arsonist was setting the fire on at five o’clock in the morning.

SUMMARY

In this lesson we have learned that words group together to form phrases which in turn combine
to form clauses /sentences.

Each of the five sub-categories of phrases are identified and described in terms of the word class
of the word that constitutes its head / most dominant word.

Phrases play different roles in the structure of the sentence:

- The NP serves in the subject and object position of the clause, and also, as object of
preposition
- The Adjective phrase serves as modifier in the structure of the Noun Phrase at the Object
or Complement of the clause.
- The Adverbial Phrase modifiers all the other phrases, and
- The prepositional phrase serves as an Adverbial in the clause structure.

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LECTURE 4
4.0 THE SENTENCE

Introduction

In each of the previous lessons we have been talking about items found in the sentence, namely,
the words and phrases. When you understand the words and the phrases you are ready to start
thinking of how you can use them to build the sentence.

The words and phrases are the building blocks that are strung together in a linear .order to create
sentences. The sentence is the largest unit of grammatical analysis. Words combine to form
phrases and phrases combine to form clauses, which are the shortest and simplest forms of
sentences.

In this lesson you will learn about the sentence; what it is, its form and structure, its creation and
how you can subordinate and coordinate sentential structures to build longer sentences.

4.1 Basic Sentence Structure

Before talking about the basic sentence structure sentence is a statement of complete thought. It
is formed by a number of words/ phrases that combine together in a rule governed and systematic
manner to express the complete thought The latter is also known as a proposition.

Sentence structure has to do with the sentence parts and how I hay combine to form sentences.

In English every sentence has two main parts:

(i) The Subject (S)

(ii) The Predicate (Pred)

Together these parts form a. grammatically independent structure that expresses a complete
thought, namely, the Clause or Sentence.

4.1.1 The Subject and the Predicate

SUBJECT: The subject of a sentence tells who or what the sentence is about. The principal
word in the subject is a noun or a noun substitute Determiners and modifiers
specifying and describing the noun may also be part of the subject.

PREDICATE: The predicate of a sentence explains what the subject does or is.

The principal word in the predicate is the verb. The verb may appear alone or
with various auxiliaries, modifiers, and complements. The type of verb -
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 Transitive, Intransitive or Linking - determines what elements the predicate will
contain.

Transitive Verbs need something - an object - to follow it in order to make sense For example:

 The boy kicked the ball.

 The mother held the baby.

Transitive verbs kicked and held need direct objects - entities that are directly affected by the
actions denoted by the verbs.

Intransitive Verbs do not need Objects. For example:

 The two girls laughed.

Laughed is an Intransitive verb that does not need to be followed by an object, but it could be
followed by a modifier, as in the example below

 The two girls were laughing loudly

Loudly is the modifier that came after the Intransitive verb laughing.

The linking verb connects the subject of the sentence to the complement that expresses a
characteristic of the Subject. For example:

 The team members seem enthusiastic

Seem is the linking verb that connects and subject to the complement

4.1.1.1 Word Order

The word order in a sentence is regular if the subject precedes the predicate, that is, if the subject
comes before the verb, in a declarative sentence.

For example:

[A bowl full of hot porridge] [Sat on the kitchen table.]

S P

Generally, the subject is not expressed in sentences that give a command or make a request. In
such cases the subject is understood to be You as in:

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  (You) sit down and don't say a word.
 (You) check the oil and light the lamp.

Such a subject is known as the UNDERSTOOD SUBJECT.

4.1.1.2 Structures Preceding i.e. Subject

The subject may be preceded by an adverb or by a prepositional phrase functioning as an adverb.

These structures are part of the predicate if they modify a word group in the predicate. However,
they are not part of either the subject or the predicate if they modify the entire sentence, for
instance:

 In 1963, they signed the declaration of independence.

Here the pre-subject element, in 1963 is a Prepositional phrase modifying the verb

Signed.

Luckily, no one got hurt.

Here the Adverb, luckily, is modifying the entire sentence.

Simple subject/ Predicate and Compound subject / Predicate

The simple subject is the principal noun or pronoun that tells what the sentence is about. The
simple predicate is the verb or verb phrase that tells something about the subject.

For example: The king spoke

Simple S Simple Pred.

In most sentences the meaning of the simple subject and the simple predicate is expanded or
modified by additional words and phrases to form the complete subject and the complete
predicate. For instance,

 The King [ of England] spoke [ openly about the mismanagement of funds in Kenya]

In this example, all the items in the square brackets are additional words making complete the
subject and the predicate respectively.

The Complete subject consists of the simple subject and all the words that-modify it

The Complete Predicate consists of the simple predicate and all the words that modify it or
complete its meaning.
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Also existing in the structure of the clause is the Compound Subject and the Compound
Predicate. A compound subject is made up of two or more simple subjects or complete subjects
that are joined by a conjunction and that have the same verb. For example:

 Eagles and owls hunt for food.

A compound predicate is made up of two or more verbs or verb phrases that are joined by a
conjunction and that have the same subject. For example-:

 We have fast or at least misplaced the map.

 Sand will buy a stamp, mail the letter, and hurry home.

4.1.2 Elements of the Basic Sentence Structure

When analyzing the sentence structure it is not adequate to use the Subject and Predicate
categories. Rather, you use the constituent parts of the sentence which are commonly known as
the ELEMENTS of the sentence since they are more objectively definable

4.1.2.1 Constituent Parts of the Sentence

These are the principal elements that form the sentence / clause. They are the ones –which occur
in the subject / predicate parts of the sentence discussed above.

The principal elements of the sentence may also be referred to as the structural parts, or the
constituents of the sentence. They form the basic sentence structure.

There are five principal elements of the sentence / clause, namely:

The Verb abbreviated as V

The subject abbreviated as S

The Object “ O

Complement “ C

Adverbial “ A

The minimal sentence/clause has two of the elements: Subject (S) and Verb (V).

For example:

But a sentence can have any of or all of the other e elements as long as it has a subject and a verb
and the rules of sentences formation are in application. Here is an example of a sentence that has
each one of them, with the Adverbial occurring three times.

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Actually people no longer consider private cars a luxury these days

A S A V O C A

Apart from the adverbials which are usually mobile. This example gives a typical ordering of
these elements in a declarative clause if all the elements are present. That is, the subject occupies
the first sentence slot, followed by the VERB, OBJECT, COMPLEMENT and then
ADVERBIAL.

The elements are presented by the phrases talked about above. For instance:

Professor Kuria has offered my brother a job with his firm

S = NP V = VP IO = NP O = NP A – PP

4.1.2.2 The Verb (V) and the Subject (S)

The VERB is the most important element in the clause. It describes the action or state being
talked about in relation to the subject.

The subject normally precedes the verb. There is concord /agreement in number (singular/plural)
and person (first, second and third between the subject and verb of a sentence.

This is where the inflectional morphemes (learned about in Lesson 2) play a significant role in
the structure of the words combining to form the sentence.

Examine, for example, how the verb forms vary according to the number/ person of the subject
in the following sentences.

Hot peppers are popular in Nigeria

S V

Hot pepper is popular in Nigeria

S V

Many people prefer tea to coffee

S V

Jane prefers coffee

S V

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She is my student

You are my student. The verb forms: is and are different because of difference in person

S V

The lecturer knows her subject

The lecturers know their subjects

The SUBJECT names what is to be talked about in terms of the verb. The subject and the verb
are very closely related. And one cannot do without the oilier in a sentence.

4.1.2.3 The Object (O)

The object is very closely tied to the verb in terms of the meaning of the entire sentence. It
typically denotes the person or tiling most intimately affected by the action denoted by the verb.
For example:

Ivy dislikes mangoes

S V O

The object normally follows the verb in a sentence

There are two kinds of objects: (i) The DIRECT OBJECT (O)

(ii) The indirect Object (IO)

For example:

 Jane showed me her new dress.

S V IO O

 Jane showed her new dress to me.

S V O IO

 Jane took the pen

S V P
 Jane took the pen to James
S V O IO

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The direct object answers the question: what or whom after an action verb. An indirect object
answers the question; to whom or for whom or to what or for what.

A sentence may have an indirect object only if it has a direct object, or if the direct object is
understood, as in the following example.

 He told the story to her. Has the indirect object her.

 He told the story. The direct object is understood to be whoever listened-to the story.

The indirect object comes between the verb and the direct, object: or after the prepositions to or
for. For example:

Engineers gave students awards

Roberto bought me lunch IO between verb and O

Roberto bought lunch for me. IO after the preposition for

While the direct object is obligatory after an action verb, the indirect object may be optional and
replaceable by an Adverbial element, such as a Prepositional Phrase introduced by a M or for
coming after the Direct Object.

Njue showed the classmates his new book. Has an IO

Njue showed his new book. Has an IO

Njue showed his new book to the classmates. Has no IO after to

Objects are usually Nouns, Pronouns or Noun, Phrases.

4.1.2.4 The Complement

A complement is a word or group of words that complete the meaning of a verb. A subject and
a linking verb often need a complement in order for the meaning of a sentence to be complete.
Consider for example the following structure:

The house looks________(big, huge, smart)

In this example, we can see that the sentence cannot stop al looks. It needs something else, like
the items in the brackets next to it, to complete it so that it can make sense.

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 What it needs is a complement. The complement can look superficially like an object (both the
complement and the object can be Noun Phrases), but in terms of meaning it provides a
definition or a characterization of the subject or object, as in the following examples:

Musa called his father a beggar

S V O C

My father is a teacher

S V C

In these examples, a beggar and a teacher are complements characterizing Musa and my father;
respectively.

The complement normally follows the verb. When there is an object (O) and a complement © in
a clause, then normally the C follows the O as in the example below.

They considered my last week’s journey to the Coast of Kenya a waste of time.

S V O C

There are two kinds of complements

(i) Subject Complement;

(ii) Object complement.

i) Subject complement this characterizes or describes the subject. It follows a subject

after a linking verb. A linking verb (almost) always needs one or more additional
Words in the predicate to complete its meaning. In fact, a linking verb" links a
subject to something else. The “Something else is the Subject Complement.

There are two kinds subject complements:

 Predicate Nominatives, and,

 Predicate Adjectives

A Predicate nominative is a noun or pronoun that follows a linking verb and points back to the
subject to identify it further as in:

 Engineers tire Scientists. Noun

 The engineer on this project is she. Pronoun.

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Predicative nominatives are usually found in sentences that contain forms of the linking

Verb be. Often these are sentences that classify things, or put or assign them to a group. For
example:

Your friend is a nurse

S V (verb be) C

In this example, the complement, a nurse, places the friend into some class of individuals known
as nurses.

A few other linking verbs (e.g., become and remain) can be followed by a predicate nominative.
For example;

 Aug eagle is a bird.

 Nairobi is a city
 You became a student
 Monday remains a holiday for us.

A predicate adjective follows a linking verb raid points back to the subject, and further describes
it. For example,

Engineers are inventive.

Engineers must be highly responsible

Predicate adjectives may follow any linking verb,

(ii) Object Complement: This characterizes or describes the object, as in:

Everyone considered Ali a great boxer.

S V O C

Object complements occur only in sentence: with action verbs like the following verbs:

Appoint, Choose, elect,

Make, Render, Call,

Consider, Find, Name,

Think and etc.

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Which are mainly mental action verbs. An object complement follows a direct object.

It may be an Adjective as in Engineers find plans essential.

It may be a Noun, as in Geri considers me her friend.

And it may be a Pronoun, as in The citizens’ call that privilege theirs.

4.1.2.5 The Adverbial

Adverbials are the words or phrases or clauses that fill out the sentence clause by adding extra
circumstantial information of various kinds. The added information may range (torn manner,
time, and location to reason and the speaker's attitude.

Adverbials are the least closely integrated elements into the clause/sentence structure. Why?
Because:

(i) Most of the times they are optional elements in the clause structure.

(ii) There is no fixed number of them in a clause.

For example, the following sentence has four adverbials.

a. Actually he eats at home very rarely these days.

A S V A A A

Each of the adverbials in this example can change its positions, without making the sentence
erroneous.

iii) They have no fixed order of occurrence in the clause. They are mobile. Some adverbials
can he placed even in the middle of a Verb Phrase, for Example:

 Lunch is now being served.

 Now lunch is being served.
 Lunch is being served now.
 Lunch is being now served. (This position is the only one which may be considered a bit
awkward)

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4.2 Common Clause / Sentence Patterns

The clause patterns are formed of the principal clause elements namely:

The Verb V

The Subject S

The Direct and Indirect Object O, IO

The Complement C

The Adverbial A

Using these elements, Tile following most common clause pattern of English can be identified:

PATTERN EXAMPLE OF SENTENCE EXAMPLES OF VERB TAKING

THE PATTERN

1. SV Kamau yawned Behave, come died ream, eat, look,

run, walk, work, sleep
He screamed

2. SVO Kamau opened the door Most verbs of action like; kick,
swallow, construct
He caught it

She makes dresses

3. SVIOO She served him some tea Serve, tell, make

4. SVOIO Kamau gave a pen to me Sell, give, tell, send, buy, make

5. SVC He is a kind/a nurse Verbs be and other linking verbs like;

become, seem, look, appear, sound

6. SVOC Jane got her hair wet. Get, call, make, think, consider,
imagine, prove, prefer.
Kamau proved her wrong

7. SVA He is there Verbs be, stand, go, leave, know,

think, talk, grieve, worry, live, reside.
He went home

She thinks about it

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ACTIVITY

(1) Analyze each of the following sentences by underlining and labeling the constituents using
the elements SVOCA.

a) Venus is a planet that shines brightest in the sky.

b) The lawyer loved objecting to the prosecutor's motions and winning concessions from the
judge.

(c) Thorough bread horses often turn their wealthy owners poor

(d) Sleep on the bed in the sitting room

(e) The children told interesting stories to their parents.

(f) When the teacher told them that they had passed the exam, all the students shouted with joy .

(2) Construct a sentence of your own for each of the following sentence/clause patterns,
and label the sentence parts with the elements;

S-V-A

S-V-O

S-V-IO-O

S-V-C

SVOCA

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FURTHER READING

1. Aarts and Aarts. (1988) (1988) English Syntactic Structures. New York: Prentice Hall.
2. Burton, S. H. (1984), Mastering English Grammar.
3. Buscemi S. V, Nicolai A & Richard Strugala. (1998). New York: Irwun McGraw-Hill.
4. Crystal, D. (1988). Rediscover Grammar. London: Longman.
5. Farmer M., Yesner S. Zemelman S., Boone B. (1985). Composition and Grammar 12.
Trvine, California: .Laidlaw Brothers.
6. Fromkin, V. and Rodman, R. (1988). An Introduction to Language. Fortworth: Holt
Rinehart & Winston.
7. Hairston M., Ruszkiewicz J., Friend C. (1999) The Scott, Foresman Handbook for Writers
New York: Longman.
8. Leech G. Deischars M. & Hoogeriaaud. R. English Grammar for Today
9. Jackson, H. (1982). Analysing English.
10. McWhorter K. T. (1993). The Writer's Express: A Paragraph & Essay Text with Readings
Boston Toronto: Houghton Miffilin Company.
11. Scribner Educational Publishers. (1986). Macmillan English 10. New York: Macmillan
Publishing Company.
12. Warriner’s English Grammar and Composition

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