Week 5, Reading Section 1: Sentence
Patterns
Week 5, Reading Section 1: Sentence Patterns
The term “patterns” applies to sentences in that it describes predictable structures of sentences. English, like all other
languages, orders the parts of sentences in certain ways; the term for this ordering of parts is syntax. For instance, in
English, subjects typically precede verbs and other elements follow—also in a certain order. Each subject-and-verb
combination in a sentence conforms to one of five basic sentence patterns.
We call a group of words with a subject and a verb a clause. However, one sentence can have many clauses, and each
clause has its own pattern. (So really, these patterns should be called clause patterns. You will hear both terms
commonly used.)
Each sentence (clause) pattern is defined by the kind of verb used in the predicate (the part of the sentence following the
subject):
intransitive
transitive
Note that both the intransitive and transitive are action verbs, that is, some action occurs: run, dive, ask, pledge, invite,
and so on.
The linking verbs are those that indicate a state of being, for example, forms of to be: am, are, is, was, were, will be,
has been, have been, and so on. The sense verbs are those that indicate sensory experience: smell, taste, feel, see, hear.
This distinction between the linking and sense verbs will be explained fully a little farther on.
The following sections will explain each of these verbs and the patterns they create. Except for certain transformations
(covered in the next section), these patterns contain sentence elements that always appear in the same order. Our list of
patterns numbers five; other lists show as many as ten with finer distinctions made. These are the basic ones:
- The Intransitive Verb Pattern (S + V)
Subject + Verb
This pattern is the simplest possible; it consists of a subject, a verb, and possibly some adjectives, adverbs, or
prepositional phrases.
The cat + meowed.
He + ran around in circles for hours on end.
The S + V sentence’s intransitive verb cannot directly act on something or someone; it merely occurs:
He + went [to the store].
vs
He + bought the store.
Notice that in the first sentence he is not doing anything directly to the store except going there. You will also notice
that store in this sentence is part of a prepositional phrase (to the store).
The second sentence is different, and it actually follows the next pattern, S+V+DO. He is doing something directly to the
store—buying it. And notice that store is no longer part of a prepositional phrase, because it functions as a direct object.
It’s important to realize that a noun or pronoun in a prepositional phrase (following a preposition) can almost never be the
simple subject or the object of a verb. - The Transitive Verb Pattern (S + V + DO)
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In the subject-verb-direct object (S+V+DO) pattern, a subject is again followed by a verb; but then, after the verb, comes
a direct object. (Never assume that the first word after a verb is the direct object, however!) The verb in this pattern
is transitive, that is, a direct object follows it.
Many verbs can be both transitive or intransitive:
All day long, she + sang.
All day long, she + sang arias.
A dictionary (especially a large one) usually presents a verb with a little italicized i (intransitive) or t (transitive) right next
to the italicized v that comes after the word, telling you what part of speech it is (a verb). In fact, some dictionaries will
list a verb such as eat under two separate listings, one as a vi and the second as a vt. These abbreviations stand for verb
intransitive and verb transitive. Often, verbs subtly change meaning when they shift from transitive to intransitive, and
thus require separate listings. For example, the sentence “She ran in a race” and “She ran the store” differ in that the
former features “ran” intransitively whereas the latter features “ran” transitively (she ran something, the store). Meaning
subtly changes from “exercised” to “operated,” respectively, in these examples.
Direct Objects
A direct object is a noun or pronoun that directly receives the action of the verb:
Floyd + ate the pizza.
This time, instead of asking who performed the action (did the eating) as we did for subjects, we ask who or what received
the action (what was eaten). Direct objects complete the verb’s meaning in some way. They tell of what or whom. They
show the result of an action or they receive the action:
She + finished the Cheerios.
Jason + stole the Golden Fleece.
Cadmus + married Harmony.
Usually, direct objects come after the verb, just as subjects precede it. (We will deal with exceptions to this rule later on.)
Word order is very important in English, helping us to determine who is the doer (sometimes called the agent) and who
(or what) is having the action done to it! For example, if we switch word order for the sentence at the beginning of this
section, making Floyd the direct object, we have a very different occurrence and different meaning:
The pizza + ate Floyd. (unlikely)
Prepositional Phrases Again
You will find it helpful, when looking for sentence elements (the parts making up sentence patterns, including subjects,
verbs, and direct objects) to bracket or cross out prepositional phrases because a direct object or subject is almost never
contained in one. You surely remember from Week Three that the nouns or pronouns in a prepositional phrase are
considered objects of the preposition. They cannot function as any other sentence element simultaneously. This fact
sometimes leads to an awkward analysis. For example: