Sentences (adapted from http://www. bbc. co
Things to Remember When Writing a Sentence A sentence starts with a capital letter and ends with a full stop, exclamation mark or question mark. . ! ?
Zara rode a bike. A sentence needs to make sense on its own. For example: Zara rode a bike.
Zara didn’t take the bus. She rode a bike. It is also OK to use a pronoun instead of the name of the person or thing in the sentence. However, we usually only do this if the name (of the person or thing) has already appeared in an earlier sentence. Other pronouns include: he it they them theirs your yours our ours hers his him her Zara didn’t take the bus. She rode a bike.
A clause needs to have a verb and a subject. A sentence needs at least one main clause, but can contain more than one clause. A clause needs to have a verb and a subject. A verb is an action (or a ‘doing word’) or a state of being word. The subject is the person, animal or thing who is doing the action or being something. (adapted from http://www.bbc.co.uk/skillswise/factsheet/en30stru-l1-f-rules-)
Here are some action (or ‘doing word’) verbs (typed in red): I/ they/ we run. She/he/ Jas runs. I am running They/ we are running. She/he/ Jas/the thing/ it is running. I was running. they/ Jas and Sammi/ we were running. She/he/ Jas was running. She/he/ Jas/ the thing/it ran. I/ they/ we have run. She/he/ Jas/ the thing/it has run. Write writing wrote written Meet meeting met
Write writing wrote (has/have) written Meet meeting met (has/have) met Eat eating ate (has/have) eaten Drink drinking drank (has/have) drunk Go going went gone Do/does doing did done Watch watching watched
Here are some state of being verbs: Past Present Future Was Were Am Is Are Will Was being Were being Am being Is being Are being Will be (…ing) Had been (…ing) have been (…ing) has been (…ing) Did Did not (didn’t) Do Do not (don’t) Does Does not (doesn’t) Will do
A verb phrase is a group (two or more words) that work together to form the sentence’s verb: Examples He has been to Italy I haven’t been to Italy (I have not been to Italy.)
Exercise Use the blue pen to underline the sentence’s subject and the red pen to underline the verb/verb phrase. I am a student now. I will be in a new class next September. You are in my class.
We were in the same class last year. She is being helpful today. They are being playful. She was in France last week. It was great! There are five of us.
Linking Verbs (adapted from https://www. thoughtco Linking Verbs (adapted from https://www.thoughtco.com/what-is-a-linking-verb-1691243 and http://www.sponsoravillage.ca/english-2020/verbs/verbs-%E2%80%93-active-and-state-of-being-2/) Linking verbs can be state of being verbs or other verbs/verb phrases that can be used instead of state of being verbs.
The biscuits are delicious The biscuits taste delicious. Examples: The tree is tall. The tree has grown tall. The biscuits are delicious The biscuits taste delicious. I was happy about this. I felt happy about this.