LET Reviewer: English Sentence Structure

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VERB COMPONENT of SENTENCE STRUCTURE:“STRUCTURAL VERB” (as opposed to “Action Verb”)

Almost 100% of the grammarians (including the topmost authentic ones in the world) have an incorrect idea that the verb component or verb requirement of a sentence structure refers to Action Verb.

The aforementioned idea (the verb component or verb requirement of a sentence structure refers to Action Verb) is incorrect because the relevant verb component refers to NOT Action Verb but

“STRUCTURAL VERB”.

Also, a vast majority of the grammarians have little understanding about the function of “AGENT” while no understanding about “PATIENT”.

“AGENT” is a word or a group of words that delivers the main action or the action of the Action Verb. It is the “DELIVERER of the main action” or, in short, “DELIVERER”.

“PATIENT” is a word or a group of words that receives the main action or the action of the Action Verb. And it is the “RECEIVER of the main action” or, in short, “RECEIVER”.

And, the aforementioned incorrect ideas result in another incorrect idea that the Patient in a passive sentence performs the action of the Action Verb. No, in a passive sentence, the Patient does not perform the Action Verb. Rather, it performs only the lead component of the Structural Verb while passively receiving the action of the Action Verb.

In an active sentence, the Agent is the subject and performs both the Structural Verb as well as the Action Verb. But, in a passive sentence, the Patient is the subject and performs the lead component of the Structural Verb but passively receives the action of the Action Verb rather than performing the Action Verb.

Once we examine the attached table, we can clearly understand all of the aforementioned matters while the correspondence between the active and passive versions of a speech clarifies it even better.

The “Verb Component” or “Structural Verb” is in the red rectangle in the table.
While the color codes give you a better visual effect, it still will be fine even if you can’t see the color.

In the table, there are two active sentences and their passive versions. To give a closer look as to their active-passive correspondence, let’s examine them by shuffling the numerical order reflected in the table, as follows:
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1. ACTIVE: John drove the car.
3. PASSIVE: The car was driven by John.

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2. ACTIVE: John has driven the car.
4. PASSIVE: The car has been driven by John.

In all of the above four sentences, the following factors are common:
1. Action of driving is the main action or Action Verb;
2. “John” is the AGENT or DELIVERER of the Action Verb; and
3. “The car” is the PATIENT or RECEIVER of the Action Verb.

With respect to sentences 2, 3, and 4, let’s ask and answer the following two questions:
1. Are the verbs “has”, “was”, and “has been” Action Verb? No. They are helping verb.
2. Without these helping verbs and using only the Action Verbs, do these sentences have such complete structures that we can call sentence? Absolutely not.

Accordingly, in sentences 2, 3, and 4, the Action Verbs “driven”, “driven”, and “driven” alone do not constitute the structure of the verb component of the sentence structure and therefore do not constitute any sentence at all. Since the same word “driven” is the Action Verb in all these three sentences, let’s examine another sentence to identify the point:
“John is driving the car.”
---- Here, the Action Verb “driving” standing alone without “is”, just as “driven” in the above three speeches, does not constitute the structure of the requisite verb component and therefore does not constitute a sentence at all.

Consequently, the verb component of the sentence structure “Subject + Verb” does NOT refer to Action Verb.
Then, what does it refer to?
In sentences 2, 3, and 4 as well as the sentence “John is driving the car”, what constitute the requisite verb structures of the sentence structures are respectively as follows:
“has driven”,
“was driven”,
“has been driven”, and
“is driving”.
As each of these group of words as a whole constitutes the structure of the verb component without which a speech is not a sentence at all, each of these whole units is “STRUCTURAL VERB” because each as a whole is the structure of the verb component of the relevant sentence structure.

Only in active voice forms of affirmative present simple, past simple and imperative sentences, the Action Verb itself standing alone constitutes the Structural Verb while simultaneously serving as the main action. But, in all other occasions, NO Action Verb itself standing alone can constitute the full structure of the verb component of a sentence structure.

Accordingly, Action Verb is one of the particles of the Structural Verb. And the verb requirement in all sentence structures refers to not Action Verb but Structural Verb.
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When including one-word imperative sentences (e.g. “Stop”), predicate is the most rudimentary and requisite component of all sentences. Without this component, no speech is sentence. And the most reduced form of the predicate is the “Structural Verb” which is the primary predicate. After the Structural Verb, whatever item(s) we add to the predicate is/are extended predicate.

Except imperative sentences, the most rudimentary and requisite structure of all sentences is:
Subject + Predicate.
And, because the most reduced form of the predicate is the “Structural Verb” which is the primary predicate while whatever item(s) we add to the predicate is/are extended predicate, the most reduced structure of all sentences (except imperative) is:
Subject + Structural Verb.
This is the universal sentence structure, that is that all sentences must have a Subject and a Structural Verb.

When we construct different types of sentences, it is not that this universal structure changes but we modify it by adding items to it and/or switching around the items within its universal structure. For example:
1
Make a comparison between the corresponding active and passive sentences 1 and 3 in the table and then 2 and 4. The fundamental structure “Subject + Structural Verb” is the same but what made the differences are changes in the functions of the particles and changes within the structure of the Structural Verbs.
2
Consider this sentence:
“Did John drive?”
---- “John” is subject and “Did + drive” is the Primary Predicate including Structural Verb (Did + drive) only. The universal “Subject + Primary-Predicate (Structural Verb)” still is in place. What makes it interrogative is the switching around the particles.

Therefore, when including imperatives, only Structural Verb (Primary Predicate) is the universal requirement of the sentence structure. When excluding imperatives, the universal requirement is:
Subject + Structural Verb (Primary Predicate).
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CONCLUSION

Relevant to the central topic, verb component or verb requirement in the sentence structures does not refer to Action Verb but Structural Verb that includes but is not limited to Action Verb.

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