Sentences
Introduction
If someone asked you to define a sentence, do you think you could? You might be
tempted to say, “No way!” I bet you do know a sentence when you see it. Prove
me right; pick out the sentence from these four groups of words:
* Throughout people's ears grow entire their lives.
* Grow throughout people's entire ears lives their.
* Entire throughout lives ears grow people's their.
* People's ears grow throughout their entire lives
Each of the four groups contains exactly the same words, but only one is a
sentence: the last one. You were able to pick out the sentence so easily
because you have an innate knowledge of how English works—knowledge you have
absorbed from reading, speaking, listening, and watching.
But perhaps you need a little more work on sentences. Maybe you're not sure
about the different kinds of sentences and how they're used. That's what you'll
learn here. First, you learn about the two main parts of the sentence: the
subject and the predicate. Then I teach you the four different types of
sentences: simple, compound, complex, and compound-complex. Next come the four
different sentence functions. Along the way, you learn how to fix the two most
common sentence errors: fragments and run-ons.
Subject and Predicate
Sentence: Stop!
Sentence: You stop!
Sentence: You better stop right now.
Each of these three word groups is a sentence. That's because they each meet
the three requirements for a sentence. To be a sentence, a group of words must
…
* Have a subject (noun or pronoun).
* Have a predicate (verb or verb phrase).
* Express a complete thought.
A sentence has two parts: a subject and a predicate. The subject includes the
noun or pronoun that tells what the subject is about. The predicate includes
the verb that describes what the subject is doing. Here are some examples of
complete sentences.
Subject--------------------------------- Predicate
You ------------------------------------------ stop!
The forward with the knee brace ---------- made 10 baskets.
Seek and Ye Shall Find
Being able to recognize the subject and the verb in a sentence will help you
make sure that your own sentences are complete and clear. To check that you've
included the subject and verb in your sentences, follow these steps:
1. To find the subject, ask yourself, “Self, what word is the sentence
describing?”
2. To find an action verb, ask yourself, “Self, what did the subject do?”
3. If you can't find an action verb, look for a linking verb. For example:
Herman is the winner. “Is” is the linking verb.
Hidden Treasures
Some sentences are not that cooperative about the placement of their subject
and verb, however. In most sentences, the subject will come before the verb.
Not so with questions. In a question, the verb often comes before the subject.
Here are some examples:
Is the frog in the freezer?
The subject of the sentence is “frog.”
Are you traveling this weekend?
The subject of the sentence is “you.”
To find the subject in a question, rewrite the question as a statement. The
question “Is the frog in the freezer?” becomes “The frog is in the freezer.”
Now the subject, frog, is in the usual position before the verb.
It can be equally tricky to find the subject in sentences that start with here
or there. Remember that here or there never function as the subject of a
sentence. For example:
Here is your frozen frog.
The subject of the sentence is “frog.”
There goes the frog, all nicely defrosted.
The subject of the sentence is still Mr. Frog.
Hello
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