Basic Sentence

Patterns
Pattern 1: SV (Subject + Verb)
S  first noun phrase position
V  intransitive
modifier (optional)  adverbs

- They fished early.

- They were fishing in the river.
- They were fishing when we passed them.
- They finished late

but not:

- They finished the game.

 Some intransitive verbs characteristically do not occur
alone but take an adverbial modifier, e.g. lurk, sneak,
lurch, sally, sidle, tamper, lie, and live.

 He lives in Mexico. (reside)

 He lives on dairy products. (stay alive)
 He lived in the first half of the nineteenth century. (be
alive)

Some other verbs have passive sense based on

transitive verbs taking an adverbial modifier.

 My car rides comfortably.

 His book is selling well.
Pattern 2: SVC (Subject + Verb+
Subjective Complement)
 Subject + Verb+ Subjective Complement
- The explanation became elaborate. (V)
- Our friend is a president of the university. (LV)

Sub patterns:
2A  NP (S) + Linking Verb + Adjective
- The food is delicious.
- You look happy.
- He is in a bad mood. (prepositional phrase)
- His explanation is over my head. (prepositional phrase)
Linking verbs:
- to be: is, am, are, was, were, has been,
have been, had been
- other verbs: seem, appear, become,
grow, remain, taste, look, feel, smell,
sound, get, continue, go

Linking verbs may be preceded by

auxiliaries
 Some other verbs which are not usually
thought of as linking verbs may
occasionally be followed by an adjective
and therefore conform to subpattern 2A.

- The screw worked loose.

- The defendant stood firm.
- Her face went pale.
- The well ran dry.
- He proved true to his cause.
2B  NP1 (S) + Linking Verb + NP1
- My friend is the president of the university.
- He remained a good boy.

first NP  be identified/classified as
second NP  that which identifies the subject

 Linking verb:
 to be: is, am, are, was, were, has been, have been, had been
 others verbs: remain, become, appear, seem,
continue, stay, make
- Nico continued our friend, despite our differences.
- My sister became a pilot.
Pattern 3: SVA (Subject + Verb + Adverbial)
The girl is here.

 S + be + Adverb, but sometimes S + V + A

 He resides on this street.

Bunga lives in Singapore.

 Pattern 3: The girl is here  resembles a

subpattern 2A  Budi is ecstatic.
The differences between Pattern 3 and 2A:

 Theverb ‘be’ in pattern 3 usually has the

meaning of “be located” or “occur”.

 Pattern3 is not capable of taking the subpattern

2A expansion:

- Pattern 2A
Budi is ecstatic.  Budi is very ecstatic.

- Pattern 3
Ben was inside.  X Ben was very inside.
 The third position is occupied by an adverbial
rather than an adjectival  uninflected words
including here, there, up, down, in, out, inside,
outside, upstairs, downstairs, on, off, now, then,
tomorrow, yesterday, over, through, above,
below, before, and after. Up, in, and out are
partially and/or irregularly inflected with the forms
upper, uppermost, inner, inmost, innermost,
outer, outermost, utmost, and outmost. For most
words in the third position one can substitute
there or then.

e.g. - The pingpong table is downstairs.

- The game was yesterday.
- The balls are outdoors.
Often a prepositional phrase with a there or then
meaning will occupy the third position.

e.g. - The wolf is at the door.

- The game will be at three o’clock.

The grammatical meaning of the subject in

pattern 3 is typically “that about which an
assertion is made” and that of the adverbial is
“modifier of the verb”.
Pattern 4: SVO (Subject + Verb + Direct Object)
The girl bought a dress.

 the verb is transitive

 is completed by a NP (can be substituted by him, her, it, or

them)

 the NP is grammatically called Direct Object (DO) meaning

“undergoer of the action” or “that affected by the verb”.
 but DO does not always experience any actual action,
e.g. We heard the radio
 “the radio” (as the DO) does not
experience any real action.
 Normally DO is not the same person/thing as the subject,
if the same referent  reflexive pronouns (-self/-selves )
or reciprocal pronouns (i.e. each other and one another)
e.g. - She saw herself.
- They found each other.
- They fought one another.

 Pattern 1 doesn’t take DO because it takes intransitive

verb.
 - She sang beautifully.
- She sang a beautiful folk song.

- Intransitive only: The ship had vanished.

- Transitive only: We enjoyed the party.

 Transitive verbs has 2 forms: active and
passive.
 The active form is followed DO.
 From this active form we can make the
passive form.

- The chef cooked the meal.

- The meal was cooked (by the chef)
 - The chef cooked the meal.
- The meal was cooked (by the chef)

In the process above, there are 4 things to notice:

 The object of the active form becomes the subject of

the passive form.

 The passive is made up of a form of the verb be + past

participle.

 The subject of the active verb may be made the object

of the preposition by or it may be suppressed.

 In the passive, 2 grammatical meanings are shifted

around. The performer of the action (chef), is now the
object of preposition, and the undergoer, MEAL, is the
subject.
Pattern 5: SVOO (Subject + Verb +IO + DO)
The mother bought the girl a dress.

There are some important matters to be observed:

1. the verb must be transitive.

2. there are 2 grammatical object after BOUGHT, i.e.

(IO and DO)

3. the IO may be replaced by a prepositional phrase

beginning with TO or FOR, or occasionally with a
different preposition.
4. verbs used in pattern 5 are restricted. (common ones:
give, make, find, tell, buy, write, send, ask, play, build,
teach, assign, feed, offer,throw, hand, pass, sell, pay.)

5. pattern 5 sentence may be transformed into the passive

form by making either the DO or the IO the subject of the
passive verb:
- A dress was bought the girl by her mother.
- The girl was bought a dress by her mother.

 not sound fully natural.  so, need a preposition:

- The sergeant found the recruit a rifle.

- A rifle was found (for) the recruit by the sergeant.
6. The grammatical meaning of the IO is
“beneficiary of the action of the verb-plus DO”.
 if the IO is a pronoun, it must precede the
other object, which is moved back within a
prepositional phrase:

- The mother bought it for the girl.

Not: The mother bought the girl it.

This movement occurs even if both objects in the

sentence are pronouns:

- The mother bought it for her.

Not: The mother bought her it.
Pattern 6:
SVOC (Subject + Verb + DO + Objective Complement)

- We considered PSSI noteworthy.

- The boss made her sister a manager.

 Similar to pattern 2 but the complement

describes/completes the DO.

 The complement can be an adjective or a noun

(or pronoun).

 The main verb is transitive, a linking verb is

implied between the object and complement.
- The voters elected him president.
- The voters elected him to be president.

- He considered her brilliant.

- He considered her to be brilliant.

- I thought the caller you.

- I thought the caller to be you.
- I thought the caller was you.
Pattern 6 is similar to pattern 5  2 NPs

- The mother bought the girl a dress.

- The team chose Jim captain.

But they are different is 3 respects:

1. In pattern 6, the first 2 NPs is the DO. In some
sentences, if we eliminate the second NP, we
are left with pattern 4, containing only the DO
after the verb.

- The team chose Jim captain.

 The second NP is called the objective complement,
because it completes the DO.

2. In pattern 6 both NP following the have the same

referent; i.e. both Jim and captain refer to the same
person.

3. In pattern 6, only the DO can be made the subject of the

passive verb. We can transform the pattern sentence
into:

- Jim was chosen captain.

But we cannot make the objective complement such a

subject, since it makes no sense.

- Captain was chosen Jim.

 In the passive of pattern 6 the subject comes
from the DO of the active.

e.g. Active : He appointed Sri secretary.

Passive : Sri was appointed (by him)
secretary.

Only a very small group of verbs can be used for

pattern 6, such as name, choose, elect, appoint,
designate, select, vote, make, declare,
nominate, call, fancy, consider, imagine, think,
believe, feel, keep, suppose, find, prove, label,
and judge.
Pattern 7: SVOA (Subject + Verb + Object + Adverbial)

Mr. Smith set the cup on the table.

 Adverbial element is obligatory in pattern 7.

Other Sentence Types
 similarto pattern 6  pattern 6 uses a
noun and adjective, but the other type
uses present/past participle.

- I imagined her eating.

- I believed him seated.
 Another pattern involves an expletive there or it.

there + be

- There is a sock under my bed.

 There  expletive – a meaningless slot filler

occupying the normal position of the subject.
 The subject itself comes after be. Sentences
beginning with the expletive THERE are
rearrangements of basic pattern sentences, and
most of them conform to one of three types.
 The first types follows the pattern of THERE + BE + S +
Adverbial of place or time, e.g.

- There are two socks under my bed.

This type is rearranged form of pattern 3:

- A sock is under my bed.

- Two socks are under my bed.

The second type is illustrated by this sentence:

- There was a police officer looking for you.

 A police officer looked for you/was looking for you.
 This second type follows the pattern of THERE + BE + S
+ ing participle + Ø or remainder. It is usually derived from
patterns 1, 4, or 5 employing an ing verb, e.g.

a. Pattern 1: A politician was speaking.

There + be: There was a politician speaking.

b. Pattern 4: Some boys were eating apples.

There + be: There were some boys eating apples.

c. Pattern 5: Several jockeys were giving their horses water.

There + be: There were several jockeys giving their
horses water.
 The third type comes from the passives of patterns 4, 5, or
6, with pattern 6 being the most frequent, e.g.

a. Pattern 4: The police found a shotgun.

a. There was a police finding a shotgun.
Passive : A shotgun was found by the police.
There + be: There was a shotgun found by the police.

b. Pattern 5: The company made him an offer.

Passive: An offer was made (for) him by the company.
There + be: There was an offer made (for)him by the
company.
c. Pattern 6: They elected a Swede captain.
Passive: A Swede was elected captain.
There + be: There was a Swede elected captain.

The pattern of the preceding sentence is THERE + BE

+ S + ed participle + Ø or remainder.

In all the cases, the expletive THERE was followed by

BE. Now and then a few other verbs appear in this
structure, e.g.

- There remained only three doughnuts.

- There stood a handsome lad in the doorway.
The expletive there should not be confused with
the adverbial there. Though expletive there is
merely a slot filler, the adverbial there refers to
location (even if sometimes only metaphorically).

The expletive bears weak or third stress

whereas the adverbial has secondary or primary
stress.

- There (expletive) are soldiers in town.

- There (adverbial) go the soldiers.
- They are there (adverbial).
- There (adverbial) they are.
 Another
expletive is it, which occurs as a
“dummy” in the subject position before the
verb.

It takes the place of the real subject, which

follows later in the sentence, as in:

- It is nice that you could come.

If you apply here the subject-finding rule of thumb – Who
or what is nice?

The answer will give you the subject” … that you could
come.”

The subject is always a word group in this kind of

sentence. The expletive it may also represent a following
direct object, as in:

- I think it a shame that she lost the match/

Here “… that she lost the match” is the direct object.

The expletive it should not be confused with the
impersonal it, which also occurs at the sentence
beginning as a “dummy” subject.

This it is usually found in short sentences

referring to weather, time, or space.

- It is raining.
- It seems cold.
- It is seven thirty.
- It is a long way to London.
There are also idiomatic uses of IT that are
neither expletives nor impersonals.

- We hoofed it to the fair.

- You are going to get it when mom and dad get
home.
- Beat it. (go away).
- I’ll have it out with you.
- How does it go?
- It looks bad for the White SOX.