A New English Grammar Course Book
Lecture1
Sentence structure
Owing to the fact that sentences in authentic language differ structurally in
thousands of ways, what is described here as sentence structure, sentence elements, or
sentence patterns is only concerned with the simple sentence, or rather with the clause.
1.1 Clause elements
 The clause or the simple sentence is structurally a sequence of phrase and
logically a construction of “subject + predicate”.
 The clause or the simple sentence is not just an agglomeration combination of
phrases;
 It is a group of phrases organized into a construction of “subject + predicate”.
1) Subject and predicate
 A full-fledged clause can generally be divided into two parts: the subject and the
predicate.
Subject
Predicate
Henry
is the most studious (diligent) in the class.
All the men
have done their best.
Mr carter
will investigate further.
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The subject：the topic or theme of the sentence, tells of what the sentence is about
(known information).
The predicate：says something about the subject and bears the new information
(the speaker or writer wants to transmit to the listener or reader).
The subject is generally realized by a noun phrase or an equivalent of noun phrase
The construction of the predicate, which is more complicated, generally consists of
a verb phrase with or without complementation.
Compound subject/ Compound predicate/ Double predicate
2) Two ways of sentence analysis
 To facilitate description of how the English language works, sentences can be
analyzed in two ways.
 To divide the predicate into predicate verb, object, complement and adverbial.
These elements together with the subject make the five clause elements.
 To divide the predicate into two parts: the operator and the predication.
 The operator is usually the auxiliary or the first auxiliary in a complex verb
phrase
 The predication comprises the main verb with its complementation (object,
complement or adverbial).
1.2 Basic clause types and their transformation and expansion
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A New English Grammar Course Book
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In terms of the different combinations of clause elements, English clauses can be
classified into seven basic types.
Innumerable authentic sentences are structured on the basis of these clause types.
1)
Basic clause types
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The seven basic clause types are SVC, SV, SVA, SVO, SVOA, SVOC, SVoO.
These seven combinations of clause elements are wholly or largely determined by
the main verb in the clause.
 The main verb in an SVC pattern is a linking or copula verb which must be followed
by a subject complement.
That car is mine.
She is in good health.
 The main verb in an SV pattern is an intransitive verb which is not to be followed by
any obligatory element except for a limited number of intransitive verbs which
require an obligatory adverbial, thus constituting the pattern SVA.
Every body laughed.
The children are sleeping.
I live in Beijing.
The train leaves at six.
 The main verb in an SVO pattern is a monotransitive which must be followed by an
object, and with some monotransitives the object must be followed by an obligatory
adverbial, thus constituting the pattern SVOA.
Nobody could answer the question.
Liverpool won the game.
I put the material evidence in front of her.
He treated her vilely.
 The main verb in an SVoO pattern is a ditransitive verb which is to be followed by
two objects: indirect and direct object.
Mary lent me her car.
I made myself a cup of tea.
 The main verb in an SVOC pattern is a complex transitive verb which must be
followed by an object + object complement.
We made him our spokesman.
They elected him president.
2) Transformation and expansion of basic clause types
 The basic clause types are all affirmative statements with verbs in the active voice.
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An affirmative clause can be transformed into a negative: a statement into a
question; and an active clause into a passive. All these add varieties to the basic
clause types.
 The basic clause types and their variants can also be expanded into larger
grammatical units through adding modifiers at various levels
 These larger units can again be expanded through coordination and subordination
into compound, complex and compound complex sentences.
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