Understanding the Components of a Simple Sentence

Sentence Elements

No matter how long the sentences are, they cannot have more than five elements, that is,

.Subject

.Verb

.Object (Direct Object, Indirect Object)

.Complement (Subject Com., Object Com.)

.Adverbial

WORDS

1. Noun: book, dog, freedom…

2. Pronoun: I, me, mine, some…

3. Adjective: big, small, yellow, free…

4. Verb: do, be, can, could…

5. Adverb: here, ago, slowly…

6. Preposition: on, in, at, according to, thank to…

7. Conjunction: and, both…and, after…

8. Determiner: a, the, some, my, other…

Group or Phrase

Words having similar nature can join together to form GROUP or PHRASE.

e.g. [The horse] [is running] [very quickly].

           Det+N         V+V              Adv+Adv

              NP              VP                  Adv P

          Subject         Verb           Adverbial
1. Noun Phrase
2. Verb Phrase
3. Adjective Phrase
4. Adverb Phrase
Prepositional Phrase
Practice

Analyze the following sentences.

1. The engineers are working in the station.

2. My closest friend must know my mind very well.

3. He should have visited his beloved parents during Khmer New Year.

4. All the students are eating the poisonous potatoes.

5. A few students survive after their eating.

6. They have solved the controversial problems completely successfully.

7. She has named her child Dararoth.

8. They have been living here for three months.

9. Chenda is sending her best friend a short message.

10. He elects Bora our class monitor.