Talking about sentence structure

First step in knowing how sentences are structured

初步認識英語句子的結構

T: Thomas, L: Lawrence

T: Hi Lawrence! So glad to see you again. What is today’s subject regarding learning English that you wish to appreciate a bit more?

L: Thanks Thomas! If your time allows, can you tell me more about sentence structure?

T: Sure. Let me give you an example. Hmm … Right … Consider “David is very fond of making fun of Mary”. Can you tell at once which word is the subject and which word is the object ?

L: Of course. David is subject and Mary is object. Right?

T: Correct! Now, let’s expand this simple sentence like this. “David is very fond of making fun of Mary, which is not a very nice thing to do”. What kind of sentence is the sentence now? Simple or complex?

L: Complex, since there is a clause added to the basic sentence, or we can call that the main clause. Correct?

T: Exactly. So, you can see that the structure of the sentence is now changed a bit, but the basis still remains, which is now the main clause of the complex sentence.

L: I am getting it now.

T: 嗨Lawrence，很高興又見到你。今天你想了解多一點甚麼英文課題?

L: 謝謝您，Thomas。如果你時間允許，可否告訴我多一些關於英文的句子結構嗎？

T: 當然可以。讓我給你舉個例子⋯⋯嗯⋯⋯比如句子 “David is very fond of making fun of Mary”你可以立刻分辨出句子中哪字是「主語」，哪字是「賓語」﹖

L: 當然可以。David是主語，Mary是賓語。對不對？

T: 正確的！現在，讓我們擴展這簡單的句子。“David is very fond of making fun of Mary, which is not a very nice thing to do”。句了擴展後，它的類別是甚麼？是單句還是複句？

L: 複句，因為在原先的基本句上加了一個從句，或者我們可以稱之為主句（main clause）。對嗎？

T: 正確。所以，你可以看到句子的結構現在出現了一點變化，但是基礎原則仍然不變，現在成了複雜句子的主句。

L: 我現在明白了。