Parts of Sentences

The grammar of your first language comes to you almost automatically. Listen in on a conversation between two four-year-olds:

AUDREY: My new bike that Aunt Andrea got me has a red basket and a loud horn, and I love it.

LILA: Can I ride it?

AUDREY: Yes, as soon as I take a turn.

This simple conversation features sophisticated grammar—the subordination of one clause to another, a compound object, and a number of adjectives—used effortlessly. If you are like many English speakers, you may never really have reflected on the details of how the language works. Paying close attention to how you put sentences together can help you understand the choices available to you whenever you write.

Chapter contents:

Quick Help: Basic sentence patterns

Quick Help: Choosing between infinitives and gerunds

The basic grammar of sentences

Subjects

Predicates

Phrases

Clauses

Types of sentences