Six Basic English Sentence Patterns

In English, there are six basic sentence patterns, some of which you have just worked through in this chapter. Although there are other patterns, they build on these six.

  1. Subject-Verb (S-V). This pattern is the most basic one, as you have already seen.

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  2. Subject-Linking Verb-Noun (S-LV-N)

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  3. Subject-Linking Verb-Adjective (S-LV-ADJ)

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  4. Subject-Verb-Adverb (S-V-ADV)

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  5. Subject-Verb-Direct Object (S-V-DO). A direct object directly receives the action of the verb.

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  6. Subject-Verb-Direct Object-Indirect Object. An indirect object does not directly receive the action of the verb.

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    This pattern can also have the indirect object before the direct object.

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