English Sentence Patterns
Interesting Things for ESL Students

Sentence Machine

Mad-lib / Random Sentence Generator

Scrambled Sentences

Put the words in the correct order.

Fun with Randomly-Generated Sentences

The computer makes sentences for you.

• 5 Basic Sentence Patterns
  • Subject + Verb
    I swim. Joe swims. They swam.
  • Subject + Verb + Object
    I drive a car. Joe plays the guitar. They ate dinner.
  • Subject + Verb + Complement
    I am busy. Joe became a doctor. They look sick.
  • Subject + Verb + Indirect Object + Direct Object
    I gave her a gift. She teaches us English.
  • Subject + Verb + Object + Complement
    I left the door open. We elected him president. They named her Jane.
• Tenses
  • Present Continuous
    I am swimming. Joe is sleeping. They are jogging.
  • Present Simple
    I play tennis. He swims every day. I usually swim for two hours.
  • Present Perfect
    I have eaten. He has just come home. They've already gone.
  • Past Simple
    I rested. He played tennis yesterday. They drove to Boston.
  • Past Continuous
    I was sleeping. She was cooking a while ago. They were talking.
  • Past Perfect
    I had already seen it. He had played tennis.
• Other
  • Possession
    I have a camera. He owns a car. This house belongs to them.
  • Location
    I am here. He swims in the river. They live in the mountains.
  • It's fun to swim. (Using adjectives similar to fun.)
    It isn't healthy to smoke. Smoking is dangerous.
  • They agreed to swim. (Using verbs similar to agree.)
    He didn't desire to work. They like to play.
  • They asked him to swim. (Using verbs similar to ask.)
    He didn't advise me to work. They often encourage me to work harder.
  • They enjoy swimming. (Using verbs similar to enjoy.)
    He didn't advise me to work. They often encourage me to work harder.

Magnet Boards

You can move these "word magnets" around to make your own sentences.