No discussion of the sentence is possible without an understanding of the terms finite verb, phrase, clause, sentence, direct/indirect object, complement and transitive/intransitive verb:
- A finite verb must normally have
- a subject (which may be 'hidden'): e g He makes, They arrived, We know, Open the door (i e You open the door).
- a tense e g He has finished, She will write, They succeeded.
- A phrase is a group of words which can be part of a sentence. A phrase may take the form of:
- a noun phrase (a tube of toothpaste).
- a prepositional (or adverbial) phrase ( over the bridge).
- a verb phrase, ( a single verb-form built) or a combination of verbs( will tell have done).
- a question-word + infinitive ( what to do when to go).
- A clause is a group of words consisting of a subject + finite verb (+ complement or object if necessary)
- A sentence which contains one clause is called a simple sentence: (Stephen apologized at once) or it may contain more than one clause, in which case it is either a compound sentence (Stephen realized his mistake and (he) apologized at once) or a complex sentence (When he realized his mistake Stephen apologized at once).
- A direct object refers to the person or thing affected by the action of the verb. It comes immediately after a transitive verb (Veronica threw the ball over the wall).
- An indirect object usually refers to the person who 'benefits' from the action expressed in the verb someone you give something to, or buy something for. It comes immediately after a verb (Throw me the ball).
- A complement follows the verb be and verbs related to be, such as seem, which cannot be followed by an object. A complement (e g adjective, noun, pronoun) completes the sense of an utterance by telling us something about the subject. For example, the word following "is" , tell us something about Frank ( Frank is clever).
- A transitive verb is followed by an object. A simple test is to put Who(m)? or What? before the the question-form of the verb. If we get an answer, the verb is transitive.
- An intransitive verb is not followed by an object and can never be used in the passive.
A sentence can take any one of four forms:
- a statement : The shops close/don' t close at 7 tonight
- a question: Do the shops close at 7 tonight?
- a command: Shut the door!
- an exclamation: What a slow tram this is!
Although variations are possible the basic word order in a sentence that is not a question or a command is usually:
1. subject group 2.verb group 3.object 4.adverbials / manner / place / time
He threw the ball angrily / across the room / this morning
A. subject + verb (My head aches)
B. subject + verb + complement (Frank is clever/an architect)
C. subject + verb + direct object (My sister enjoyed the play)
D. subject + verb + indirect object + direct object (The firm gave Sam a watch)
E. subject + verb + object + complement (They made Sam redundant'chairman)
The examples listed above are reduced to a bare minimum To this minimum, we can add adjectives and adverbs (His old firm gave Sam a beautiful gold watch on his retirement)
