WRITING COMPLETE SENTENCES

SENTENCE A sentence is a group of words that

forms a complete thought.

Basic Parts of a Sentence a complete subject (which tells who or

what is doing something) a complete predicate (which tells what

the subject is doing).

Basic Parts of a SentenceIn other words:1. Subject 2. Predicate3. Expresses a complete thought

Basic Parts of a Sentence - 502

subject - who or what is doing something The subject is the part that is doing

something or about which something is being said.

Predicate - what the subject is doing The predicate is the part that says something about the

subject.

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Subjects and Predicates simple subject – consists of the subject

without the words that modify it. Every subject is built around one noun or

pronoun (or more) that, when stripped of all the words that modify it, is known as the simple subject. Consider the following example:

A piece of pepperoni pizza would satisfy his hunger.

The subject is built around the noun "piece," with the other words of the subject -- "a" and "of pepperoni pizza" -- modifying the noun. "Piece" is the simple subject.

Subjects and Predicates

Complete Subject – made up of the simple subject plus its modifiers make the complete subject. Complete Subject: The large, umbrella-shaped

parachute saved the life of the inexperienced pilot.

(The complete subject is the simple subject—“parachute”—plus all its modifiers.)

Subjects and Predicates A simple predicate - the verb without the

words that modify it or complete the thought. The glacier melted. The glacier has been melting. The glacier melted, broke apart, and

slipped into the sea.

Subjects and Predicates

Complete Predicate – made up of the simple predicate plus its modifiers. The large, umbrella-shaped

parachute saved the life of the inexperienced pilot.

(The complete predicate is the simple predicate—“saved”—plus all its modifiers.)

Subjects and Predicates A compound subject - includes two or

more subjects that share the same predicate (or predicates). The craters and plains of the moon have

had no human visitors for some time.

Subjects and Predicates A compound predicate - includes two or

more predicates that share the same subject (or subjects). The glacier began to slip down the

mountainside and eventually crushed some of the village's outlying buildings.

Clauses and Phrases A clause - a group of related words

containing a subject and a verb  A phrase - a group of related words

that does not contain a subject-verb relationship, such as "in the morning" or "running down the street" or "having grown used to this harassment."

Fragments - 503 Incomplete sentences are called

fragments. Fragments may be missing a subject, a

predicate, or both. Before a newly hatched lobster looks like

a real lobster. Called "bugs" during this stage.

Run-On Sentences - 504 Happen when two or more sentences

are put together as one sentence. Manta rays are similar to sharks they both

have skeletons made of cartilage.

Misplaced Modifiers- 505 Modifiers are words, phrases, or 

clauses that provide description in sentences.

Modifiers allow writers to take the picture that they have in their heads and transfer it accurately to the heads of their readers.

Essentially, modifiers breathe life into sentences.

Misplaced Modifiers- 505 Take a look at this "dead" sentence:

Stephen dropped his fork. Now read what several well placed modifiers

can do: Poor Stephen, who just wanted a quick meal

to get through his three-hour biology lab, quickly dropped his fork on the cafeteria tray, gagging with disgust as a tarantula wiggled out of his cheese omelet, a sight requiring a year of therapy before Stephen could eat eggs again.

Misplaced Modifiers- 505 Modifiers can be adjectives, adjective clauses, 

adverbs, adverb clauses, absolute phrases, infinitive phrases,participle phrases, and prepositional phrases. The sentence above contains at least one example of each:

Adjective = poor. Adjective clause = who just wanted a quick meal. Adverb = quickly. Adverb clause = as a tarantula wiggled out of his

cheese omelet. Absolute phrase = a sight requiring a year of therapy

before Stephen could eat eggs again. Infinitive phrase = to get through his three-hour

biology lab. Participle phrase = gagging with disgust. Prepositional phrase = on the cafeteria tray.