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What Is A Sentence

A sentence contains at least a subject and a predicate with a verb. The subject is what the sentence is about and the predicate contains a verb and says something about the subject. While sentences usually have a subject, commands (imperatives) often do not explicitly state the subject "you." A sentence also expresses a complete thought with a capital letter and ending punctuation. Defining sentences can be complicated as grammarians do not fully agree on the definition.

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46 views4 pages

What Is A Sentence

A sentence contains at least a subject and a predicate with a verb. The subject is what the sentence is about and the predicate contains a verb and says something about the subject. While sentences usually have a subject, commands (imperatives) often do not explicitly state the subject "you." A sentence also expresses a complete thought with a capital letter and ending punctuation. Defining sentences can be complicated as grammarians do not fully agree on the definition.

Uploaded by

vsnpradeep
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© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as DOC, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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What is a Sentence?

In simple terms, a sentence is a set of words that contain:

1. a subject (what the sentence is about, the topic of the sentence), and


2. a predicate (what is said about the subject)

Look at this simple example:

sentence

subject predicate

verb  

You speak English.

The above example sentence is very short. Of course, a sentence can be longer and more
complicated, but basically there is always a subject and a predicate. Look at this longer example:

sentence

subject predicate

verb  
sentence

Ram and Tara speak English when they are working.

Note that the predicate always contains a verb. Sometimes, in fact, the predicate is only a
verb:

sentence

subject predicate

verb  

Smoke rises.  

So we can say that a sentence must contain at least a subject and verb.

There is one apparent exception to this – the imperative. When someone gives a command (the
imperative), they usually do not use a subject. They don't say the subject because it is obvious - the
subject is YOU! Look at these examples of the imperative, with and without a subject:

sentence

subject predicate
sentence

verb  

  Stop!  

  Wait a minute!

You look!  

Everybody look!  

Note that a sentence expresses a complete thought. Here are some examples of
complete and incomplete thoughts:

    complete thought?

sentence He opened the door. YES

Come in, please.

Do you like coffee?

not a sentence people who work hard NO


a fast-moving animal with big ears

Note also that a sentence begins with a capital letter and ends with a full


stop (AmE period) or a question mark or an exclamation mark
(AmE exclamation point). Look at these examples:

 People need food.


 How are you?
 Look out!
Actually, it is not easy to define a sentence. Grammarians do not all agree
on what is or is not a sentence. For the purposes of introduction, this page
describes rather simple sentences. Of course, sentences can be much
longer and more complex, and these will be covered on other pages.

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