Sentence Elements

Sam An Teng

The shortest sentence in English has at least two words: the subject and verb. Besides subject and verb, there are three more elements which are crucial in writing sentences. These elements are objects, complement, and adverbial.

[1] SUBJECT

A subject either does action or simply tells what sentence is about. Look at the examples,

  •  Bopha studies English. (Action)
  •  A group of students are doing his assignment. (Action)
  •  The books are interesting. (State)

[2] VERB

Verb either expresses action or state of being. Verb that shows action is called "action verb"; verb that shows state of being is called "state verb". For examples,

  •  The police are finding a suspect.
  •  He had robbed a woman.
  •  The woman was so frightened.
  •  She looked pale and trembling.

[3]  OBJECT

Object receives the action from either verb or subject. Some objects just stand after preposition. Thus, there are three kinds of objects:

Direct object

Direct object receives the direct action from verb; it is the first receiver. For examples,

  •  He reads a book.
  •  He unlocked the password successfully.
  •  The company produces thousand cars.
  •   I support what he has said.

Indirect object 

Indirect object receives the direct object from verb or subject. For examples,

  •  His boss assigns him new roles.
  •  Thida lent me some money last month.
  •  Could you bring him a coffee?
  •  He wrote his parents a postcard.

Object of preposition 

Object of preposition stands after a preposition. Both preposition and its object form the prepositional phrase which may functions as adjective or adverb in sentence. For examples,

  •  The book is on the table.
  •  They are sitting in the classroom.
  •  The book on the table is mine.
  •  Do you know the man next to you?

[4] COMPLEMENT

Complement completes the meaning of subject or object. Thus, they are call subject complement and object complement respectively.

Subject complement

Subject complement completes the meaning of subject. Subject complement can be adjective (which is called predicate adjective) or noun (which is called predicate noun or predicate nominative). For examples,

  •  They are accountants.
  •  He looks unhappy.

Object complement

Object complement completes the meaning of the object; for examples,

  •  They appointed him representative.
  •  I painted my room red.

[5] ADVERBIAL

Adverbial is a word or group of words that functions as adverb. It either tells time, place, direction, or manner. For examples,

  •  She sings beautifully.
  •  They are working very hard.
  •  I got up late.
  •  The exam finished yesterday.
  •  He is going upstairs.
  •  Thida is sleeping in her room.