How to make the sentences in english

Sentence Structure and Types of Sentences - Grammar

Definitions and Examples of Basic Sentence Elements

The Mastering the Mechanics webinar series also describes required sentence elements and varying sentence types. Please see these archived webinars for more information.

Key: Yellow, bold = subject; green underline = verb, blue, italics = object, pink, regular font = prepositional phrase

Independent clause: An independent clause can stand alone as a sentence. It contains a subject and a verb and is a complete idea.

• I like spaghetti.
• He reads many books.

Dependent clause: A dependent clause is not a complete sentence. It must be attached to an independent clause to become complete. This is also known as a subordinate clause.

• Although I like spaghetti,…
• Because he reads many books,…

Subject: A person, animal, place, thing, or concept that does an action. Determine the subject in a sentence by asking the question “Who or what?”

• I like spaghetti.
• He reads many books.

Verb: Expresses what the person, animal, place, thing, or concept does. Determine the verb in a sentence by asking the question “What was the action or what happened?”

• I like spaghetti.
• He reads many books.
• The movie is good. (The be verb is also sometimes referred to as a copula or a linking verb. It links the subject, in this case "the movie," to the complement or the predicate of the sentence, in this case, "good.")

Object: A person, animal, place, thing, or concept that receives the action. Determine the object in a sentence by asking the question “The subject did what?” or “To whom?/For whom?”

• I like spaghetti.
• He reads many books.

Prepositional Phrase: A phrase that begins with a preposition (i. e., in, at for, behind, until, after, of, during) and modifies a word in the sentence. A prepositional phrase answers one of many questions. Here are a few examples: “Where? When? In what way?”

• I like spaghetti for dinner.
• He reads many books in the library.

English Sentence Structure

The following statements are true about sentences in English:

• A new sentence begins with a capital letter.
  • He obtained his degree.

• A sentence ends with punctuation (a period, a question mark, or an exclamation point).
  • He obtained his degree.

• A sentence contains a subject that is only given once.
  • Smith he obtained his degree.

• A sentence contains a verb or a verb phrase.
  • He obtained his degree.

• A sentence follows Subject + Verb + Object word order.
  • He (subject) obtained (verb) his degree (object).

• A sentence must have a complete idea that stands alone. This is also called an independent clause.
  • He obtained his degree.

Simple Sentences

A simple sentence contains a subject and a verb, and it may also have an object and modifiers. However, it contains only one independent clause.

Key: Yellow, bold = subject; green underline = verb, blue, italics = object, pink, regular font =prepositional phrase

Here are a few examples:

• She wrote.
• She completed her literature review.
• He organized his sources by theme.
• They studied APA rules for many hours.

Compound Sentences

A compound sentence contains at least two independent clauses.   These two independent clauses can be combined with a comma and a coordinating conjunction or with a semicolon.

Key: independent clause = yellow, bold; comma  or semicolon = pink, regular font; coordinating conjunction = green, underlined

Here are a few examples:

• She completed her literature review, and she created her reference list.
• He organized his sources by theme; then, he updated his reference list.
• They studied APA rules for many hours, but they realized there was still much to learn.

Using some compound sentences in writing allows for more sentence variety.

Complex Sentences

A complex sentence contains at least one independent clause and at least one dependent clause. Dependent clauses can refer to the subject (who, which) the sequence/time (since, while), or the causal elements (because, if) of the independent clause.

If a sentence begins with a dependent clause, note the comma after this clause. If, on the other hand, the sentence begins with an independent clause, there is not a comma separating the two clauses.

Key: independent clause = yellow, bold; comma = pink, regular font; dependent clause = blue, italics

Here are a few examples:

• Although she completed her literature review, she still needed to work on her methods section.
  • Note the comma in this sentence because it begins with a dependent clause.

• Because he organized his sources by theme, it was easier for his readers to follow.
  • Note the comma in this sentence because it begins with a dependent clause.

• They studied APA rules for many hours as they were so interesting.
  • Note that there is no comma in this sentence because it begins with an independent clause.

• Using some complex sentences in writing allows for more sentence variety.

Compound-Complex Sentences

Sentence types can also be combined. A compound-complex sentence contains at least two independent clauses and at least one dependent clause.

Key: independent clause = yellow, bold; comma  or semicolon = pink, regular font; coordinating conjunction = green, underlined; dependent clause = blue, italics

• She completed her literature review, but she still needs to work on her methods section even though she finished her methods course last semester.
• Although he organized his sources by theme, he decided to arrange them chronologically, and he carefully followed the MEAL plan for organization. 
• With pizza and soda at hand, they studied APA rules for many hours, and they decided that writing in APA made sense because it was clear, concise, and objective.

• Using some complex-compound sentences in writing allows for more sentence variety.
• Pay close attention to comma usage in complex-compound sentences so that the reader is easily able to follow the intended meaning.

Sentence Structure Video Playlist

Related Resources

Knowledge Check: Sentence Structure and Types of Sentences

5 tips to make constructing English sentences easy

English grammar can often seem strange. We have so many rules for making sentences and almost as many exceptions to those rules. On a basic level, though, most English sentences follow a similar structure. Follow these five tips to make constructing English sentences easy.

Enjoy? Try downloading our eBooks! And find more tips on how to best present yourself on paper using perfect English grammar, alongside other useful examples.

1. Get the words in the right order. The most common order for parts of a sentence is: subject, verb, object (if present).

In this sentence, the subject is ‘Steve’, the verb is ‘kicked’ and the object is ‘the ball’. To help you remember this structure, try making an example with someone you know well as the subject and something they do often for the verb and object.

2. Parts of speech aren’t always just one word. A subject, verb, or object is sometimes made up of several words so make sure you look at the structure of a whole sentence rather than just individual words if you want to get it right.

In this sentence, the subject is ‘people who practice a lot’. We can call a subject made of several words a ‘subject phrase’ or ‘predicate’.

3. There are two types of object. Sometimes you will see sentences with two objects. If that’s the case, we split them into two types:

Direct – the object with which the subject has a direct connection.

Indirect – the object with a weaker connection to the subject.

In this sentence, ‘flowers’ is a direct object and ‘my mother’ is an indirect object. The indirect has a preposition before it if we want to use it at the end of the

sentence.

In this sentence the direct and indirect objects are in a different order. When the direct comes last, we don’t need to use a preposition.

4. Compound sentences follow the same structure but do it twice. A compound sentence is one made of two clauses (sections). In this case, the sentence uses a conjunction to join two halves of the sentence, each of which has the same structure.

Subject Verb Object + Subject Verb Object

5. Learn the exceptions to the rules. There are some sentence structures, for example, the passive voice, that work slightly differently. Once you are comfortable with declarative sentences, take some time to explore other sentence structures as they will give you language more variety and are a fun challenge to learn.

So, now you have some tips on how to make English sentences easily, have a go yourself in the comments section below. If you know any exceptions to the rules, share them with the other readers.

Want to learn more? Visit our website to start learning English online today!

Article related: Regular and irregular verbs

Sentence construction

The rules for constructing sentences in English are quite strict. Unlike the Russian language, there is a clear word order here. If you know the basic construction of an English sentence, you can build any phrase.

The members of a sentence in English, as in Russian, are divided into main and secondary.

The main members of the sentence are those due to which the grammatical basis of the utterance is formed. Without them, the proposal would not make sense. The main members are the subject and the predicate. nine0003

Examples:

(Who?) They (what were they doing?) thought. — They thought.

Who?) The cat (what is he doing?) is coming. – The cat is going.

Subject

As a rule, the subject is expressed by a noun or pronoun, this is the main character of the sentence, answering the questions “who?”, “What?”.

The noun is used in its standard dictionary form, singular or plural. nine0003

Examples:

a product - products (product - products)

a magazine - magazines (magazine - magazines)

The article may be definite, indefinite, or absent at all, depending on the object/person implied.

As for pronouns, personal pronouns in the nominative case are most often used as the subject: I (I), we (we), you (you), he (he), she (she), it (this / it), they (they). nine0003

And also some indefinite and negative pronouns: someone/somebody (someone), no one/nobody (nobody), everyone/everybody (everyone), something (something), nothing (nothing), everything (everything) , each (each).

In colloquial speech, it can be replaced by this (this), that (that).

In an affirmative sentence, the subject comes at the beginning of the sentence before the predicate.

Predicate

This part of the sentence is expressed by a verb and is the key to building sentences in English, because it shows at what time the action happened, is happening or will happen. The predicate answers the question “what to do?”. nine0003

There can be two verbs in the predicate, auxiliary and semantic.

Auxiliary verb - a verb that is used to express time. As such, it does not have such a meaning in itself and is not translated into Russian in any way. However, his presence is necessary if the temporary form requires it.

Examples:

For Present Simple - do / does
For Past Perfect - had
For Future Continuous - will be nine0003

The main or semantic verb is a verb that expresses an action performed by the subject.

Examples:

She runs. - She is running.

Secondary members of the sentence are those that explain the main ones. Without them, the sentence will still make sense, since they are not the grammatical basis of the sentence. The secondary members include definition, addition and circumstance. nine0003

Definition

This sentence member answers the questions “which?” and "whose?". The definition stands next to the subject or object and describes its properties; it can be expressed in almost any part of speech.

In most cases, the definition is expressed as:

• Adjectives: nice (cute), brave (brave).
• Participles: sold (sold), crying (crying).
• Participle turnovers: made of plastic (made of plastic), laughing out loud (laughing out loud). nine0080
• Numerals: first (first), thirty (thirty).
• Noun in the possessive case: Nick's (Nick), Diana's (Diana).
• Personal pronouns in the objective case: my (my), your (your).

Examples:

I see a beautiful girl next to him. - I see (what?) a beautiful girl next to him.

My red cat is lying on the windowsill. - (Whose?) My (what?) red cat lies on the windowsill.

A definition can be placed before the subject or object.

Examples:

Her wavy hair is so beautiful. Her wavy hair is so beautiful.

I have read a great book. — I read a wonderful book.

The adjective expressed by the participial phrase usually comes after the subject and object.

Example: The girl singing on stage is my sister. The girl singing on stage is my sister. nine0016