Basic Sentence Patterns

S-IV (the verb doesn’t need a direct receiver of the action.)

Tip: Try removing the words after the verb. If the sentence still makes sense
and has a complete thought, then it’s an S-IV pattern.

They swam. The child sleeps soundly.

Subject Intransitive Verb

S IV AM
(omittable)

S-TV-DO (DO is a direct receiver of the action.)

Tip: The DO (direct object) is the most affected entity of the action.
The Indonesian team defeated us in the international golf cup last night.
She drives a red car.

S TV DO Modifiers
S TV DO

S-LV-SC (The subject complement refers to the subject.)

Tip: Try replacing the verb with is/are or was/were. If the thought remains the
same, then it’s an S-LV-SC pattern.
The lecturer of the symposium has been Prof. Darwin Peralta
In this case, try replacing
the verb ‘has been’ with
the verb ‘is.’ The thought
S LV SC did not change. 

Caution: Verbs in this sentence pattern are not always the be-forms (verbs like ‘seems,
appears, etc. can also be used used in this pattern).

S-TV-IO-DO (IO is the indirect receiver of the action.)

Tip: The IO (indirect object) answers the question, “for whom” or “to whom?”

Edna gave Drina a copy of the meeting’s agenda. Sometimes, there is a

possibility that the S-TV-
IO-DO pattern can be
expressed to S-TV-DO-AM
S TV IO DO (see the next box);
however if the pattern is S-
TV-DO-AM, then it falls
under the pattern S-TV-

1|Prepar ed b y MHC Liwanag | Orig inal: 2010 | Edited: 2013

 DO. In the case of the
second box, IO can be
expressed as a
Edna gave a copy of the meeting’s agenda to Drina. prepositional phrase with
the use of the words ‘to’
and ‘for’ right after the
direct object.  An
example of this is
S TV DO AM illustrated in the next box.

S-TV-DO-OC (Object complement refers to direct object of the sentence.)

We found him dead. Confused between S-TV-IO-DO

and S-TV-DO-OC? To check
whether it is under S-TV-DO-OC
pattern, try inserting a be-form
S TV DO OC between the supposed-to-be DO
and OC. If the supposed-to-be
OC still refers to DO, then it’s an
S-TV-DO-OC pattern. Example,
for the box is “he is dead.”

Also take note that there are

verbs that indicate this kind of
sentence pattern. See
Dadulfaza’s Reading into Writing
1 (pg. 92-93) for the list of verbs
as well as their functions.

2|Prepar ed b y MHC Liwanag | Orig inal: 2010 | Edited: 2013