Sentence elements in English word order

We often think of English as having a Subject (S), Verb (V), Object (O) word order and this is frequently the order that children start off with in early writing.

The boy kicked the ball.      The dog chased the cat.       Daddy drove the car.

However, there are five sentence/clause elements in our language: 

S – subject

V – verb

O – object (which can be direct or indirect)

A – adverbial

C – complement (see link for more on complements)

Most usual sentence constructions are:

SV             The sword vanished.

SVO           The sword cut the tree.

SVC           The sword was heavy. 

SVOC        The sword cut the tree open.

SVOO        The sword gave the knight a nasty gash.  ('the knight' is the indirect object, 'a nasty gash' is the direct object)

As a very flexible sentence element, adverbials can be added in various positions in these constructions. Try adding one of these adverbials to the sentences in different positions to explore how these can be used.  'in a flash'       'unfortunately'     'with one strike'

In particular, using adverbials in different positions can create different effects for the reader by emphasizing certain information in the sentence.  When using adverbials in different positions, punctuation should also be considered.  Commas will be needed to make sure meaning is clear.

With one strike, the sword cut the tree open.     (A,S,V,O,C)

The sword, with one strike, cut the tree open.    (S,A,V,O,C)

The sword cut the tree open with one strike.      (S,V.O,C,A)

Telling the difference between phrasal verbs, prepositional verbs and phrasal-prepositional verbs

Somebody asked me about these different types of verbs recently.  I hope that the following will help you distinguish between them.  Let's start off with some examples:

1. The eagle took off into the wind.
2. The eagle stretched out his talons towards the water.
3. Hungrily, the eagle looked for a meal.
4. The eagle put up with the wind patiently.

Each of these verbs (highlighted in red) includes a verb and a preposition.  In the last example, there are two prepositions forming part of the verb.  However, there are differences in the way these verbs can be used and how they interact with other sentence elements.

The verb in sentence number 1. is a phrasal verb, which is used intransitively, i.e. it does not take a direct object.  We can see that the sentence has the elements:
           The eagle        took off       into the wind.
           subject (S)      verb(V)       adverbial (A)

One of the ways that phrasal verbs 'behave' is that you cannot usually place an adverbial between the verb and the preposition.  So we could not say: The eagle took into the wind off.

Sentence number 2 has a transitive phrasal verb.  It takes the direct object (Od) 'his talons'.  We can analyse the elements of this sentence:
           The eagle stretched out his talons towards the water.
                 S               V              Od                  A

As with intransitive phrasal verbs, we are unable to place the adverbial phrase between the verb and the preposition: The eagle stretched towards the water out his talons.

However, transitive phrasal verbs can be separated by the direct object.  So we can manipulate in the following ways, even when a pronoun replaces the noun phrase filling the direct object slot.

• The eagle stretched his talons out towards the water.
• The eagle stretched them out towards the water.

Sentence number 3 uses a prepositional verb.  We can analyse the elements of this sentence:
          Hungrily, the eagle looked for a meal.
                A           S             V          Od

The direct object in a sentence with a prepositional verb has to follow the preposition, so it cannot act in the same way as a phrasal verb, splitting the verb and particle.

• Hungrily, the eagle looked a meal for.
• Hungrily, the eagle looked it for.

Another difference between prepositional verbs and phrasal verbs is that an adverbial can split the verb and preposition in a preposition verb, even though the direct object cannot do this.

• The eagle looked hungrily for a meal.

Sentence number 4 is different in that the verb is followed by two prepositions.  This is a phrasal-prepositional verb and it is always used transitively as a direct object has to follow the prepositional part of this verb.
          The eagle put up with the wind patiently.
                 S              V           Od          A
In a phrasal-prepositional verb, the first preposition is the phrasal part and the second preposition is the prepositional part.  The rules stated above about adverbials apply to each part of these verbs.  Adverbials cannot usually split the verb from the phrasal preposition, so we can't have:

• The eagle put patiently up with the wind.

But the adverbial can split the phrasal and preposional elements:

•  The eagle put up patiently with the wind.

Likewise, the direct object cannot split the verb; it has to follow the final preposition:

• The eagle put up the wind with patiently.

There is no doubt that the flexibility of English, in enabling prepositions to be used in these types of structures, adds tremendously to the creativity of our language.  

Developing sentences with young children

I spent a great day with colleagues yesterday, considering books that we could use in literacy lesson.  One of my favourites was 'What Happens When...' by Delphine Chedru.

Teachers often ask me how to help children understand where full stops should be used. Well, where do we put a full stop?  At the end of a sentence, of course!  But that's not much help to children if they don't understand what a sentence is.  Where is the end of the sentence?  Well, it's where the full stop is!  When I use Excel, I sometimes get a message telling me I have a circular reference; the messages we give to children can also set up confusing loops in their understanding. So, how to we help children grasp the concept of a sentence - before they even start to write?

Sentences in English are all about the verb: something happens or just is.  We must be careful that 'doing' word does not become synonymous with 'verb' in children's minds, because the verb could also be a 'being' or 'having' word.  I think it's quite interesting that the verbs we use seem to fit into categories of the primary auxiliary verbs we use in our language (to be, to do and to have).  Do let me know if you think of other categories though!

We need to create sentences with children and discuss them so that children can understand their structure and the function of the words used, but this needs to be an enjoyable experience and foster a curiosity about their language.  'What Happens When...' is a wonderful book for developing sentences to discuss with the children.  On each double page spread there is a question and a picture of an object (great for developing questions too!)  The picture then unfolds to another double page picture which portrays one possible answer.  I would use the book in this way.

Look at the first question with the children: 'What happens when my balloon floats up, out of the zoo...?' Discuss what is happening in the picture.  What is the balloon doing?  What is happening? What is floating?  Where is it floating? What is the bird doing?  Where is the balloon?  Encourage them to answer in sentences by prompting for more information if they just answer 'floating' or 'in the sky'. Use specific praise for 'a good sentence'.  It's important to use the terminology 'sentence' with them as a matter of course, so they get used to hearing it alongside good examples and their own successes.

Ask the children what might happen next to the balloon.  Encourage them to answer in sentences and ask questions about the sentence.  For example, they might say 'The bird will pop the balloon.' This could lead to questions such as 'What will the bird do?', 'Who will pop the balloon? or 'What will the bird pop?'.  This gets the children used to talking about their sentences, but also develops an awareness of subject, verb and object (although, of course, not using this terminology).  Encourage peer questioning about sentences too.

When they have come up with some suggestions, turn the page and see what the author suggests.  This next picture could lead to further sentences and discussion.  For young children, this would make an ideal guided activity.

You could develop the exercise further to model writing one of the sentences and show children that, after a sentence with one thing 'happening', we need to add a full stop.  I would use the full stop screwdriver from the Sentence Toolkit to model the action of fixing my full stop at the end of my oral sentence and encourage them to use this at the end of each of their oral sentences.


The acting out of sentences with a mimed full stop added, followed by discussion about that sentence, can be incorporated into many different lessons.  For those of you who teach phonics, this discussion about what is going on in sentences is the grammatical equivalent of oral blending and segmenting.  These sorts of activities with children help them to create oral sentences, which can be gradually extended as their writing develops.  It's always good to 'test out' a sentence orally before writing, to see how it sounds and what sense it makes.  An early start in this will help writing composition later.  And the discussion about what is happening, and how many things are happening, in their sentences before they use their full stop screwdriver should help reduce the number of sentences which all run into each other, with no punctuation in sight!