Guide to English grammar

2
The simple sentence

7 Summary

This story contains examples of different clause patterns.

AN UNLUCKY THIEF
A man walked into a hotel, saw a nice coat, put it over his arm and walked out again. Then he tried to hitch a lift out of town. While he was waiting, he put the coat on. At last a coach stopped and gave him a lift. It was carrying forty detectives on their way home from a conference on crime. One of them had recently become a detective inspector. He recognized the coat. It was his. He had left it in the hotel, and it had gone missing. The thief gave the inspector his coat. The inspector arrested him. 'It seemed a good idea at the time,' the man said. He thought himself rather unlucky.
There are five elements that can be part of a clause. They are subject, verb, object, complement and adverbial.

Basic clause patterns

Intransitive and transitive verbs • 8

Subject A coach	Intransitive verb stopped.
Subject The detective	Transitive verb arrested	Object the thief.

Linking verbs • 9

Subject The thief The detective Subject The coat The conference

Verb was became Verb was is

Complement rather unlucky. an inspector. Adverbial over his arm. every year.