What is sentence structure?
Sentence structure is the order and arrangement of the clauses in a sentence, which is a group of
words that express a complete thought.
H:What makes a sentence a sentence?
1. Capital letter (The first word of a complete sentence must start with a capital letter.)
2. Subject (The subject of a complete sentence is who or what the sentence is about. The subject is
always a Noun or a Pronoun. Traditionally, although not always, the subject is the Noun or Pronoun
closest to the beginning of the sentence.)
3. Predicate (The predicate is the action or what is going on in the sentence. It is always a Verb.
4. Terminal punctuation (period, questoin mark, exclamation point)
The Importance of Complete Sentences
Writing and using complete sentences is important for earning good grades, expressing ideas
properly, and communicating clearly.
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E:Basically, predicate verb is the simplest but most important and useful element in a sentence.
S:Well, what do you mean by this?”
E:See, a single predicate verb is enough to convey what you want to express. You know, little baby
is too young to speak out a whole completed long sentence so one word, like “hug”, is enough to
make its parents busy for a while, the same both in China and America.
S(laugh): Yes, you are right.
E: So then let’s come back into Titanic now.
S:OK.
E:Do you remember one scene that during the process of sailing, Rose and Jack met on the deck
again…
S:Ahh…Yes I remember that. The beginning of their knowing of each other right?
E:Yes,and there is a scene that Jack was showed Rose his sketchbook.
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R:And these were drawn from life?
J:That's one of the good things about Paris. Lots of girls willing to take their clothes off.
R:You liked this woman. You used her several times.
J:She had beautiful hands, you see?
R:I think you must have had a love affair with her.
J:No. Just with her hand. She was a one-legged prostitute.
R:She had a good sense of humor, though.
J:And this lady...she used to sit at this bar every night...wearing every piece of jewelry she
owned...just waiting for her long lost love. We called her Madame Bijoux. See, her clothes are all
moth-eaten.
R:Well, you have a gift, Jack.
E:Jack said ”see” to attract Rose’s attention to watch the detail of the picture. Usually, both in
Chinese and English, a single predicate verb holds the meaning of order, request or arising
someone’s attention. In Chinese, like “看!” or “听!” or in English like “look!” or “Listen!”, many
single predicate words have the same function and all in the simplest structure.
2、
S:Yes, you’re right. Ahh…I see… ahh! You know, the most classic one: “ You jump, I jump!”
E(laugh):Ahh.. yes. Still simple but a little different in sentence structure compared to the last one.
Subject plus predicate verb.
S:yeah…
E:And still the same both in these two language, not many differences in perspective of sentence
structure. “You jump, I jump”,
In Chinese, “你跳， 我就跳。”, both subjective first and then
comes verb. They both have the purpose of a kind of statement, or a simple indication of the
speaker’s situation or thoughts.
3、
When we put the subject, predicate and attribute together, we will find that the sentence structures
are similar in Chinese and English. To make our audiences more easily to understand, let’s take a
classic situation in the movie Titanic as an example.
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In the wonderful sunset, Jack talked to Rose fondly.
Jack: You are beautiful. The most beautiful one in my heart.
From the sentence above, we can find that “You are beautiful” is a sentence with a subject,
predicate and attribute. In Chinese, that means 你是美丽的。“你”equals to “you”, “是”means “are”
in English and “漂亮”is equal to the word“beautiful”. Therefore, in a sentence with subject,
predicate and attribute, there is no difference in the sentence structure of Chinese and English.
4、
Host A: When a sentence includes three elements, namely, subjects, predicates, and objects, is there
any difference between Chinese and English?
Host B: Frankly, I suppose there is not much difference. I mean, it’s similar. First, let’s enjoy a part
of Titanic and then see how it works.
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J: Rose, you're no picnic, all right? You're a spoiled little brat, even. But under that, you're the most
amazingly astounding, wonderful girl… woman that I've ever known and...
R: Jack, l...
J: No, let me try to get this out. You're... I'm not an idiot. I know how the world works. I've got $10
in my pocket. I have nothing to offer you and I know that. I understand. But I'm too involved now.
You jump, I jump, remember? I can't turn away without knowing you'll be all right.
Host A: In this dialogue, there are at least five sentences with the simple subject-verb-object
structure. It expresses one sentence in a nature order of sequence, just subject followed by verb and
then object.
Host B: En… That’s similar to Chinese. For example, when we want to express our love to
someone, we always say 我爱你, literally means I love you.
Host A: Yes, you see, it is almost the same.
5、
Host A: Sometimes, we may need to add one more element after the object in order to interpret the
meaning of object. At this time, the sentence may appear a new element, object complement.
Host B: Actually, I have no idea how to use it. Similarly, let’s revisit a familiar dialogue in Titanic.
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J: They have got you trapped, Rose. And you're gonna die if you don't break free. Maybe not right
away, because you're strong... but sooner or later, that fire that I love about you, Rose... that fire's
going to burn out.
R: It's not up to you to save me, Jack.
J: You're right. Only you can do that.
Host A: Pay attention to the first sentence. Jack said “they have got you trapped”. There is a phrase
get somebody done. You is object and trapped is the object complement.
Host B: Oh I see. When we speak it in Chinese, 他们把你困住了。It shows the similar order when
we put these elements in a Chinese sentence.
Host A: So, in both subject verb object and subject verb object complement, there is no big
difference we need to emphasize. It is similar in both Chinese and English when speaking.
Host B: Got it. Let’s move to the next section.
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6、
Jack：Do you still remember me?
Rose: Yes. I saw you yesterday.
The sentence “ I saw you yesterday.” is a sentence with subject, predicate, object and adverbial. In
English, people often put the adverbial “yesterday” in the end of sentence. However, Chinese
people are used to placing it at the begining of the sentence. That means “Yesterday I saw you”
when translated into English.
7
Do our audiences still remember a romantic line in the movie Titanic? Rose has once said that, what
the purpose of university is to find a suitable husband. In Chinese, we translate this into the
following sentence: 大学的意义在于寻找一个合适的丈夫。In this sentence, “大学的意义”
equals to “what the purpose of university”,which is the subject of the sentence. And “在于”is equal
to “is to”, which is the predicate of the sentence. “寻找一个合适的丈夫” equals to “find a suitable
husband”,which is the object of the sentence. From what has been discussed above, we can find that,
in a subject clause, the sentence structure of Chinese and Enligsh is similar.
8、
Similar to subject clause, the sentence structure of object clause in Chinese and English is almost
the same.
9、（the attributive clause）
A: When it comes to the attributive clause, there are some differences between English and Chinese
in sentence structure.
B: I do not really understand it. Can you explain it in detail for me?
A：OK. Let us see a situation in the movie Titanic.
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Jack: Take a look at this drawing that we found just today. A piece of paper that has been
underwater for 84 years... and my team are able to preserve it intact.
Rose: Oh, it is amazing!
A: The sentence ”A piece of paper that has been underwater for 84 years” is an attributive clause
and the attributive is behind the noun to modify the word “paper”.
B: Oh, I know, in Chinese we say “一张沉入海底 84 年的纸”. We are used to putting the attributive
before the noun. Maybe this is exactly the difference between English and Chinese in sentence
structure.
10、
A: In adverbial clause, there still exists difference between English and Chinese in sentence
structure.
B: I can find out several lines in the Titanic.
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Rose: If she had lived, she'd be over 100 by now, 101 next month.
B: Umm… but in Chinese, to say this adverbial clause, the sentence structure is the same.
A: Let me see…Maybe this scenario is ok.
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Jack: Look, here comes that vulgar Brown woman. Quickly, get up before she sits with us.
Rose: please do not say about her like that…
A: The sentence “get up before she sits with us” puts the adverbial clause behind the main sentence.
B: However, in Chinese we say 在她来之前我们得离开。The adverbial clause is put before the
main sentence.
A: that’s it! The position of the adverbial clause is exactly the difference!
conclusion：
1. When a sentence is simple, like just a predicate verb, subject combines predicate and even
the ......... English has the similar sentence structure with Chinese.
2. However, when the components of a sentences are added, the sentence structure of English and
Chinese become different to each other. Chinese is consensual language while English is form
language, which means Chinese focus more on the meaning and English focus on the structure. In
English, several meanings can be expressed clearly with complicated structure in just one sentence.
In Chinese, a sentence is usually short with little modifier, or it will cause confusion in meaning.
When expressing the meaning, long sentence is regularly used in English and short sentence is used
in Chinese. From point one above, we could conclude that English sentences are usually long and
Chinese sentences are usually short. One should "Get the meaning, forget the words" in Chinese
learning.
3. It has many clauses in English sentences which are often separated in small sentences in Chinese
way of expression. In an English sentence, except some modifiers, it has a lot of clauses which
makes a sentence much more complicated. In Chinese, one meaning is usually expressed in
separated sentences connecting with comma.
4. In English people use pronouns a lot, but in Chinese people often use noun. In English, people
not only use "we", "you", "she", "they", but also use "that" and "which" to keep a sentence well
structured and clearly, and avoid repeat meaning. Due to short sentence structure, a pronoun is
commonly replaced by a noun in Chinese expression.