Concise Notes on English Sentence Structure and Verb Forms

Parts of a Sentence

• The English Verb Phrase: Discusses the theme of the sentence.

Subject and Predicate

• Subject: What is being discussed (e.g., "They make him the chairman every year.").

• Predicate: What is being said about the subject.

• Concord: Subject determines verb form (singular noun = singular verb).

• Key Sentence Elements:

  • Subject (S): They

  • Verb (V): make

  • Object (O): him

  • Complement (C): the chairman

  • Adverbial (A): every year

Complements and Objects

• Types of Verbs:

  • Intensive vs Extensive

  • Transitive (monotransitive, ditransitive, complex transitive) vs Intransitive

• Adverbial Categories: Indicate PLACE, TIME, MANNER.

Types of Verbs and Verb Phrases

• Classification:

  • Lexical vs Auxiliary verbs.

  • Auxiliary:

  • Primary (do, have, be)

  • Modal (can, may, must, etc.)

Verbal Forms

• Five forms of English verbs:

  • Base (call)

  • S-form (calls)

  • Past (called)

  • -ing Participle (calling)

  • -ed Participle (called)

• Pronunciation of endings varies based on preceding sounds.

Spelling Rules

• Regular verbs form past and past participle with -ed or -d.

• Specific rules for forming s-forms (e.g., adds -es for certain endings).

• Changes for verbs ending in -y, -ie, etc.

Irregular Verbs

• Varying forms must be memorized.

• Examples include:

  • Three forms: cut, put

  • Four forms: beat, find

  • Five forms: give

Auxiliary Verbs

• DO:

  • Forms include: do, does, did, etc.

• HAVE:

  • Base: have, has; Past: had

• BE:

  • Eight forms including: am, is, are, was, were

• Modal auxiliaries: can, could, may, might, shall, should, etc.

Marginal Modal Auxiliaries

• Used to express necessity, obligation, ability, permission, etc.