Grammar essentials: Elements of language

It's very helpful to consider the building blocks of the language, the essential elements that create this amazing tool for communication.

Identifying these elements is very useful for teachers and students alike. And, to my mind, it's also rather fascinating!

So, let's begin with the basics. English is an S-V-O language: subject-verb-object.

• Cats love fish.

Starting with an S-V-O sentence is a very strong foundation. It is also called "the active voice" and is favored by many, many writers and editors.  

Once you have made a clear, simple sentence, you can add information. Here is where the fun begins.

• Cats love fresh fish.
  • An adjective modifies the object noun.

We can add articles.

• The cats I own love fresh fish.
  • The definite article ‘the’ indicates that we are talking about specific cats.

Or

• My cats love fresh fish.
  • A possessive adjective modifies the subject noun.

We can make it stronger.

• My cats absolutely love fresh fish.
  • An adverb of degree modifies the verb.

We can add a location.

• My cats absolutely love fresh fish on a plate.
  • A prepositional phrase indicates place.

We can combine information.

• My cats absolutely love extremely fresh fish on a plate.
  • An adverb modifies the adjective, which modifies the object noun, fish.
     
• My cats absolutely love these extremely fresh fish on a plate.
  • A demonstrative adjective modifies the object noun, fish.
     
• My cats absolutely love these extremely fresh fish which I have served on a plate.
  • A defining relative clause (using the relative pronoun ‘which’) that clearly defines the fresh fish I am talking about.
     
• My cats absolutely love these extremely fresh fish served on a plate.
  • A reduced relative clause makes the sentence sound more sophisticated.
     
• My cats absolutely love these extremely fresh fish served on a plate on this warm summer afternoon.
  • A long adverb of time tells us when the action happened.
     
• My cats absolutely love these extremely fresh fish, which were caught only this morning, served on a plate on this warm summer afternoon.
  • A non-defining relative clause adds extra information about our fish.
     
• My cats absolutely love these extremely fresh fish, caught only this morning, served on a plate on this warm summer afternoon.
  • The non-defining relative clause is now a reduced relative clause.
     
• Being cats, my two absolutely love these extremely fresh fish, caught only this morning, served on a plate on this warm summer afternoon.
  • A present participle can be used to indicate reason, "Because they are cats..."

So far so good? 

Let's have some real fun and make some much more complex sentences.

• While my cats absolutely love these extremely fresh fish, caught only this morning, served on a plate on this warm summer afternoon, my dogs prefer chicken.
  • The conjunction of contrast connects the two clauses in this sentence. The second is back to simple S-V-O construction.

We can then spice up the second clause:

• While my cats absolutely love these extremely fresh fish, caught only this morning, served on a plate on this warm summer afternoon, my frankly stupid dogs undoubtedly prefer well-cooked chicken marinated in very fragrant Italian herbs for at least eight hours.

Notice that you can still easily find the basic S-V-O sentence "my dogs prefer chicken" in the above example.

Let’s identify the items in blue. 

1. frankly: adverb
2. stupid: adjective
3. undoubtedly: conjunction
4. well-cooked: adverb
5. marinated (in herbs): reduced relative clause
6. in: preposition
7. very: adverb 
8. fragrant: adjective
9. Italian: adjective
10. for at least eight hours: adverb

You've made it to the end. Well done. Think about these elements of language when you are speaking and writing. The English Farm is releasing new grammar guides, so check back soon.
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