Commonsense Composition

12.1. Verbs and Sentence Types http://www.ck12.org

12.1 Verbs and Sentence Types

Lesson Objectives

• Distinguish between the subject, verb, direct object and indirect object of a sentence.


• Identifybeverbs.


• Identify linking verbs.


• Identify intransitive verbs.


• Identify transitive verbs.

To Be

When a form of be (am, is, are, was, were) serves as the main verb of a sentence, an adverbial of time or place, an
adjectival, or a noun phrase will follow it. The following are the three sentence patterns that occur with thebeverb:

For definitions and examples of theadverb, adjective,andnoun phrase,see Chapter 11.

1. (subject)+(beverb)+(adverbial of time or place)

TABLE12.1:

Subject Be Adverbial of time or place

The children Were Upstairs

The meeting Is Tomorrow

The nutmeg Is On the shelf

Prepositional phrasesoften take the form of adverbials, as seen in the third example. For a definition and examples
of prepositional phrases, see Chapter 12, Lesson 2.

2. (subject)+(beverb)+(subject complement [adjective])

TABLE12.2:

Subject Be Subject complement [adj.]

The children Were Excited

The meeting Is Boring

Jacob Is In a bad mood

Sometimes aprepositional phrase,in the form of an idiomatic expression, will fill the role of subject complement,
as seen in the third example