Basic Patterns of English Sentence Subject + Verb I know Jack run She is sleeping Note Auxiliary verb: to be Verb:

rb: run, sing, learn

Some students in the class are engineers The men are handsome

follow linking verb Linking verbs: connect the subject of the verb Linking verb: be, seem, become,

Subject + Verb + Object Paul often eats biscuits I drank milk this morning We like our teacher

Note Object: noun, pronoun, phrases, clauses Phrases: They played soccer with a grapefruit pulled from a backyard tree Clauses: Sylvia hates biting her fingernails Note Indirect object: noun, pronoun

Subject + Verb + Direct Note Object + Object Complement His sister called him a Object complement: noun, adjective genius Her flattery made him embarrassed Most countries make their flags both decorative and symbolic

Subject + Verb + Indirect Object + Direct Object I gave my sister a birthday present She has lent me some money They are asking the teacher some questions Subject + Verb + Complement My mother looks tired

Pronoun: Subjective personal pronoun : I, you, he, she Objective personal pronoun : him, her Possessive personal pronoun : mine, theirs, yours Demonstrative pronoun : this, that : who, which, whom : whomever, who : everything, none

Note Subject complement: adjective, noun, pronoun,

Interrogative pronoun Relative pronoun Indefinite pronoun

Reflexive pronoun Intensive pronoun

: themselves, herself : myself, himself

Subject and Verb agreement Singular and plural Verb must agree with subject Subject joined with and is plural If subjects are joined by or or nor, the verb should agree with the closer subject The relative pronouns (who, whom, which, and that) are either singular or plural, depending on the words they refer to Indefinite pronouns (someone, somebody, each, either one, everyone, or anyone) are considered singular and need singular verbs although they convey plural meaning A few nouns can be either plural or singular, depending on whether they mean a group or separate individuals A few subjects look plural but are really singular or vice versa