Five Basic Sentence Patterns

These are the Five Basic Sentence Types used in Standard English:

Type I: Subject (NP¹) + Main Verb Phrase (Intransitive)

Type II: Subject (NP¹) + MVP (Be-verb) + Adverb Phrase (of time/place)

Type III: Subject (NP¹)  + MVP (Linking Verb) + Adjective Phrase

Type IV: Subject (NP¹) + MVP (Linking Verb) + Nominal Subject Complement (NP¹)

Type V: Subject (NP¹) + MVP (Transitive verb) + Direct Object (NP²)

Type I: Subject (NP¹) + Main Verb Phrase (Intransitive)

                        Polly laughs.

                        The kitten is sleeping.

Type II: Subject (NP¹) + MVP (Be-verb) + Adverb Phrase (of time/place)

My turn is next.

                        The bear was in the stream.

                       

Type III: Subject (NP¹) + MVP (Linking Verb) + Adjective Phrase as Complement

                        That pie is wonderful.

                        Sarah is sad.

Type IV: Subject (NP¹) + MVP (Linking Verb) + Noun Phrase as Complement (NP²)

                        Ivy was a graduate student.

                        Everyone is becoming an expert.

Type V: Subject (NP¹) + MVP (Transitive verb) + Direct Object (NP²)

                        Fred shot a zombie.

                        Ivy loves pie.

Verb Phrases and Auxiliary Words

Verb Phrases and Auxiliary Words

As noted on the previous page, a verb phrase consists of the most important verb in the phrase plus any auxiliary words attached to that verb. 

Phrases

Kinds of Phrases:

·        Noun phrase NP

·        Verb phrase VP /   Main Verb phrase MVP

·        Adjective phrase  ADJP

·        Adverb phrase ADVP

Interrogatives

Interrogatives

Interrogatives are sometimes called question words. They introduce both direct and indirect questions. When introducing indirect questions, they function somewhat like relative pronouns/adverbs.

Interrogates are also sometimes called W-words, since they almost all start with W: who, whom, whose, which, what, where, why, when, how.

Direct questions:

                Whose laptop is this?

                What’s for dinner?

                How do I work this scanner?

Indirect questions:

                Elvis knew whose laptop it was.

                I wondered what was for dinner.

                I had no idea how to work the scanner.

Relative words and clauses

Relative Pronouns, adjectives, and adverbs

List of relatives: who, whom, whose, which, that*

Conjuctions: Coordinating, Subordinating, Conjunctive Adverbs

Conjunctions

Conjunctions connect grammatical structures. We have three – or really 2.5 – types of conjunctions. (2.5 because the conjunctive adverb is a kind of half-and-half case: half conjunction, half adverb.)

Verb Particles (verb plus preposition)

Verb Particles (AKA phrasal verbs, verb-adverb combinations)

In modern standard English we also have an interesting construction whereby a preposition combines with a verb to form a new verb.

                Verb + preposition = new verb

Prepositions and Prepositional Phrases

Prepostions and Prepositional Phrases

So far we have discussed noun phrases and verb phrases.

My brother Ben has rebuilt the kitchen.

Here we have two noun phrases – my brother Ben, the kitchen – and one verb phrase, the main verb phrase in the sentence: has rebuilt.

Structure Class Words: Part II

So far in looking at structure class words, we have looked at

·        Determiners

·        Auxiliaries

·        Qualifiers

·        Pronouns

Now we’re going to look at the rest of the structure class words, which include

·        Prepositions

·        Conjunctions

·        Relatives

·        Interrogatives

As a review, unlike form class words, which can change their form – and sometimes their meaning – by accepting morphemes (so that chair becomes chairs or run becomes runner), structure class words do not usually accept morphemes.

Also, unlike form class words, which carry most of the semantic meaning of the sentence, the main purpose of structure class words is to carry the structural meaning of the sentence.

A final difference is that form class words are an open set. There are countless nouns, verbs, adjectives, and adverbs, and we add more almost daily. In contrast, the number of prepositions, conjunctions, and pronouns in the language are relatively limited.

(Semantic: the study of meaning; so, here, what a word means literally, as opposed to its structural or grammatical meaning.)