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Introduction to English Sentence Structure

What is a sentence? A sentence is a group of words that contains a subject, a verb, expesses a complete thought and makes sense.¹ In English, as in other languages, there are four main types of sentences. The four types are declarative, interrogative, exclamatory, and imperative.

Sentences can be simple - containing only one subject and one verb, complex - containing two or more subjects and verbs with a subordinating conjunction, compound - containing two or more subjects and verbs joined by a coordinating conjuction or a semicolon.

Simple Sentence	Jim went home.
Complex Sentence	Although Jim went home, he will come again tomorrow.
Compound Sentence	Jim went home, but he will come again tomorrow.

The key to identifying sentences is the ability to identify the parts of a sentence. The first part of a sentence that you should be able to recognize is the verb. The verb is the most important part of a sentence, because it tells what is happening or what it is that exists. NOTE: If no verb is present, the group of words is not a sentence.

Finding the Verb

To find the verb in a sentence, ask which word shows action:

run jump play think

or state of being.

is were have became

Next, decide whether the word can be changed to show past, present, or future time.

He is here. He was here. He will be here.

He runs home. He ran home. He will run home.

A word that does not show time is not the main verb of the sentence. Look at the following sentence. Which word is the main verb in the following sentence?

The barking dog jumped on the woman.

Try changing the sentence to future tense. Which word would you change? The word that changes to future tense is the main verb of the sentence.

Is the following group of words a sentence?

The will bark dog jumped on the woman.

It isn't a sentence because bark is not the verb of the sentence. The word barking in the original sentence is functioning as an adjective and is modifying the noun dog. The verb in the original sentence is jumped. The tense of the verb jumped can be changed.

The barking dog will jump on the woman. [future tense]
The barking dog is jumping on the woman. [present progressive]
The barking dog jumps on the woman every day. [simple present]

Finding the Subject

Once you find the verb, the next step is to locate the subject. This should be relatively easy, once you know what the verb is. The subject is the noun (person or thing) doing the action of the verb.

The guests enjoyed the party. [Did the guests enjoy, or did the party enjoy? The guest enjoyed, so guests is the subject.]
I ate breakfast at the hotel this morning. [Did my breakfast eat? NO. Did this morning eat? NO. 'I' ate, so 'I' is the subject.]

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