It is common in grammatical theory to distinguish between main and secondary parts of a sentence. Besides these two types there is one more — elements which are said to stand outside the sentence structure. In starting now to study parts of the sentence in Modern English, we will begin by analysing the principle or principles on which this classification is based. There are two generally recognised main parts of the sentence — the subject and the predicate.
The secondary parts of the sentence depend on the main parts. The secondary parts are: the object, the attribute, the adverbial modifier.
The Object is a secondary part of the sentence which completes a verb or sometimes an adjective and denotes state or thing. E.g. He closed the door.
The object cab be: a) direct which shows a person or a thing directly affected by the action. (I helped my brother.): b) indirect which shows to whom the action is directed, (кому? кем?) - She gave him an interesting book to read; c)prepositional.
If there are more than two objects in the sentence the word order is the following: a) In Ob + D Ob - The teacher told the students a story, b) D Obj + Prep Obj. - The teacher told a story to the students.
The Attribute is a secondary part of the sentence which qualifies a noun, a pronoun, or any other part of speech. E.g. She is a beautifulgirl.
The Adverbial Modifier is a secondary part of the sentence which modifies a verb, an adjective or an adverb. According to this we distinguish:
- the adverbial modifier of time: We shall try it tomorrow.
- the adverbial modifier of place: He has spies everywhere.
- the adverbial modifier of manner: He walked quickly.
- the adverbial modifier of purpose- He got up from the sofa for her to sit down.
