By structures we mean sentence patterns. In this lesson we will first consider some of the basic verb patterns and then some of the other important structures.

As you probably know an English sentence has two main parts – the subject and the predicate. The subject must contain a noun or a pronoun and the predicate must contain a verb. Sometimes the subject is omitted and then you may get one-word sentences.

Examples are given below:

• Stop. Who goes there? (Here the first sentence consists of just one word – stop.)
• Listen. I am going to tell you something.

There are also sentences containing just two words – a noun and an intransitive verb.

• Birds fly.
• Dogs bark.
• Fire burns.
• Time flies.

But you can’t get very far with short sentences of this kind, and so, more elaborate sentence patterns have evolved.

Related posts:

1. Subject and Predicate
2. What are Phrases and Clauses?
3. Active and Passive Voice