1. What is a Sentence?
By: Mary S. Roland

2. What is a sentence?
A sentence is a group of words that tells a complete thought. It begins with a capital letter and ends with an end mark.
Complete thought
Begins with a capital letter
Ends with punctuation
It must have a subject (person/thing) and a predicate (telling part of a sentence).

3. Word Order in a Sentence
The words in a sentence should be an order that makes sense. If the words are mixed up, the sentence does not make sense.
Sentence
The boy plays a trumpet.
He likes to play soccer.
Not a Sentence
The play trumpet boy a.
The everyone listens to music.

4. Beginning and Ending a Sentence
A sentence begins with a capital letter and ends with an end mark.
It tells a complete thought.
Example:
Jimmy goes to school.
His sister is a nurse.

5. What are the Parts of a Sentence?
A sentence has two parts. It tells a complete thought.
The naming part names who or what the sentence is about.
Mary likes the rain.
The rain makes the ground soggy.
The telling part (or predicate) tells what someone or something is or does.
The precipitation falls from the clouds.
Cathy walks in the rain.

6. Naming Parts and Telling Parts
Telling Part (the predicate)
Rodney
likes to work on cars.
Jimmy
attends DeVry Elementary school.
April
is a nurse and works at Dallas Methodist Hospital.

7. Combining Parts of a Sentence
Sometimes the telling parts of two sentences are the same. You can join the two naming parts by using the word and.
Girls enjoy reading books.
Boys enjoy reading books.
Girls and boys enjoy reading books.
April wait in line.
Jimmy wait in line.
April and Jimmy wait in line.