The ESL HELP! Desk

Today's activities concern sentence structure. It is for beginners and lower-intermediate learners of English. This is not an audio lesson.

What Is Sentence Structure?  Part 1

Sentence structure refers to the order in which words appear in a sentence. Sentence structure is also known as syntax.

Every normal sentence in written English has a main clause, which consists of a main subject and a main verb.

The sentence structure of a declarative statement is different from the sentence structure of a question.  Here, we deal with declarative sentences.

Before you begin the activities, you may want to study the podcast and initial grammar lesson, He's Always Talking about Grammar, also in our Library.

After you complete the activities and when you are ready to check your answers, go to our "Answer Key", our new on-line bank for answers.  You can find the "Answer Key" in "Our Library".

Let's begin with a Warm-up Exercise.  We are going to identify the main subject and main verb of each sentence in the exercise.

For each sentence below, underline the main subject once and write S beneath it and underline the main verb twice and write V beneath it.  We’ve begun this; you complete it.  You may print this page and write your answers on paper (but please recycle the paper afterward.)

1.  My father's mother and two of his sisters left Odessa for America .   His third sister stayed in                                   S                                    V                                                  S          V              
      Odessa with us.

2.   When I was younger and living in Russia, my father had many problems with me.

3.  The lady who caught the bouquet of flowers was the next lady to get married.

What Is Sentence Structure?  Part 2

The normal word order for a declarative sentence in English is the MAIN SUBJECT followed by the MAIN VERB.  This type of sentence is sometimes depicted as S-V.

For the following sentences,determine which word is the subject and which is the verb.  Place the subject in the subject position, and the verb in the verb position.

1.  ___________     ____________ .  (was crying, my wife)
2.  ___________     _____________ her bags. (customs officials, were checking)
3.  ___________     _____________ more interesting.   (is, it)
4. ____________     _____________ everywhere.   (flowers, are)

Now we are going to build upon the basic building blocks of a sentence.  We are going to add a new sentence pattern: sentences in which the verb is transitive (which means that it takes an object). The pattern of these sentences is S-V-O: Subject-Verb-Object.

Warm-up 2
Each of the following simple sentences follows the pattern S-V-O. For each sentence, identify the object of the verb!  Underline it once!  The first one has been done for you.

1. Many Americans watch television to relax.

2. I am having a problem with my landlord.

3. I didn't want to do my homework.

4. I realized how important this teacher was to me.

5.  Samantha wrote a letter to the Russian president Andropov.

6. Watching so much TV has hurt my eyes.

The Subject Position and the Verb Position

Every sentence in English has a subject and a verb.  There must be a noun or pronoun in the subject position (S).  There must be a verb in the verb position (V). 

Some other languages allow the speaker or writer to indicate the subject and then use a pronoun reference immediately afterwards. Becareful if your native language is like this, because in English, this is not permissible.

Here are three sentences, each with a different type of error concerning basic sentence structure (or syntax).  Correct each sentence.

WHERE'S THE ERROR?

1.  I like to take walks when is not cold out.

2.  The young boy, he didn't listen.

3.  This my opinion.

You will find the answers in our "Answer Key". You can access the "Answer Key" by using your Library Card to enter the Library, and then scroll down to find the shelf, "Answer Key".   Choose this lesson, He's Always Talking about Grammar.

In our next lesson, we will discuss the three basic types of sentences in English: Simple, compound, and complex.

So from the ESL Help Desk, thanks for dropping ny this week, and remember to email us your questions about English grammar. At the ESL Help Desk, your feedback is our feed.

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