5 Base Sentence Patterns in English

Sentence Patterns






The order of elements within a sentence may change, or a sentence may become long through the addition of modifiers, phrase, or clause. Nevertheless, five basic sentence patterns stand at the heart of all sentences.


Pattern 1 : Subject + Intransitive Verb (S V)
Example
  • A boy sings.
  • The boys in the choir sing sweetly at New Year.
  • One of the thieves must have been hiding in the basement.
note : Intransitive Verb គឺជាកិរិយាស័ព្ទមិនត្រូវការកម្មបទ ។ 

Pattern 2 : Subject + Transitive Verb + DO (S V DO)
Example
  • Students write essays.
  • Students write amazingly well-written essays about themselves.
note : Transitive Verb គឺជាកិរិយាស័ព្ធត្រូវការកម្មបទ ។  DO គឺជា Direct Object (កម្មបទផ្ទាល់) ។ 

Pattern 3 : Subject + Transitive Verbs + Indirect Object + Direct Objects (S V IO DO)
A typical verb for this pattern is give, allow, assign, ask, tell, write, send, show, pay, grant, etc.
Example
  • I gave the teacher my essay.
  • I nervously gave my demanding English Teacher my perfectly correct essay.
note : IO គឺជា Indirect Object (កម្មបទមិនផ្ទាល់) ។ 

Pattern 4 : Subject + Transitive Verb + Direct Object + Object Complement (S V DO OC)
A typical verb for this pattern is elect, appoint, name, call, consider, find, make, think, etc. 
Example
  • The parents considered their child a genius. 
  • The teacher thought him stupid.
note : OC គឺជា Object Complement (បំពេញន័យអោយកម្មបទ) ។ 

Pattern 5 : Subject + Linking Verb + Subject Complement (S V SC)
Some common linking verb are : be, become, feel, seem, look, smell, taste, remain, etc. 
Example :
  • The children are genius.
  • Mac remains calm.
  • The fish tastes terrible.
  • Frances looks so good in red.
note : SC គឺជា Subject Complement (បំពេញន័យអោយប្រធាន) ។ 

Note : Only Patterns 2, 3, and 4 can be altered to the Passive Voice.