Stative verbs describe a condition or state of being: examples
be / like / know 3. Structural elements of a sentence Subject : The subject is the main actor or the main topic of a sentence. In a basic declarative
sentence, the subject comes before the verb. The subject may be just a single pronoun or noun,
such as He or The cat ; but in many sentences it is may be quite a bit more, including
adjectives, prepositional phrases, relative clauses or more. In this example, all the words
in
red make
up
the
subject.
Example::
The old man in the red shirt who's talking too loudly is my uncle. Verb : See
Verb above
Predicate : Everything in a sentence that is not the subject. The predicate includes the verb, or
verbs, plus any other elements that may be present, notably objects or adverb phrases
Direct Object : The
direct object is the entity (person, thing, process) that is directly
concerned by the action expressed through the verb, or is the entity that explains the action or
process. It is the complement of a
transitive verb. It can be a pronoun, a noun, a noun phrase,
or
more
than
one
of
these.
Examples:
I like chocolate / I like them / I like people who are friendly / I like people who are friendly and don't smoke cigarettes, including you. Indirect object : The
indirect object is the person or entity that is the recipient of the action,
or for whom the action is done. When the indirect object follows the direct object, it
is introduced with the preposition
to ; but if it precedes the direct object,
to is omitted.
Examples:
I gave a bone to the dog I gave the dog a bone / I gave it a bone. Main clause The main clause is the principal clause in a sentence. There can be one main
clause or more in a sentence; if this is the case, the main clauses will be separated by a semi-
colon (;), or by a coordinating conjunction such
as and, but or
yet .
