Svoca Notes
Svoca Notes
A sentence is a group of words that gives a complete sense or meaning. A sentence should have a subject and a predicate.
A sentence may contain some basic elements.
1. Subject (S)
2. Verb (V)
3. Complement (C)
4. Object (O)
5. Adjunct (A)
1. Subject (S):
The subject of the sentence is the person or thing doing the action or being described.
2. Verb (V):
A verb is a doing word that shows an action, event or state. A sentence may either have a main verb, a helping verb or both.
The verb is the primary word in a sentence. No sentence can complete without a verb.
Types of verbs:
Helping verb
Helping verbs help or support the main verb.
I feel hungry.
I am five years old.
She is a wonderful singer.
They were winners in 1996.
Transitive verb
A transitive verb expresses an action directed towards a person, place or thing. The action expressed by a transitive verb
passes from the doer or the subject to the receiver of the action. Words that receive the action of a transitive verb are called
objects.
3.Complement(C):
complement is a word or phrase which is used to complete the meaning of a sentence. The sentence will be complete
without it.
There are three types of complements in English grammar. Subject, Object and Verb Complements.
1. Subject complement.
A Subject complement is a word or phrase that follows a linking verb and identifies or describes any subject. Subject
complement gives us more information about a subject. A subject complement can be an adjective, noun or pronoun.
They are not complete. they need some more words. the words which complete the meaning are called complements.
Kene is a teacher. Kene = a teacher
He became a politician. He = a politician.
Here the two complements refer to the subject. So, they are called ‘Subject Complements’.
EX:
He is a policeman. (adjective)
The box is a present. (noun)
The soup tastes bad. (Adjective)
2. Complement the verb.
A verb complement is the arrangement of one verb as the object of another verb. It happens in three ways in English.
With infinitive
I ask her to leave.
I want to go.
Pravin helps me to speak.
With gerund
Mr Suthip considered leaving the job.
He remembered sending the fax.
Some people prefer getting up early in the morning.
With noun clause
I wondered why he left.
He saw her when he crossed the road.
She didn’t know that he was an actor.
3. Object complement.
An object complement follows a direct object. It may be a word or phrase that gives additional information about a direct
object. In a sense, it explains what the direct object has become. It can be a noun, pronoun, or adjective.
EX: Ann made me happy.
“Me” is the direct object. “Happy” is the object complement. (Adjective)
Object(O):
in grammar, an object is a noun, pronoun or noun phrase on a verb performs the action. It falls at the end of a sentence.
1. direct object.
A direct object in a sentence is directly acted upon by a subject.
EX: The ocean calls the Pacific.
Sash paints a picture.
Sri Lanka welcomed millions of tourists.
2. indirect object
An indirect object in a sentence is the beneficiary of the direct object. It basically tells us to whom/what or for whom/what
something is done. An indirect object can be comprised of at least one word, an expression, a phrase or a prepositional
phrase.
EX: Kate bought his son an expensive car.
Our father built us a treehouse.
5. Adjunct(A):
An adjunct is an addition to a sentence. It gives more information and meaning to a sentence. Can be identified by asking
why/ when/ where/ how.
EX: The baby cried.
The baby cried loudly. (loudly = adjunct)
The baby cried loudly in the room. (in the room = adjunct)
To understand the basic sentence patterns, we should know the three categories of the main verbs.