Guide to English grammar

5 Sentence elements

1 Each phrase plays a part in the clause or sentence. Here are some examples.

Subject The flight Subject The weather My father Subject I Two stewards The aircraft We

Verb is leaving Verb is was Verb was reading served left must book

Adverbial shortly. Complement very good. a pilot. Object a newspaper. lunch. London the tickets

Adverbial at three o'clock. next week.

2 These are the elements of an English sentence and the kinds of phrase that we can use for each element.

Subject - the person, place, or thing that does what the verb describes (noun phrase): the flight, I, two stewards
Verb - type of word or phrase that shows an action or a state (verb phrase): is, served, must book
Object - a noun, pronoun, or phrase that is affected in a direct way by the action of a verb (noun phrase): a newspaper, lunch
Complement - a word or phrase after a verb that tells you about the subject (adjective phrase): very good
(noun phrase): a pilot
Adverbial - a word or group of words used as an adverb (adverb phrase): shortly
(prepositional phrase): at three o'clock
(noun phrase): next week

NOTE

1. 
   The verb is central to the sentence and we use the word “verb” for both the sentence element – “The verb follows the subject” - and for the word class – “Leave is a verb.”
   
2. 
   The word there can be the subject • 50.