{"id":2907,"date":"2016-03-07T11:00:36","date_gmt":"2016-03-07T19:00:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/toefl\/?p=2907"},"modified":"2020-12-10T13:44:01","modified_gmt":"2020-12-10T21:44:01","slug":"magoosh-comics-playing-with-subjects-verbs-and-direct-objects","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/toefl\/magoosh-comics-playing-with-subjects-verbs-and-direct-objects\/","title":{"rendered":"Magoosh Comics: Playing With Subjects, Verbs, and Direct Objects"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The subject&gt;verb&gt;direct object structure is the bedrock of communication in English. This most basic sentence type is the hidden structure that shapes all other English sentence types.<\/p>\n<p>The structure seems simple on the surface, but it\u2019s still helpful to practice it. Many other languages don\u2019t have a subject&gt;verb&gt;direct object structure in the same way as English does. In East Asian and Romance languages, for instance, it\u2019s common to omit the subject from a sentence so that it\u2019s only implied through context. And in the Altaic family of languages (Korean, Japanese, Turkish, Finnish, etc\u2026) subject&gt;direct object&gt;verb is used instead of subject&gt;verb&gt;direct object.<\/p>\n<p>The sentence structure habits from your first language are very hard to put aside when you start using a different structure in a second language. In this post, I\u2019ll give you some simple comic strips that can help you learn subject&gt;verb&gt;direct object through repetition.\u00a0 (I originally created these comics for a beginner-level adult education class at the <a href=\"http:\/\/www.ecahmaa.org\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Eau Claire Hmong Mutual Assistance Association<\/a>. But these are good exercises for grammatical fitness even if you\u2019re a more advanced learner preparing for the TOEFL.)<\/p>\n<p><strong>Comic strip 1:<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>The sentences in this comic strip use only two verbs: <em>get<\/em> and <em>stomp<\/em>. And there are only three nouns: <em>man<\/em>, <em>pig<\/em>, and <em>bug<\/em>. As the situation between man, pig, and bug changes from panel to panel, the nouns playfully change from being subjects to being direct objects. Study these sentences carefully and notice how the pattern works even as the subjects, verbs, and direct objects change. Consider reading them out loud\u2014really go over this structure again and again.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-2908 size-large aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/s3.amazonaws.com\/magoosh-company-site\/wp-content\/uploads\/toefl\/files\/2016\/02\/22105252\/mc-pwsvao_img1-600x667.gif\" alt=\"mc-pwsvao_img1\" width=\"600\" height=\"667\" \/><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><strong>Comic strip 2:<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>One good way to really understand a grammar structure is to <em>work<\/em> with it. In the comic strip below, the subjects, verbs and objects have been written for you. But the sentences are missing their determiners (words like <a href=\"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/toefl\/using-a-and-an\/\"><em>a<\/em>, <em>an<\/em><\/a>, and <a href=\"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/toefl\/the-amazing-the\/\"><em>the<\/em><\/a>). Rewrite these subject&gt;verb&gt;object sentences so they include determiners and are grammatically complete.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-2909 size-large aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/s3.amazonaws.com\/magoosh-company-site\/wp-content\/uploads\/toefl\/files\/2016\/02\/22105302\/mc-pwsvao_img2-600x681.gif\" alt=\"mc-pwsvao_img2\" width=\"600\" height=\"681\" \/><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><strong>Comic strip 3:<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Now you\u2019re ready to do an exercise where you play with subject, verb, and direct object completely on your own. In this third comic strip, no sentences have been completed\u2014 you write your own. I\u2019ve given you some suggested verbs, subjects, and direct objects, but feel free to be creative!<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-2910 size-large aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/s3.amazonaws.com\/magoosh-company-site\/wp-content\/uploads\/toefl\/files\/2016\/02\/22105318\/mc-pwsvao_img3-600x939.gif\" alt=\"mc-pwsvao_img3\" width=\"600\" height=\"939\" \/><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The subject&gt;verb&gt;direct object structure is the bedrock of communication in English. This most basic sentence type is the hidden structure that shapes all other English sentence types. The structure seems simple on the surface, but it\u2019s still helpful to practice it. Many other languages don\u2019t have a subject&gt;verb&gt;direct object structure in the same way as [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":80,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13603],"tags":[],"ppma_author":[13630],"class_list":["post-2907","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-grammar"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v21.7 (Yoast SEO v21.7) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Magoosh Comics: Playing With Subjects, Verbs, and Direct Objects - Magoosh Blog \u2013 TOEFL\u00ae\ufe0f Test<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/toefl\/magoosh-comics-playing-with-subjects-verbs-and-direct-objects\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Magoosh Comics: Playing With Subjects, Verbs, and Direct Objects\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The subject&gt;verb&gt;direct object structure is the bedrock of communication in English. This most basic sentence type is the hidden structure that shapes all other English sentence types. The structure seems simple on the surface, but it\u2019s still helpful to practice it. Many other languages don\u2019t have a subject&gt;verb&gt;direct object structure in the same way as [&hellip;]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/toefl\/magoosh-comics-playing-with-subjects-verbs-and-direct-objects\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Magoosh Blog \u2013 TOEFL\u00ae\ufe0f Test\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/facebook.com\/MagooshTOEFL\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:author\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/MagooshEnglishLearning\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2016-03-07T19:00:36+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2020-12-10T21:44:01+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/s3.amazonaws.com\/magoosh-company-site\/wp-content\/uploads\/toefl\/files\/2016\/02\/22105252\/mc-pwsvao_img1-600x667.gif\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"David Recine\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@MagooshTOEFL\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@MagooshTOEFL\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"David Recine\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/toefl\/magoosh-comics-playing-with-subjects-verbs-and-direct-objects\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/toefl\/magoosh-comics-playing-with-subjects-verbs-and-direct-objects\/\",\"name\":\"Magoosh Comics: Playing With Subjects, Verbs, and Direct Objects - Magoosh Blog \u2013 TOEFL\u00ae\ufe0f Test\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/toefl\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2016-03-07T19:00:36+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/toefl\/#\/schema\/person\/fa2be5405a605e37f4199c90e2236768\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/toefl\/magoosh-comics-playing-with-subjects-verbs-and-direct-objects\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/toefl\/magoosh-comics-playing-with-subjects-verbs-and-direct-objects\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/toefl\/magoosh-comics-playing-with-subjects-verbs-and-direct-objects\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/toefl\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Magoosh Comics: Playing With Subjects, Verbs, and Direct Objects\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/toefl\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/toefl\/\",\"name\":\"Magoosh Blog \u2013 TOEFL\u00ae\ufe0f Test\",\"description\":\"Online TOEFL Preparation\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/toefl\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/toefl\/#\/schema\/person\/fa2be5405a605e37f4199c90e2236768\",\"name\":\"David Recine\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/toefl\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/de262e64bb4e3e488753d8c58ff3cc70\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/b70c17ee6f3ef87dc4cc5dbdebda911d6dd30dfe15845e4b1d459a3e1b33ef98?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/b70c17ee6f3ef87dc4cc5dbdebda911d6dd30dfe15845e4b1d459a3e1b33ef98?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"David Recine\"},\"description\":\"David is a Test Prep Expert for Magoosh TOEFL and IELTS. 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Additionally, he's helped students with TOEIC, PET, FCE, BULATS, Eiken, SAT, ACT, GRE, and GMAT. David has a BS and MA from the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire and an MA from the University of Wisconsin-River Falls.","sameAs":["https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/MagooshEnglishLearning","https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/david-recine\/","https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/channel\/UCra3KQoJlOP7RYwaCyH2qew"],"knowsAbout":["TOEFL","IELTS","TOEIC","PET","FCE","BULATS","Eiken","SAT","ACT","GRE","GMAT"],"knowsLanguage":["English","Italian"],"jobTitle":"Content Creator","worksFor":"Magoosh","url":"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/toefl\/author\/davidr\/"}]}},"authors":[{"term_id":13630,"user_id":80,"is_guest":0,"slug":"davidr","display_name":"David Recine","avatar_url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/b70c17ee6f3ef87dc4cc5dbdebda911d6dd30dfe15845e4b1d459a3e1b33ef98?s=96&d=mm&r=g","user_url":"","last_name":"Recine","first_name":"David","description":"David is a Test Prep Expert for Magoosh TOEFL and IELTS. Additionally, he's helped students with TOEIC, PET, FCE, BULATS, Eiken, SAT, ACT, GRE, and GMAT.\r\n\r\nDavid has a BS from the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire and an MA from the University of Wisconsin-River Falls. His work at Magoosh has been cited in<a href=\"https:\/\/scholar.google.com\/scholar?hl=en&amp;as_sdt=0%2C50&amp;q=Recine+magoosh&amp;btnG=\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"> many scholarly articles<\/a>,<a href=\"https:\/\/minds.wisconsin.edu\/handle\/1793\/65479\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"> his Master's Thesis<\/a> is featured on the<a href=\"https:\/\/www.readingwithpictures.org\/2013\/09\/research-highlight-teaching-english-language-learners-with-comics\/\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"> Reading with Pictures<\/a> website, and he's presented at the<a href=\"https:\/\/www.witesol.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/11\/2014-WITESOL-Program-FINAL-10-28-14.pdf\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"> WITESOL (link to PDF)<\/a> and<a href=\"https:\/\/issuu.com\/interoff\/docs\/nafsaregionv_2014conference\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"> NAFSA<\/a> conferences. David has taught K-12 ESL in South Korea as well as undergraduate English and MBA-level business English at American universities. He has also trained English teachers in America, Italy, and Peru.\r\n\r\nCome join David and the Magoosh team on<a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/channel\/UCra3KQoJlOP7RYwaCyH2qew\"> Youtube<\/a>,<a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/MagooshEnglishLearning\"> Facebook<\/a>, and<a href=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/magooshenglish\/?hl=en\"> Instagram<\/a>, or connect with him via<a href=\"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/david-recine\/\"> LinkedIn<\/a>!"}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/toefl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2907","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/toefl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/toefl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/toefl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/80"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/toefl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2907"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/toefl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2907\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/toefl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2907"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/toefl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2907"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/toefl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2907"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/toefl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/ppma_author?post=2907"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}