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Grammatical constituents are divided into two major parts:
Meaningless grammatical constituents: morphemes, punctuation marks, letters (except ‘I’ and ‘A’) etc.
Meaningful grammatical constituents: words, phrases, clauses, sentences.
The basic sentence structure
A sentence made with one principal clause is called a simple sentence, and the basic structure of the sentence would talk about simple sentence structure. As we always take the ideal as model, we would primarily discuss the structure of a declarative sentence (typically making a statement), positive (rather than negative), active (rather than passive) and complete (rather than elliptical). A principal clause can be formed using phrases and words, in simple words lower grammatical constituents. After we understand the simple sentence structure, we would learn the structures of compound sentences, complex sentences and incomplete sentences. Learn carefully the following structures:
‘SV’ structure
The basic structure of a simple sentence has two obligatory constituents: a subject and a verb.
Examples:
a. All students have studied.
b. The colour has disappeared.
c. They laughed.
d. I have finished.
e. They are working.
In the given examples some verbs take the form of verb phrases. A verb phrase takes one or more than one auxiliary. Look at the verb phrases like ‘have studied’, ‘has disappeared’, ‘have finished’ and ‘are working’.
The main verb determines which constituent would follow it, the follower constituents are the complements of the verb.
Types of complements of the verb
Direct object
Indirect object
Subject predicative
Objective predicative
We have some structures of sentences like:
SVO – Subject + Verb + Direct/Indirect object
SVOO – Subject + Verb + Direct object + Indirect object
SVP – Subject + Verb + Subject predicative
SVOP – Subject + Verb + Direct Object + Object predicative
You could learn them all in the following parts.
Subject verb agreement
Subject and verb are the two very easy to identify parts of speech, subject is the doer, when, the action of the subject is verb. In most of the sentences, a verb takes the form of a phrase as it takes with it some other units like be verbs, have verbs or modal verbs, we know they are called complements of the main verb or the head of the verb phrase. Now before taking a form in a sentence, a verb does some agreement with subject and tense. Simply the verb is used according to the plurality of the subject and according to the time. Now see the following sentences:
I want to draw pictures.
He wants to draw pictures.
Nipa wants to draw pictures.
In the above sentences, the verb is changing with the subject. Look at the verb ‘draw’, it is changing with the subject, when the subject is a third person singular number, we are adding ‘-s’ or ‘-es’ with it. Similarly we can change the verb with the time when it is done. Look at the following sentences:
He does the work.
He did the work.
He is doing the work.
He shall do the work.
The be verbs and have verbs also change according to the number of subjects. Follow the examples:
He is a nice speaker.
I am a student.
They are going to school.
We were playing with dolls.
I have a cat.
She has a dog.
They had a nice car.
Rules of subject verb agreement
1. When two or more different singular nouns are joined by ‘and’, the pronoun used for them must be plural. Example: Ram and Shyam go to school. They are friends.
2. When two or more singular pronouns/nouns are joined by ‘and’, and refer to the same person, the pronoun should be singular. Example: The teacher and the guide is the most loved person in the school.
3. Singular indefinite pronouns: one, anyone, everyone, no one, someone, somebody, another, the other, either, neither, each, little, less, much.
4. Plural indefinite pronouns: both, few, fewer, many, others, several.
5. Indefinite pronouns that can be singular or plural: all, any, more, most, none, some.
6. When two or more singular nouns are joined by ‘or’, ‘either…or’, ‘neither…nor’, the pronoun is generally singular. Example: Ranu nor Mita has done the work.
7. When a plural and a singular noun are joined by ‘or’ or ‘nor’, the pronoun must be plural. Example: Either the leader or the workers failed to perform their task.
8. Some nouns are always singular or plural. Example: amends, annals, archives, arms, arrears, ashes, auspices, bowles, brains, contents, customs, earnings, entrails, fireworks, funds, goods, guts, letters, looks, manners, odds, outskirts, pains, premises, riches, stairs, surroundings, thanks, troops, tropics, valuables, wages, proceeds, tidings, nuptials, alms, drawers, barracks, crossroads, headquarters, means, series, species, swiss,politics, mathematics. information, baggage, luggage, knowledge, business, merchandise, dust, homework, wealth, news, progress, measles etc.
Semantic roles
Subject
Subject does a number of works in a sentence. Here is a list
In declaratives, the subject normally comes before the verb.
Example: We(S) should give(VP) him food.
In interrogatives, the subject generally comes after the operator, the verb used for forming interrogatives, the rest of the verb phrase follows the subject.
Examples:
Is(AV) he(S) going to kill the snake?
Are(AV) they(S) reading the text?
In ‘wh’ interrogative, if the ‘wh’ word expresses itself as the subject, there is no change in declarative order.
Example:
Who(S) ate(V) all the mangoes?
Whom(S) want(V) to call?
Who(S) can(V) go there.
Sometimes in second person imperative, the subject ‘YOU’ is omitted. We can call them elliptical or incomplete sentences.
Example:
(You) Go to bed.
Do it now.
Give him light.
Eat all that.
Draw the line.
Watch the movie.
Listen to me.
The number of subjects (singular or plural) determines the verb. The agreement is applicable only to the first verb of a verb phrase.
For example:
He is reading.
They are reading.
I was writing.
We were writing.
The subject determines the reflexive pronouns.
For example:
He could draw it himself.
We may speak the right language ourselves.
In voice change, the subject changes with active to passive.
Example:
(I can do it.)
It can be done by me.
(Lila had made it.)
It had been made by Lila.
Direct Object
In the later part of this book we would learn about transitive and intransitive verbs, the simple idea behind this is, a transitive verb always has a direct object when an intransitive verb does not have an object. Now, you can understand that a verb has a direct relation with an object (object in general gives the idea of what a verb is doing). Direct object is required in a sentence to express the meaning, otherwise it would become ellipsis, but sometimes we can remove indirect object from a sentence without any trouble with the meaning. If a sentence has only one complement of a verb and that complement is a direct object, the basic structure is SVO. Some special characteristics of direct object are given below:
The direct object normally comes after the verb.
Example:
I have done my work.
They went to bed.
We were playing cricket.
Send them to me.
Wise people do not kill animals.
When the object and subject refer to the same person or thing, the direct object is a reflexive pronoun.
Example:
He watched himself.
We played by ourselves.
I wrote this myself.
You could cut yourself.
In voice change, when an active sentence is changed into passive, the active object becomes the passive subject.
Example:
(We watched a dog)
A dog was watching us.
(We played cricket)
Cricket was played by us.
Indirect Object
The indirect object typically has the roles of recipient or beneficiary. We have just learned what is a transitive verb and what is an intransitive verb. Now some transitive verbs may have two objects, one is direct, and the other, less important indirect object. Now you can say that we got a new sentence structure SVOO. Some examples are here:
My sister(S) gave(V) me(IO) a pen(DO).
He(S) is sending(VP) me(IO) a(A) gift(DO).
Subject predicative
Some verbs are neither intransitive or transitive, such verbs are copular or linking verbs. ‘be-verb’ or auxiliary verb is the most common copular verb. The complement of a copular verb is the subject predicative.
Example:
It (S) was(V) nice ground (P) to play.
The water-bed (S) was (V) very comfortable (P).
His name is Zill (P).
Object predicative
A verb that has a direct object and an object predicative is a complex-transitive verb. Both complex-transitive verbs and ditransitive verbs have two complements. One fundamental difference between the two sets of complements is that there is a predicative relationship between the direct object and the object predicative. The relationship is analogous to that between the subject and the subject predicative. The relationship is introduced when we introduce a copular verb between the direct object and the object predicative. The object predicative is not an object, and can not be made a passive subject during voice change.
Examples:
His position (S) became (V) clear (P).
That (S) was (V) yoga teaching (P).
Complements and adverbials
The complements of the verb are direct object, indirect object, subject predicative and object predicative. Apart from these, clauses and phrases can also be complements of verbs.
Adverbials are not complements, because their occurrence is not dependent on the main verb in a sentence. Adverbials are completely optional as their absence makes no change in the meaning of the sentence.
Examples:
I saw the man on the bus (Adv) today (Adv).
You need power in the right hind (Adv).
Exercises
1. Identify the direct and indirect objects from the following sentences.
a. I gave him a diary.
b. He told me a story.
c. My father bought a car.
d. I saw the policeman there.
e. My brother gives me pens.
f. He went to Kolkata.
g. They took my cards.
2. Find out the errors in subject-verb agreement.
a. I sees the bird on the tree.
b. Krishna want to dance with the music.
c. Reba play football.
d. You speaks in a loud voice.
e. Did he wanted to go?
f. I returns from home yesterday.
g. Last night I watch movie.
3. Answer the following questions.
1. What are the two types of grammatical constituents?
2. What do you mean by subject verb agreement?
3. What are the complements of verbs?
4. What is a direct object? Give an example.
5. What are the differences between a direct object and an indirect object?
6. What do you mean by complements and adverbials?
