Constructing Simple Sentences

CONSTRUCTING SIMPLE
SENTENCES
AFFIRMATIVE
• In the affirmative, simple sentences in English look like this: subject (S) –
verb (V) – object (O)
Here are some examples of simple sentences:
Subject +Verb +Object
Paul works in an office
I love pizza
MAKE LONGER SENTENCE
• In longer sentences you can add a complement and an adverbial phrase

(adverbial) to the preceding structure: subject (S) – verb (V) – object (O) –
complement (C) – adverbial (A)
• Here are our original simple sentences made a little longer:
Subject +Verb +Object+ Complement +Adverbial
Paul works in an office that has no heating in winter
I love pizza made by my mother with Granny’s old recipe
You can describe the elements of a sentence like this:
• ✓ Subject: The main topic of the sentence (who or what).
• ✓ Verb: The action word.
• ✓ Object: Who or what is affected by the action word.
• ✓ Complement: Adds information about one of the elements in the sentence.
• ✓ Adverbial: Adds information about the time (when?), place (where?), or manner
(how?).
NEGATIVE WORDS
• In English the no word appears only once. You can say:

✓ I don’t know his name.
✓ We haven’t got any bread in the house.
✓ We’ve got no bread in the house.
✓ Laura knows nothing about the phone call.
✓ Laura doesn’t know anything about the phone call
WORKING ON MORE COMPLEX SENTENCES
• Relative clauses are phrases you include in sentences to give extra

information about something, for example ‘This is the Japanese restaurant
that Isabel recommended to me’. The relative clause in the sentence is that
Isabel recommended to me. It gives extra information about the Japanese
restaurant.
RELATIVE CLAUSES
• Here are some more examples:

• ✓ I’ve got a new dress that my husband gave me for my birthday.
• ✓ The cafe where I have lunch every day is really cheap.
• ✓ This part of town, which has a fantastic market, is very difficult to get to.
• ✓ My brother, whose wife is Japanese, has recently moved to Tokyo.
• ✓ My boss, who lived in Greece for years, speaks really good Greek.
3. WRITE WHO/THAT/WHICH IN THE BLANKS.
• a. I met a woman who can speak six languages.

• b. What’s the name of the man _____________ lives next door?
• c. What’s the name of the river _____________ goes through the town?
• d. Everybody _____________ went to the party enjoyed it very much.
• e. Do you know anybody _____________ wants to buy a car?
• f. Where is the picture _____________ was on the wall?
CONT…
• g. She always asks me questions _____________ are difficult to answer.

• h. I have a friend _____________ is very good at repairing cars.
• i. A coffee-maker is a machine _____________ makes coffee.
• j. I don’t like people _____________ never stop talking.
• k. Have you seen the money _____________ was on the table?
• l. Why does he always wear clothes _____________ are too small for him?
FORMING QUESTIONS
• In English, you find different types of question:

- ‘Wh’ questions such as, Where do you live? What’s your name? Who are
your favourite singers? Which one did you want? How does Irene get to work?
- Yes / no questions such as, Do you live in Newcastle? Is your surname Jones?
Are your favourite singers Elvis and Bono? Is this the one you wanted? Does
Irene go to work by bus?
SUBJECT/OBJECT QUESTIONS
• Using the auxiliary verb do, does and did (for past tense) depends on whether
you ask a subject or an object question.
Look at the two questions:
Jenny likes Mario.
Pietro likes Jenny.
• Who does Jenny like?
• Who likes Jenny?
Both of these questions are correct – but the answer to each is different. See
whether you can put the correct name as the answer. Here it is:
✓ Sentence: Jenny likes Mario.
✓ Question: Who does Jenny like?
✓ Answer: Mario.
In this question, who refers to the object (Mario), so you use does. An object
question asks for information about the object of the sentence.
• ✓ Sentence: Pietro likes Jenny.
• ✓ Question: Who likes Jenny?
• ✓ Answer: Pietro.
In this question, who refers to the subject (Pietro), so you don’t need an
auxiliary verb. A subject question asks for information about the subject of the
sentence.
• Here’s another example:
Michelle lives in a blue house by the sea. Look at the word order first:
Michelle (S) lives (V) in a blue house (O) by the sea (A).
Here are some possible questions from the above sentence:
Who lives in a blue house? Who refers to the subject (Michelle).
Where does Michelle live? Where refers to the object (blue house).
INDIRECT QUESTIONS
• You can use indirect questions to ask for information politely. You can start
an indirect question with an expression such as ‘Could you tell me . . .?’ or
‘Would you mind telling me . . . ?’ or ‘Do you have any idea . . . ?’ or ‘I was
wondering whether you know . . . ?’
Direct question: Where is the post office? Indirect question: Could you tell me
where the post office is?
• There are two main types of indirect question:
• ✓ ‘Wh’ questions
• ✓ Yes / no questions
In the earlier section on how to form questions, we discuss ‘wh’ indirect questions. Here
we discuss indirect questions of the yes / no type. A yes / no indirect question looks like
this:
Direct question: Is the post office near here? Indirect question:
Could you tell me if the post office is near here?
Direct question: Does Michelle live in this house?
Indirect question: Could you tell me if Michelle lives in this house?
QUESTION TAGS
• ✓ Paulette is studying in France, isn’t she?

• ✓ You’re not looking very well, are you?
• ✓ He liked her a lot, didn’t he?
• ✓ They didn’t buy it, did they?
• ✓ Jack can’t play very well, can he? ✓ I really should go, shouldn’t I?
QUESTION TAG EXCERCISE
• 1) She's from a small town in China, ……..?

• 2) They aren't on their way already ……..?
• 3) We're late again, ……..?
• 4) I'm not the person with the tickets, ……..?
• 5) Julie isn't an accountant, ……..?
• 6) The weather is really bad today, ……..?
• 7) He's very handsome, ……..?
• 8) They aren't in Mumbai at the moment, ……..?
• 9) You aren't from Brazil, ……..?
• 10) John's a very good student, ……..?
CONT..
• 11) I like chocolate very much, ……..?
• 12) She doesn't work in a hotel, ……..?
• 13) They need some new clothes, ……..?
• 14) We live in a tiny flat, ……..?
• 15) She studies very hard every night, ……..?
• 16) David and Julie don't take Chinese classes, ……..?
• 17) I often come home late, ……..?
• 18) You don't like spicy food, ……..?
• 19) She doesn't cook very often, ……..?
• 20) We don't watch much TV, ……..?

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CONSTRUCTING SIMPLE

• In longer sentences you can add a complement and an adverbial phrase

• In English the no word appears only once. You can say:

• Relative clauses are phrases you include in sentences to give extra

• Here are some more examples:

• a. I met a woman who can speak six languages.

• g. She always asks me questions _____________ are difficult to answer.

• In English, you find different types of question:

• ✓ Paulette is studying in France, isn’t she?

• 1) She's from a small town in China, ……..?

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