Lesson 1: The Basic Sentence
Created on: September 11, 2007
Website Address: https://library.curriki.org/oer/Lesson-1-The-Basic-Sentence-17357
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
Athabasca University ESL, Unit 1: The Basic Sentence
Lesson 1: THE BASIC SENTENCE
Every sentence has a subject and a verb.
Subject and verb
works is not a sentence because we do not learn who or what works; there is a verb, but no subject.John is not a sentence; there is no verb.
John works is a sentence; there is a subject (John) and a verb (works).
John, the manager of the store is not a sentence; there is no verb. We do not learn how John and the manager of the store go together.
Here are some sentences:
[s]:Subject, [v]:Verb
[s] John [v] is the manager of the store.
[s] John [v] works for the manager of the store.
[s] John [v] is talking to the manager of the store.
[s] The mountains of Nepal [v] are the highest in the world.
[s] The house on the hill [v] is very old.
Word order
If a sentence tells us something (a statement), the verb goes after the subject. If a sentence asks us something (a question), one word of the verb goes before the subject.
[s]:Subject, [v]:Verb
STATEMENT [s] John [v] is riding a bicycle.
QUESTION [v] Is [s] John [v] riding a bicycle?
