English grammar · Intermediate
English Sentence Structure
English sentence structure is built on a fixed order, subject, verb, object, and a small set of ways to rearrange it: questions move the auxiliary, negatives add not after it, relative clauses attach extra information to a noun, and devices like inversion, cleft sentences, and ellipsis shift emphasis or cut repetition.
What it is
Because English nouns have almost no case endings, word order does the work that endings do in other languages: The dog bit the man and The man bit the dog contain the same words and mean opposite things. A statement runs subject, verb, then object or complement; almost every other pattern in this section is a controlled departure from that order for a reason, to ask, to deny, to emphasise, or to add.
She has finished the report (statement). Has she finished the report? (question). She hasn't finished the report (negative). It's the report that she hasn't finished (cleft, for emphasis).
How to spot it
Find the main verb and its subject first. Everything else in the sentence is attached to one of them: an object after the verb, a relative clause after a noun, an adverbial at the start or end.
- The woman who called yesterday wants an answer. (relative clause attached to the subject noun)
- Never have I seen such a mess. (inversion after a negative adverbial)
- What I need is a holiday. (cleft sentence putting the focus at the end)
- She can sing and he can too. (ellipsis: the repeated verb is left out)
A clause has its own subject and verb. A sentence has at least one clause; a complex sentence joins two or more with a conjunction (because, although, when) or a relative pronoun (who, which, that).
Sentence Structure Quick Reference
The basic clause patterns
| Pattern | Example | Note |
|---|---|---|
| Subject + verb | The baby slept. | intransitive verb, nothing needed after it |
| Subject + verb + object | She read the letter. | transitive verb |
| Subject + verb + complement | He is a doctor. He seems tired. | linking verb plus noun or adjective |
| Subject + verb + object + object | I gave her the keys. | two-object verb: person first, thing second |
| Subject + verb + object + complement | They painted the door red. | the complement describes the object |
| Auxiliary + subject + verb | Did she read the letter? | question: the auxiliary moves in front |
| Subject + auxiliary + not + verb | She did not read the letter. | negative: not follows the auxiliary |
All 4 sentence structure lessons
The pages here start with the two structures every learner needs from day one, questions and negative sentences, and there is and there are. From there they move through the structures that attach information to a noun (defining and non-defining relative clauses, participle clauses, time clauses) and the structures that manage emphasis and economy at a higher level (cleft sentences, inversion, ellipsis, avoiding repetition). Contrast words and it and there as dummy subjects round out the section.
- Questions: Questions in English are made by moving an auxiliary verb in front of the subject. If the statement has no auxiliary, you add do, does, or did. Yes/no questions start with that auxiliary; wh-questions put a question word (what, where, who, how) in front of it. One word-order rule covers every type, and most learner errors come from breaking it.
- Ellipsis: Ellipsis is the omission of words that are understood from the context, so that a sentence says less than it means and the listener fills the gap. English uses it after and, but, and or, in short answers, after auxiliary verbs, and in comparisons. It is one of the main ways English avoids repetition, and using it naturally is a mark of fluent, advanced English.
- Negative Sentences: A negative sentence says that something is not the case. English builds it by putting not after an auxiliary verb (is not, have not, cannot), and when the sentence has no auxiliary it borrows do, does, or did to hold the not (I do not know, she did not call). Words like never, nobody, and nothing carry a negative on their own, and standard English allows only one negative per clause.
- Relative Clauses: A relative clause is a clause that describes a noun, attached to it with a relative pronoun such as who, which, that, or whose, or a relative adverb such as where or when. A defining relative clause picks out which person or thing you mean (the man who called, the book that I lost) and cannot be removed without changing the meaning. Defining clauses take no commas, allow that, and often drop the pronoun entirely.
Sentence Structure FAQs
- What is the basic word order of an English sentence?
- Subject, verb, object: I read books. Adverbials of time and place usually go at the end (I read books at night), and adverbs of frequency go before the main verb (I often read books). This order is rigid compared with most European languages, which is why a sentence with the object first sounds poetic or wrong rather than merely emphatic.
- How do I make a question in English?
- Move the auxiliary verb in front of the subject: She is coming becomes Is she coming? If the statement has no auxiliary, add do, does, or did: She likes tea becomes Does she like tea? A wh-word goes at the very front: Where does she live? Only be as a main verb inverts without do: Is she here?
- What is the difference between a defining and a non-defining relative clause?
- A defining clause tells you which one and cannot be removed: the man who lives next door is a doctor. A non-defining clause adds extra information about something already identified, is set off with commas, and could be dropped: my neighbour, who is a doctor, lives next door. Non-defining clauses never use that and never omit the pronoun.
- What is a cleft sentence?
- A sentence split in two to put emphasis on one part. It was Maria who found the keys stresses Maria; What she found was the keys stresses the keys. Cleft sentences are common in speech, where you cannot use bold type, and in writing when you want the reader to notice one element.
- When does English put the verb before the subject?
- In questions, and in a few other patterns: after negative or restrictive adverbials at the start of a sentence (Never had he seen it, Only then did I understand), in conditionals without if (Had I known, Should you need help), after so and neither (So do I, Neither did she), and in formal descriptions of place (On the hill stood a castle).