- •Parts of Speech
- •Structural classification of the simple sentence
- •Simple sentence
- •Communicative types of sentences
- •Declarative
- •Interrogative
- •Imperative (requests and commands)
- •Exclamatory/ exclamations
- •Members of the sentence
- •Principal members of the sentence the subject
- •A noun
- •The predicate
- •Simple verbal predicates
- •Simple nominal predicates
- •Compound verbal aspect predicates
- •Compound nominal predicates
- •!!! Do not confuse: predicate # predicative
- •Link verbs
- •Predicatives
- •By nouns
- •By different kinds of pronouns
- •Mixed kinds of predicates
- •Secondary members of the sentence the object
- •Ways of expressing the object
- •The attribute
- •The apposition
- •The adverbial modifier
- •Independent elements of the sentence
- •Grammar terms glossary
Secondary members of the sentence the object
direct object |
indirect object / prepositional object |
complex object |
I read many books. |
|
I saw him read this book |
Note: If a verb can take only one object, it is always a direct object, e.g. I saw John in Oxford Street the other day.
Ways of expressing the object
The object can be expressed by:
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a noun in the common case, e.g. Peter wrote three letters yesterday.
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a substativized adjective, e.g. It is difficult to believe in the supernatural.
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a pronoun, e.g.
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Sarah gave him a book. (personal pronoun in the objective case)
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Ask somebody about the way to the station. (indefinite pronoun)
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I can see my bag, but I don’t see yours. (absolute form of the possessive pronoun)
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I didn’t know that. (demonstrative pronoun)
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David told nothing. (negative pronoun)
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a numeral, e.g. Where are my textbooks? - I saw two of them in the wardrobe. (cardinal numeral) And I found the third under the bed. (ordinal numeral) Who could have put them there?
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a gerund or a gerundial phrase, e.g. I love laughing. But I hate being laughed at.
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an infinitive or infinitive phrase, e.g. What would you like to do in the evening? – I prefer to go to the theatre. Len refused to go with us.
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an object clause, e.g. I don’t know when she will come from Spain.
TASK 11. In the sentences given below find all objects and define their types.
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She pretended not to hear me.
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What have you got there?
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I’ve never heard you express that opinion before.
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He waited for the Roman to speak first.
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He smiled upon the young men a smile at once personal and presidential.
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He's going to live his own life and stop letting his mother boss him around like a baby.
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Do you know anything more about this dreadful place?
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His part in the conversation consisted chiefly of yesses and noes.
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The old man felt his legs give way.
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Mother objected to Aimee being taken away from her game with the boys.
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You can smile away till you split your cheek, but you still got to do a day's work to earn a day's wages.
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It is the moon that makes you talk to yourself in that silly way.
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He stared amazed at the calmness of her answer.
The attribute
The attribute can be expressed by different parts of speech,
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adjectives, e.g. Sandra was a beautiful girl.
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pronouns, e.g.
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Dan showed me his photos. (possessive pronoun)
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Give me some apples, please. (indefinite pronoun)
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There was another piece of cake on her plate. (detaching pronoun)
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numerals, e.g.
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I’ll come back in three weeks.(cardinal)
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Wednesday is the third day of the week. (ordinal)
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nouns,
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in common case, e.g. It was a nice spring day.
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in possessive case, e.g. Ann’s new flat is great!
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prepositional nominal phrase, e.g. It’s only part of the book. She was the angel of a girl. He lived in the city of Bristol.
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participles,
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Do you happen to know that laughing girl? (participle I)
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Can you see those lighted windows on the third floor? (participle II)
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gerunds and gerundial phrases, e.g. Is there any chance of seeing you again?
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infinitives or infinitive phrases, e.g. Jack was the first to come. I have no time to waste.
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adverbs, e.g. The voice was heard from the room upstairs.
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quotations, e.g. Tina had a good-for-nothing cousin.
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attributive clauses, e.g. That was the man I had never seen before.