Basic English Sentence Structures

The Predicate
The predicate is the part of the sentence that contains a verb or verb phrase and its
complements.

<predicate> = (<verb> | <verb phrase>) <complement>

 

English has three main kinds of verbs: auxiliary verbs, linking verbs, and action verbs.
The verb "to be" is the most frequently used verb in English. Learn to use it correctly!
Sometimes the verb "to be" is categorized as an auxiliary verb. The following list of
auxiliary verbs excludes "be", "do", and "ought" because they have very different usage
from other auxiliary verbs.
<auxV> = "must" | "may" |"might" |
       "will" |"would" |"shall" |
       "should" |"can" |"could"

The formal description of verbs uses verb forms starting with a "V" followed by an
abbreviation with a number and a letter to represent the person and number. For
example, "V1s" means Verb 1st person, singular. The abbreviations "Vinf", "Vpast",
"Ving", "Vpastp", refer to the infinitive, past tense, present participle, and past participle
forms of the verb, respectively.

Verb Conjugation
Action verbs constitute the majority of English verbs. The following table illustrates
regular verb conjugation and the corresponding verb forms:

Infinitive (Vinf): start  

Present Participle (Ving): starting  
Past participle (Vpastp): started  
       
Person,Number     Present Past (Vpast)
1st,singular  I (V1s) start  started
2nd,singular you (V2s) start started
(V3s)
3rd,singular he/she/it     started
starts    
1st,plural we (V1p) start started
2nd,plural you (V2p) start started
3rd,plural they (V3p) start started

Click here to conjugate over 7,400 regular and irregular English verbs.

<verb> = <V1s> |<V2s> |<V3s> |

       <V1p> |<V2p> |<V3p> |
       <Vpast> |<linking verb>

<linking verb> = "am" |"are" |"is" | "was"| "were" |

       "look" | "looks" | "looked" |
       "become" | "became" | "become" | ...

<verb phrase> =
       ("had" |"have" |"has") <Vpastp> |
       ("had" |"have" |"has") "been" [<Vpastp> | <Ving>] |
       <auxV> "have" <Vpastp> |
       <auxV> "have" "been" [<Vpastp> | <Ving>] |
       <auxV> "be" [<Vpastp> | <Ving>] |
       <auxV> <Vinf> |
       "ought" "to" <Vinf> |
       "ought" "to" "be" [<Vpastp> | <Ving>] |
       "ought" "to" "have" <Vpastp> |
       "ought" "to" "have" "been" [<Vpastp> | <Ving>] |
       ("do" |"does" |"did") [<Vinf>] |
       ("am" |"are" |"is" |"was" |"were") [<Vpastp> | <Ving>] |
       ("am" |"are" |"is" |"was" |"were") "being" [<Vpastp>] |
       ("am" |"are" |"is" |"was" |"were") "going" "to" [<Vinf>]

Verb Phrase Examples:

("had" |"have" |"has") <Vpastp>
has gone, had finished

("had" |"have" |"has") "been" [<Vpastp> | <Ving>]

had been studying, has been gone

<auxV> "have" <Vpastp>

would have gone, might have studied

<auxV> "have" "been" [<Vpastp> | <Ving>]

will have been gone, should have been studying

<auxV> "be" [<Vpastp> | <Ving>]

will be gone, must be studied

<auxV> <Vinf>
will go, must study

"ought" "to" <Vinf>

ought to study

"ought" "to" "have" "been" [<Vpastp> | <Ving>]

ought to have been studying

("do" |"does" |"did") [<Vinf>]

do, did study, does swim

("am" |"are" |"is" |"was" |"were") [<Vpastp> | <Ving>]

are, is gone, were swimming

("am" |"are" |"is" |"was" |"were") "being" [<Vpastp>]

are being, was being punished

("am" |"are" |"is" |"was" |"were") "going" "to" [<Vinf>]

am going to travel, is going to study

Verb Tense
Verb tenses are inflectional forms of verbs or verb phrases that are used to express time
distinctions. The following table defines the structure of some common verb tenses. The
grammatical term "perfect" expresses an action or state completed at the time of
speaking or at a time spoken of. "continuous" or "progressive" indicates an on-going
action.
Simple Present Simple Past Simple Future
"will" <Vinf>
<V1s>|<V2s>|<V3s>|  
<Vpast>
<V1p>|<V2p>|<V3p> ("am"|"are"|"is") "going" "to" <Vinf>
 
   
Mary studied
John studies everyday. John will help you tomorrow.
yesterday.
They study everyday. Mary is going to help you tomorrow.
 
Present Continuous Past Continuous Future Continuous
(Present progressive) (Past progressive) (Future progressive)
"will" "be" <Ving>
 
("was"|"were") <Ving
("am"|"are"|"is") <Ving ("am"|"are"|"is") "going" "to" "be" <Vinf
>
> >
 
   
John was studying
John is studying now.   Mary will be studying tomorrow.
yesterday.  
Mary is going to be studying tomorrow.
 
Past Perfect
Present Perfect Future Perfect
(Pluperfect)
("have"|"has") "had" <Vpastp>
<Vpastp>   "will" "have" <Vpastp>
  She had studied  
John has studied for English before coming By December, she will have studied for
three years. here. three years.  
   
Past Perfect
Present Perfect Continuous
Continuous (Past perfect Future Perfect Continuous
(Present perfect progressive) (Future perfect progressive)
progressive) (pluperfect
progressive)
"had" "been" <Ving>
("have"|"has") "been"
  "will" "have" "been" <Ving>
<Ving>
Mary had been  
 
studying for three By midnight, John will have been
She has been studying
days when she got studying for over three hours.
for three years.
sick.  
 
 

Adverbial Particles
Some verbs acquire a different meaning when they are followed by "adverbial particles".
The most common adverbial particles are:
about, across, along, around, behind, by, down, forward, in, off, on, out, over, through,
up

Adverbial particles are prepositions that are considered part of the verb. The expression
"get up", for instance, means to "rise". It is not a request to "obtain" anything. Many of
the verbs associated with adverbial particles are separable. One or more words may
appear between the verb and the particle.
Examples:
"I will wake up early tomorrow."
"I will wake him up early tomorrow."

In traditional grammars, verbs that may be separated from their particles by a noun or
pronoun are called "phrasal verbs". The word "up" in the example above is considered an
adverb, rather than a preposition. Verbs for which the particle must remain by the verb
are called "prepositional verbs". The adverbial particles of prepositional verbs may be
interpreted either as adverbs or as prepositions which start a prepositional phrase.

Complements of Verbs
The predicate consists of a verb or verb phrase and its complements, if any. A verb that
requires no complements is called intransitive. A verb that requires one or two
complements is called transitive. A verb may belong to both categories. We may
generate the complete sentence "I walk." with no complements. We may also generate
"I walk home.", where "home" is a complement of the verb. Further, "I walk my dog
home." has two complements: "my dog" and "home". In traditional grammars, these
complements are called the "indirect object" (my dog) and the "direct object" (home). In
this formal description they are called the <indirect object> and <object>. The
complement of a verb or verb phrase is described as being optional and consisting not
only of objects, but of adjectives, prepositional phrases, etc. This is the formal
description:

<complement> =
       [[<indirect object>] <object>] |
       [<adverb>* <adjective>] |
       [<prep phr>*] |
       ["to" <Vinf> [<object>]] |
       [<Ving>]

The <adverb>* <adjective> option is for linking verbs or linking verb phrases.
The <prep phr>* option is for intransitive or linking verbs. The format of an <indirect
object> is the same as an <object>:
<indirect object> = <object> =
       <simple object> | <compound object>

Notice that objective personal pronouns are used in objects.

<simple object> = <noun phrase> |
       <objective personal pronoun>

<compound object> =
       <simple object> ("and" | "or") <simple object>

Examples of Sentences with Complements:

[<indirect object>] <object>
I spent the money.
John gave me the little book.

<adverb>* <adjective>
Mary became very angry.
<prep phr>*
John slept until 10:00 AM on Thursday.

"to" <Vinf> [<object>]

John went to pay the rent.
I want to drink water.

<Ving>
John went shopping.