What Are Sentence Parts?

In English, the sequence of words is highly essential. As a result, it’s critical to understand and apply the numerous sentence pieces that make up the English sentence pattern.

These sentence components come in a variety of basic forms, which may be utilized to create more complicated sentences. These formats may be adjusted with the skill to offer the complexity of English.

This article will look into the different components of a sentence and give you a comprehensive guide to structuring and varying your sentences.

Phrases vs. Sentences

Phrases and sentences are made up of a combination of words and are frequent patterns in every language. 

A phrase is a combination of short or lengthy words that do not express a full notion.

A sentence is similarly a collection of words, but it expresses a whole notion. The major distinction between phrase and sentence is this.

What is a ‘phrase’?

A phrase, unlike a sentence, pertains to a group of words that make up a sentence.

A phrase cannot communicate a whole notion of meaning on its own, but it may be utilized to make up a sentence. 

Noun phrases, verb phrases, adjective phrases, adverb phrases, and other sorts of phrases exist. Let’s utilize two sorts of sentences for now. 

There are two types of phrases: noun phrases and verb phrases. 

Looking attentively, you’ll see that a noun phrase or a verb phrase alone does not communicate a whole meaning.

This is because it does not offer the reader enough information to appreciate the whole meaning.

What is a Sentence?

A sentence is a sequence of words that completes a notion by including a subject and verb (also known as a predicate). 

A subject and a verb are required in all sentences, although the majority contain more. 

Objects (direct and indirect), complements, phrases, and clauses are among the other potential elements of a sentence.

A sentence, like a phrase, is made up of words that communicate a full idea or notion.

The subject and verb are both present in a sentence. Let’s use the same example as before.

This emphasizes how, since a sentence is made up of phrases, it delivers a comprehensive meaning. 

However, sentences are not usually constructed in this manner. This sample has the appearance of a simple phrase. 

There are, however, various types of sentences, including compound sentences, complicated sentences, and compound-complex sentences. The sentence in these categories is made up of a range of phrases.

Below is a summary of the differences in phrases and sentences:

What are the Different Parts of a Sentence?

Every English sentence may be split down into a few phrases with distinct functions.

These duties involve describing the doer or beneficiary of action in a sentence as well as demonstrating the time, place, and manner in which it took place. 

Subject

Objects 

Predicate

Predicate, like subjects, is required sentence parts inside a sentence.

Predicates are the places where the action takes place. They are verbs and verb phrases that describe what a person is doing or how he or she is feeling.

Predicates may be made up of one or more verbs (such as modal verbs, auxiliary verbs, and participles), and their tense, aspect, modality, and passive voice can all be changed.

Adverbials

Although adverbial phrases may give information about adjectives, other adverbs, prepositional phrases, and full sentences, their primary role is to add optional information to the main verb of an expression. 

Adverbials, in brief, enhance the meaning of these many word kinds by describing how, when, where, how frequently, and to what extent.

Complement

The complement is the last sentence part. While adverbials most typically employ adverbs to convey more (optional) information about a verb, complements use words, phrases, or clauses to change the subject or object of a given statement. 

This is usually accomplished by assigning a comparable label to the topic or object or by supplying additional information.

Functions of Each Sentence Part

Nouns, verbs, adjectives, prepositions, pronouns, adverbs, conjunctions, and interjections are the eight components of speech that make up a phrase. 

A sentence, on the other hand, simply requires a subject (noun or pronoun) and a predicate to constitute a full idea (a verb). 

If you simply include one of these two elements, you will only have a grammatically incorrect sentence fragment. Let’s look at the many functions of each component:

Subjects

To be grammatical, a sentence is made up of one or more clauses, each of which must have at least two sentence parts. Subjects (primarily made up of noun phrases) and predicates are the two functions (verb phrases). 

A subject is simple to recognize in declarative sentences (i.e., most sentences in English – see our linked article on sentence functions) since it is the noun phrase that occurs right before the primary verb:

The subject of a sentence is placed after the main verb or between the auxiliary verb and the main verb in interrogative (questioning) sentence types:

In addition, there is no explicit subject appended to the phrase in the imperative (commanding) sentences. Instead, the expression’s topic is inferred rather than stated:

What makes a Subject Noun Phrase?

Nouns, verbs, adjectives, prepositions, pronouns, adverbs, conjunctions, and interjections are the eight components of speech that make up a phrase. 

A sentence, on the other hand, simply requires a subject (noun or pronoun) and a predicate to constitute a full idea (a verb). 

If you simply include one of these two elements, you will only have a grammatically incorrect sentence fragment.

Clearly, noun phrases like these may be made up of a variety of non-noun word kinds.

When we dissect these two instances, we can see that each phrase has a variety of kinds (adjectives, conjunctions, determiners, and so on):

While noun phrases are most usually used as subjects, this is not always the case.

Subjects may be produced in a variety of ways, ranging from single pronouns to whole phrases and clauses:

Subject Structures

It really is evident that relying on a subject’s noun form for identification isn’t a reliable strategy.

Instead, students should recall the purpose of subjects in a sentence and how they are usually placed before the predicate verb phrase.

Can you have Long Subjects?

Many of you may also find the fact that topics may be of practically any length daunting (or fascinating).

Subjects might be as short as one word or as lengthy as a hundred words – or more!

While such lengthy themes may be difficult to comprehend, remember, or repeat, they are grammatically correct.

Long subjects like this are generally produced by mixing prepositional phrases (‘with the hat’) and relative clauses (‘who found dark matter’), which may make it easier for pupils to recognize them.

Is Subject-verb agreement Necessary?

It’s critical to avoid making mistakes while constructing topics appropriately.

This entails accurately detecting a sentence’s required subject-verb agreement, ensuring that the subject and its associated verb agree in both person and number. 

“The instructor speaks four languages,” for example, would be spoken by native speakers, not “The teacher speaks four languages.”

Predicate

The component of a sentence that alters the subject of a phrase or clause in any manner is called the predicate. 

The predicate describes what the subject is or does, as well as what happens to it.

Because the subject of a sentence is a person, place, or object, the predicate must include a verb that explains what the subject does. 

What makes a Predicate?

These five categories each have a particular role inside the sentence and are referred to as phrase (or clause) functions in grammar literature.

Verb

A verb is a term that indicates an activity, such as thinking, speaking, doing, feeling, or being.

Its purpose is to demonstrate what activity the person is doing. The predicate does not exist if there is no verb.

To-be Verbs

A “to-be” verb expresses a state of being. The person may or may not be doing any particular activity but rather is in a state of being.

Predicates may be made up of one or more verbs (such as modal verbs, auxiliary verbs, and participles), and their tense, aspect, modality, and passive voice can all be changed:

Can you have Long Predicates?

A predicate is a single word that indicates what is happening in a sentence. It’s used to explain what the sentence’s subject performs. 

The simple predicate, complex predicate, and full predicate are the three fundamental forms of the predicate.

Simple Predicate

The simple predicate just includes the verb and does not include any modifiers. Although the verb will always be a component of the predicate, there may be occasions when we simply consider the verb, resulting in the simple predicate. 

The object, additional ideas, concepts, or modifiers associated with the verb or the subject are unnoticed.

Compound Predicate

Because the term compound refers to the merging of two elements, a compound predicate would need a conjunction to combine two verbs. 

However, the verbs should be performed by the same subject, or the subject should “share” the subject. 

We employ a compound predicate when we wish to make a phrase more interesting, add details, or express other ideas and concepts.

Merging acts into one phrase also helps to prevent the repetition of the topic.

Complete Predicate

The part of the phrase that comprises the verb and all of its modifiers is called the entire predicate (whereas the simple predicate is only the verb). 

Objects

Objects, like subjects, are mostly made up of noun phrases. 

On the other hand, subjects come before verbs and are the ones who do the verb’s action; objects, on the other hand, come after the predicate and are the ones who receive the action. 

In reality, subjects and objects are so similar that they may easily be interchanged without affecting the syntax of a statement (just the meaning):

Obviously, this is not always possible owing to logical and semantic flaws (for example, in the case below, a ‘letter’ cannot write a ‘Sandy’).

If you’re not sure which is which, check the pronouns. 

When used in object position, the subject pronoun ‘I’ is written as ‘me,’ just as ‘she’ is written as ‘her,’ when used after the verb:

How do Objects Differ from Subjects?

Although there are some parallels between subject and object sentence parts, they are not the same.

On the other hand, subjects and objects are so similar that they may easily be exchanged without affecting the grammar — just the meaning. 

Obviously, this alternation is not always possible due to grammatical and logical problems:

Because they are so similar, looking for any pronouns used to make them is a good method to distinguish a subject and an object apart (apart from checking their function). 

When the subject pronoun ‘I’ is in the object position, it is written as ‘me,’ just as ‘she’ becomes ‘her’ when put after the verb:

Are Objects Usually Formed from Noun Phrases?

Objects are composed of basic noun phrases (such as determiner–noun pairs) and complicated noun phrases, much like subjects (by combining prepositional phrases and relative clauses). 

Students should be aware of objects that are made up of different sorts of phrases and sentences, as shown in the table below:

What are the Different Types of Objects?

The table below also displays three forms of object sentence parts. 

1. Direct Objects are the nouns that receive the action of a verb.

2. Indirect Objects are the beneficiaries of the action of a verb.

3. Oblique Objects are forms of objects that follow a preposition: ‘to’ or ‘for.’

Note: Although objects are an optional component of a grammatical sentence (at least when employing an intransitive verb), an academic essay in English would be difficult to write without them.

Adverbials 

Adverbials, on the other hand, are the one sentence part in English that is almost always optional.

The sentences without adverbials in the following collection of phrases are nevertheless accurate and well-formed, even if part of the meaning is lost:

How are Adverbials Formed?

The easiest approach to spot an adverbial is to remember that its primary purpose is to add optional information to the expression’s main verb. 

Adverbials, in summary, enhance the meaning of a verb by conveying how, when, where, how frequently, or to what degree it occurs – generally via the use of adverbs. 

The following examples show this in action, with the verb being changed in [square brackets] and the adverbial bold:

Adverbials aren’t only made up of adverbs, and they don’t just provide information to verbs. 

Adverbials may be prepositional phrases or noun phrases, and they can provide information about adjectives, other adverbs, prepositional phrases, or whole sentences. 

How are Adverbials Positioned in a Sentence?

Adverbials have a lot more flexibility of distribution than other sentence parts, which helps them stand out and makes them a little easier to spot. 

This implies they may change where they are in a sentence without violating the syntax or losing the meaning of the term. 

Notice how a comma (,) has been put after the adverbial ‘very carefully’ and before the subject ‘the pupils’ in the first phase, indicating that certain patterns need a modification in the punctuation of the clause. 

It’s also worth noting that type 1-3 adverbials may shift from their place following the verb’s direct object. However, type 4 adverbial complements can’t.

Complements

Complements are nouns that come after the verb in predicates that utilize linking verbs rather than action verbs. 

Nouns, noun phrases, pronouns, and adjectives may all be used as complements.

Subject complements, also known as predicate nominatives, extend the description of the subject.

Is it Easy to Recognize Complements?

You must learn how to detect and appropriately create complements in your own writing since complements are part of a sentence that cannot be eliminated from their expression (unlike an adverbial). 

Complements, thankfully, are pretty easy to recognize if we grasp their purpose and structure.

However, these are usually employed adjectives to change the subject or object of a given statement, while adverbials use adverbs to offer more (optional) information about a verb.

The syntax and meaning of the sentence are also damaged or incomplete when the bold complement is removed from the clause, as these examples demonstrate. 

As a result, complements might be regarded required functions inside a sentence, much like other sentence parts in English (excluding adverbials).

What are Different Kinds of Complements?

These examples demonstrate how subject and object complements may be classified into two secondary categories depending on their purpose. 

Summary Table of Sentence Parts

Are Sentence Parts Challenging for Students?

Sentence parts can be challenging for the students, and knowing that each phrase needs a subject and a verb can help you construct grammatically complete sentences in your writing. 

Complements, adverbials, and other modifiers may be used to add interest to a sentence.

Don’t use too many in the same sentence to avoid confusing run-on sentences. Hence, here are some faulty structures to avoid.

Rule 1: Make sure you know when to use a comma before “and.”

Writers often wonder whether they need to use a comma before “and.” (Other conjunctions such as “but” and “or” have the same response.) Compound predicates play a key role in the solution to this issue. 

Rule 2: When you require a predicate adjective, don’t use an adverb.

Both of the phrases below are accurate.

Writers may feel compelled to employ an adverb with certain connecting verbs because they know that adverbs, not adjectives, modify verbs. It’s a mistake to use an adverb to finish a connecting verb. 

Exercises Using Sentence Parts