II. SENTENCE STRUCTURE

The patterns of English are flexible. Contorted, stilted and ambiguous are words used to describe writing that does not conform to established patterns.

The most familiar pattern: Subject - Verb e.g. She smiled.

The most common words: Structure words, which include articles (a, an, the), pronouns (he, she, it, they), conjunctions (and, so), and prepositions (in, at, over, under).