The structure of a sentence is the correct way in which the words must be arranged. Sentences can be basic or very complex. We will be looking at where the different parts of speech fall within a sentence to make it grammatically correct and understood by all.
The most basic of sentences must contain a subject and a verb.
For example: ‘I do’.
‘I’ is the subject and ‘do’ is a verb. This a perfectly functioning sentence, but not all sentences are that easy I’m afraid!
basic sentence structure – active voice
Let’s start with an easy structure. The active voice is where someone does something (a subject performs an action). It is used way more frequently that the passive voice. What’s the passive voice I hear you cry? Follow the link to find out, but prepare yourselves, it isn’t a walk in the park (easy).
Let’s look at the active voice structure and see some examples.
HOT TIP – The verb used changes the tense of the sentence, it can be in the past, present or future. There are 13 different tense structures for you to learn. If you don’t know the tense structures, I suggest you start learning them beginning with present simple.
SVO + Place and time
Subject + Verb + Object is the basic structure. We can make it a little more difficult by adding time and place.
As you can see…place always goes after the object however time can either go at the beginning or end of a sentence.
interrogative sentence structure
Interrogative sentences often begin with the ‘w’ words – who, what, when, where, why and not forgetting how. These are a little trickier as they include the dreaded auxiliary verbs.
Take a gander at the structure for questions and remember – never swap the subject and the auxiliary.
correct the sentence grammar
Test your grammar and sentence structure knowledge by rearranging these sentences into the correct order.
If all this information is too much for you to process, never fear, technology is here! There is a great FREE platform called ‘Grammarly’ that can correct all your sentences for you. Try it today.
