BASIC ELEMENTS OF A SENTENCE

1. Personal pronouns

What Are Personal Pronouns?

A personal pronoun is a short word we use as a simple substitute for the proper name of a person.

Each of the English personal pronouns shows us the grammatical person, gender, number, and case of

the noun it replaces. I, you, he, she, it, we they, me, him, her, us, and them are all personal pronouns.

Personal pronouns are the stunt doubles of grammar; they stand in for the people (and perhaps

animals) who star in our sentences. They allow us to speak and write with economy because they

enable us to avoid repeating cumbersome proper nouns all the live-long day.

Archbishop Desmond Tutu was born in 1931 in South Africa and Bishop Desmond Tutu rose to
international fame in the 1980s as an opponent of apartheid. The Nobel Peace Prize was awarded to
Bishop Desmond Tutu in 1984. Bishop Desmond Tutu has written seven books and has cowritten or
contributed to many others.

With personal pronouns, this paragraph becomes much easier, and much less annoying, to read.

Archbishop Desmond Tutu was born in 1931 in South Africa and he rose to international fame in the
1980s as an opponent of apartheid. The Nobel Peace Prize was awarded to him in 1984. He has
written seven books and has cowritten or contributed to many others.

First-, Second-, and Third-Person Pronouns

A personal pronoun can be in one of three “persons.” A first-person pronoun refers to the speaker, a

second-person pronoun refers to the person being spoken to, and a third-person pronoun refers to

the person being spoken of. For each of these three grammatical persons, there is a plural as well.

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Subject and Object Pronouns

Personal pronouns can be either subjects or objects in a sentence. Subject pronouns are said to be in
the nominative case, whereas object pronouns are said to be in the objective case.

Person Nominative Objectiv

First singular I me

Second singular you you

Third singular he, she, it him,

her, it

First plural we us

Second plural you you

Third plural they them

Practice:

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2. Nouns (singular and plural) (the use of articles in general)

What is a Noun?

noun (noun): a word (except a pronoun) that identifies a person, place or thing, or names one of
them (proper noun)

The simple definition is: a person, place or thing. Here are some examples:

● person: man, woman, teacher, John, Mary

● place: home, office, town, countryside, America
● thing: table, car, banana, money, music, love, dog, monkey

Singular and plural nouns

Regular nouns
Most singular nouns form the plural by adding -s.
Examples

Singular Plural

boat boats

house houses

cat cats

river rivers

A singular noun ending in s, x, z, ch, sh makes the plural by adding-es.

Examples

Singular Plural

bus buses

wish wishcs

pitch pitches

box boxes

A singular noun ending in a consonant and then y makes the plural by dropping the y and adding-ies.
Examples

Singular Plural

penny pennies

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 spy spies

baby babies

city cities

daisy daisies

Irregular nouns

There are some irregular noun plurals. The most common ones are listed below.

Examples

Singular Plural

woman women

man men

child children

tooth teeth

foot feet

person people

leaf leaves

mouse mice

goose geese

half halves

knife knives

wife wives

life lives

elf elves

loaf loaves

potato potatoes

tomato tomatoes

cactus cacti

focus foci

fungus fungi

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 nucleus nuclei

syllabus sillabi/syllabuses

diagnosis diagnoses

oasis oases

thesis theses

crisis crises

phenomenon phenomena

criterion criteria

datum data

Some nouns have the same form in the singular and the plural.
Examples

Singular Plural

sheep sheep

fish fish

deer deer

species species

aircraft aircraft

Irregular verb/noun agreement

Some nouns have a plural form but take a singular verb.

Singular Plural

news The news is at 6.30 p.m.

athletics Athletics is good for young people.

linguistics Linguistics is the study of language.

darts Darts is a popular game in England.

billiards Billiards is played all over the world.

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Some nouns have a fixed plural form and take a plural verb. They are not used in the singular, or they
have a different meaning in the singular. Nouns like this include: trousers, jeans, glasses, savings,
thanks, steps, stairs, customs, congratulations, tropics, wages, spectacles, outskirts, goods, wits

Plural noun with plural verb Sentence

trousers My trousers are too tight.

jeans Her jeans are black.

glasses Those glasses are his.

Practice

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Articles + nouns (a, an, the)

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Practice

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3. Sentence structure: Word order: verbs and adjectives

BASIC SENTENCE STRUCTURE

Parts of Sentences: Subject, Predicate, Object, Indirect Object, Complement

Every word in a sentence serves a specific purpose within the structure of that particular sentence.
According to rules of grammar, sentence structure can sometimes be quite complicated. For the sake of
simplicity, however, the basic parts of a sentence are discussed here.

The two most basic parts of a sentence are the subject and predicate.

SUBJECT

The subject of a sentence is the person, place, or thing that is performing the action of the
sentence. The subject represents what or whom the sentence is about. The simple subject usually
contains a noun or pronoun and can include modifying words, phrases, or clauses.

The man . . .

PREDICATE

The predicate expresses action or being within the sentence. The simple predicate contains the
verb and can also contain modifying words, phrases, or clauses.

The man / builds a house.

The subject and predicate make up the two basic structural parts of any complete sentence. In addition,
there are other elements, contained within the subject or predicate, that add meaning or detail. These
elements include the direct object, indirect object, and subject complement. All of these elements can
be expanded and further combined into simple, compound, complex, or compound/complex sentences.
(See TIP Sheet on "Sentence Type and Purpose.")

DIRECT OBJECT

The direct object receives the action of the sentence. The direct object is usually a noun or
pronoun.

The man builds a house.

The man builds it.

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INDIRECT OBJECT

The indirect object indicates to whom or for whom the action of the sentence is being done. The
indirect object is usually a noun or pronoun.

The man builds his family a house.

The man builds them a house.

SUBJECT COMPLEMENT

A subject complement either renames or describes the subject, and therefore is usually a noun,
pronoun, or adjective. Subject complements occur when there is a linking verb within the
sentence (often a linking verb is a form of the verb to be).

The man is a good father. (father = noun which renames the subject)

The man seems kind. (kind = adjective which describes the subject)

Note: As an example of the difference between parts of speech and parts of a sentence, a noun can
function within a sentence as subject, direct object, indirect object, object of a preposition, or subject
complement.

Word order: position of verbs

Verbs usually go immediately after subjects. There are mainly two kinds of verbs: auxiliary verbs and
main verbs.

A verb can consist of just one word. Affirmative sentences in the simple present and simple past tenses
have one-word verbs.

● John broke another window yesterday.

● Alice invited me to her party.
● He rejected the offer.

Sentences in other tenses have verbs consisting of more than one word. Note that in a three-word verb,
the first two are auxiliary verbs whereas the third one is the main verb.

● They have been invited. (Auxiliary verbs: have, been; main verb: invited)
● Susie is writing. (Auxiliary verb: is; main verb: writing)

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Auxiliary verbs always go before main verbs.

In questions the auxiliary verb comes before the subject whereas the main verb goes after the subject.

● Has Susie arrived? (NOT Has arrived Susie?)

● What did he say? (NOT What said he?)

In WH-questions, question words go before the auxiliary verbs.

We can form affirmative sentences without auxiliary verbs, but we cannot form questions or negatives
without them.

The only type of word that can go between the subject and the verb are adverbs of frequency.
Examples are: usually, often, never, seldom, always and occasionally.

● She often visits her friends in Singapore.

● I usually get up at 7 am.
● We sometimes watch action films.

When the verb consists of three words, the frequency adverb goes after the first.

● I have never been invited to their parties. (NOT I have been never invited to their
parties.) (NOT I have been invited never to their parties.)

Other adverbs usually go at the beginning or at the end of a sentence.

Word order: position of adjectives

Different kinds of words go in different positions in a sentence. For example, nouns usually go at the
beginning of a sentence. Adjectives usually go before nouns. They can also go after verbs. Nouns, too,
can go after verbs. The main factor that determines the position of a word is its function. For example,
a noun used as the subject of the verb has to go at the beginning of the sentence. A noun used as the
object of a verb can only go after the verb. As the placement of words can significantly affect the
meaning of a sentence it is important to learn the rules regarding the position of words. Here is a basic
guide to word order in English.

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Adjectives

Adjectives usually go before the nouns they modify.

● Susie is a beautiful girl. (Here the adjective beautiful goes immediately before the noun
(girl) it modifies.)

More examples are given below.

● We met an interesting man.

● That was a wonderful experience.
● She is a great woman.

Note that we cannot put another word between an adjective and the noun it modifies. However, we can
use any number of adjectives to modify the same noun.

● She married a tall, dark, handsome man.

When more than one adjective modify the same noun, we usually separate them using a comma. No
commas are used to separate the last adjective in the series from the noun it modifies.

Adjectives can also go after linking verbs. Note that the most common linking verbs in English are: is,
am, are, was, were, become, seem, appear, taste, feel, grow and turn.

When adjectives go after linking verbs, they usually describe the subject.

● Susie is beautiful. (Here the adjective beautiful describes the noun Susie.)
● The fish tasted funny. (Here the adjective funny describes the taste of the fish.)
● The night grew dark.
● The milk turned sour.
● I felt awful.

Practice
Unscramble these sentences.

they on the bench sit .

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in the forest walk often we.

are the boys playing hockey.

Frank and Robert meet school after.

from she Scotland is.

at home I read books.

tests we sometimes write.

brothers has two one he sister and.

every Saturday the girls to the club go.

the kitchen in are you.

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