Previous: Why do you / I study English grammar?
As said in “What is grammar?” we communicate not with individual words, but with phrases and sentences.
If I say to you, “Floor,” you’ll likely have no idea what I’m trying to tell you. You might guess if I’m saying on which floor do I live; or even if I’m saying that I have knocked someone down, or being struck by somebody, because “floor” can also be a verb to mean knocking someone to the ground. There’s an idea or even ideas related to the word “floor” being expressed, but there’s no complete thought with valid meaning being communicated.
And then if I say again, “I,” you’ll likely be even more perplexed, won't you? What is the relationship between “floor" and “I” that I want to tell you? You have no idea. Your imagination can run wild and different scenarios can come to mind, but the guesses could all be missing the mark.
If I add a couple more words, like “I on the floor.” The meaning is now becoming a bit clearer. At least you won't misunderstand me trying to knock someone down. You might think that I was knocked down by someone though. So the thought is still not fully communicated, and the grammar is not correct. For one, there’s no verb in the sentence, and every complete sentence must have a verb. So I need to organize the words a bit better.
Finally, I say, “I am sitting on the floor.” Now you get the idea. You may wonder why a grownup is sitting on the floor. So I explain further, “I am sitting on the floor because I am tired, and there’s no chair around.” A complete thought is now being communicated in a grammatically correct sentence.
So we communicate through sentences. Each sentence carries a complete thought. In English, most sentences have a subject and a verb. The subject is either a noun or a pronoun. The verb is either an action verb or a stative verb. A sentence is basically about what the subject does or is.
Following is some basic information about sentences. For details, please go to 15. Sentence Patterns:
1.4.1 A sentence is the basic unit of communication that expresses a complete thought.
1.4.2 Every sentence must always include a subject and a verb (except for imperative sentences
that give commands or orders). What happens after the verb depends on the type of verb —
transitive or intransitive. Or, put it in another way:
Every sentence must always include a subject and a predicate (except for imperatives). The predicate is the part of a sentence that is not the subject.
1.4.3 A written sentence starts with a capital letter and ends with a full stop (.), question mark (?)
or exclamation mark (!).
1.4.4 The shortest sentence consists of just one word, which must be a verb. This is the imperative
form. For example:
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Stop!
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Go!
1.4.5 The common word order of a sentence is “subject-verb-object (SVO),” where the subject is followed
by the verb and then the object. For example:
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Henry ate an apple. (Henry = subject; ate = verb; an apple = object)
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They enjoyed the opera Madame Butterfly. (They = subject; enjoyed = verb; the opera Madame Butterfly =
object)
1.4.6 The subject is one of the two main parts (subject and predicate) of a sentence. The subject is the part
that is not the predicate. Typically, the subject is the first noun or noun phrase in a sentence and is
what the rest of the sentence “is about.” For example:
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The drinking water was dirty.
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Julie is beautiful.
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Who saw you?
1.4.7 The predicate is the other one of the two main parts of a sentence. The predicate is the part that is
not the subject, and this part usually consists of a verb with or without objects, complements, or
adverbial modifiers. For example:
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She is a dentist.
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Who did you call?
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The girl wearing a yellow dress helped me.