1. BASIC SENTENCE PATTERNS
AND
TRADITIONAL CLASSIFICATION OF SENTENCES
(COMPOUND, COMPLEX, COMPOUND-
COMPLEX)
John Paul George P. Cardenas
March 07, 2012 Wednesday
4th Year – Diocese of Surigao

2. RECALL:
Sentence is defined as “a group of words containing a
subject and a predicate and expressing a complete thought”.
However, some sentences do not have such expressed subject
and predicate. The completeness of the said sentence is still
based from what the statements that precede or follow say to it.
e.g
1. Anna likes to study her English subject.
2. Go.
3. People talk.

3. RECALL:
Sentence patterns refers to the general order of words in a
sentence in which these form the structural relationship of the
sentence itself. In English, there are seven basic sentence
patterns used:
1. S – IV (subject – intransitive verb)
2. S – TV – DO (subject – transitive verb – direct object)
3. S – TV – IO – DO (subject – transitive verb – indirect object –
direct object)
4. S – LV – PN (subject – linking verb – predicate noun)
5. S – LV – Adj. (subject – linking verb – predicate adjective)
6. S – TV – DO – OC (subject – transitive verb – direct object –
object complement)
7. S – TV – DO – AC (subject – transitive verb – direct object –
adjective complement)

4. RECALL and REMEMBER:
S – IV (Subject – Intransitive Verb)
e.g. Dogs run.
• uses verbs that are in the base form, most especially the
dynamic verbs.
• this pattern doesn’t need supporting information; the thought of
the sentence was already completed by the action (verb)

5. RECALL and REMEMBER:
S – TV – DO (Subject – Transitive Verb – Direct Object)
e.g. Chris tutors Jennifer.
• uses verbs that are in the –s form, most especially the stative
verbs.
• this pattern need supporting information, especially the object
being pointed about on the sentence (noun)

6. RECALL and REMEMBER:
S – TV – IO – DO (Subject – Transitive Verb – Indirect Object –
Direct Object)
e.g. The instructor assigned Steve poetry.
• uses verbs that are in the past, present, future or base form of
the verbs
• this pattern contains indirect object in which that this object
(noun) may be omitted from the sentence, but cannot stand alone
without a direct object being pointed on the sentence

7. RECALL and REMEMBER:
S – LV – PN (Subject – Linking Verb – Predicate Noun)
e.g. She was the office manager.
• Uses linking verbs; also, verbs in the simple past/present/future
tense and so as the progressive tenses can be used;
• This pattern contains a predicate noun, which may also serve as
the subject of the sentence if the pattern was changed. Predicate
nouns usually refer to the main subject of the sentence.

8. RECALL and REMEMBER:
S – LV – Adj. (Subject – Linking Verb – Predicate Adjective)
e.g. Roses smell delightful.
• Uses linking verbs; like the fourth pattern, verbs in the simple
past/present/future tense and so as the progressive tenses can be
used;
• The predicate adjective refers to any adjective that modifies the
subject itself.

9. RECALL and REMEMBER:
S – TV – DO – OC (Subject – Transitive Verb – Direct Object –
Object Complement)
e.g. Joan considered Will her friend.
• Uses verbs that are in the simple past form ;
• The object complement here refers to a specific description of
the direct object being done by the subject, with the use of the
verb. It could be a noun or an adverb.

10. RECALL and REMEMBER:
S – TV – DO – AC (Subject – Transitive Verb – Direct Object –
Adjective Complement)
e.g. Mr. Anderson painted the house green.
• Uses verbs that are in the simple past form;
• The adjective complement is an adjective that refers directly to
the direct object.

11. RECALL and REMEMBER:
Sentences, based on their grammatical structure, can be
classified into four different types:
SIMPLE –the most basic of all sentence structures; it only
comprises of a subject and a predicate that expresses one
thought.
COMPOUND – sentence structure that is a combination of two or
more independent clauses;
COMPLEX – sentence structure that is a combination of an
independent clause and one or more dependent clauses;
COMPOUND-COMPLEX – sentence structure that is a
combination of compound and complex sentences;

12. RECALL:
Clauses are group of words having a subject and a
predicate. There are two types of clauses: INDEPENDENT and
DEPENDENT.
An independent clause is one that can make one complete
grammatical statement and can stand alone; it may or may appear as a
sentence, or it may appear as a part of the sentence;
e.g. A doctor’s firmest diagnosis often is only an educated guess.
Although only a cynic would say so, a doctor’s firmest diagnosis
often is only an educated guess.
Meanwhile, a dependent clause is one that is incapable of standing
alone, one that depends for its meaning upon the reminder of the sentence in
which it appears. It functions as nouns, adjectives and adverbs.
e.g. What you said is not true. (clause in boldface is the subject of the
verb)

13. REMEMBER:
COMPOUND SENTENCES contain two or more
independent clauses. They can stand alone, based from the
description of independent clauses; however, their ideas are very
much closely related to each other, thus getting them connected
to a single sentence through the use of the F.A.N.B.O.Y.S.
e.g. She read and I listened to the radio.
- The first action “read” refers to the pronoun “she”, thus
creating a sentence with a dynamic verb. The second
action, which is “listened” refers to the person himself. They are
connected by the conjunction “and”.

14. REMEMBER:
COMPLEX SENTENCES contains an independent clause
and one or more dependent clauses that need more information
than from themselves. Prepositions are used to connect these
clauses.
e.g. Carol said that she had walked for several blocks.
- The first clause in boldface is shown as a dependent
clause: it doesn’t have a predicate, thus it cannot stand alone.
The second clause in boldface is the independent one: it can
stand alone even without the dependent clause.

15. REMEMBER:
COMPOUND – COMPLEX SENTENCES contain the
contents of the compound and complex sentences: two or more
independent clauses and one or more dependent clauses. Both
prepositions and conjunctions are used to combine these clauses.
e.g. Since the day was unpleasant, Judy looked at TV and Ned wrote
several letters.
- The first clause before the boldface shows the dependent clause of
the sentence. The second one, just after the comma, is an independent
clause, and so as the last clause in boldface. The preposition “since” and the
conjunction “and” tell that this is a compound-complex sentence.