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A Complete Thought 
      Every sentence is a complete thought.  Every complete thought MUST BE constructed of a: 
                               predicate- the part of the sentence that contains the verb,  and  the 
                                subject - the thing doing the action. 
                                      William --- subject           runs----predicate verb 
                                           William runs.              <--- Complete Thought 
Definition of Basic Sentence Parts 
  • Sentence  Parts
  • The Subject
    •  
    We know that a complete sentence must contain a subject and a verb to be complete. 
 
Subject Types
A Simple Subject is the noun or pronoun that does or experiences the action William, he, she, it, telephone, ball, etc.. 
Often you will see an (adjective included) with the simple subject. The whole phrase is called the Complex Subject. The yellow ball, the loud telephone, the talented pianist. 
Sometimes two subjects (either complex or simple) are put together with "and" to make a Compound Subject: The busy businessman  and   his associate... 
The orange      and      the apple... 
                A sentence also often includes modifyers and direct or indirect objects. 
  • Identifying the Modifier
    Modifier (adjectives and adverbs) give more information about the thing to which they point. They can appear anywhere in the subject or predicate. Be aware that they are often a significant part of phrases and clauses. 
    Objects 
 
Direct Objects
Direct Objects appear in the predicate of the sentence and receive the action described by the verb.  
(Often the D.O. seems to complete the action of the verb. Verbs that require a D.O. to be  complete are called transitive verbs). Direct objects answer questions like: What? Whom?  Asking such questions will help you find the Direct Object in the sentence.  
 The skilled violinist played a sonata.  

      The violinist played What? - A sonata. Therefore, "sonata" is the direct object of the sentence  
 
Indirect Objects
Indirect Objects also appear in the predicate of the sentence but the DO NOT DIRECTLY receive the action of the verb. Instead of answering questions like What? And whom?  Indirect Objects answer questions: To What? For What? To Whom? For What?  

                                     The comedian told them a joke.    

The comedian told a joke To Whom?  To them.  
The sentence could have also been written:  

                                    The comedian told a joke to them.  
                                  (Notice the inclusion of the preposition"to".)   

What is the direct object in the same example?  The comedian didn't tell them. He told What? A joke - "joke" is direct object.  
  
Clauses, Phrases, and Sentence Fragments 
Phrases 
    Phrases are bunches of words that may not necessarily contain either a subject or a verb. Therefore, phrases are not complete thoughts and can not stand alone as sentences. However, these bunches of words can function as parts of speech within the sentence: 
                       Some important issues have been addressed by the congressional committee. 

      

 
Common Phrases
Noun phrases functions as the noun in the sentence. The noun (person, place, or thing) in the sentence above is "issues". Its  
 modifier is the adjective "important". The indefinite adjective or limiting determiner is "some". Those three words function  
 together as the noun phrase. 
Verb phrases may contain adverbs or helping verbs in addition to  the main verb of the sentence. In the same sentence  
 above, "have been" are the helping verbs, and the main verb is "addressed". This whole group functions as the verb of the  
 sentence. 
 Prepositional phrases, without fail, begin with a preposition and conclude with a noun or pronoun. Using the same example,  "by" is the preposition. By what? By whom? By "the congressional committee". Committee, a noun, ends the phrase. 
These three are the most prominant types of phrases. However, there are others. Why not explore A Garden of Phrases ? 

 

  • Clauses
    Clauses are phrases that contain both a subject and a predicate. 

      

 
Two Main Types of Clauses
 Independent Clauses contain both the subject and the verb of the sentence and can stand alone - independent of any other  
 words or phrases. Independent clauses can function as complete sentence. 
 Dependent Clauses can not function alone. A good way to remember them is to think of the word "dependents" as it  
 describes children. Children could not live alone; dependent clauses can not function alone. They usually begin with  
 subordinators.
  • Commas & Dependent Clauses
    When dependent clauses appear before independent clauses,  place a comma after an dependent clause and before the independent clause. Before it rained, we went inside. 
 
Exercise 1 
Identify the dependant clauses in the explanation above under "Commas & Dependent Clauses."  

Notice that "before" in the above example is a subordination conjunction.. Therefore, those conjunctions must be introducing dependent clauses. A comma should be placed after dependant clauses. Where does the comma belong in the sentence below?  

Since they all left early they were the first to arrive at the party. 

  
What are Subordinators ?
Subordinators create dependant clauses when placed at the beginning of phrases.  They include relative pronouns and subordinate conjunctions.  
  
Here's a brief list of some relative pronouns that should be memorized:  
  
that, what, which, who, whoever, whom, whomever, whose. 
  
Subordinate conjunctions include words as:  
  
   although, after, as, because, before, once, since, if, so that, when, whenever, where, while, till, until, unless,  though. 
Just tagging these relative pronouns and subordinate conjunctions onto the beginning of an  independent clause can transform the whole clause into a dependent clause. Their presence causes us to ask questions such as:   What happened then? Why? How?  

                 as the telephone rang   

           "As" is a subordinate conjunction connected to "the telephone rang".  

  "The telephone rang" could have been an independent clause if it wasn't for that subordinate conjunction.  It causes us to ask: What happened "as the telephone rang"? More information is required to complete the thought. Delete the subordinator and the dependant clause becomes an indepent clause (and a proper sentence.)  
  
Sentence Fragments 
    Sentence Fragement:  When a sentence is missing either the subject of the predicate, the structure is called a Sentence Fragment. Sentence fragments are fragments of information or  incomplete thoughts.  Questions need to be asked to  develop a complete thought: 
For example, the Marlboro Man. 
 
 
Quick Quiz 1
In the paragraph below, find and correct the sentence fragments.  
(Hint:  There are three fragments below.)  

In freewriting, we students do not attempt to write academically. We cannot hide our voice behind the words that have not yet been structured into a formal form that’s wanted     of us. That's expected of us. The academic writing style that stifies, that organizes, that “puts a suit and tie” on our words. This hasn’t come to be yet in freewriting. Freewriting is just that - free writing. It's as artistic and free in form as any Pollock painting. Wonderdous and splattering thought to lines and form. Yet, there’s still the purity of the original form being produced.  
Basic Sentence Types 
Standard Written English employs four basic sentence types. 
1. Simple Sentences 
2. Complex Sentences 
3. Compound Sentences 
4. Compound - Complex Sentence 
When writers learn what defines each category and how to punctuate the elements of each, they can write correctly-punctuated sentences quite easily. 
 
1) The simple sentence has three qualities and has all the qualities of an independent clause 
a) it has a subject, 
b) a predicate verb, and 
c) can stand on its own, expressing a complete thought. Brooklyn students live full lives. 
Don't be confused by "Brooklyn"!  "Brooklyn" functions as an adjective in the above sentence and describes "students". "students" is the subject. "live" is the predicate verb. Even the subject and verb alone, "students live", expresses a complete thought. 
Hint: When writers learn to distinguish between the independent clause and all other kinds of word groups, they have won more than half their battle for correctness. 
2) The complex sentence is made up of one independent clause and one dependent clause. 
Either clause may come first, depending upon emphasis. 
 a. Because they live in a great city, Brooklyn students live full lives. 
 b. Brooklyn students live full lives because they live in a great city. 
 Note that a comma appears between the clauses when the dependent element comes first. 
 
Subordinators such as "because" in this example are extremely powerful, for subordinators create dependent clauses out of word groups that would otherwise be independent clauses. Writers who punctuate dependent clauses as independent clauses create sentence fragments. Fragments comprise one of the high misdemeanors committed against Standard Written English. Because people are deeply disturbed by sentence fragments. 
 The subordinator "because" creates a fragment; delete the subordinator, and the group of words becomes an independent clause which can be correctly punctuated as a simple sentence: People are deeply disturbed by sentence fragments. 
3) The compound sentence links two independent clauses in one of three correct ways. 
 a. Brooklyn students live full lives; they live in a great city. 
 b. Brooklyn students live full lives, for they live in a great city. 
 c. They live in a great city; therefore, Brooklyn students live full lives. 
*b. Writers use coordinating conjunctions to link the independent clauses in this model. This is one of the mercifully brief lists in English: and, but, or, for, nor, so, and yet. Some authorities also include "then." 
*c. The most common conjunctive adverbs to use in this model are: also, furthermore, however, meanwhile, nevertheless, therefore, and thus. 
4) The compound-complex sentence is made up of at least two independent clauses and at least one dependent element. Some sentences in this category can be extremely long, yet others can be short. 
Because we got up early, I ate breakfast at 7:00, and my brother arrived at school before 8:00. 
  • Identifying the Purpose of Sentences
    Sentences communicate information. However, they usually have an intention. 
 
 Declaratory Sentences state a fact.  I'm looking forward to the movie. 
Interrogative Sentences ask a question. Should we get popcorn?
Imperative Sentences give a command. Shut the door.
Exclamatory Sentences express surprise or strong emotions. Stop hogging all the soda!