UNIT 2

SENTENCE

A sentence is a group of words that says something, all by itself. It is complete: it

can stand alone. It is followed by a period (or in certain cases, a question mark or an
exclamation point). In grammatical terms, a sentence is a group of words that contains a
subject and a predicate (the subject: is the person or thing: it may pronoun/noun).
(the predicate, to predicate means to say or declare; is what you’re saying about)
example:

· The University sent a letter to Tim

· The passengers have waited in the terminal for one hour.

The short sentence;

- We won

S V

- he smiles

S V
The shortest sentence consists subject and verb, but a complete sentence must have
at minimum three things: a subject, Verb, an Object/complement. The grammatical
subject of sentence may be long and analysable into various part but it is not further
broken down at the subject/predicate level.
The subject and predicate/verb make up the two basic structural parts of any
complete sentence. it is the essential elements of sentence; verb (V), object (O),
complement (C). In addition, there are other element, contained within the subject or
predicate, these elements include the direct object, indirect object, and subject
complement.
Elements of Sentence in English Sentence Patterns

1. The Subject-Verb-Object pattern.(S + V + O)

Subject Verb Object

Paul often eats biscuits.

Mary ate two apples quickly.
My father and mother are eating mangoes now.
The fat girl has eaten a watermelon.
That little boy will eat some bread soon.

2. Subject – Verb – Indirect Object – Direct Object (S + V +I O + DO)

Some verbs can be followed by two objects without an ‘and’

connecting them. One of these objectsis called the ‘direct object’ and the other the
‘indirect object’. Below is the pattern of a sentence containing both direct object
and indirect object:

Subject Verb Indirect Object Direct Object

I gave my sister a birthday present.

My parents always tell me stories.
We have lent him some money.
They are asking the teacher some questions.
 3. Sometimes a preposition is put in front of the indirect object. The pattern of
such sentence is:

Subject – Verb – Direct Object – Preposition – Indirect Object

(S + V + DO + Pre + IO)

Subject Verb Direct Object Preposition Indirect Object

My friend has sent a letter to me.

His parents bought a computer for him.

4. The Subject-Verb object – complement

Pattern: (S+ V + O + C)

Complement occurs in a sentence, it describes a subject or an object

Subject Verb Object Complement

I kept her money safe

they made her crying
She makes him happy
He left her alone

5. The Subject-Verb – complement

Pattern: (S + V (C)

The complement describes a subject

Subject Verb Complement

These biscuits have kept fresh

water Can be dangerous
They stayed at home
Mr. Ober worked hard
Mary was A teacher