English Grammar
Direct Object
The direct object is a noun, a noun phrase or a pronoun that receives the action in the sentence
directly. It answers the question ‘what’. Direct objects mostly appear immediately after the verb
and are the primary objects in the sentence. For example:
She cut herself. I met my friend.
He drank juice. She knows all the rules.
Mary bought a new car. We watched a film.
My mom made a cake.
Indirect Object
An indirect object is a noun, a noun phrase or a pronoun that is a secondary object. It can be
identified by asking the question ‘whom’. When there is an indirect object in a sentence, it is
mostly placed after the verb and before the direct object. For example:
Fareeda gave Katreen a cake. They gave us coffee with breakfast.
My mom bought me a new dress. He lent his friend a pen.
I gave him a chocolate.
More Examples
Direct Objects Indirect Objects
Ula had bread and butter for breakfast. Nathan bought his sister a new watch.
Bassim came home yesterday. Rania’s mother read her a story before
Madiha likes chocolates. she went to bed.
We bought some roses for the party. Nabeel taught us Arabic.
There is a big house on the that street. I wanted to get my dad a gift.
Jumana asked Nabeela a question.
Exercise 8 – Identify the objects in the following sentences and also state if they are direct or
indirect objects.
1. Radwan has a big house.
2. Aisha wished her sister on her birthday.
3. Tariq and Samia bought Marwan a bicycle.
4. Nahla called me yesterday evening.
5. Amal visited the museum in Idlib.
6. Jabir plays tennis.
7. Shadi opened the door for us.
8. His mom gave him some pocket money for the trip.
9. Karam asked Reema and Samar to help him with the sofa.
10. I have read Shakespeare's ‘Hamlet’.
Mahmoud Daboul
English Grammar
Complement
The complement is a word or words used to complement the noun or pronoun in a sentence, i.e.,
to complete the meaning of a sentence. A complement includes any type of word that can
qualify a noun or pronoun. Different parts of speech can be used as complements in a sentence.
A complement can be an adjective, a noun a name, a position or a profession. For example:
Complements are divided into two types based on which component they speak about, namely,
1. Subject Complement
2. Object Complement
1- Subject Complement
A subject complement is a word or phrase that modifies the noun or pronoun that acts as
the subject in the sentence. For instance, the adjective ‘new’ in the sentence, 'This dress
is new' is a subject complement.
2- Object Complement
An object complement is a word or phrase that modifies the noun or pronoun that acts as
the object in the sentence. For instance, the word ‘Sara’ in the sentence, 'We named our
daughter, Sara' is the object complement.
Examples:
Subject Complement Object Complement
1. I am Syrian. 1. That’s her son, Tamir.
2. She is clever. 2. She makes me mad.
3. The students are very excited. 3. They made her angry.
4. My brother is a teacher. 4. The students elected Sedra the class
5. It grew dark. leader.
6. He is a dentist. 5. They named their daughter, Sara.
7. Today is Wednesday. 6. Marley met her friend, Ryan.
8. Your car is amazing. 7. Nobody found the film interesting.
9. She seems nice. 8. Mariam made her mom happy.
10. We were exhausted after a day of 9. She painted her nails pink.
tiring work. 10. This makes the problem even more
complicated.
Exercise 9 – Identify the complements in the following sentences and also mention if it is a
subject complement or an object complement.
1. Malik and Laila named their daughter Rana.
2. What I said made my uncle angry.
3. The chief guest was late to the meeting.
4. I am exhausted.
5. All the members of the team were not happy with the decision.
6. They elected her the class leader.
7. The cupboard was broken.
8. My neighbour is French.
9. Yesterday, the whole city was on red alert.
10. Deema is an architect.
Mahmoud Daboul
English Grammar
Adjunct
An adjunct is a word or a phrase that gives more information about an action, an event, a quality
and so on. In short, adjuncts include adverbs and adverb clauses. Adjuncts can be identified by
asking questions ‘when’, ‘where’, ‘why’, ‘how’, ‘how often’ and ‘to what extent’.
Adjuncts can be used in the beginning, middle or end of the sentence and there can be more than
one adjunct in a sentence.
Yesterday, we met at the park.
He is very tired.
Due to his ill-health, he could not come home for Christmas.
My father reads the newspaper every day.
This workout routine is extremely exhausting.
Adverbs
Adverbs are classified into different types in accordance with what kind of information they
provide or what they describe. The main different types are:
1. Adverbs of manner
2. Adverbs of time
3. Adverbs of place
4. Adverbs of frequency
5. Adverbs of degree
6. Conjunctive adverbs
Adverbs of Manner: These adverbs describe the manner in which an action is done. Basically,
the adverbs of manner answer the question ‘how’. They include:
quickly, promptly, clearly, slowly, gradually, eventually, rapidly, seriously, instantly, etc.
Adverbs of Time: Adverbs of time are used to tell when some action occurs. They can be
identified by asking the question ‘when’. They include general time periods and specific times:
now, soon, today, tomorrow, the day after tomorrow, next month, recently, forever, etc.
Adverbs of Place: These adverbs indicate where the action mentioned in the sentence is taking
place. They can be identified by asking the question ‘where’. They include:
somewhere, anywhere, nowhere, here, there, outside, inside, wherever, elsewhere, left, right,
north, east, south, west, etc.
Adverbs of Frequency: These adverbs denote how often an action or event happens. They can
be identified by asking the question ‘how often’. They include:
always, usually, often, sometimes, seldom, rarely, never, weekly, monthly, yearly, annually,
occasionally, constantly, frequently, etc.
Adverbs of Degree: These adverbs indicate how intense an action or to what degree a quality
is. They describe adjectives and adverbs. They include:
very, too, extremely, much, more, most, little, less, incredibly, totally, greatly, hardly, deeply,
barely, etc.
Conjunctive Adverbs: Conjunctive adverbs perform a little differently from the other types of
adverbs. These adverbs act like a conjunction to link two sentences or clauses together and
hence the name, ‘conjunctive adverbs’. They include:
however, therefore, in addition to, nevertheless, meanwhile, instead, likewise, notably,
subsequently, rather, namely, on the other hand, incidentally, etc.
Mahmoud Daboul
English Grammar
Different Types of Sentence Structures
There are a number of sentence structures that you can use to make your English more organised,
interesting and professional. Here are some of the commonly used sentence structures:
Structure Example
- The stars / are shining.
Subject + Verb
- The birds / are chirping.
(SV)
- It / is raining.
- Children / love / ice cream.
Subject + Verb + Object
- Noha / does not like / bitter chocolate.
(SVO)
- I / have / a pencil.
- I / am / Syrian.
Subject + Verb + Complement
- Sana' / is / a hair dresser.
(SVC)
- My name / is / Jana.
- Adil / reached / early.
Subject + Verb + Adjunct
- All of us / are leaving / for Germany.
(SVA)
- He / went / upstairs.
- We / met / our cousin, / Kareema.
Subject + Verb + Object + Complement
- My friends / make / me / happy.
(SVOC)
- Everyone / found / the novel / interesting.
- I / will have / a party / next month.
Subject + Verb + Object + Adjunct
- The teacher / reached / school / after 9 a.m.
(SVOA)
- My brother / plays / football / every day.
Subject + Verb + Indirect Object + Direct - The company / offered / me / the job.
Object - Rudaina / gave / Rama/ her favourite book.
(SVIODO) - Najwa / bought / herself / a dress.
- Suddenly, / it / grew / dark.
Adjunct + Subject + Verb + Complement
- Normally, / the weather / is / good.
(ASVC)
- Occasionally, / my brother / gets / restless.
- Last week, / we / celebrated / Eid Al Fitr.
Adjunct + Subject + Verb + Object
- Usually, / she / wears / jeans.
(ASVO)
- Every year, / we / visit / the orphanage.
- Today, / the teacher / gave / us / our papers.
Adjunct + Subject + Verb + Indirect Object
- Yesterday, / my mom / bought / me / a bicycle.
+ Direct Object
- Every time he comes home, / my brother / gets /
(ASVIODO)
my mom / her favourite chocolates.
- They / go / to work / by bus.
Subject + Verb + Adjunct + Adjunct
- We / meet / every evening / on the way back home.
(SVAA)
- Jinan / went / to the grocery store / last Saturday
- Normally, / she / comes / by bus / to university.
Adjunct + Subject + Verb + Adjunct +
- Last year, / we / went / to Ifreen / for a month.
Adjunct
- Usually, / Fahd / would go / to the sea / as soon as
(ASVAA)
he has a leave.
Mahmoud Daboul
English Grammar
Exercise 10 - Identify the adverbs in the following sentences and specify which type of adverbs
they are:
1. She often visits the camps in different parts of the country.
2. The tea was very hot; I almost burned my tongue.
3. It is most likely expected to rain in the month of January in Syria.
4. I find it difficult to keep going to the library every day.
5. I had not completed my assignment; therefore, I decided to stay back home and complete it.
6. Can we go somewhere so that I can relax my mind?
7. The girl became too restless because of the rumour.
8. Jihan was putting the children to sleep; meanwhile her brother cleaned the house.
9. My father went outside.
10. Next month, we will be in London.
Exercise 11 - Identify the sentence structure of the following sentences:
1. My son is acting weird lately.
2. It is getting too cold here.
3. The sky is blue.
4. Every year, the company updates its registry.
5. My sister bought me a pair of shoes.
6. Nobody knows the answer.
7. The movie was great.
8. I will come home as soon as I finish work.
9. In September, she will be travelling to Rome.
10. My brother’s phone is not working.
Task 1 – Make sentences following the required structure:
…………………………………………………………………………………………………………….…….…………………….
1 (SVO)
………………………………………………………………………………………………………….………….………………….
………………………………………………………………………………………………………….………………….………….
2 (SVC)
………………………………………………………………………………………………………….………………………….….
………………………………………………………………………………………………………….……………………………..
3 (SVA)
………………………………………………………………………………………………………….……………………………..
………………………………………………………………………………………………………….……………………………..
4 (SVOA)
………………………………………………………………………………………………………….……………………………..
………………………………………………………………………………………………………….……………………………..
5 (SVIODO)
………………………………………………………………………………………………………….……………………………..
………………………………………………………………………………………………………….……………………………..
6 (SVAA)
………………………………………………………………………………………………………….……………………………..
Mahmoud Daboul
English Grammar
Key answers
Exercise 1 Exercise 2 Exercise 3 Exercise 4 Exercise 5
1. adjective 1. is 1. charming 1. before 1. noun
2. pronoun 2. was looking for 2. big 2. daily 2. verb, adverb
3. preposition 3. is kept 3. pleasant 3. thrice 3. noun
4. adverb 4. pick up 4. red 4. again 4. adjective
5. verb 5. phones 5. two 5. forward 5. preposition
6. noun 6. lives 6. amazing. 6. away 6. conjunction
7. verb 7. came 7. tired. 7. clearly 7. conjunction, adverb
8. interjection 8. was/ could…keep 8. beautiful. 8. too 8. adjective
9. conjunction 9. did not go 9. your 9. almost 9. interjection
10. preposition 10.Can…come 10. last 10. well 10. preposition
Exercise 6 Exercise 7 Exercise 8
1. We 1. go 1. a big house – Direct object
2. I 2. loves 2. her sister – Indirect object
3. mine 3. find 3. Marwan, – Indirect object
4. She 4. come a bicycle – Direct object
5. herself 5. cleaned 4. me – Direct object
6. themselves 6. is 5. the museum in Idlib – Direct object
7. me 7. belongs 6. tennis – Direct object
8. he/she 8. count 7. the door – Direct object
9. This 9. going 8. some pocket money – Direct object
10. yours 10. plays 9. Reem and Samar – Indirect object
10. 'Hamlet' – Direct object
Exercise 9 Exercise 10
1. Rory – Object Complement 1. often – Adverb of Frequency
2. angry – Object Complement 2. very – Adverb of Degree
3. late – Subject Complement 3. most – Adverb of Degree,
4 exhausted – Subject Complement likely Adverb of Manner
5. not happy – Subject Complement 4. every day – Adverb of Time
6. the class leader – Object Complement 5. therefore – Conjunctive Adverb
7. broken – Subject Complement 6. somewhere – Adverb of Place
8. French – Subject Complement 7. too – Adverb of Degree
9. on red alert – Subject Complement 8. meanwhile – Conjunctive Adverb
10. architect – Subject Complement 9. outside – Adverb of Place
10. Next month – Adverb of Time
Exercise 11
1. (SVCA)
2. (SVACA)
3. (SVC)
4. (ASVO)
5. (SVIODO)
6. (SVO)
7. (SVC)
8. (SVAA)
9. (ASVA)
10. (SV)
Mahmoud Daboul
