oxford_guide_to_english_grammar

PAGE 6
2
The simple sentence
7 Summary
This story contains examples of different clause patterns.
AN UNLUCKY THIEF
A man walked into a hotel, saw a nice coat, put it over his arm and walked out
again. Then he tried to hitch a lift out of town. While he was waiting, he put the
coat on. At last a coach stopped and gave him a lift. It was carrying forty detectives
on their way home from a conference on crime. One of them had recently become
a detective inspector. He recognized the coat. It was his. He had left it in the hotel,
and it had gone missing. The thief gave the inspector his coat. The inspector
arrested him. 'It seemed a good idea at the time,' the man said. He thought himself
rather unlucky.
There are five elements that can be part of a clause. They are subject, verb, object,
complement and adverbial.
Basic clause patterns
Intransitive and transitive verbs • 8
Subject
A coach
Intransitive verb
stopped.
Subject Transitive verb Object
The detective arrested the thief.
Linking verbs • 9
Subject Verb Complement
The thief was rather unlucky.
The detective became an inspector.
Subject Verb Adverbial
The coat was over his arm.
The conference is every year.