SENTENCE ELEMENTS

Most sentences of more than one word consist of two nuclei: the subject and
the predicate.
As you can see, every statement (leaving aside the other sentence forms for
the moment) can be divided into two parts: the person or thing that is being spoken
about – the topic of the sentence – and the things that are said about
him/her/them/it, etc. In traditional terms, these are called subject and predicate.
These labels are useful, since they reflect the fact that one of the two defining
characteristics of the sentence is the message or information content. The subject is
the topic, or what is being spoken about; the predicate is what is ‘predicated’ (or
said to be true) about the subject. Usually the subject and predicate occur in that
order in a statement.
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.: Men do not know how to suffer; women do
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.
What to do with the money drove him mad
That coffee grows in Brazil is famous to all.
Whether or not he gets the money doesn’t matter to me.
 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. When used in this way, 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.
The tides: It’s high tide at 11.44.
Environment: It’s noisy in here.
Present situation: Isn’t it awful!
With since: It’s three years since we last met.
With say: It says here there was a big fire in Dong Xuan.
With take: It takes 20 minutes to get to work.
(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 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 to lie in the sun.
It’s pleasant lying in the sun.
It’s a shame that Tom isn’t here.
It doesn’t matter when we arrive.
(c) Introductory ‘There’
Sentences with ‘There may serve to assert or deny the existence of
something or someone. In these sentences, the predicate verb is usually the verb
‘to be’ or other verbs such as to live, to occur, to appear, to come etc. which
indicate existence.
E.g. There was a violent storm last night.
There came a loud knock at the front door.
There lived an old woman in that humble cottage.
There have occurred many great changes since we last met.
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. An object is normally a noun phrase; it usually goes after
the verb in the active. It can become the subject of the verb in the passive. An
object can be a clause _ finite or non-finite.
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.
Nobody understands why the minister committed suicide.
They didn’t know whether the crowd had been dismissed.
He suggested that we should dissolve the business.
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.
She gave John some pocket money.
She gave some pocket money to John.
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 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.
A pig is not a flying animal.
She seems an honest person.
The students always act dumb.
His brother grew happier gradually.
The machine is still in good condition.
The student is in a hurry.
His hobby is collecting stamps.
 Your problem now is how to win your boss’s feeling.
Our duty is that we must finish the problem.
Their concern is whether they can help their students to pronounce
correctly.
 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.
The burglar left the house in a mess
She wants all of us to go.
I found what he said to mean nothing.
I saw her running down the hill.
They made him feed the kangaroo
I will get my nose pierced one day
I named my son what my father named me.
Our supporter’ enthusiasm has made the club what it is today.
Notes: Another term for the subject complement (Cs) that follows a link-verb such
as “to be” is predicative.
E.g. He is a doctor.
She got tired.
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.
They badly need a more effective banking system.
She sang in a soft voice.
The cat ran under the bed.
They will not come here next month.
We handed in our assignments last week.
The students met to prepare for the Students’ Day ceremony.
Having finished the work, they went out for a drink.
Whenever she has a cold, she eats only fruit.
We didn’t come home until the rain started.
I couldn’t feel anger against her because I liked her too much.
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.
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 sonsome 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 himthe monitor.
D.O   CO
          We put Georgein 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)
          The door opened.                    (int - v)
          She is tasting the soup.            (tran - v)
          The soup tastes salty.              (linking - v)