Words, Clauses Sentences. Grammar The Basics Subject, Verb, Object Modifiers, Prepositions, Articles...

Words, ClausesSentences

Grammar

The Basics Subject, Verb, Object Modifiers, Prepositions,

Articles Modifiers: Adjectives, A

dverbs Prepositions

The Preposition Cube Articles

Recap

Sentences & Clauses Independent & Depende

nt

The Basics:Subject, Verb, Object

In English, we almost invariably structure our sentences in what is called the “SVO” format:

S V OSubject – Verb – Object


The dog ran home

Subject VerbObject

In English, we almost invariably structure our sentences in what is called the “SVO” format:

S V OSubject – Verb – Object

“From the ceiling hung the chandelier”


When a sentence is in the “passive voice,” however, the order is generally reversed.

Here the chandelier is the subject, even though it follows the verb, and the ceiling is the object even though it precedes the verb.


A simple sentence may, or may not, also have an object. This is a noun, or noun phrase, which tells to whom or what the action is being done.

This cup

Some people

My family

Jed and Jethro

is

go

runs

drank

A simple sentence always has a subject. This is a noun, or noun phrase, which is “doing” something.

A simple sentence always has a verb. This is a verb, or verb phrase, which tells what the subject is doing.

on the table.

on rollercoasters.

a restaurant

the moonshine


The dog ran home First, identify the verb.

Next, identify the subject-noun (or noun phrase).

If there is another noun or noun phrase which follows the verb and completes the action in some way – that is the object


Sometimes a simple sentence doesn’t have an “object” – just a subject and verb.

• The dog barked.

• The car crashed.

• The sky is falling.

• My back is aching.

• Your computer has crashed


But subjects and verbs do not necessarily make a complete simple sentence.

• John put…

• Ralph laid…

• I gave…

• The dog is…

• I will get…

The simple sentence must form a complete thought.


But just because it’s simple, doesn’t mean a simple sentence is necessarily short.

The happy, yet strangely clean chimneysweep, ran quickly and cheerfully up and down the grimy streets of London in the fog.

The Basics: Subject, Verb, Object


ran

verb

chimneysweep

Noun (subject)

streets

Noun (object)

Here we have a single subject, a single verb, and a single object.

The Basics: Modifiers, Prepositions, Articles


The rest of the words are: modifiers, prepositions, articles, and conjunctions.

happy cleangrimy

The Basics: Modifiers – Adjectives & Adverbs


happy cleangrimy

There are two kinds of modifiers.

Words which modify nouns are called “adjectives.”

Adjectives modifying “chimneysweep.” Adjective modifying “streets.”



quickly cheerfully

Words which modify verbs are called “adverbs.”

strangely

Adverbs modifying the verb “ran”



quickly cheerfully

But adverbs also modify adjectives and other adverbs.

strangely

Adverb modifying adjective “clean.”

The Basics: Prepositions


up

Prepositions are words which tell about the position of something and come before a noun. (“Pre” = before. Therefore, prepositions indicate position and come before.)

Prepositions revealing direction and position

down in

The Basics: Prepositions

So what are the rest of the words here?

Some are modifiers. There are two types of modifiers.

Most of what you need to know about prepositions can be learned with a cube and a ball.

The Basics: The Preposition Cube

In

On

Beside


Through


Under


Behind


Across


Around


Near


With

The Basics: “Of” – The Special Preposition

As noted, prepositions come before a noun and form the beginning of a prepositional phrases. “Of,” however, is slightly different.

It acts very much like a conjunction in that it combines a noun with something else: another noun, an adverb or adjective, or a verb.

•The streets of San Francisco

•Hair of the dog

•Bay of Pigs

Joining two nouns:

Joining a noun to a verb

• Singing of freedom and joy

• Speaking of penguins

• Thinking of radiators

The Basics: “Of” – The Special Preposition

As noted, prepositions come before a noun and form the beginning of a prepositional phrases. “Of,” however, is slightly different.

It acts very much like a conjunction in that it combines a noun with something else: another noun, an adverb or adjective, or a verb.

• Swift of foot

• Lean of limb

• Warm of heart

Joining a noun and adjective

Joining a noun to an adverb

• Sprightly of gait

• Fleetingly of importance

• Hardly of interest

The Basics: Articles


So what are the rest of the words here?

Some are modifiers. There are two types of modifiers.

Articles are those little words that sort of point to a noun. The most common is “the.”

Thethe the

But “the” isn’t the only article.


There are two major types of articles: “definite” and “indefinite.” Both types are similar in that they point to a noun.

The hats those people wore to this rodeo had an effect on our mayor.

The thosethis

an the


A “definite” article points to one or more specific nouns.

• The book

• This book

• That book

• Those books

• These books


An “indefinite” article points to an unspecified instance of a noun.

• A book

• An apple

The Basics: Putting It All Together

Now let’s go back to our long simple sentence and examine the types of words it contains.


verb

Subject-noun

Object-noun

Modifier: Adverbs

Modifier: Adjectives

Prepositions

Articles


Now let’s go back to our long simple sentence and examine the types of words it contains.


verb

Subject-noun

Object-noun (note the joining “of”)

Modifier: Adverbs

Modifier: Adjectives

Prepositions

Articles

ran

chimneysweep

streets of London

strangely, quickly, cheerfully

happy, clean, grimy

up, down, in

The (three times)


So what are these remaining words?


Conjunction (in this case)

Another object, this time as a prepositional phrase.

yet

in the fog

The Basics:A Recap

There are several types of words: Verbs Nouns Modifiers: Adjectives and Adverbs Articles: Definite and Indefinite. Prepositions – with “of” being a special

instance

Sentences & Clauses:Analyzing Clauses

• To understand sentences, you must understand clauses.

• Every clause has a verb. Or to put it another way, every verb has a clause.

• There are two types of clauses:

•Independent

•Dependent.

• An independent clause can stand on its own as a sentence.

• In other words – an independent clause is a simple sentence. A dependent clause is a partial simple sentence.

• At the most, there are three sections to a clause:

• the predicate (the verb and its modifiers)

• the subject (the subject-noun and its modifiers)

• the object (the object-noun and its modifiers)



Here is a sentence composed of an independent and a dependent clause.

The car narrowly missed the tree which had fallen across the road.


• Since the verb is the backbone of every clause, we begin by locating the verbs.


• There are two verbs in this sentence:

• missed

• had fallen



• Next we find the words modifying the verb


• “missed” is modified by “narrowly.”

• “had fallen” is not modified by anything


The combination of the verb and its associated modifiers gives us our predicate – shown in brackets.

The car (narrowly missed) the tree which (had fallen) across the road.


Next we locate the subject-nouns.


The subject-noun is the noun doing the action. Therefore, “car” is the subject noun of “missed,” and “which” is the subject-noun (pronoun) of “had fallen.”


Then we find the modifiers and auxillary words associated with each subject-noun.


• For “car” the only word associated with it is the definite article, “the.”

• For “which” there are no associated words.


The subject-noun and its associated words form the “subject” of the clause – shown in square brackets.

[The car] (narrowly missed) the tree [which] (had fallen) across the road.


Now we look to see if there are any object-nouns. These are the nouns to which the action is being done.

[The car] (narrowly missed) the tree [which](had fallen) across the road.

The thing the car “missed” is the “tree.”

The thing the “which” had fallen across was the “road.”


And as before, we find what words are associated with the object-nouns.

[The car] (narrowly missed) the tree [which](had fallen) across the road.

For “tree,” the only word associated with it is the definite article, “the.”

For “which,” there is a definite article associated with it, but following it is a preposition, “across.” Since prepositions always start phrases (with the exception of “of”), then “across” is also associated with “road.”


The object-nouns and their associated words form the “object” of each clause – shown in curly brackets.

[The car] (narrowly missed){the tree} [which](had fallen) {across the road.}

Sentences & Clauses:Independent & Dependent

This leaves us with two clauses:

This clause can stand on its own as a complete simple sentence and is therefore an “independent clause.”

"The car narrowly missed the tree”

“which had fallen across the road”

This clause can’t stand on its own as a complete simple sentence and is therefore a “dependent clause.”


Sentences & Clauses:A Recap All sentences are either complete simple sentences,

or combinations of complete and incomplete simple sentences.

A complete simple sentence is composed of a subject, a verb, and sometimes an object – always in the SVO order.

A complete simple sentence can also be called an “independent clause.” It forms a complete thought

A partial simple sentence can also be called a “dependent clause.” It has a subject and verb (no object) but cannot stand on its own as a full sentence. It doesn’t form a complete thought.

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