Basic Sentence Patterns - University of Babylon

1 1 Basic Sentence PatternsWe do not speak English by merely stringing words together insome random fashion. Instead, we arrange our words, for the most partunconsciously, into Patterns . In English we use nine Basic sentencepatterns. It will now be ourpurpose to examine these Basic sentencepatterns of English. Any Sentence you speak will probably be based onone of is the nine Basic Patterns the subject always occurs in the first N 1 the grammatical meaning of the subject is that which isdescribed. Here the meaning of the verb is may be described as andthird term must be adjective or adjectival.

2 Be may beis, are, was, were,and :That food is is mother is is brother was girl is 2 differs from Pattern 1 in these respects:1-The verbbein this pattern usually has the meaning of be located or occur. Patten 1:N be AdjPattern2:N be Adv22-The third position is occupied by the adverbial. Words of thistype includehere,there,up,down,in,out,inside, outside,upstairs,downstairs,on,off,now,t hen,tomorrow,yesterday,over,through,abov e,below,before, :Thepicnic was jaunt is are on the appointment is My mother is a superscript after the second N (noun) means that this noun has thesame referent as N1; that is, bothbrotheranddoctorrefer tothesameperson.

3 The meaning of to be in Pattern 3 is be identifiedorclassifiedas. The first N1 ( subject ) has grammatical meaning of that which isidentified. The second N1 means grammatically that which identifiesthesubject and this is called the subjective complement. Personalpronouns also occupy this :This is s was is are my was an 3:N1 be acrobatseems pattern 4, the verb is called a linking verb (LV), as it links the adjectivewith the subject . Any verb exceptbethat may be substituted forseemsinthis frame is a linking :The cyclist appears physicist milk remained sweet for a look sharp dogs smell of the common linking verbs areseem,appear,become,grow,remain,taste, look,feel,smell,sound,get,continue, : a linking verb may be preceded by an party may become sister remained an outstanding two superscripts show that both nouns have the same referent.

4 Theverb, which links student and sister, is a linking verb . Thenumber oflinking verbs that may occupy the verbal position in this pattern is verysmall. Among them are remain, become, appear, seem, continue, stay, :My mother becomes a 4:N LV AdjPattern 5:N1 LV N14 Donald continued my friend, despite our continue the discussion verb in Pattern 6 is of the kind called intransitive. An intransitiveverb is self-sufficient; it can stand alone with its :The sportsman sportsmen were you are in doubt whether a word following the verb is a modifier thatgoes with an intransitive verb or a completer of a transitive verb , asubstitution can settle the matter.

5 If you can substitutehim,her,it, orthem, the word is a completer and the verb is not hammered fast.(Intransitive verb )He hammered the nail.(Transitive verb )In the first Sentence you cannot substituteitwithout spoiling thestructural meaning. But in the second,He hammered itis a suitableequivalent forHehammered the nail. Therefore the firsthammeredisintransitive and the second one is girl bought a 6:N InV (=intransitive verb )Pattern 7:N1 TrV (= transitive verb ) N25In Pattern 7 the verb is completed by a noun (or pronoun), for which onecan substitutehim,her,itorthem. This noun, as shown by the superscript2, does not have the same referent as the subject .

6 It is calledthe directobjectof the verb and has the grammatical meaning of undergoer of theaction or that is affected by the verb . Examples:The driver turned the car cleans the waitress poured the read the motherbought the girl a Pattern 8 there are five matters to be observed:1-The superscripts 1, 2, and 3 indicate that each noun has a differentreferent;mother,girl, anddressare three separated see two grammatical objects after the verbbought. These twoobjects are called, in order,the indirectandthe direct object. If weomit the first one, the pattern becomes number 7 anddressis seen tobe the direct verbs that can be used in Pattern 8 are restricted.

7 Some of thecommon ones aregive,make,find,tell,buy,write,send,as k,play,build,teach,assign,feed,offer,thr ow,hand,pass,sell, Pattern 8 Sentence may be transformed into passive by makingeither the direct or the indirect object the subject of thepassive verb .*A dress was bought the girl by her girl was bought a dress by her some cases, however, the passive transform does not sound fullynatural and seems to demand a preposition, as in:Pattern 8:N1 TrV N2 N36 Thesergeant found the recruit a rifle was found (for) the grammatical meaning of the indirect object is beneficiary of theaction of the verb -plus-direct-object.

8 She sold the student a built them a me a game of asked her a 9 contains a choice of eight different forms in the final are illustrated in the following examples:a)The basketball team chose John )He considered her )I thought the caller )We supposed )I imagined her )I believed him )We considered her in the )We thought Kim to be a fine 9:N1 TrV N2plus one:a) N2 b)Adj c)Pronoun d) Adv (of place), uninflectede) verb , present participlef) verb , past participleg) Prepositional phrase h) Inflectional phrase 9, likes is predecessor Pattern 8, has two objects following theverb. But it differs from Pattern 8 in three respects:1-In theorder of objects the direct object comes first.

9 In somesentences, if we eliminate the second object, we are left withPattern 7 which contains only the direct object after the verb :The basketball team chose second object is called theobjective complement, because itcompletes the direct Pattern 9 both objects have the same referent; that is, bothJohnandcaptainrefer to the same Pattern 9, only the first object, the direct object, can be made thesubject of a passive verb . We can transform he pattern sentenceinto:John was chosen captain.