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A Concise Guide to English Grammar

Phillip Haisley

Section 8.5 The Six Sentence Patterns

Every complete sentence in English follows one of six basic structural patterns. These patterns are determined by verb type and required elements.
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Think of these patterns as the grammar’s underlying skeletons. Individual sentences may vary enormously in length, vocabulary, and complexity, but the core structure—stripped of all adverbials and modifiers—will always be one of these six. Identifying a pattern means asking: once I remove everything optional, what is the minimum grammatical core that remains? That core, defined by the verb and its required arguments, is the pattern. Practice with this approach until it becomes automatic; the ability to see through surface complexity to the underlying structure is what makes sentence analysis reliable and consistent.
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Pattern 1: Intransitive (S + V).

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Structure: Subject + Verb
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Intransitive verbs express complete actions or states without needing a receiver.
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Subject Verb
Thunder rumbled
My grandmother sneezed
The toast burned
Her voice trembled
What makes it intransitive?
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The verb alone completes the thought. Adverbials can be added but are not required:
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  • Thunder rumbled across the valley. (still intransitive)
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  • My grandmother sneezed violently. (still intransitive)
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Exclusively intransitive verbs:
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arrive, collapse, disappear, emerge, exist, fall, hesitate, occur, sneeze, vanish
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You cannot say She arrived the station or The building collapsed the roof.
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Pattern 2: Copular *Be* (S + *Be* + SC).

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Structure: Subject + Be + Subject Complement
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The verb be links the subject to a subject complement—a word or phrase that describes or identifies the subject.
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Subject Be Subject Complement Type
She is a violinist NP
The solution was surprisingly simple AdjP
My keys are under the cushion PP
Tomorrow will be Tuesday NP
Three types of subject complements:
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  • Noun Phrase (NP): Identifies who/what the subject is
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  • Marcus is a carpenter.
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  • Adjective Phrase (AdjP): Describes a quality of the subject
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  • The water is cold.
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  • Prepositional Phrase (PP): Locates or describes the subject
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  • The restaurant is around the corner.
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Pattern 3: Linking Verb (S + LV + SC).

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Structure: Subject + Linking Verb + Subject Complement
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Linking verbs work like be—they connect the subject to a complement that describes or identifies it.
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Subject Linking Verb Subject Complement Type
The bread smells wonderful AdjP
Her excuse sounded plausible AdjP
That musician became famous AdjP
The caterpillar became a butterfly NP
The substitution test:
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If you can replace the verb with a form of be and the sentence still makes sense, the verb is linking:
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  • The bread smells wonderful. → The bread is wonderful. ✓ (Linking)
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  • The detective smells trouble. → The detective is trouble. ✗ (Not linking—transitive!)
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Common linking verbs:
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appear, become, feel, get, grow, look, prove, remain, seem, smell, sound, stay, taste, turn
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Warning: Many of these verbs can also be transitive:
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  • She felt nervous. (linking—“nervous” describes “she”)
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  • She felt the fabric. (transitive—“fabric” is a direct object)
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Pattern 4: Transitive (S + V + DO).

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Structure: Subject + Verb + Direct Object
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Transitive verbs require a direct object—an NP that receives the action.
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Subject Verb Direct Object
Squirrels gather acorns
The tornado destroyed the barn
Nobody expected this outcome
Lightning struck the old oak
Direct object tests:
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  1. Ask “verb what?” or “verb whom?”: Squirrels gather what? → acorns
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  2. Pronoun replacement: She finished her dissertation. → She finished it.
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  3. Passive transformation: Lightning struck the oak. → The oak was struck.
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Pattern 5: Ditransitive (S + V + IO + DO).

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Structure: Subject + Verb + Indirect Object + Direct Object
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Some transitive verbs take two objects: an indirect object (the recipient) followed by a direct object (the thing transferred).
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Subject Verb Indirect Object Direct Object
The librarian handed me a book
She told the children a story
The company offered employees free parking
The chef made us a special dessert
Identifying indirect objects:
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  1. To/For paraphrase: You can rephrase with “to” or “for”:
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  • The librarian handed me a book. → ...handed a book to me.
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  • The chef made us a dessert. → ...made a dessert for us.
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  1. Order matters: IO comes before DO
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Common ditransitive verbs:
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award, bring, buy, cook, give, grant, hand, lend, make, offer, owe, pass, pay, promise, read, sell, send, show, teach, tell, throw, write
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Pattern 6: Ditransitive (S + V + DO + OC).

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Structure: Subject + Verb + Direct Object + Object Complement
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Some verbs take a direct object followed by an object complement—a word or phrase that describes or identifies the direct object.
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Subject Verb Direct Object Object Complement Type
The jury found her guilty AdjP
Critics called the film a masterpiece NP
The heat made everyone irritable AdjP
They elected her president NP
Distinguishing Pattern 5 from Pattern 6:
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  • Pattern 5 (IO + DO): The two NPs refer to different things:
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  • She gave Marcus a book. (Marcus ≠ book)
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  • Pattern 6 (DO + OC): The complement describes or equals the DO:
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  • They elected her president. (her = president)
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Common DO + OC verbs:
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appoint, believe, call, consider, declare, deem, elect, find, keep, label, leave, make, name, paint, prove, render, think
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