MORPHOLOGY & SYNTAX

CHAPTER 9: BASIC SENTENCE PATTERNS

 BASIC SENTENCE PATTERNS

•Pattern 1
•Pattern 2
•Pattern 3
•Pattern 4
•Pattern 5
•Pattern 6
•Pattern 7
•Pattern 8
•Pattern 9
TYPES OF SENTENCES
by functions and structure
BY FUNCTIONS:
A statement:
gives information
A question
asks for information
A command
makes someone do something
An exclamation
expresses one’s feeling or attitude
 BY STRUCTURE

•SIMPLE SENTENCE
Compound subject: You and I go to school
Compound predicate: My sister reads and writes
everyday
•COMPOUND SENTENCE
Two or more independent clauses linked by
coordinating conjunctions: and, but, or
•COMPLEX SENTENCE
One main clause and one or more subordinate clauses
linked by subordinating conjunctions
 SIMPLE SENTENCE
• Whales cannot breathe under water.
• We will see several applications of this order of
the primitives in the course of the book.
• The waitresses are basking in the sun like a herd
of skinned seals, their pinky-brown bodies
shining with oil.
• Is America stretched too far?
• Just give me a remote control for the planet.
 COMPOUND SENTENCE
• a coordinate or a correlative conjunction
• coordinate conjunctions: and, but, or, nor, for, so, yet
• correlative conjunctions : both ... and, not only ... but
also, either ... or, neither ... nor
Whales cannot breathe under water, for they have
lungs instead of gills.
• a conjunctive adverb and/or a semicolon
• conjunctive adverbs: moreover, so, therefore
Whales have lungs instead of gills; therefore they
cannot breathe under water.
COMPLEX SENTENCE
• Whales cannot breathe under water because they
have lungs instead of gills
• a test for adverbials: move into different positions,
e.g. sentence initial
• a dependent clause may function as a modifier of a
noun (relative clause)
• Jane, who always drives fast, bought an Audi.
• Whales, which cannot breathe under water, have
lungs instead of gills.
• a dependent clause may function as a subject,
object, or subject complement clause; no
complete main clause remains
• That Jane drives fast is obvious.
• What is surprising is that whales cannot breathe
under water.
• We all know that Jane drives fast.
• A fact is that Jane drives fast
 BASIC SENTENCE PATTERNS

TO BE (Patterns 1,2,3)
Pattern 1 : NOUN BE ADJECTIVE
Example: Food is good.
FUNCTIONS: S Pre SC
POSITIONS Nominal Verbal Adjectival

Other examples:
Pattern 2 NOUN BE ADVERB
Example: The girl is here.
FUNCTIONS: S Pre M
POSITIONS: Nominal Verbal Adverbial
Pattern 3 NOUN1 BE NOUN1
Example: My brother is a doctor.
FUNCTIONS: S Pre SC
POSITIONS: Nominal Verbal Nominal

Teachers are professionals.

To live is to struggle.
CAN YOU IDENTIFY THE SENTENCE
PATTERNS OF THESE SENTENCES
1.The flies are above the cat’s head.
2.The teacher’s explanation is above the students’
head.
3.What you said is true.
4.What you like is what I like.
5.The cat is upstairs
6.Halong is the must-see destination.
7.Ha Long Bay of the Quang Ninh Province is among
the 28 finalists in the New 7 Wonders of Nature
8.The new houses are around the corner.
LINKING VERB (Pattern 4 and 5)
Pattern 4 N LV ADJ
Ex: The acrobat seems young.
The party may become lively.
FUNCTIONS: S Pre SC
POSITIONS: Nominal Verbal Adjectival
Pattern 5
NOUN1 LINKING VERB NOUN1
My sister remained an outstanding student.
FUNCTIONS: S Pre SC
POSITIONS: Nominal Verbal Nominal
1.Dancing bears become overnight stars by strutting
their stuff in public.
2.Parents residing permanently in the village usually
seem happier with the mayor.
3.Such behavior appeared rather childish in someone
his age.
4.I felt rather nervous all through the interview
5.We have to remain optimistic about the result
6.Fast food doesnot taste as good as freshly prepared
meal
7.$200 a night for a room sounds rather expensive to
me
INTRANSITIVE VERB
Pattern 6: NOUN INTRANSITIVE VERB
Girls smile happily.
FUNCTIONS: S Pre M
POSITIONS: Nominal Verbal Adverbial
TRANSITIVE VERB (Patterns 7, 8, 9)
Pattern 7:
NOUN1 TRANSITIVE VERB NOUN2

The boy caught a ball.

FUNCTIONS: S Pre DO
POSITIONS: Nominal Verbal Nominal
Pattern 8:
NOUN1 TrV NOUN2 NOUN3
The mother bought the girl a dress.
FUNCTIONS: S Pre IO DO
POSITIONS:Nominal Verbal Nominal Nominal

two grammatical objects: indirect and direct

object.
Some verbs used in this pattern: give, make,
find, tell, buy, write, send, ask, build, teach,
assign, feed, offer, throw, hand, pass, sell,
pay…
Pattern 9: NOUN1 TrV NOUN2 a. NOUN2
b. ADJ
c. PRO
d. ADV
e. PREPART.

f.
PAST.PART
g. PREPP

h. INFINITIVE PHRASE WITH TO BE

Some verbs used in this pattern: name, choose,
elect, appoint, designate, select, vote, make,
declare, nominate, call, consider, imagine, think,
believe, feel, keep, suppose, find, prove, label,
judge
The basketball team chose Tam their captain.
We found her very helpful.
I thought the caller you.
We supposed him upstairs.
We believed him eating.
We believed him seated
We consider her in the way.
We thought that man to be Tam’s father.
h. INFINITIVE PHRASE WITH TO BE