CLAUSES & SENTENCES

SENTENCE ELEMENTS
Most sentences consist of two nuclei: the subject and the predicate.
SUBJECT PREDICATE
John loves Mary.
The cat chased a mouse.
James Smith plays the piano beautifully.
Captain Cook discovered Australia in 1776.
The people I like the best never forget my birthday.
I met her down the street yesterday.

I. The subject:
The subject can be expressed by a noun phrase, a non-finite clause or a finite clause.
E.g.: The young girl with long hair walked confidently across the room.
English enables many people to make some social advancement
Learning English enables many people to make some social advancement.
That coffee grows in Brazil is famous to all.
What we are learning seems to be difficult.
The subject of a sentence may be ‘It’ as empty or preparatory subject, or There’ as
introductory or anticipatory subject.
(a) Empty subject
We often use it in sentences referring to time, the weather, temperature or distance. It
is sometimes called an empty subject because it carries no real information. It is present
because every English sentence has to contain a subject (and a verb):
Time: It’s 3 o’clock. It’s Thursday. It’s November 23rd.
It’s time for us to leave.
Weather: It’s hot. It’s raining.
Temperature: It’s 37oC.
Distance: It’s 5 km from here to the university.
(b) Preparatory subject: Sometimes sentences beginning with IT continue with an
infinitive, a gerund or a noun clause. It is possible to begin such sentences with an infinitive

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or gerund, but we generally prefer it. The true subject is the infinitive, gerund or noun clause,
and it is preparatory to the subject.
E.g. It’s pleasant lying in the sun.
It’s a shame that Tom isn’t here.
(c) Introductory ‘There’
E.g. There was a violent storm last night.
There came a loud knock at the front door.
II. The object:
The object is very closely tied to the predicator in terms of meaning, and typically
denotes the person or thing most intimately affected by the action or state denoted by the
predicate.
E.g. Mary bought some ice cream.
He loves girls with long hair and brown eyes.
Mary likes to eat ice cream.
We always enjoy listening to classical music.
Mary bought whatever we wanted.
Objects can be divided into two types: direct objects and indirect objects:
* A direct object refers to the person or thing affected by the action of the verb. It
comes immediately after a transitive verb:
E.g. He kicked the dog.
The dog bit him.
* An indirect object usually refers to the person who ‘benefits’ from the action
expressed in the verb.
E.g. Mary threw me the ball.
The man bought his wife some flowers.
Indirect object can stand either after the verb or after the direct object with a
preposition in between. In the latter case, another term which can be used for the indirect
object is prepositional object.
E.g. I brought him a cup of tea.
I brought a cup of tea to him.
III. The complement:
The complement can be defined as a sentence element that gives further information
about the subject or the object; in other words, the complement completes the meaning of

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subject or the object, and therefore, there are two types of complement: subject complement
(Cs) and object complement (Co).
 The subject complement can be expressed by a noun phrase, an adjective phrase,
a prepositional phrase, a non-finite clause or finite clause.
E.g. He is the chairman.
She seems an honest person.
His brother grew happier gradually.
The machine is still in good condition.
His hobby is collecting stamps.
Our duty is that we must finish the problem.
 The object complement can be expressed by a noun phrase, an adjective phrase, a
prepositional phrase, a non-finite clause or a finite clause.
E.g. They made Sam the chairman.
We found him a good friend.
They have proved me wrong.
He likes his coffee strong.
We found her in tears.
IV. The adverbial:
The adverb suggests the idea of adding to the meaning of a verb. They tell us
something about the action in a sentence by modifying a verb, i.e. by telling how, when,
where, etc. something happens or is done:
E.g.: Paganini must have played the violin beautifully.
The adverbial can be expressed by an adverb, a noun phrase, a prepositional phrase,
a non-finite clause or a finite clause.
E.g. She sang softly.
She sang in a soft voice.
The cat ran under the bed.
They will not come here next month.
Having finished the work, they went out for a drink.
Whenever she has a cold, she eats only fruit.
Adverbials are generally much more mobile in the sentence than the other elements.
So mobile are certain adverbials that they can be placed in the middle of the predicate.
E.g. Crabs are now being served.
Crabs are being served now.

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 Adverbials are also optional in most sentence types.
E.g. (Sometimes) she (kindly) sends us some photographs.
The girls are singing (loud) (in the room).
V. The verb:
 There are 3 main types of verbs: transitive, intransitive, and linking.
 Transitive:
          - A transitive verb is a verb that must be followed by a direct object to complete the
meaning of the verb. Such a verb is called a mono-transitive verb.
          - She’s bought a camera.
          D.O
  Some transitive verbs have 2 objects: a direct and or indirect object. They are called
di-transitive verbs.
          - She has sent her son some money.
                                   I.O          D.O
          -He bought the flowers for his girlfriend.
                                D.O                  I.O
 Some transitive verbs require, beside the object, a complement or an adverbial. They
are complex-transitive verbs.
          We elected him the monitor.
D.O   CO
          We put George in the first class.
                        D.O           A
 Intransitive:
Intransitive verbs do not transmit     action and do not require objects. An intransitive
verb usually expresses a motion and is often followed by an adverbial.
          He arrived here yesterday (int – v).
          The boys are playing noisily in the garden (int – v).
 Linking verb:  is a verb that must be followed by a complement or an adverbial to complete
its meaning.
          She has become a good teacher.
          The house is in good condition.
* Some verbs can be used as more than one kind of verb depending or the sentences in which
they are used.
          He opened the door quickly. (tran - v)

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          The door opened.                    (int - v)
          She is tasting the soup.            (tran - v)
          The soup tastes salty.              (linking - v)

PRACTICE EXERCISES: 
1. Identify the constituent which realises Subject function in each of the following clauses.
1. The use of caves for smuggling is as old as the hills.
2. The light of a torch flickered.
3. What the critics failed to understand is that his art was not sacrificed to popularity.
4. The list of people who she says helped her is long.
5. The wind coming down form the snowfields above woke us every night as we lay in our
tent.
6. There’s no way of knowing what goes on in their minds.
7. It’s 5 km away from here.

2. Write sentences as guided

1. S [V-ing P] makes us relaxed after a hard-working day.
2. S [ preparatory] seems to be a great challenge [real S].
3. S [finite clause] disappointed his parents.
4. S [non-finite clause] is my hobby.
5. S [complex noun phrase] surprised all of us.

3. Identify the constituent which functions as Direct Object in each of the following
clauses, and the class of unit which realises this function.
1. Shoppers are flouting the no-sales-on-Sunday trading laws.
2. He banged the door as he went out.
3. He pointed out that foreign doctors were not permitted to practise in that country.
4. The negotiations have achieved very little.
5. A team of divers have discovered what they believe to be sunken treasure.
6. One doubts that many will survive the long trek over the mountains.
7. You might ask what is the use of all this.
8. He shoveled a ton of gravel into the back garden.
9. Do you mind waiting a few minutes?

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4. Identify subject complements, object complements in the following sentences
1. Spying on firms has become a multimillion - pound industry.
2. What will they call the baby?
3. Archie’s bar is where it’s at.
4. Life is a series of accidents. That’s what he thinks.
5. He makes his films accessible to a wide public.
6. He kept us laughing all evening with his jokes.
7. The weather has turned unexpectedly cold lately.
8. Make the coffee a bit stronger, would you?
9. I am an animal lover working in a department dedicated to cancer research.
10. I think you have mistaken the gentlemen’s lavatory for the stage door.
11. They found Winston’s sense of humour rather disconcerting.
12. What colour is she going to dye her hair?
13. Any attempt to re-establish control over the liberated areas would prove self-defeating.
14. They must prove themselves fit for the task.

5. Indicate, by Od, Oi, Cs or Co whether the parts underlined in the sentences below are
the direct object (Od), the indirect object (Oi), the subject complement (Cs) or the object
complement (Co).
1. Will someone get a doctor, quickly!
2. George and Paul both became famous doctors.
3. Do you call yourself a doctor?
4. May I call you Jenny?
5. May I call you a taxi or something?
6. It is so cold. I can’t get warm.
7. I can’t get my hands warm.
8. Keep quiet! Keep those children quiet.
9. The young man was slowly going mad.
10. His mother-in-law was driving him mad.

6. Divide each of the sentences below into its constituent parts and then label each part S,
O, C, or A
1. Full scale computers have a large number of programs.

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2. We must change all the programs tomorrow.
3. Tomorrow will be a holiday here.
4. These bookshelves are becoming very popular in Sweden.
5. We recently added an extra unit to them.
6. Will you give it a try?
7. On July, DDT was sprayed on the marsh from a helicopter.
8. We all read too many books too quickly.
9. The young man grew restless in his mother-in-law’s house.
10. They had made him their son-in-law despite his objection.
11. He found his mother-in-law greedy.
12. They had found him a very young wife.
13. Thinking about this led us to an interesting conclusion.
14. Then the sleeper sees dreams as a jumbled sequence of important detail.
15. The speaker is seriously comparing dreams with what happens in a computer.

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 CLAUSE TYPES
(SENTENCE STRUCTURES/ SENTENCE PATTERNS)
The various units that make up the structure of a clause or a simple sentence are
usually given functional labels, such as Subject (S), Verb (V), Complement (C), Object (O),
and Adverbial (A). A number of clause types can be identified in this way, such as:
S+V The girl + is dancing.
S+V+O The girl + kissed + her dog.
S+V+C The girl + is + sick.
S+V+A The girl + lay + on the ground.
S + V + O + OThe girl + gave + her dog + a bone.
S + V + O + C The girl + called + her dog + Honey.
S + V + O + AThe girl + put + her dog + on the sofa.

Beside these seven basic sentence patterns for active sentences, there are four patterns
for passive sentences which in fact come from the patterns for active sentences with O.
S + V pass The boy was hit by a car running at a very high speed.
S + V pass +O The girl was given a nice doll on her last birthday.
S + V pass +C His father has just been appointed Director.
S + V pass +A The wallet was laid under the blanket.

PRACTICE EXERCISES: 
1. Identify each clause type (sentence structure) in the following sentences:
Example: He/ seems/ nice. (Answer = SVCs)
1. They arrived at the hotel last night.
2. What an extraordinary dancer she is!
3. I warn you that a villa in that area is not cheap.
4. Passing through the sound barrier doesn’t affect the passengers.
5. The authorities claim that everything possible has been done.
6. The doctor gave the injured man treatment for shock.
7. The party will have to draw on whatever resources it can.
8. The government’s import policy has made the farmers furious.
9. Can you imagine yourself the owner of a luxury yacht?
10. Somebody snatched her bag in the park.
11. Sierra Leone is one of the world’s biggest producers of diamonds.

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 12. Save your brother a piece of your birthday cake.
13. She felt her face turn red.
15. He has become what he always wanted to be.

2. Identify each clause type (sentence structure) in the following sentences:

1. George’s father greeted the headmaster.
2. The headmaster put George into the second class.
3. That made Stanley angry.
4. His annoyance did not last.
5. He was really a lawyer.
6. He grew himself a great soldier.
7. The manager is not in.
8. May I offer you a cup of coffee?
9. After the war, M. gave him back his saddle-bag.
10. He threw himself from his horse.
11. I remember the reasonableness of my father’s argument.
12. The parson’s cat is an abominable animal.
13. We are in a bit of a mess.
14. I have always lived in the country.
15. Could you call me a porter, please!

3. Make sentences with clause types required (subject given):

1. Her family (S) + V + NP + NP (SVOC)

2. The new comer (S) + V + Adj P (SVC)

3. The little boy (S) + V + NP + PP (SVOA)

4. Those tourists (S) +V+ PP (SVA)

5. His mother (S) + V+ NP+ NP (SVOO)

4. Make sentences as guided

1. S + bought + NP + NP + adverb of time

2. S + consider + NP + adjective

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3. S + remain + adj P

4. S + taste + NP

5. S + call + NP + NP

6. S + taste + Adj.p

7. S + brought + NP + for + NP

8. S + caught + NP + V-ing

9. S+ find + NP/ V-ing + adjective

10. S+ allow + NP + to infinitive/ allow +V-ing.

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