SEMINAR 1 – SENTENCE AND SENTENCE STRUCTURE (SGEL 2.2 – 2.

5;
LEG – 1.1 – 1. 21; Chalker – ex. 2,3,4)

sentence (subject and predicate) - sentence elements (S, V, O, A, C) - types of verbs

(transitive, intransitive, copular) - 7 basic clause types - phrases - clause

SENTENCE

“A sentence is a grammatically complete unit (i.e. constructed according to a system of

rules) which can be used on its own without people feeling it to be incomplete.”

Q1: Consider the following stretches of language. Are they sentences?

e.g. a) Are playing football in the garden. (compare: Hrají fotbal na zahradě.)

b) Rained. (compare: Pršelo.)

c) The boys.

Q2: What’s missing in each one?

→ a sentence comprises a subject and a predicate:

the subject (he, my mother, the children, one of his brothers)

the predicate (= what is said about the subject, i.e. all the words in a sentence except
the subject)

SENTENCE (CLAUSE) ELEMENTS

English grammar, unlike Czech, recognizes as clause elements only those which operate on
the level of the sentence structure, whether they are obligatory or optional – i.e. subject, verb,
object, complement and adverbial. Czech grammatical tradition also includes the modifying
(= rozvíjející, expanding) elements. In English these modifiers are not regarded as clause
elements.

Q3: Consider the following sentence and try to answer the questions:

e.g. The beautiful young woman in the bright red dress is my best friend’s cousin.

1. What is the subject?

2. How many sentence elements are there?

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In English, we distinguish 5 basic sentence elements:

[ S ] the subject is easily identifiable – by asking who?(or what?) – he, children, my mother, someone,
her younger brother, the man in the black coat, that new English-Czech dictionary, etc.

- the predicate has a few constituents:

[ V ] - verb - are playing

[ O ] - object - football
[ A ] - adverbial - in the garden (=time, place, manner)
[ C ] - complement – is used after a copular verb (=a linking verb) e.g. He is clever.

E. g. . The beautiful young woman in the bright red dress │is │ my best friend’s cousin.
S V C

I | don´t know | what he wants.

S V O (here the object is expressed by a clause)

She |called | him | a fool.

S V O C

VERBS

We distinguish 3 basic types of verbs:

a) intransitive – do not require an object, can be followed by an adverbial or stand on

their own, cannot be used in the passive!

e.g. My head aches. The bus left (early). They didn’t arrive.

b) transitive – require an object, cannot stand on their own

e.g. I need money. He enjoys parties. I met him yesterday.

*I bought. → I bought it / some food / a new CD.

* I like wearing. → I like wearing skirts and dresses.
(but in a different context / meaning ´buy´ and ´wear´ can be used as
intransitive verbs)

- some verbs can take two objects – She sent me a postcard. – these verbs are
called ditransitive x monotransitive – take one object
(complex-transitive occur in SVOC and SVOA type)

- direct object (4. pád - accusative) – a postcard

- indirect object (3.pád – dative) - me

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 c) copular or linking – are followed by a subject complement or an adverbial
- the complement to the subject - tells us something about the subject

e.g. John is clever. / Mike is an architect./ Your dinner seems ready. (SVC)

He was at home. (SVA)

most common copular verbs: be, seem, appear, sound, feel, taste, smell
+ verbs indicating a change: become, go, grow, get, prove, turn

But! One verb can belong to more than one class, e.g. some verbs can be used both
transitively and intransitively:

Compare: open The door opened. (SV) v. Someone opened the door. (SVO)

answer

close

CLAUSE TYPES

- a simple sentence consists of a single independent clause

- the clause may contain a few sentence elements
- there are seven basic clause types which differ according to whether one or more clause
elements are obligatory present in addition to the S and V

1. SV My head aches. / They laughed.

2. SVC My brother has become an architect.
3. SVO My sister enjoyed her holiday. / That lecture bored me.
4. SVOOThe firm gave Sam an expensive watch.
5. SVOCThey made Sam chairman./ I find her advice very helpful.
(= complement to the object, the verb is complex-transitive)
6. SVA The bank is on the corner.
7. SVOA You can put the dish on the table.

- intransitive verbs occur in type SV (e.g. shine, disappear, ache)

- transitive verbs occur in type SVO( e.g. bore), SVOO (e.g. send, give), SVOC (e.g.find,
appoint, elect), SVOA (e.g. put)
- copular verbs occur in types SVC(e.g. seem, become), SVA (e.g. be)

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IN THE STUDY OF GRAMMAR THERE ARE TWO MAIN ISSUES: FUNCTION AND
FORM.

In English grammar the sentence is described as having five levels with different units:
sentences which consist of one or more clauses, which consist of one or more phrases,
which consist of one or more words, which consist of one or more morphemes

So far we have analyzed parts of sentences in terms of their function (=sent. elements) –
functions are realized by various phrases

A phrase – a word or more words built around the head word

a) noun phrase – My watch has disappeared. (i.e. S is realized by a noun phrase)

b) verb phrase - My watch has disappeared. (i.e. V is realized by a verb phrase)
c) adjective phrase – She was a bit doubtful. (i.e. C is realized by an adj. phrase)
d) adverb phrase – She answered quite rapidly. (i.e. A is realized by an adverb ph.)
e) prepositional phrase – The keys were on the desk. (A is realized by a prepositional
phrase)

SENTENCE V. CLAUSE

In English a sentence is an independent unit, a clause is a unit within a sentence. In

Czech we do not make this distinction. (compare: sentence and clause v. věta)

The simple sentence consists of one clause. e.g. I was late for school.

The multiple sentence consists of two or more clauses. We distinguish two types:

a) compound sentence – two or more main, syntactically independent clauses which are
coordinated

e.g. I was late for school today but the teacher wasn’t angry with me.

b) complex sentence – one of the clauses is superordinate, the other (or others) is
/ are dependent, i.e. subordinate

e.g. Although she needed the money, she didn’t accept my offer.

Compare the sentences:

a) Jane realized her mistake and apologized at once.

b) When Jane realized her mistake, she apologized at once.