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Aims | Introduction | Example sentences | Explanation (Phrases and clauses, noun phrases, verbs, clauses)

Aims:
This page informs you about English sentence structure, and concentrates on simple sentences, which are sentences with only one clause.

Introduction
Although some sentences are very short; e.g. 'Yes.', most sentences are made up of phrases and clauses, often arranged in a subject - verb - object order. The subject and object are nouns or noun phrases, and the verb is a single verb or a verb phrase.

Example sentences

A simple sentence:

A sentence with a noun phrase:

A sentence with a three-word noun phrase:

A sentence with a four-word noun phrase:

A sentence with a relative clause in the subject:

A sentence with a verb phrase:

A sentence with a noun phrase as the object:

A long sentence with two relative clauses in the subject noun phrase, and four noun phrases in total.

A sentence with an adverb as a complement:

A sentence with an adverb phrase as a complement:

Explanation

Phrases and Clauses

Noun phrases
A phrase is a group of words that is part of a clause. For example, a noun phrase is a noun and some associated words, such as plural noun: 'students', noun phrase 'These mature students'. This example contains a determiner 'These'; an adjective 'mature'; and a plural noun 'students'.

A determiner determines which noun is being described. Other determiners include articles such as 'The', 'A', and 'An', and also words like 'Some', 'His', 'Hers', 'This', 'That', 'Those'.

A noun phrase can have many adjectives, but they need to be in a special order. Click here for more information on adjective order.

A noun phrase can also include a relative clause; e.g. 'These mature students who are standing here'. The verb 'are standing' is part of the relative clause, so it is not the main verb of the sentence. To make a sentence it is necessary to add a main verb and an object or complement; e.g. 'These mature students who are standing here are waiting for the teacher.'

Verbs
Verbs can be single words such as 'like', or be a verb phrase and so have more than one word; e.g. 'would have liked to have been' in 'I would have liked to have been a pilot, but my eyesight isn't good enough'. Verbs can show when something happened, how long for, and whether there are present results. Click here for more information on verbs and tenses.

Clauses
A sentence usually has at least one clause. A clause is a subject (a noun or noun phrase), a verb, and a complement. The complement may be an object noun or noun phrase, or another kind of phrase, such as an adjective; e.g. 'fast' in 'I can run fast.' A simple sentence has one clause, but a compound sentence has more than one; e.g. 'I can run fast and my brother can jump high'.

Complement
A word or phrase that identifies, classifies or describes the subject or object.

Predicate
A predicate is a main verb and words that either classify the subject or describe an action.

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Last updated: Thursday, 15 December 2016

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