All about Sentences

A Review of Sentence Facts

Reading and Discussion
A sentence is a group of words that makes complete sense. Sentences are made from the eight parts of
speech. We can write a sentence using all eight parts of speech or using just two or three, but a
sentence must have two things:
1. A subject: a noun that tells who or what the sentence is about.
2. A predicate: the verb or action word that tells what the subject does.
Remember this simple rule when building a sentence: Subject + Predicate = Sentence
Oklahoma City
Is this a sentence? No. It does not make complete sense. This subject needs a predicate.
Oklahoma City is the capital of Oklahoma.
Is this a sentence? Yes. It has a subject and a predicate. It makes complete sense.
A sentence must always begins with a capital letter. Even if the first word is not a proper noun, it must
always capitalized. For example:
Oklahoma is the forty-sixth state.
Is Oklahoma a large state?
The famous athlete, Jim Thorpe, comes from Oklahoma.
Here are three important rules to remember when writing a sentence.
1. A sentence must make complete sense.
2. A sentence must have a subject and a predicate.
3. The first word of the sentence must begin with a capital letter.
There are four different kinds of sentence:
1. Telling sentences or Statements. This kind of sentence tells us something. It always ends with a
period. A period is a punctuation mark that means to stop. If you are reading out loud, a period gives
you a chance to take a breath before you read the next sentence.
2. Asking sentences or Questions.
This kind of sentence usually begins with a word that asks a question. Some common asking words
are: who, what, when, where, why, how
Because asking sentences ask a question, they must end with a question mark. Asking sentences are
sometimes called interrogative sentences. Here are two examples:
Who was the first governor of Oklahoma?
Where did Oklahoma get its name?
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3. Command sentences.
This kind of sentence commands or tells someone to do something. Command sentences always begin
with a capital letter and end with a period. When writing some command sentences, it is often polite
to begin with the word please. Command sentences are sometimes called imperative sentences. Here
is an example:
Please feed the goldfish.
4. Exclamatory sentences.
This kind of sentence expresses a strong emotion like happiness, sadness, and fear.
The field is on fire!
Our team won the tournament!
Did you notice the punctuation mark at the end of these exclamatory sentences? It is called an
exclamation mark. All exclamatory sentences end with an exclamation mark. Like all other sentences,
an exclamatory sentence must always begin with a capital letter.
SIMPLE SENTENCE
Simple sentences are independent clauses.
They contain a subject and a predicate.
Rule 1: Simple sentences can be very short, consisting of only one word (a
noun) for the subject and one word (a verb) for the predicate. The noun is called
the simple subject, and the verb is the simple predicate.
John laughed.
Rule 2: Simple sentences can be long, although they still consist of one subject
(a noun and modifiers) and one predicate (a verb and other elements). The noun
is called the simple subject, and the verb is the simple predicate.
The tall, good-looking boy with the curly blond hair laughed uproariously at
his best friends suggestion.
Exercise A. Identify the subject and predicate in these simple sentences.
Circle the simple subject and underline the simple predicate.
1. My best friend in the whole world is coming over to my house to visit me
this afternoon.
2. Three beautiful little kittens looked up at me from inside a box of old
clothes.
3. At the stroke of midnight, the carriage turned into a huge orange pumpkin.
4. A really friendly old man with long white whiskers lives in the apartment
above my aunts and uncles apartment.
5. Several of her favorite romantic love songs were playing on the radio that
afternoon in the park.
6. Cool, deep, dark blue water flowed through the rough limestone rocks in
the gorge.
7. One-hundred fifty-five dollars is certainly a lot of money for a young
person living with his or her parents.
8. The large red book sitting on the hall table was a dictionary published by
an encyclopedia company in the United States.
9. The three girls carried back packs filled with books, food, candy, clothes,
make-up, pens, paper, hairbrushes, and other assorted items.
10. I dont remember the name of that tall, thin actor with the sparkling blue
eyes.

COMPOUND SENTENCE
Compound Sentences
A compound sentence is a sentence that contains two complete ideas (called
clauses) that are related. These two clauses are usually connected in a compound
sentence by a conjunction. The coordinating conjunctions are "and", "but", "for", "or",
"nor", "yet", or "so".
Example:
Batman is a hero. He is successful in catching the criminals in his city.
Batman is a hero, and he is successful in catching the criminals in his city.
OR
Batman is a hero, for he is successful in catching the criminals in his city.
Directions: In the following exercises, turn the sentence pairs into single compound
sentences, each with a coordinating conjunction. You can rearrange or add words in
the sentence to make it sound better, but only if it's necessary.
1. The black dog has won many prizes. He doesn't know many tricks.
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2. She saw a cat run in front of her. She fell down while roller-skating.
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3. There was a meteor shower. The crew did not know how to avoid the meteors.
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4. I wanted to buy a baby Chihuahua. I started to save my money.
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5. Gillian did not like to read. She was not very good at it.
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6. Pam liked Wayne. Leena also liked Wayne.
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7. The little boy did not like going to school. He went anyway.
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8. You can cry like a baby. You can clean your room like an adult.
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Grammar: Compound Sentences
Name ______________________________________________ Date _____________
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9. She didn't want to play with Jill. She didn't want to play with Tim.
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10. Arleen could not play with that boy. Arleen could not play with that other boy.
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11. Let's go to the swimming pool. It's hot inside the house.
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12. I dont want to eat. I don't want to drink.
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13. I dont want to practice playing my violin. I dont want to disobey my mother.
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14. I want to own my own company. I want to pay all my workers a lot of money.
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15. I need to go to the store. I'm feeling too sick to drive.
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16. Rabbits make good pets. They dont make too much noise and they are clean.
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17. I want to go to the circus. I want to ride a pony.
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18. I didnt do my homework. My parents punished me.
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19. I have never visited Asia. I have never visited Africa.
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20. You can make a big poster. You can make a little clay statue.
COMPLEX-COMPOUND SENTENCE
The Compound-Complex Sentence
The compound-complex sentence combines elements of compound and complex sentences. It is the
most sophisticated type of sentence you can use. Understanding how to construct the compound-
complex sentence will help you take your writing to a new level of complexity.
Understanding Clauses
A clause is comprised of at least one subject and one verb. There are two types of clauses: the
independent lause and the dependent clause.
Independent Clause
An independent clause makes a statement or asks a question that can act as a complete sentence.
Example: The dog barks.
 Dependent Clause
A dependent clause cannot act as a complete sentence because it begins with a subordinating word,
such
as when, because, if, whoever, etc.
Example: When the dog barks.
All grammatically correct sentences have at least one independent clause, and, therefore, they have at
least one subject and one verb.
Identifying Compound and Complex Sentences
The Compound Sentence A compound sentence is made up of two independent clauses joined by a
coordinating conjunction (for, and, nor, but, or, yet, or so) and a comma or by a semicolon alone.
Example: The pirate captain lost her treasure map, but she still found the
buried treasure.
The Complex Sentence
A complex sentence combines a dependent clause with an independent clause. When the dependent
clause is placed before the independent clause, the two clauses are divided by a comma; otherwise, no
punctuation is necessary.
Example: Because the soup was too cold, I warmed it in the microwave.
Constructing Compound-Complex Sentences
A compound-complex sentence is comprised of at least two independent clauses and one
or moredependent clauses.
Example: Though Mitchell prefers watching romantic films, he rented the latest spy thriller,
and he enjoyed it very much.
Example: Laura forgot her friend's birthday, so she sent her a card when she finally
remembered.
Because compound-complex sentences are normally longer than other sentences, it is very important
to punctuate them correctly. Refer to your Commas 101 handout for tips on correct comma usage.

DECLARATIVE SENTENCE

Declarative Sentences

A declarative sentence makes a statement and ends with a period.

The sky is blue.

The car drove past slowly.

There are ducks in Polson Park.

Directions: In the space provided, rewrite each of the following declarative sentences,
correcting the words that should be capitalized and adding punctuation.
 1. an avalanche struck the village

2. the snow swept down the mountain

3. the people of the village were evacuated in time

4. everyone should be aware of the potential dangers of avalanches

5. most avalanches result from weather conditions

Directions: On the separate piece of paper write 5 declarative sentences of your own about
your favorite activity.
 INTERROGATIVE SENTENCE
Interrogative Sentences

Interrogative sentences are used to form questions. One form of an interrogative

sentence is a declarative sentence followed by a question mark. In verbal
communication, the final syllable of the last word of a question is pronounced
with a rising pitch or intonation.
Place the cursor over the pictures to hear the difference in intonation of a
statement and a question.

=
"?"

Examples:
The computer is not working?
An actor became governor?

"Who" "?"

Where the verb of the predicate is in 3rd person form.

Examples:
Who fixed the computer?
Who wants to drink water?
("What" |"Which") [* ]
"?"

Examples:
Which flower is the prettiest?
What bridge goes to Manhattan?

["What" |"When" |"Where" |"Who" |"To whom" |"Why"]

("do" |"does" |"don't" |"doesn't" |"did" |"didn't")
"?"

The verb of the predicate must be infinitive (Vinf).

Examples:
Where does John live?
Does John go to Manhattan?

"Which" []
("do" |"does" |"don't" |"doesn't" |"did" |"didn't")
"?"

The verb of the predicate must be infinitive (Vinf).

Examples:
Which flower do you like best?
Which didn't Mary take home?

["What" |"Which" |"When" |"Where" |"Who" |"To whom" |"Why"]

("will" |"won't") "?"

The verb in the predicate must must follow these patterns:

"have"
"have" "been"
"be"

Examples
What will John take to Manhattan?
When will he return?
Will John be thinking about Mary?
Why will John cry?

["What" |"Which" |"When" |"Where" |"Who" |"To whom" | "Why"]

("has" |"have" |"hasn't" |"haven't")
"?"

Verb in the predicate must be past participle

Examples:
Why haven't the tulips flowered?
To whom has John sent a letter?
What has Mary told John?
Hasn't John passed the test?

["What" |"Which" |"When" |"Where" |"Who" |"To whom" | "Why"]

("are" |"is" |"was" |"were" |
"aren't" |"isn't" |"wasn't" |"weren't")

[* | * | ]"?"

Verb in the predicate must be present participle or past participle

Examples:
Why is Mary cooking noodles?
Which are the best?
Are small airplanes safe?
Was John at Mary's party?

EXCLAMATORY SENTENCE
 The Exclamatory Sentence

You Will Love These!

An exclamatory sentence expresses strong emotion. It ends with an exclamation mark. (! One of
these things)
You might use it to show anger, confusion, love, happiness, or any other boisterous emotion.
I say boisterous because you probably wouldn't use an exclamation mark to show peace, calm or
shyness.
Here are some examples:

No, you cannot dye the dog's hair! (anger) I don't want to go to Grandma's house!
(frustration)
I scored three goals at the soccer game! (happiness)
I can't find the peanut butter! (confusion)
I love you! (love)
We're going to Hawaii! (elation)

Diagramming Exclamations

When diagramming sentences, you do not add any punctuation. Because of this, you will not see
the exclamation point in any of these sentence diagrams.

I scored three goals at the soccer game!

The word not is always an adverb. It is never part of the verb. When diagramming a contraction
(such as can't), you must separate the two words since one is a verb (can) and one is an adverb (not).
Check it out:

I can't find the peanut butter!

I love you!

The Exclamatory Sentence

You Will Love These!

An exclamatory sentence expresses strong emotion. It ends with an exclamation mark. (! One of
these things)
You might use it to show anger, confusion, love, happiness, or any other boisterous emotion.
I say boisterous because you probably wouldn't use an exclamation mark to show peace, calm or
shyness.
Here are some examples:

No, you cannot dye the dog's hair! (anger) I don't want to go to Grandma's house!
(frustration)
I scored three goals at the soccer game! (happiness)
I can't find the peanut butter! (confusion)
I love you! (love)
We're going to Hawaii! (elation)

Diagramming Exclamations

When diagramming sentences, you do not add any punctuation. Because of this, you will not see
the exclamation point in any of these sentence diagrams.

I scored three goals at the soccer game!

The word not is always an adverb. It is never part of the verb. When diagramming a contraction
(such as can't), you must separate the two words since one is a verb (can) and one is an adverb (not).
Check it out:
 I can't find the peanut butter!
I love you!

Exclamatory Sentence Examples

Exclamatory Sentence - Glossary of Terms

Exclamatory Sentence

An exclamatory sentence, or exclamation, is a more forceful version of a declarative sentence. An

exclamatory sentence ends with an exclamation mark.

Examples:

Here she comes!

I am not taking it!

An imperative sentence (i.e., an order) can end with an exclamation mark too.

Example:

Leave it alone! (This is not an exclamatory sentence, but an imperative sentence.)

 IMPERATIVE SENTENCE
Imperative Sentences
The word "imperative" is derived from the term "emperor". Emperors gave commands, and
imperative sentences are commands. Imperative sentences consist of predicates that only contain
verbs in infinitive form; verb phrases are not allowed. Imperative sentences are generally terminated
with an exclamation mark instead of a period.

= =

Examples:
Spend the money!
Go to your room!
Look in the drawer of the dresser.

Emperor Napoleon
using an Imperative Sentence

CONDITIONAL SENTENCE
Conditional Sentences

Conditional sentences are used to describe the consequences of a specific action, or the dependency
between events or conditions. Conditional sentences consist of an independent clause and a
dependent clause.

= ("if" | "when")

= |
 =
"," |

Note: When the Independent Clause consists of an Interrogative Sentence, the question mark is
placed at the end of the conditional sentence.

Examples:
If the sun is too hot, you will get burned.
You will get burned when the sun is too hot.
If the sun is shining, is Mary happy?
Is Mary happy when the sun is shining?
Mary is happy if the sun is shining.
In the following example, the dependent clause contains a compound sentence:
Example: If the sun is too hot and you don't have an umbrella, you will get burned.

MAJOR AND MINOR SENTENCE

Explanation:
Major and minor sentences

A major sentence is a regular sentence; it has a subject and a predicate.

A minor sentence is an irregular type of sentence. It does not contain a finite verb. For example,
"Mary!" "Yes." "Coffee." Other examples are headings, stereotyped expressions (Hello!), emotional
expressions (Wow!), proverbs, etc. This can also include sentences which do not contain verbs (e.g.
The more, the merrier.) in order to intensify the meaning around the nouns (normally found in poetry
and catchphrases).

Major sentences
So far, we have referred to sentences without providing any definition of a sentence. The question
"What is a sentence?" is more difficult than it might appear. An American linguist, C. C. Fries, counted
more than two hundred definitions of the sentence. In defining a sentence, too, it is important to
 remember that written prose and informal spoken language are different. The sentence is the
basic building block of written language. In the past, sentences were often defined according to their
meaning. For example, they were said to contain "a complete thought". This raises all sorts of
questions about the difference between a complete thought and an incomplete one.
A common definition today is: "A sentence is marked by a capital letter at the beginning and a full-
stop at the end."
This works for many English sentences, but there are many languages, such as those in Asia, that do
not use this punctuation. Also, it is possible to have written sentences without capital letters and
punctuation marks.
NO SMOKING tomatoes $3.50kg BEWARE OF THE DOG
In traditional school grammar, a sentence was said to contain a subject and a predicate: a major
classroom occupation was analysing sentences into subjects and predicates. (The predicate is all
the rest of the sentence after the subject.)
Subject Predicate
The cat smiled.
The cat smiled enigmatically at Alice.
This is how the American linguist Leonard Bloomfield, writing in 1926, defined a sentence:
Each sentence is an independent linguistic form, not included by virtue of any grammatical
construction in any larger linguistic form.
In other words, a sentence is capable of standing alone.
Utterances
It is even more difficult to define sentences in speech.
I drove it into town - and um - yeah 'cos I knew that area quite well 'cos that was the same area as I
stayed in - two years ago at Point Chevalier - and then that night we - Mike made a - curry vegetable
pie - we had that - and um - that was it - um - then that was the evening yeah we had a couple of nice
bottles of red wine - we drank really nice red wine all weekend there - and what else did we do -
Saturday we got up - and he put the fire on 'cos it was cold and stormy - quite stormy up there ...
For this reason, the term utterance rather than sentence is often used for spoken material.
Minor sentences
There is a small group of sentences that are called minor sentences. These tend to have a set form
that is not often changed. They cannot be analysed in the same way as regular or major sentences.
This book is concerned mainly with major sentences. Minor sentences, however, occur often in
everyday conversation.
David Crystal, in Rediscover Grammar with David Crystal, has suggested the following
classifications of minor sentence types.
Formulae used in social situations:
Thanks. Hello. Yes. No. Cheers. How do you do? 'Bye for now.
Interjections (emotional noises):
Tut-tut. Hey! Ugh! Ow! Eh? Shhh!
Proverbs or pithy sayings (aphorisms):
Easy come, easy go. The more the merrier. Like father, like son.
Abbreviated forms, used in instructions, postcards, and commentaries:
Mix well. Once more with feeling. Wish you were here. One more lap.
Words and phrases used as exclamations, questions, or commands:
Bother! Happy birthday! Nice day! The hell with it! All aboard! Oh for a drink of water! Taxi? No
entry.
Some of the examples above contain finite verbs: Mix well; wish you were here. These have been
included as minor sentences because elements of the basic clause structure have been omitted:
Mix it well. (major sentence)
Mix well. (minor sentence)
I wish you were here. (major sentence)
Wish you were here. (minor sentence)
Minor sentences also occur as answers to questions or depend for their meaning on a previous
sentence.
PC Timms: Where are you going?
Aiden: To Greymouth.
PC Timms: When are you leaving?
Aiden: Early tomorrow morning.
PC Timms: Who's going with you?
Aiden: My brother Tim and his girlfriend Nancy.
Aiden's answers to PC Timms's questions are still sentences, but they are minor sentences. These can
also be called elliptical sentences because part of their structure has been omitted (Latinellipsis:
"falling short").
A: Where are you going?
B: [I'm going] to Greymouth.
A: When are you leaving?
B: [I'm leaving] early tomorrow morning.
Minor sentences are not the same as incomplete sentences.
"I hope that you ... " Sidney choked and stopped.
"I can tell you who the murderer is! Look at the ..."
A shot rang out, and she slumped to the floor.
Early language learners may have difficulty in recognising sentences and will need guidance. They
need to understand that there are different kinds of sentences without necessarily knowing the
appropriate labels for them.

Minor Sentences
Minor sentences are not constructed in a regular way. They use
unusual and abnormal patterns which cannot be clearly
analysed into a sequence of clause elements in the same way
that major sentences can. There are only a few minor setence
types but we find them all the time in conversation and when
conversations are represented in fiction, or in signs and notices,
headlines, websites and similar settings where a message has
been represented as what Crystal calls a 'block' (p. 216). Minor
sentences do not obey the same grammatical rules as major
sentences which is why appear so odd when we analyse them.
Examples include componets of conversation such as 'hello',
and 'how do you do?', or emotional or functional noises such
as 'Ow!', 'Ugh!', 'Shh!' and 'Eh?' as well as proverbs and sayings
like 'easy come, easy go,' and words and phrases used as
exclamations, questions, and commands, such as 'nice day!,
Taxi?, and All aboard!