All about sentences and non-sentences

All about sentences and non-sentences

What is a complete sentence?

A complete sentence is not merely a group of words with a capital letter at the beginning and a period or question mark at the end.

Multiple Select

Which of the following (if any) are complete sentences?

• The bus is.

• The bus is not

• The bus is not running.

• The bus is not running today

• The bus is not running today because of.

A complete sentence has three components:

• a subject (the actor in the sentence)

• a predicate (the verb or action)

• and a complete thought (it can stand alone and make sense—it’s independent).

Multiple Select

A complete sentence must have:

• 6 words

• a subject

• a complete thought

• a speaker

• a verb, or action

Some sentences can be very short, with only two or three words expressing a complete thought, like this:

They waited.

This sentence has a subject (They) and a verb (waited), and it expresses a complete thought. We can understand the idea completely with just those two words, so again, it’s independent—an independent clause.

Multiple Choice

A complete sentence

• has a minimum of 6 words

• has no more than 6 words

• can be as short as one or two words

• cannot have 6 words

But independent clauses (i.e., complete sentences) can be expanded to contain a lot more information, like this:

• He waited for the bus all morning.

• Wishing he'd brought his umbrella, he waited for the bus all morning last Tuesday.

• Wishing he'd brought his umbrella and dreaming of his nice warm bed, he waited for the bus all morning last Tuesday because he was determined to make it to class on time for the test.

Multiple Choice

A complete sentence is also known as a(n)

• dependent clause

• independent clause

• predicate

• subject

• verb

As your sentences grow more complicated, it gets harder to spot and stay focused on the basic elements of a complete sentence,

but if you look carefully at the examples, you’ll see that the main thought is still that they waited—one main subject and one main verb.

***No matter how long or short the other sentence parts are, none of them can stand alone and make sense.

Multiple Select

A complete sentence must have

• one main idea

• one main subject

• one main reason

• one main verb

• a capital letter at the beginning