THE 7 + 7 PATTERNS OF ENGLISH SENTENCE

A. SIMPLE SENTENCE (independent clause): B. COMPOUND SENTENCE

I went for a walk. 1. IC+CC+IC
(An independent clause is set of words that includes a (independent clause + coordinating conjunction + independent clause):
I went for a walk, and I was soothed by the gentle night air.
subject and a predicate. It can be a sentence or part of
(Coordinating conjunctions are words that link one independent clause to another to form a
one. A dependent, or subordinate, clause is one that
compound sentence. These words can be recalled with the mnemonic FANBOYS and
cannot stand on its own but provides additional include for, and, nor, but, or, yet, and so.)
information to supplement an independent clause.) 2. IC+S+IC
The 7 Basic Patterns Sentence of a simple sentence: (independent clause + semicolon + independent clause):
The English language has seven basic sentence (or I went for a walk; I was soothed by the gentle night air.
clause) patterns. Examples are: 3. IC+AC+IC
i. John / laughed. (SV)* (independent clause + adverbial conjunction + independent clause):
I went for a walk; consequently, I was soothed by the gentle night air.
ii. John / kissed / Jane. (SVO)
(Adverbial conjunctions are adverbs that serve, when following a semicolon, to link
iii. John / is / tall. (SVC) independent clauses. They include consequently, however, moreover, nevertheless, therefore,
iv. John / gave / Jane / a present. (SVOO) and thus.)
v. John / made / Jane / angry. (SVOC) 4. DM+C+IC
vi. John / sat / up. (SVA) (dependent marker + clause + independent clause):
vii. John / put / the bag / down. (SVOA) Because I hoped to be soothed by the gentle night air, I went for a walk.
Most simple and complex (but not compound) clauses are of one of (Dependent markers are words that provide a relative context for a subordinate clause.
these patterns no matter how long the clauses are. For example, the
They include after, although, as, as if, because, before, if, since, though, until, when, where,
following two sentences are essentially of the same pattern. whether, and while.)
Jane / bought / fruit. (SVO) 5. RP+C
My long lost sister Jane / has been buying / a variety of (relative pronoun + clause):
fruit. (SVO) Whatever doubts I had about taking a walk dissipated when I was soothed by the gentle night air.
* S = subject, V = verb, O = object, C = complement, and A = (Relative pronouns are pronouns that relate a subordinate clause to the noun it modifies.
adverbial. The slash (/) denotes the boundary between They include who, whom, whose, whoever, whosoever, whomever, which, what, whatever, and
syntactic terms. sometimes that.)
6. Compound-complex sentence, DC+IC+CC+IC
(dependent clause + independent clause + coordinating conjunction + independent clause):
As I headed out for a walk, my doubts about doing so dissipated, and I was soothed by the gentle night air.
There are, of course, many variations to these patterns; even a simple sentence, for
instance, can begin with the object in the example converted to the subject of another
simple sentence: A walk was my next order of business.