I.  SUBJECT and PREDICATE:

Every statement can be divided into two parts:

-          The person or thing that is being spoken about is called SUBJECT – the topic of the sentence.

-          The things that are said about are called PREDICATE (him, her, them, it, etc.).

Eg:  John loves Mary --> Subject: ‘John’, Predicate: ‘loves Mary’

James plays piano beautifully --> Subject: ‘James’, Predicate: ‘plays piano beautifully’

1/ Empty Subject:

We often use ‘it’ in sentence referring to time, the weather, temperature or distance. When used in this way, ‘it’ is sometimes called an empty subject because it carries no real information. It is present because every English sentence has to contain a subject (and a verb):

Time: It’s 3 o’clock. It’s Thursday.

Weather: It’s hot. It’s raining.

Temperature: It’s 37^oC.

Distance: It’s 5 km from here to the university.

The tides: It’s high tide at 11.44.

Environment: It’s noisy in here.

Present situation: It’s awful, isn’t it?

With ‘since’: It’s 3 years since we last met.

With ‘says’: It says here there was a big fire in Tokyo.

With ‘take’: It takes 20 minutes to get to work.

2/ Preparatory Subject:

Sometimes sentences beginning with ‘it’ continue with an infinitive, a gerund or a noun clause. It is possible to begin such sentences with an infinitive or gerund, but we generally prefer ‘it’. The true subject is the infinitive, gerund or noun clause, and it is preparatory to the subject.

Eg:

It’s pleasant to lie in the sun.

It’s pleasant lying in the sun.

It’s a shame that Tom isn’t here.

It doesn’t matter when we arrive.

3/ Agent:

In active, subject expresses the agent, i.e., the ‘doer’ – the person or thing that perform the action indicated by the verb, whereas in the passive the agent stands after ‘by’:

The boy broke the window --> The window was broken by the boy

II.  THE OBJECT:

The object is the person or thing toward which the subject directs the process spoken of in the verb.

An object is normally a noun, pronoun, or noun phrase; it usually goes after the verb in the active. It can be become the subject of a verb in the passive:

She hit me.

Mary likes to eat ice cream.

Mary bought whatever we wanted.

That book was written by Mary.

Object can be divided into 2 types:

1/ A Direct Object: refers to the person or thing affected by the action of the verb. It comes immediately after a transitive verb:

He kicked the dog. The dog bit him.

2/  An Indirect Object: usually refers to the person who ‘benefits’ from the action expressed in the verb:

I bought him a cup of tea. I bought a cup of tea to him. She gave him some money.

III.  The Complement: is a sentence element that gives further information about the subject or the object; in other words, the complement completes the meaning of the subject or the object.

1/  Subject Complement (C_subj): is the complement linked to a subject by ‘be’ or a ‘linking verb’.

She is a doctor. A pig is not a flying animal. She seems an honest person. We were to start our journey on July 5^th. Our duty is that we must finish the problem.

2/  Object Complement (C_obj): is the complement linked to an object.

They made him the chairman. They have proved me wrong. He likes this coffee strong. She wants all of us to go. I found what he said to mean nothing. I named my son what my father named me. We found her in tears. I saw her running down the hill. He couldn’t make his voice heard.

3/  Adjective Complement (C_adj): is the complement linked to an adjective.

I’m glad that you can come.

4/  Prepositional Complement (C_prep): is the complement linked to a preposition.

They argue about what to do.

5/  Complementary Clause (Complement Clause): is a clause which functions as a complement.

The question is why you did it.

Notice: While adjuncts are optional parts of sentences, complements are often obligatory parts of the sentences in which they occur.

IV.  ATTRIBUTE: ‘Attributive’ in a broad sense, syntactically refers to a word, a phrase or even a clause that functions like an attributive adjective, i.e., modifying the meaning of a noun in the sentence, regardless of its position.

The Attributive can be expressed by means of a word, a phrase and a clause:

It was a nationwide campaign. He is a government employee. He works in the state sector.

Could you tell me the way how to tackle the problem? The girl with long black hair is my classmate.

The girl who is standing by the window is Daniel’s daughter.

1/ Attributive Adjective: Functionally, an attributive adjective is an adjective which modifies the meaning of a noun it precedes. It is used before a noun.

2/ Predicative Adjective: A predicative Adjective is an adjective which has the function of a complement in the sentence, and modifies the meaning to the subject.

V.  ADVERBIAL: is any single word (adverbs), phrases or clauses that function as the adverb in the sentence. These phrases and clauses are called adverbial phrases and adverbial clauses respectively.

Eg: She sang softly. She sang in a soft voice. She sang so softly that some people started to cry.

1/  Adverbial Clause:

In a complex sentence, the adverbial clause is subordinate to the main clause. Like adverbs, they answer the questions When? Where? How? Why? etc.

Eg:

(When?) – Tell him as soon as he arrives.

(Where?) – You can sit where you like.

(How?) – He spoke as if he meant business.

(Why?) – He went to bed because he felt ill.

2/  Classification of Adverbial Clause:

(1)  Adverbial Clauses of Comparison are introduced by as…as, -er than, etc.:

Eg: Tell him as soon as he arrives.

(2)      Adverbial Clauses of Concession (Contrast) introduce an element of contrast into a sentence and are sometimes called contrast clause. They are introduced by conjunctions like although, even if, while, however, no matter how, etc.:

Eg: We intend to go to India, even if air fares go up again.

(3)   Adverbial Clauses of Manner answer the question How? And are introduced by conjunctions like as, in the way, and as if :

Eg: Type this again as I showed you a moment ago.

(4)   Adverbial Clauses of Place answer the question Where? And are introduced by conjunctions like where, wherever, anywhere :

Eg: You can camp where you like.

(5)   Adverbial Clauses of Purpose answer the questions What for? And For what purpose? And are introduced by conjunctions like so that, in order that, in case, lest and for fear (that) :

Eg: I have arrived early so that I can get a good view of the process.

(6)    Adverbial Clauses of Reason answer the question Why? And are introduced by conjunction like because, as, since, seeing (that) :

Eg: The strike was not successful because there was very little support.

(7)   Adverbial Clauses of Result describe consequences and are introduced by that after, for example, ‘so + adjective’ to answer How (quick)? :

Eg: His reactions are so quick that no one can match him.

(8) Adverbial Clauses of Time broadly answer the questions When? And are introduced by conjunctions like when, after, before, as soon as, and since, etc.

Eg: You didn’t look very well when you got up this morning.

(9)   Adverbial Clauses of Condition

Eg: If I see him, I will let you know.