English

for Academic
Purposes

Faculty of Biology-Jenderal Soedirman University,

2011

Normal Sentence Pattern in

English
Subject
verb
complement

modifier

John and I

ate

a pizza

last night

We

studied

math

Last week

Subject : is the agent of the sentence in the active voice; it is

the person or thing that does the action of the sentence, and it
normally precedes the verb. NOTE: Every sentence in English
must have a subject. (In the case of commands, the subject is
understood).

The subject may be a single noun.

Coffee is delicious.

Milk contains calcium.

The subject may be a noun phrase (a group of words ending with a

noun).
The book is on the table.

That new, red car is mine.

Examples of subjects:
We girls are not going to the movie.
Susi likes boats.
Mary, John, George, and I went to a restaurant last night.
The weather was very bad yesterday.
The animal physiology professor cancelled class today.
The bank close at 2 oclock.

Pseudo-subjects.

It is a nice day today.

There was a fire in that building last month.
There were many students in the room.
It is raining right now.

 Verb : verb follows the subject; it generally shows the action of

the sentence.NOTE: Every sentence must have a verb.
The verb may be a single word.
John drives too fast.

They hate spinach.

The verb may be a verb phrase (consists of one or more auxiliaries

and one main verb. The auxiliaries precedes the main verb).
John is going to Miami tomorrow. (aux is; main verb going
Jane has been reading that book. (aux has been; main verbreading.)

 Complement : completes the verb. It is similar to the subject

because it is usually a noun or noun phrase; however, it generally
follows the verb when the sentence is in active voice.
NOTE: Not every sentence require a complement.
The complement CAN NOT begin with a preposition. A complement
answers the question WHAT ? Or WHOM ?
Examples of complements:
John bought a cake yesterday.
Jill was driving a new car.
They called Mary yesteday.
He was smoking a cigarette.
smoking?)

(What did John buy?)

(What was Jill driving?)
(Whom did they call?)
(What was he

Examples of modifiers:
John bought a book at a bookstore.

(Where..?)

Jill was swimming in the pool yesterday.

(Where..?)
(When..?)

He was driving very fast.

The milk is in the refrigerator.

(How..?)
(Where..?)

Excercise

1. Rani is cooking dinner tonight.

2. Edy and Isti have visited the president.
3. We can not eat lunch in our canteen today.
4. Ari should have bought gasoline yesterday.
5. Trees grow.
6. It was raining at 7 oclock this morning.
7. Komang opened a checking account at the bank last week.
8. Irfan is teaching english right now.
9. She opened her book.
10.Paul, William, and Mary were watching TV a few minutes
ago.
aliceunsoed@gmail.com