Chapter 4 - Patterns

Sentence Patterns

Sentence patterns are made up of phrases and clauses. A phrase is a group of connected words, but it is not a complete sentence because it is missing a subject and/or a verb. Phrases are just one component that makes up a complete sentence. A clause contains a subject (actor) and a verb (action). There are two types of clauses:

1. An independent clause is a complete thought. It can stand alone as a complete sentence.


2. A dependent clause (a.k.a. subordinate clause) cannot stand alone as a complete sentence (even though it may contain a subject and a verb). It begins with a subordinating conjunction (because, when, while, after… and many more).

The possibilities are endless for different types of sentences patterns. Here are the most common and basic sentence patterns:

1. The chef cooked.
   Pattern: Subject + Verb


2. The creative chef cooked.
   Pattern: Adjective + Subject + Verb


3. The creative chef methodically cooked.
   Pattern: Adjective + Subject + Adverb + Verb


4. The creative chef methodically cooked in the kitchen.
   Pattern: Adjective + Subject + Adverb + Verb + Prepositional Phrase