Sentence Basics: Simple Sentences and Fragments English 8

What is a Sentence? Plainly put, a sentence requires someone or something doing or being something. Less plainly put, a sentence requires a subject (a doer) and a verb/ predicate (something being done). It also most communicate a complete and independent idea. If a group of words either does not have a subject or a predicate (the verb), or does not express a complete thought, it is not a sentence. These are called sentence fragments.

A simple sentence is a sentence that contains only one subject and one predicate. A simple sentence can be as short as just two words: “ Crawley frowned.” The Schwa Was Here Neal Shusterman However, a simple sentence can also be long: “The city had turned a mansion on Bush Hill into a hospital for fever victims.” Fever 1793 Laurie Halse Anderson Simple Sentences

Basic Sentence Structure: S + V= Simple Sentence Dogs (S) + Growl (V)= Sentence Crayons (S) + Break (V)= Sentence

Let’s find the Subject and Verb in the Following Sentences “My name is Inigo Montoya. You killed my father. Prepare to die.” The Princess Bride William Goldman “In rainy weather, the streets turned to slop.” To Kill a Mockingbird Harper Lee

“The lights cluster brilliantly up the street at Claudia’s house.” Loser Jerry Spinelli "He came to the river. The river was there." 

 "Big Two-Hearted River” Ernest Hemingway “I am fast. You are slow. I win. You lose.”


 Maniac Magee Jerry Spinelli


Now, look over the journal you wrote earlier in the period and rewrite it completely in two-word, simple sentences. For ex., a sentence that read “He gawked, awe-struck at the volcanic pimple that seemed to be erupted from the center of her forehead. Uncomfortable, he tried not to think about it,” would be reduced to: He gawked. He tried.