Sentence Patterns in English

Sentence in English can devided into two. (1) Sentence with Auxiliary Verbs and (2) sentence without Auxiliary Verbs (AV). For many years to learn English , the author conclude that the key of the sentence in English is AV and Verb. If we have mastered AV and Verb, its function and use it well, then we might  be said to have mastered English key. For example, we won’t be difficult to change positive sentences into negative sentences or statement sentences , making the question tags, give a short comment with neither / so , etc. For these reasons, it is necessary first to be mentioned types of AV and described two types of sentences before we step on the discussion of sentence patterns. 

Four types of auxiliary verb

TO BE	TO DO	TO HAVE	MODALS
Am Is Are Was Were	Do Does Did	Have Has Had	Can           Could Will          Would Shall         Should May          Might Must

1.       Sentence with AV

Examples:

Smoking is bad

She has finished homework

To make negative sentence so we put NOT after AV ( Smoking is not bad, She has not finished homework), and to make question sentence we put AV in front of Subject (Is smoking bad? Has she finished homework?). And also to make question sentence with Question Words (What is bad? What has she finished?) while to ask subject, then subject in positive sentence is changed by Who or What (What is bad? Who has finished homework?). it’s easy, isn’t it?

2.       Sentence without AV

Examples:

They go to school everyday

She goes to school by bus

The murderer killed that man.

To make negative sentence and question sentence, it needs AV TO DO (do, does, did). To sentence with verb I, to make negative sentence added DO + NOT before verb ( They do not go to school everyday), and to make question sentence, we put DO before Subject ( Do they go to school everyday?). And also to make question sentence with Question Words ( Where do they go everyday? When do they go to school?).

Sentence with Verb I + s/es, to make negative sentence added DOES + NOT before the verb (She does not go to shool by bus), and to make question sentence we put DOES before the subject (Does she go to school by bus?). And also to make question sentence with Question Words ( Where does she go everyday? How does she go to school?).

Sentence with Verb II, to make negative sentence added DID + NOT before the verb (The murderer did not kill that man), and to make question sentence, we put DID before the Subject (Did the murderer kill that man?). And also to make question sentence with Question Words (Whom did the murderer kill?).

In the third examples above in negative sentence and question sentence, the verb is  Verb I. While especially to ask subject, so the subject in positive sentence above is changed by Who and the verb is not changed (Who go to school everyday? Who goes to school by bus? Who killed that man?).

in addition, TO DO (do, does, did) and TO HAVE (have, has, had) besides as AV it’s also can be common verb.

Examples:

·         I do my homework every night.

·         Did you do your homework yesterday? (Did = AV, do = Verb)

·         They had dinner at a restaurant last night.

·         Have you had breakfast? (Have = AV, had = Verb)

Because AV is the key in English, so the subject of this learning  is AV and Verbs. But it isn’t every sentence has a verb , as in the English sentence (as seen from the predicate ) can be divided into two : the nominal sentence , the sentence that the predicate is not a verb ; verbal sentence , the sentence that the predicate form of the verb .  To determine whether a nominal sentence or a verbal sentence , it is not seen from the words used but of writing . For example, " I 'll be back soon" ,  in English this sentence could be the nominal sentence ( "back " is not a verb ) - and could be verbal - I will come back soon . ( " come back" is a verb ). 

Basic pattern of nominal sentences in  English is S + AV + Complement ( C ) . whereas the verbal sentence is S + [ AV ] + VERB + [ C ] . In a nominal sentence , complement function as a predicate that it must exist . For example , The man was dead . The "dead " word can not be eliminated . whereas the verbal sentence , complement  function as a complement so it does not have to exist. For example , The man died yesterday . The " died" word  is a verb -II of " die " and " yesterday " funnction as a complement .

In a verbal sentence , there are four types of verbs , are present tense , past tense , past participle , and present participle is divided into two , regular verbs and irregular verbs . But to facilitate discussion , the four types of the verb , in this discussion we call sequentially Verb I, Verb II , Verb III , and Verb ING , as contained  in the sample table below .

VERB I	VERB II	VERB III	VERB ING
Finish Go Read	Finished Went Read	Finished Gone Read	Finishing Going Reading

While the complement in this discussion is not only limited as predicate , but it could be a collection of words or clauses, as shown in the following example :

S	AV	VERB	C
She They I	is are -	- playing know	a student football in the school yard right now where she is from