Parts of a Sentence Lesson 1

​A sentence is a word group that contains a subject and a verb and that expresses a complete thought.

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​A thought is complete when it makes sense by itself.

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​Examples

​John Derrick was fixing his car yesterday.

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​How did you upload the video to Tik Tok?

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​Stop! (The understood subject is you.)

​A sentence should begin with a capital letter. The punctuation mark that follows a sentence depends on the purpose of the sentence.

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​Do not mistake a sentence fragment for a sentence. A sentence fragment is a group of words that is capitalized and punctuated like a sentence but that does not contain both a subject and a verb or does not express a complete thought.

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​Examples:

​When I was walking

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​Because we overslept and missed the bus

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​My thick, fluffy jacket

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​Sentences consists of two basic parts: subjects and predicates.

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​The subject is a word or word group that tells whom or what the sentence is about.

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​The predicate is a word or word group that tells something about the subject.

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​Notice in the following examples that the subject may appear before or after the predicate or between parts of the predicate.

​Subject / Predicate

​Rain pelted the students.

​​Subject / Predicate

​Each of the amateur dancers performed.

​Predicate / Subject

​Away on the breeze sailed the small boats.

​Predicate / Subject / Predicate

​When did J.K. Rowling write Harry Potter?

​The simple subject is the main word or word group that tells whom or what the sentence is about.

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Example:
Bonnie wanted to rob banks with Clyde.

​The complete subject consists of the simple subject and any word or word groups that modify the simple subject.

Example:

​The kingdom of Prute was waiting to see their queen again.

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The simple predicate, or verb, is the main word or word group that tells something about the subject.

​Example:

​The kingdom of Prute was waiting to see their queen again.

​The complete predicate consists of the simple predicate and all the words used to modify the simple predicate and to complete its meaning.

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Example:
Bonnie wanted to rob banks with Clyde.

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