Sentence Structure

The sentence is a grammatical unit that is syntactically independent i.e. the sentence has to fulfill the following requirements.

1- It needs a subject (noun or pronoun). This is usually the person, thing or concept that does the action in the sentence and is called the actor. It tells who or what the sentence is about:

e.g. Jack ran Jill ran Jack and Jill ran

2- It needs a predicate (verb or verb phrase). This is usually the action that the actor does

e.g. Jack ran Jill is taller than Jack

The sentence

Subject

Predicate

Verb

Ram and Sarah

Speak

English when they are working

3- It has to express a complete thought i.e. the sentence should supply enough information so that you are satisfied. If the sentence reads like the following examples, you should know that something is missing:

- Because Jack and Jill were running up the hill

- Jack and Jill are

- Running up the hill in order to go to university

Here are some more examples of subjects and verbs in a complete sentence

Predicate

Subject

Verb

Jill

runs

to the well

The well

is located

on the top of a hill

It

is

full of water

Jack and Jill

are exhausted

when they got to the well

Jill

shouts

be careful !