Basic Sentence Concepts

Our language organizes thoughts into sentences. As a core, these sentences have a two-part structure. For simplicity and easy reference, we can represent the two parts as follows:

SUBJECT   PREDICATE

The subject, a noun or noun-substitute, tells who or what is doing something. The predicate tells what the subject is doing.

SUBJECT	PREDICATE
This bird	sings.
Marcus	plays soccer.
My old Chevy	still runs.
This pen	leaks.
These books	are heavy.

This two part structure is so basic that a thought doesn't feel complete when one part is missing. Both are needed for a complete sentence. Of course most sentences are longer and more sophisticated than those above, but even the most complex sentences are based on this two part principle. Learning to recognize it, to listen for it, and to use it are the first steps to mastering English sentence structure.

The S V/C Pattern

Another step, slightly less important but still useful, is to see that the predicate is often composed of two parts.

SUBJECT         PREDICATE

SUBJECT         VERB/COMPLEMENT

The verb is the word or cluster of words actually naming the action performed by the subject. The complement comes after the verb. It may do a number of different things, but most often it's the receiver of the action performed by the subject and named by the verb:

SUBJECT          VERB/COMPLEMENT

John                           hit/the ball.

Here John is an agent, the one doing something. "Hit" names the action he's performing, and "the ball" receives the effect of the action. Not all cases are so clear, however. Sometimes the complement modifies the subject, as in "John is tall." Here, "tall" doesn't receive the effect of the action. In fact, there doesn't seem to be any action at all, unless we consider merely existing to be an action. But such cases need not cause problems as long as we recognize the basic pattern and sense that it has been completed. For us, as writers, a detailed understanding of linguistics is secondary. Learning to use the language effectively comes first.

For now, it's enough to say that the basic pattern upon which English sentences are built is:

SUBJECT	VERB	/ COMPLEMENT
S	V	/ C
Luis	eats	/ apples.
Carla	is	/ happy.
People	form	/ governments.
Justice	serves	/ everyone.
Cigarettes	are	/ dangerous.
Running	builds	/ endurance.

Each of these is a simple sentence. Because it can stand by itself as a complete sentence, it's also called an independent clause. Because it often serves as the foundation of a much longer sentence, it's sometimes called a base clause. What we call it, though, is less important than learning to sense its presence in every sentence we build.