英语写作的基本语法.docVIP

Week 6 Writing on the Sentence Level (1) Basic sentence patterns/structures There are traditionally four basic patterns of English sentences, namely, simple sentence, compound sentence, complex sentence, and compound-complex sentence. 1. What is a simple sentence? A simple sentence has a single subject-verb-object combination. It may have more than one subject, more than one verb, or more than one object. It is used when you want to express one simple idea. A subject is a noun or pronoun. It can be somebody or some thing. A predicate is a verb. It usually indicates an act. If the verb is intransitive, it has no object (S+v) behind it. If the verb is transitive, it must be followed by an object （S+v+o). If the verb is a linking verb, there must be a predicative (S+v+p). An object is also a noun, like subject. Examples: Children play The game ended early. My car stalled three times last week The lake has been polluted by several neighbouring streams. [Note: the above subjects are all nouns. The predicates take different forms such as ‘present tense’, ‘past tense’, ‘perfect tense’ in a ‘passive’ form’, and so on.] Lola and Tony drove home. The wind and water dried my hair. The children smiled and waved at us. The lawn mower smoked and sputtered out. Manny, Moe and Jack lubricated my car, replaced the oil filter, and cleaned the spark plugs. [Note: the above sentences show that there may be more than 1 subject, more than 1 predicate, or more than 1 object in a sentence.] PS. : Capitalization and punctuations are important ‘accessories’ of a complete simple sentence. 2. What is a compound sentence? A compound sentences, or a “double” sentence, is made up of two (or more) simple sentences, which are usually connected by a comma and/or plus a joining word (= coordinate conjunction: and, but, or, for, nor, so, yet). It is used when you want to give equal weight to two closely related ideas. The technique of showing