Sentence Formation

Sentence Formation

We have already learnt how to make a simple sentence with an Intransitive Verb.  Now we can discuss how to form a sentence with a Transitive Verb. We have already known that a Transitive verb must have an object at least. Some verbs take two objects too.

If a verb takes no object, it is called Intransitive Verb.

So we can classify verbs into two main classes: 1) Transitive Verb and 2) Intransitive Verb.

Transitive Verb means verb with object and Intransitive Verb means verb without object.

And the Transitive Verbs that take two Objects are called Double Object Verbs. And it’s also notable that no verb can take ever more than two Objects. When a Transitive verb takes two Objects, the Objects are named a) Direct Object and b) Indirect Object.

      Let us illustrate:

      In the sentence She dances well --- There’s  no Object. Because we get no answer asking What does she dance? or Whom does she dance?

      Remember, We can get Objects only by asking the questions with What? and Whom?

But in this sentence, we get answer by asking Who dances? --- She. Here ‘She’ is the Subject. And How does she dance? --- well. Here ‘well’ is Adverb. So the verb ‘dances’ has no Object and it’s an Intransitive Verb.

      But in the sentence, I like you…. Whom do I like? --- you. Here ‘you’ is the Object and the verb ‘like’ is a Transitive Verb.

      In I see a bird… What do I see? --- a bird. Here ‘a bird’ is the Object and the verb ‘see’ is a Transitive Verb too.

      In I gave him a pen… What did I give? ---a pen. Here ‘a pen’ is an Object and it’s Direct Object (D.O.) Again, Whom did I give? --- him. Here ‘him’ is also an Object and it’s an Indirect Object (I.O.) So the Verb ‘gave’ has two Objects and it is a Double Object Verb.

      A Direct Object answers the question What? And an Indirect Object answers the question Whom?

      He gave me a pen at school. --- Here ‘a pen’ answers the question What? So ‘a pen’ Direct Object (D.O.). And ‘me’ answers the question Whom? So ‘me’ is Indirect Object (I.O.). And the verb ‘gave’ is a Double Object Verb.

     But where did he give? --- at school. Here ‘school’ is not an object of the verb ‘gave’. It’s an Object of the Preposition ‘at’. So we may call it Prepositional Object (P.O.)  

      As we have already learnt  that the structure of a Sentence is:

      S (subject) + Vi (verb intransitive) + P.O. (prepositional object) + Adverbials. 

     But now we can say that the structure of a complete sentence :          

                                             S+Vt+I.O.+D.O.+P.O.+Adverbials. 

  Of course, if the Verb is intransitive, there shall be no I.O. and D.O.

      Now if we can detect or recognize the Subject, Verbs, Objects( both Direct and Indirect), Prepositional Object and Adverbials, we are very much able to arrange them well according to the above structure to make a complete simple sentence.

      In the above structure we can see that there are 3 types of objects i. e, Indirect Object (I.O.), Direct Object (D.O.) and Prepositional Objects (P.O.). 

One must mind that I.O. must be arranged immediate before the D.O. and P.O.’s (may be many in number) must go after the D.O. 

Another thing is to be remembered that I.O. & D.O. are always single, never more than one, but P.O.’s may be many in number.

      Again, P.O.’s never comes before D.O. and I.O. never goes after D.O.  But if you want to arrange I.O. after D.O.  it must be turned into a P.O. providing it with a Preposition. Follow the example: He gave me a pen at school yesterday.

In the sentence,  He(S) + gave(Vt) + me (I.O.) + a pen (D.O.) + at school (P.O.)  yesterday (Adverbials)

      But we can rearrange the Sentence as: He gave a pen to me at school yesterday  where the I.O. is transferred after the D.O. taking a Preposition ‘to’.

      There may be more than one Prepositional Objects in a Sentence. But P.O.’s have no restriction to be arranged among themselves if they are many in number. But they can never come before the D.O.

      Adverbials (when it modifies the whole sentence) may come at the beginning of the sentence like Yesterday he gave me a pen at school or Yesterday he gave a pen to me at school.

      I think, we now know the basic construction of an English sentence. I mean we can now arrange the words properly to make a correct simple sentence.

      Now we will examine another sentence:  I wrote to him. Here, Who wrote? .. I (subject)

Whom did I write? --- him (object). And ‘him’ should be an Indirect Object but here we see it’s a Prepositional Object.

      We have already known An I.O. may be turned into a P.O.,  only when it goes after the D.O. But we see no D.O. before 'to him'.

      So we have to know now that there must be a D.O. before ‘to him’ and the D.O. is silent or understood here.

      That means the sentence is, in fact, I wrote a letter to him , where, 'a letter'=D.O., is silent. And this structure is also possible in some cases where the D.O. might be silent or understood.

      Another sentence we will examine now:  There was a kind king in that country. 

      Here, the Subject ‘king’ goes after the Verb ‘ was’ and the word ‘There’,  sitting before the Verb, just represents the subject and it bears no meaning. 

      i)There was a pond  here in 1980.

      ii)There was a pond there.

      In each of the sentences, the beginning ‘There’ has no meaning and it’s called Introductory ‘There’.

      In some sentences, the word ‘It’ may also be used as an Introductory ‘It’. For example: It rains cats and dogs. Here ‘rains’ is the verb but it has no doer. We know, formally a verb can’t be used without a subject. So the verb ‘rains’ needs a subject. ‘It’ here just acts for a subject having no meaning expressed.

      Thus in some sentences ‘There’ and ‘It’ are used as subjects known as ‘Introductory There’ and ‘Introductory It’.

      But in the sentence: It has four legs. where ‘It’ is not an ‘Introductory It’ because it has a meaning as a pronoun representing a Noun else.

      Besides, there is another type of sentence, in which the P.O. may come before D.O. leaving its Preposition.

      For example, He bought a pen for me. 

      Here, ‘for me’ is  P.O. But we can also write: He bought me a pen. 

     Here ‘me’ looks like an I.O. But it’s not an Indirect Object (I.O.). Because it does not answer ‘Whom?’ It answers ‘for Whom?

      It’s called Dative of Interest.

     Dative means Object. So it it’s an Object of interest and never Indirect Object (I.O.)

      If something is done for the interest of any person, the person is to be the Object of a Preposition ‘for’. So it’s an P.O.

      But when it comes before the D.O.  it must leave its Preposition. Because no Preposition is allowed before D.O.

      Then, though it appears or seems to be an I.O., it’s never an I.O. It’s called Dative of Interest.

      In sentences: He bought me a pen or He plucked me a flower, ‘me’ is Dative of Interest. In fact, originally the sentences are: He bought a pen for me and He plucked a flower for me, respectively.

      I may hope now that we are very much able to make a simple sentence arranging all the words in a proper order. But now we have to learn Parts of Speech to know the character of words well. Because Words are the only requisite elements to form a Sentence. With a view to knowing the character of words we have to learn Parts of Speech well. To know Parts of Speech well is to know 50% of English Grammar.

Abbreviations Used

S = Subject

O = Object

Vi = Intransitive Verb

Vt = Transitive Verb

I.O. =Indirect Object

D.O. =Direct Object

P.O. = Prepositional Object    

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