Unit 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?


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Exercise 1.1