52 Patterns of Proposition I
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1. S + Intensive V (BE) + C
Ex: The book is new.
1. IS NEW, THE BOOK [NEW, BOOK]
2. S + Other intensive V + C
Ex: The screw worked loose.
1. WORKED LOOSE, THE SCREW
[WORKED LOOSE, SCREW]

3. S + Vintrans
Ex: The dog ran.
1. RAN, THE DOG [RAN, DOG]
4. S+ verbsmonotrans + O
Ex: The dog ate food.
1. ATE, THE DOG, FOOD [ATE, DOG, FOOD]

5. S + vditrans + Od + Oi
Ex: The dog gave the puppies milk.
1. GAVE, THE DOG, THE PUPPIES, WHAT
2. WHAT = MILK
Ex: The dog gave the milk to the puppies.
1. GAVE, THE DOG, THE MILK
2. TO THE PUPPIES
6. S + vmonotrans + PP + Od
Ex: They talked about the story.
1. TALKED, THEY, ABOUT THE STORY

7. S + vditrans + Oi + PP + Od
Ex: The story reminds me of London.
1. REMINDS, THE STORY, ME
2. OF LONDON
8. S + vcomplex Trans + O + C
Ex: The boy calls me Alice.
1. CALLS, THE BOY, ME,WHAT
2. WHAT= ALICE
Notes: The complement can be nouns, pronouns,
adjectives, adverbs, prepositional phrases, bare
infinitives, full infinitives, present participles, past
participles (nine forms).

9. S + vtrans + To V (phrase)
Notes: It is the nonfinite in the sentence.
Ex: The dog wanted to eat food.
1. WANTED, THE DOG
2. TO EAT, (THE DOG), FOOD
10. S + vtrans + O + To V (plus Object)
The object is the subject in the non-finite clause.
Ex: The mother wanted the boy to eat food.
1. WANTED, THE MOTHER, THE BOY
2. TO EAT, (THE BOY), FOOD

11. S + vtrans + (To) V
Ex: I helped raise my brothers and sisters.
1. HELPED, I
2. (TO) RAISE, (I), MY BROTHERS
3. (TO) RAISE, (I), MY SISTERS
12. S + vtrans + O + (To) V
The object is the subject in the non-finite clause.
Ex: I helped my parents raise my brothers and
sisters.
1. HELPED, I, MY PARENTS
2. (TO) RAISE, (MY PARENTS), MY BROTHERS
3. (TO) RAISE, (MY PARENTS), MY SISTERS

13. Present participles
Ex: He is jogging.
1. IS JOGGING, HE
14. Gerunds
Notes: Gerunds may play the roles of subjects, objects,
complements, Prepositional gerund
Subject, Gerund + object as subject ( acting like a verb),
Gerund + object as object (acting like a verb),
Gerund + object inside prepositional phrase.
Ex: Cooking takes time.
She likes cooking.
1. TAKES, COOKING, TIME
1. LIKES, SHE, COOKING
The career is cooking > 1. IS, CAREER, COOKING

15. Phrasal Verbs
They are also called two-word verbs.
Phrasal
Ex: I grew up in Long Beach.
1. GREW UP, I (PHRASAL)
2. IN LONG BEACH
Non-phrasal
Ex: I went to the park.
1. WENT, I, WHERE
2. WHERE = TO THE PARK

16. Tenses, Modals and Aspectual Markers
The verbs or the verb phrases are considered one
idea.
Ex: The cat could jump.
1. COULD JUMP, THE CAT
Ex: He wouldn't be caught dead in the field now.
1. WOULD BE CAUGHT, HE, DEAD
2. NEG N'T
3. IN THE FIELD
4. NOW
Ex: I had to go.
1. HAD TO GO, I

17. Mental Process Verbs and Verbs of
Communication
They are: think, feel, believe, discover, hope,
remember, like, guess and verbs of
communication such as say, state, scream,
etc.
Ex: I think that the pig is thirsty.
1. THINK, I, (THAT)
2. IS THIRSTY, THE PIG [THIRSTY, PIG]

The verbs think or suppose can also be inserted
within a sentence.
Ex: He was in HCMC for I think 4 years.
1. WAS, HE
2. IN HCMC
3. FOR YEARS
4. 4, YEARS
5. I THINK

18. Direct Quotes using Verbs of
Communication.
The introductory verbs of communication are
say, tell, shout, whisper, etc. They denote the
manner of speaking, and may introduce
reported or “quoted”.
Ex: I order, “go”.
1. ORDER, I
2. GO, (YOU)

19. Verb Internal Predicatives
Verbs may contain embedded internal clauses with
an additional predicative idea.
Ex: He lived in what they call a hut.
1. LIVED, HE, WHERE
2. WHERE = IN A HUT
3. CALL, THEY, WHAT
20. Adjectives
Ex: The stripe cat was purring.
1. WAS PURRING, THE CAT
2. STRIPE, CAT

21. Adverbs
Adverbs modify verbs, prepositional phrases
and entire sentences.
Verb Modification
Ex: The cat jumped high.
1. JUMPED, THE CAT
2. JUMPED, HIGH
PP Modification
Ex: The duck lives out in the country.
1. LIVES, THE DUCK, WHERE
2. WHERE = IN THE COUNTRY
3. OUT, IN

22. Utterance Modification
Ex: Ironically, she won the bet.
1. IRONICALLY
2. WON, SHE, THE BET
23. Determiners
Determiners are the, a, some, this, that.
Ex: He saw a lizard.
1. SAW, HE, A LIZARD

24. Possessives
Possessive adjectives are my, your, her, their, etc.
Ex: They went to the soldier's house.
1. WENT, THEY, WHERE
2. WHERE = TO HOUSE
3. SOLDIER'S, HOUSE
Ex: They went to his house.
1. WENT, THEY, WHERE
2. WHERE = TO HOUSE
3. HIS , HOUSE

In some cases the same idea of possession has
two possible structures, and while the idea
count is unaffected by the structure, the word
count is affected:
Ex: Jack's house is big. (4 words)
1. BIG, HOUSE
2. JACK'S, HOUSE
Ex: The house of Jack is big. (6 words)
1. BIG, HOUSE
2. OF JACK, HOUSE

25. Approximators
They are about, nearly, approximately, like, etc.
Ex: Jane worked there for like 10 years.
1. WORKED, JANE, WHERE
2. WHERE=THERE
3. FOR YEARS
4. YEARS, 10
5. 10, LIKE (APPROX)

Ex: They were in Seattle for I think 6 months.
1. WERE, THEY
2. IN SEATTLE
3. FOR MONTHS
4. MONTHS, 6
5. I THINK (APPROX)
Less than and more than are functioning as
approximators, and are thus counted as ideas.
Ex: His group had less than 10 members.
1. HAD, HIS GROUP, MEMBERS
2. MEMBERS, 10
3. 10, LESS THAN (APPROX)

Ex: They were in Seattle for about 5 or 6
months.
1. WERE, THEY, WHERE
2. WHERE = IN SEATTLE
3. FOR MONTHS
4. 5 OR 6, MONTHS
5. ABOUT 5 OR 6 (APPROX)

Good luck!