The Sentence

What Is a Sentence? A sentence is a group of words that expresses a complete thought. It must tell who or what and what is or what happens. It begins with a capital letter and ends with a punctuation mark. A group of words that does not express a complete thought is called a sentence fragment. Ex: Flashed in the sky When the tree fell

Four Kinds of Sentences pg Zebra Declarative Sentence- tells something and ends with a period. Ex: Deserts are dry. Interrogative Sentence- asks something and ends with a question mark. Ex: Are deserts always hot? Imperative sentence- gives an order and ends with a period. Ex: Always carry water. Exclamatory Sentence- expresses a strong feeling and ends with an exclamation point. Ex: It was so hot!

Subjects and Predicates Every sentence has two parts: *Subject-Tells who or what the sentence is about. *Predicate (verb)-Tells what the subject is or does. Complete Subject- All the words in the subject. It may be one word or more than one word. Ex: Pilots waved. The pilots of the plane waved. Complete Predicate- All the words in the predicate. It may be one word or more than one word. (Always begins with the predicate (verb) of the sentence.) Ex: Many planes landed. Many planes landed on the field.

Simple Subjects pg Zebra Simple Subjects- The main word that tells whom or what the sentence is about. Ex: They sleep during the day. The simple subject may be exactly the same as the complete subject. It may be several words that name a person or a place.

Simple Predicates Simple Predicate- the one main word in the complete predicate that tells what the subject is or does. *It is also called the verb.* Ex: Sara runs to her class. The simple predicate may be more than one word. There may be a main verb and one or more helping verbs. Ex: Sara has sung in many musicals

Subjects in Imperatives pg Zebra In an imperative sentence, you is always the subject. You is usually not in the sentence. It is the “understood” subject. Ex: (You) Please bring your camera. (You) Take lots of pictures.

Conjunctions pg Zebra Conjunction- words that connect other words or groups of words in a sentence. They can connect two subjects, two predicates, or two sentences. Ex: They swim and dive well. Cont..

Conjunctions Continued.. ConjunctionUseExample andJoins togetherSwans and penguins swim. butShows contrastSwans live on ponds, but penguins do not orShows choicePenguins slide or waddle When you write, use conjunctions that best express your meaning.

Run-on Sentences pg Zebra A run-on sentence is two or more sentences that are run together with commas or without any punctuation. You can correct a run-on sentence by making it into a compound sentence. You make a compound sentence by using a conjunction to connect the sentence. Another way to correct a run-on sentence is to divide it into separate sentences.