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- Public domaingeneral-american
Academic Writing: Common Sentence Patterns, Part Three
Learning and mastering these patterns can help you improve your writing and speaking skills. We have discussed three common patterns in previous Everyday Grammar stories.
- Public domaingeneral-american
Academic Writing: Common Sentence Patterns, Part Three
Today we will explore another common pattern: the intransitive verb pattern. To start you thinking about intransitive verbs consider this passage.
- Public domaingeneral-american
Academic Writing: Common Sentence Patterns, Part Three
It is from the poem "The human family" by famous writer and poet Maya Angelou.
- Public domaingeneral-american
Academic Writing: Common Sentence Patterns, Part Three
We love and lose in China, we weep on England's moors and laugh and moan in Guinea, and thrive on Spanish shores.
- Public domaingeneral-american
Academic Writing: Common Sentence Patterns, Part Three
By the end of this story, you will be able to recognize and understand the intransitive verb pattern that Angelou uses many times in the stanza
- Public domaingeneral-american
Academic Writing: Common Sentence Patterns, Part Three
verbs go, come, walk, cry, or laugh, for example. In these verbs, the subject's action is not applied to an object.
- Public domaingeneral-american
Academic Writing: Common Sentence Patterns, Part Three
In other words, most intransitive verbs can end sentences; they do not need nouns or adjectives to their right.* The lines from the classic American song
- Public domaingeneral-american
Academic Writing: Common Sentence Patterns, Part Three
"Just Friends" give an example of the intransitive verb pattern in its most basic form: We loved, we laughed, we cried However,
- Public domaingeneral-american
Academic Writing: Common Sentence Patterns, Part Three
sentences with just the subject and intransitive verb are not very common in writing or speaking.
- Public domaingeneral-american
Academic Writing: Common Sentence Patterns, Part Three
Usually, the sentence has more information: an adverbial structure.
- Public domaingeneral-american
Academic Writing: Common Sentence Patterns, Part Three
Adverbials: Adverbials are words or phrases that give information about time, place, manner, or reason. Adverbials answer questions like How often?
- Public domaingeneral-american
Academic Writing: Common Sentence Patterns, Part Three
Where? Why? When? The two most common adverbial structures you will find are adverbs and prepositional phrases.
- Public domaingeneral-american
Academic Writing: Common Sentence Patterns, Part Three
Adverbs, such as suddenly, quickly, here, soon, or sometimes, modify a verb.
- Public domaingeneral-american
Academic Writing: Common Sentence Patterns, Part Three
Prepositional phrases are groups of words that begin with a preposition and are followed by an object, usually a noun phrase.
- Public domaingeneral-american
Academic Writing: Common Sentence Patterns, Part Three
Common prepositions include in, on, at, between, above, and below.
- Public domaingeneral-american
Academic Writing: Common Sentence Patterns, Part Three
Adverbs and prepositional phrases often follow intransitive verbs. Think back to the basic intransitive verb pattern.
- Public domaingeneral-american
Academic Writing: Common Sentence Patterns, Part Three
Subject Intransitive verb It is grammatically correct to say a simple sentence like this: We laughed
- Public domaingeneral-american
Academic Writing: Common Sentence Patterns, Part Three
Subject Intransitive Verb You can put more information into the sentence by adding an adverb: We laughed loudly
- Public domaingeneral-american
Academic Writing: Common Sentence Patterns, Part Three
Subject Intransitive Verb Adverb Or you could give even more information by adding a prepositional phrase: We laughed at the man's
- Public domaingeneral-american
Academic Writing: Common Sentence Patterns, Part Three
Subject Intransitive Verb Prepositional Phrase In intransitive verb patterns, adverbs or prepositional phrases are often
- Public domaingeneral-american
Academic Writing: Common Sentence Patterns, Part Three
referred to as "optional." In other words, a sentence is still grammatical without them.
- Public domaingeneral-american
Academic Writing: Common Sentence Patterns, Part Three
You, as the speaker or writer, choose how much information you want to include in the sentence.
- Public domaingeneral-american
Academic Writing: Common Sentence Patterns, Part Three
Now, think back to the part of Maya Angelou's poem: We love and lose in China, we weep on England's moors, and laugh and moan in Guinea,
- Public domaingeneral-american
Academic Writing: Common Sentence Patterns, Part Three
and thrive on Spanish shores. You can see that every single line uses an intransitive verb paired with a prepositional phrase.
- Public domaingeneral-american
Academic Writing: Common Sentence Patterns, Part Three
Consider the first line: We love and lose in China.
Source badges: Public domain · Creator video · Digital presenter · Reference recording. Literary passages are public domain. Studio notes are not spoken in the audio.