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Simple sentence structure in English and practice

The document provides definitions and examples of basic sentence elements, including subjects, verbs, objects, and prepositional phrases, as well as rules for English sentence structure. It explains the components of simple sentences and offers exercises for identifying sentence elements and constructing sentences. The document emphasizes the importance of independent clauses and proper sentence formation.

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Alessandra Contu
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7 views5 pages

Simple sentence structure in English and practice

The document provides definitions and examples of basic sentence elements, including subjects, verbs, objects, and prepositional phrases, as well as rules for English sentence structure. It explains the components of simple sentences and offers exercises for identifying sentence elements and constructing sentences. The document emphasizes the importance of independent clauses and proper sentence formation.

Uploaded by

Alessandra Contu
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Definitions and Examples of Basic Sentence Elements

Key:
Yellow, bold = subject;
green underline = verb,
blue, italics = object,
pink, regular font = prepositional phrase

Independent clause: An independent clause can stand alone as a sentence.


It contains a subject and a verb and is a complete idea.
• I like spaghetti.
• He reads many books.

Subject: A person, animal, place, thing, or concept that does an action.


Determine the subject in a sentence by asking the question “Who or what?”
• I like spaghetti.
• He reads many books.

Verb: Expresses what the person, animal, place, thing, or concept does.
Determine the verb in a sentence by asking the question “What was the
action or what happened?”
• I like spaghetti.
• He reads many books.
• The movie is good. (The be verb is also sometimes referred to as a
copula or a linking verb. It links the subject, in this case "the movie," to
the complement or the predicate of the sentence, in this case, "good.")

Object: A person, animal, place, thing, or concept that receives the action.
Determine the object in a sentence by asking the question “The subject did
what?” or “To whom?/For whom?”
• I like spaghetti.
• He reads many books.
Prepositional Phrase: A phrase that begins with a preposition (i.e., in, at for,
behind, until, after, of, during) and modifies a word in the sentence. A
prepositional phrase answers one of many questions. Here are a few
examples: “Where? When? In what way?”
• I like spaghetti for dinner.
• He reads many books in the library.

English Sentence Structure

The following statements are true about sentences in English:


• A new sentence begins with a capital letter.
• He obtained his degree.

• A sentence ends with punctuation (a period, a question mark, or an


exclamation point).
• He obtained his degree.

• A sentence contains a subject that is only given once.


• Smith He obtained his degree.

• A sentence contains a verb or a verb phrase.


• He obtained his degree.

• A sentence follows Subject + Verb + Object word order.


• He (subject) obtained (verb) his degree (object).

• A sentence must have a complete idea that stands alone. This is also
called an independent clause.
• He obtained his degree.

Simple Sentences

A simple sentence contains a subject and a verb, and it may also have an
object and modifiers. However, it contains only one independent clause.
Key: Yellow, bold = subject; green underline = verb, blue, italics =
object, pink, regular font =prepositional phrase
Here are a few examples:
• She wrote.
• She completed her literature review.
• He organized his sources by theme.
• They studied APA rules for many hours.

Simple Sentence Structure Exercises

I. Underline the subjects with one line. Underline the verbs with two
lines. Write S (for Subject) or V (for Verb) above each underlined words.
Then, write the formula for each sentence in the numbered spaces.

My Grandfather

(1)My grandfather may be old but still young in spirit. (2) He swims a
mile and works in his garden every day. (3) My grandmother and
him have four children and ten grandchildren. (4) My grandfather
loves parties and invites our entire family to his house for a big
dinner on his birthday. (5) We all eat and tell stories half the night.
(6) He never gets tired ans is always the last to go to bed. (7) My
brothers and I gave him a present on his last birthday. (8) We saved
some of our money together and bought him a video game. (9) Now
he likes to invite us to his house every weekend to play video games
with him. (10) My grandpa will always seem young to me.

1. S V
2. ___
3. ___
4. ___
5. ___
6. ___
7. ___
8. ___
9. ___
10.___
II. Write six simple sentences about your family or family members. Use
each of these patterns twice: S V V, S V, and S S V. Write the pattern of
your sentence on the left side of the number.

SV 1 My older sister studies in a university and works in the


V . restaurant in the evening.
SV 2 _________________________________________________
V . _____________
SV 3 _________________________________________________
V . _____________
4 _________________________________________________
SV
. _____________
5 _________________________________________________
SV
. _____________
SS 6 _________________________________________________
V . _____________
SS 7 _________________________________________________
V . _____________

III. Combine the two sentences in each pair to make one sentence. Use
and or or according to the meaning. Try not to repeat any words.

1. I like chocolate ice cream. I like coffee ice cream.


I like chocolate and coffee ice cream.

2. I can speak English. I can understand English.


_____________________________________

3. I can’t speak Tagalog. I can’t speak Vietnamese.


_____________________________________

4. Blue is my favorite color. Yellow is my favorite color.


_____________________________________

5. Would you like soup? Would you like salad?


_____________________________________
6. You can eat your pizza here. You can take it home.
_____________________________________

7. She could not see. She could not hear.


_____________________________________

8. With the help of her teacher, Jennie learned to speak. Jennie became a
famous spokesperson all over the world.
_____________________________________________________________
____

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