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Main Parts
The Subject
There are various ways of expressing the subject in OE. The most usual of these is naturally a substantive, as in the following sentences: Ohthere sæde his hlaforde 'Ohthere said to his lord', se here wæs ham hweorfende 'the army was returning home'. Often enough, the subject is a pronoun, as in the sentences he pas andsware onfenʒ 'he received this answer'; hu hit ʒewurðan mihte 'how it could happen', ponne todælap hi his feoh 'then they divide his property'.
The Predicate
The predicate in OE may be either verbal or nominal. Again, the verbal predicate may be either simple or compound. The simple verbal predicate is one expressed by the form of one verb, either simple, or, in some cases, analytical. As to the latter variety, it should be noted, that we cannot always clearly distinguish between a compound predicate and a simple verbal one, with an analytical verb form. Examples of a simple verbal predicate are of course very numerous, e.g.: pa cwæp he 'then he said', pa Finnas and pa Beormas spræcon neah an ʒepeode 'the Finns and the Berms spoke nearly the same language', he for pider 'he sailed there'. A compound verbal predicate can be seen in the following sentences: Ne con ic noht sinʒan.—Hwæðre pu canst sinʒan.— Hwæt sceat ic sinʒan? (Bede, translated by King Alfred.) "I cannot sing anything. — But thou canst sing. — What shall I sing?' A nominal predicate seems to be always compound in OE. We can see it, for example, in the following sentences: he wæs swype spediʒ man 'he was a very rich man', eart pu se Beowulf, sepe wip Brecon wunne? 'art thou the Beowulf who competed with Breca?'
Secondary Parts
The Object
Objects can be expressed by substantives or pronouns in the accusative, dative, or genitive case. Most usually an object (with so-called transitive verbs) is expressed by a substantive or pronoun in the accusative case, as in: he pa pas andsware onfenʒ 'he then received this answer', hi hine forbærnap 'they burn him', sæʒdon sum haliʒ spelt 'told a holy story'. There may be two objects in one sentence, one direct, the other indirect, and the difference is seen in the case forms; the direct object is in the accusative, and the indirect in the dative, as in: fela spella him sæʒdon pa Beormas 'the Permians told him many stories', sinʒ me hwæthwuʒu 'sing me something'. The indirect object in the dative can also express the instrument of the action (this is the meaning of the dative inherited from the original instrumental case), as in Alfred cyniʒ hatep ʒretan Wærferp ærcebiscop his wordum 'king Alfred greets archbishop Warferth with his words'. Very often the object is expressed by the phrase "preposition + substantive or pronoun", as in: nu hæbbe we scortlice ʒessed ymb Asia londʒemsere 'now we have briefly spoken about the land of Asia'. The lexical meaning of the preposition is of course essential for the expression of the actual extralinguistic relation between the object and the action or other object mentioned in the sentence.
The Attribute An attribute may be expressed either by an adjective or by a pronoun, or numeral, of by a substantive in the genitive case, or by a phrase "preposition + substantive". Examples of all these varieties are numerous enough. E. g.: he wæs swyðe spediʒ man 'he was a very rich man', pa clypode he Esau, his yldran sunu 'then he called Esau, his elder son', brinʒ me twa, pa betstan tyccenu 'bring me two, the best kids', pær sceal ælces ʒepeodes man beon forbærned 'a man of every tribe shall be burnt'.
The Apposition
Appositions of various sizes, referring either to a substantive or to a pronoun, are found in many OE texts. E. g.: Martianus casere 'the emperor Martian', Ohthere sæde his hlaforde, AElfrede cyninʒe 'Ohthere said to his lord, king Alfred', wæs he, se man, in woruldhade ʒeseted 'he, the man, was a layman', her com AElfred, se unsceððiʒa æpelins, AEpelrædes sunu cinʒes, hider inn 'at this time Alfred, the innocent nobleman, son of king Ethelred, arrived here'.
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