SENTENCE PATTERN DEFINITION
There are five important components in a sentence.
e.g.
Subject (S) Verb (V) Object (O)
Complement (C) Adverbial (A)
1. SUBJECT (S)
Definition :
To get ‘S’ ask the quesiton ‘Who?’ before the verb.
e.g.
Nancy danced well (Here “Nancy” - Subject)
The child broke the glass (Here “The child” - Subject)
consists of nouns or pronouns
Subject (S) occurs before a verb
2. VERB (V)
Definition :
In every sentence the most important word is the verb. A verb shows action or activity or work
done.
e.g.
He is a doctor (“Be” form verb)
Jems wrote a letter (Main verb)
The baby is crying (auxiliary verb + Main verb)
consists of (a) auxiliaries
Verb (V) (b) finite verbs
(a) Auxiliaries
e.g.
am, is, are ,was, were
has, have, had
does, do, did
Modals : can, could; will, would; shall, should; may, might; must
Semi-modals / Quasi Modals : dare to; need to; used to; ought to
(b) Finte verbs - denote action
e.g.
talk, sing, write, make, dance, play, cook, leave, teach, sleep
- verbs occur after the subject
- vebs occur before the object
3. OBJECT (O)
Definition :
To get the object ‘O’ ask the question ‘What’ or ‘Whome’. ‘What’ is for things and ‘Whome’
is for persons. Persons may be nouns or pronouns.
e.g.
He bought a pen (a pen = Object)
He handles the computer (computer = Object)
I saw him (him = Object)
Object (O) - consists of nouns or noun phrases or noun clauses
- direct object
(a) Do - answers the question ‘what’
e.g.
S V O (what)
I likes animals
- indirect object
(b) IO - answers the question ‘whom’
e.g.
S V IO (whom) DO
I gave Rosy a pen
4. COMPLEMENT (C)
Definition :
The words required to complete the meaning of a sentence are called Complement of the
sentence.
e.g.
S V C
He is a dentist
She became a journalist
It grew dark
Complement (C) - from the word ‘complete’
- completes the meaning in the sentence
- wihtout it the, meaning is incomplete
- wihtout it the, meaning changes
occurs in two pattern. (i) S V C pattern. (ii) S V O C pattern
(i) In S V C pattern, the complement C
- complements the subjects
- tells about the subject
- wihtout it the, meaning changes
- without C, the sentence is incomplete or the sentence changes its meaning
- use to be forms, grew, became, seems for verb
e.g.
S V C
They are players
She was angry
It seems absurd
(ii) In S V O C pattern
- the complement tells about the object
- the complement and object are of the same person or thing
e.g.
S V O C
They called David a genius
I found her crying
They elected Michle leader
Types of Complement
1. Subject Complement
Definition :
The complement which expresses the quality or identity or condition of the subject is
called Subject Complement.
e.g.
She is a doctor She looks sad
2. Object Complement
Definition :
The complement which expresses the quality or identity or condition of an object is
called Object Complement.
e.g.
They made her angry She called him a liar
Adjunct or Adverbial
Definition :
To get ‘A’ ask the question why, when, where or how.
The use of adverbial is optional whereas complement is essential. It has adverb phrase,
adverbial clause, noun-phrase and prepositional phrase.
e.g.
Why? (reason) When? (Time) Where? (Place) How? (Manner)
due to cold now, later here, there by bus / cycle
through floods after 2 years every where through efforts
under compulsion when young in the sky by mixing
carefully in the morning at home by hard work
Adjunct - A - answers the questions where? when? how? why?
- without A, any change in the meaning of the sentence
Examples of Adjuncts in sentences
e.g.
S V A
She Comes every day
- Sit here
