PLUGGING THE GAPS IN OUR ENGLISH
Lesson #2 - How the English Language Really Works
A. The Basic Sentence Structure in English
We all know that the basic sentence structure in English is quite simple:
Subject + Verb + Complement
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Predicate
What’s a predicate?
A predicate is that part of a sentence or clause that expresses what is said of the subject. It
usually consists of a verb with or without objects, complements, or adverbial modifiers.
Example:
“She loves me very much indeed.
love – the verb
me – the direct object
very much indeed – the complement (in this case an adverbial phrase modifying the
verb “loves”)
What’s a complement?
A complement is an added word or expression by which a predication is made complete, as in:
“She chose him as her escort.”
“We found the answer inappropriate.”
What can we use as subjects for our sentences?
Nouns – proper nouns (“Microsoft,” “Italy,” “Susan Sarandon”), generic nouns
(“software,” “nation,” “actress”)
Pronouns – substitutes for nouns or noun phrases and whose referents are named or
understood in the context (“I,” “you,” “me,” “they”)
What else can we use as subjects?
Noun phrases, noun clauses: nouns and their modifiers
Noun phrase: “The star of the show tonight is a total newcomer.”
Noun clause: “What I don’t like are people who don’t wait for their turn.
Verbals: infinitives, gerunds
They function as nouns in sentences:
Infinitive: a verb preceded by “to,” as in the following sentence:
“To sing is all she wants to do.”
Gerund: a verb ending in “-ing” that acts as a noun, as in the following sentence:
“Singing is her lifelong passion.”
There’s a third kind of verbal—the participle—but it acts as an adjective, never as a
noun. It consists of a verb in the past participle or in the “-ing” form, as in this sentence:
“Broken promises are nothing new to many money lenders.”
[“broken” is the participle]
“The sound of breaking glass never fails to startle me.”
[“breaking” is the participle]
Verbal phrases: these are infinitives and gerunds together with their modifying phrases.
Infinitive phrase: “To sing outside in stormy weather like this is sheer madness.
[“to sing outside in stormy weather like this” is the infinitive phrase acting
as subject of the sentence]
Gerund phrase: “Singing at the top of her voice much too often broke her larynx.”
[“singing at the top of her voice much too often” is the gerund phrase
acting as subject of the sentence]
In contrast, this isn’t a gerund phrase: “She was singing at the top of her voice when
her larynx broke.”
[“was singing at the top of her voice” here is simply a verb phrase with the verb “sing” in
the past progressive form “was singing”]
B. Understanding Clearly How Verbs Behave
Verbs – a verb is a word that expresses an act, occurrence, or mode of being. They are
of three types: transitive, intransitive, and linking.
Transitive verbs - verbs that have the ability to pass on their action to something that
can receive that action. They are of three types:
One-place transitives - verbs that require only a direct object to work properly, such
as “receive,” “deliver,” and “damage.”
Examples:
“The woman received the letter.”
“Typhoons damage infrastructure.”
“The professor delivered the lecture.”
Test for one-place transitive verbs: the sentence generally becomes nonsensical if
the direct object is removed:
“The woman received.”
“Typhoons damage.”
“The professor delivered.”
Vg two-place transitives – transitive verbs that not only require a direct object but
may also take an indirect object, such as “buy,” “bring,” “serve”.
(The term is short for the linguistic label “two-place transitive like give”; the “g” in “Vg”
stands for “give.”)
Examples:
“He buys her diamonds.”
“She brings him apples.”
“They served Joanna breakfast.”
The indirect objects are optional for Vg two-place transitives. The sentences will work
perfectly even with only the direct objects around.
“He buys diamonds.”
“She brings apples.”
“They served breakfast.”
Vc two-place transitives - transitive verbs whose action actually takes place within
the subject or doer of the action, or is done to the subject itself, then is transmitted to the
direct object. (The term is short for “two-place transitive like consider”; the “c” in “Vc”
stands for “consider.”)
Examples:
“They considered the rebellion a lost cause.”
“Factual errors like this make the editors extremely suspicious.”
“The beauty queen’s detractors believe her victory to be a fluke.
Intransitive verbs – verbs that can’t pass on their action to anything in the
sentence. Because they don’t have the power to transmit their action to a so-called direct
object, such verbs generally dissipate that action in themselves.
Examples are the verbs “go,” “arrive,” “disappear,” and “appear.” They can only function in
objectless sentence constructions like the following:
“The rabbit goes missing.”
“The visitors arrived.”
“The moon disappeared.”
“The freckles appeared.”
Linking Verbs – also known as copular verbs, they don’t act on an object but
simply make English sentences flow correctly and smoothly. Their primary function is to
connect the subject to a complement, which you will remember is the word or group of
words that complete the predicate.
(Without linking verbs, English may still work but it will be like a paraplegic dragging itself
around a room.)
Linking verbs are of two kinds:
Current linking verbs - they indicate a state of the subject, as the verbs “appear,”
“be,” “feel,” “lie,” “look,” “remain,” “seem,” “smell,” “sound,” “stay,” and “taste.”
Examples:
"Their suggestion seems fishy."
"Adele appeared happy when she came out of the room."
Resulting linking verbs - they indicate that the verb complement's role is a result of
the process described in the verb The resulting linking verbs are “become,” “get,” “grow,”
“fall,” “prove,” “run,” and “turn.”
Examples:
“The toad became a prince.”
“Justine fell in love in autumn.”
“The strategy proved useful.”
(Next Week: The Matter of Case in English)
