WRITING COMPLETE SENTENCES

SENTENCE A sentence is a group of words that forms a complete thought.

Basic Parts of a Sentence a complete subject (which tells who or what is doing something) a complete predicate (which tells what the subject is doing).

Basic Parts of a Sentence In other words: Subject Predicate Expresses a complete thought

Basic Parts of a Sentence - 502 subject - who or what is doing something The subject is the part that is doing something or about which something is being said. Predicate - what the subject is doing The predicate is the part that says something about the subject. http://youtu.be/fdUXxdmhIsw

Subjects and Predicates simple subject – consists of the subject without the words that modify it. Every subject is built around one noun or pronoun (or more) that, when stripped of all the words that modify it, is known as the simple subject. Consider the following example: A piece of pepperoni pizza would satisfy his hunger. The subject is built around the noun "piece," with the other words of the subject -- "a" and "of pepperoni pizza" -- modifying the noun. "Piece" is the simple subject.

Subjects and Predicates Complete Subject – made up of the simple subject plus its modifiers make the complete subject. Complete Subject: The large, umbrella-shaped parachute saved the life of the inexperienced pilot. (The complete subject is the simple subject—“parachute”—plus all its modifiers.)

Subjects and Predicates A simple predicate - the verb without the words that modify it or complete the thought. The glacier melted. The glacier has been melting. The glacier melted, broke apart, and slipped into the sea.

Subjects and Predicates Complete Predicate – made up of the simple predicate plus its modifiers. The large, umbrella-shaped parachute saved the life of the inexperienced pilot. (The complete predicate is the simple predicate—“saved”—plus all its modifiers.)

Subjects and Predicates A compound subject - includes two or more subjects that share the same predicate (or predicates). The craters and plains of the moon have had no human visitors for some time.

Subjects and Predicates A compound predicate - includes two or more predicates that share the same subject (or subjects). The glacier began to slip down the mountainside and eventually crushed some of the village's outlying buildings.

Clauses and Phrases A clause - a group of related words containing a subject and a verb  A phrase - a group of related words that does not contain a subject-verb relationship, such as "in the morning" or "running down the street" or "having grown used to this harassment."

Fragments - 503 Incomplete sentences are called fragments. Fragments may be missing a subject, a predicate, or both. Before a newly hatched lobster looks like a real lobster. Called "bugs" during this stage.

Run-On Sentences - 504 Happen when two or more sentences are put together as one sentence. Manta rays are similar to sharks they both have skeletons made of cartilage.

Misplaced Modifiers- 505 Modifiers are words, phrases, or clauses that provide description in sentences. Modifiers allow writers to take the picture that they have in their heads and transfer it accurately to the heads of their readers. Essentially, modifiers breathe life into sentences.

Misplaced Modifiers- 505 Take a look at this "dead" sentence: Stephen dropped his fork. Now read what several well placed modifiers can do: Poor Stephen, who just wanted a quick meal to get through his three-hour biology lab, quickly dropped his fork on the cafeteria tray, gagging with disgust as a tarantula wiggled out of his cheese omelet, a sight requiring a year of therapy before Stephen could eat eggs again.

Misplaced Modifiers- 505 Modifiers can be adjectives, adjective clauses, adverbs, adverb clauses, absolute phrases, infinitive phrases,participle phrases, and prepositional phrases. The sentence above contains at least one example of each: Adjective = poor. Adjective clause = who just wanted a quick meal. Adverb = quickly. Adverb clause = as a tarantula wiggled out of his cheese omelet. Absolute phrase = a sight requiring a year of therapy before Stephen could eat eggs again. Infinitive phrase = to get through his three-hour biology lab. Participle phrase = gagging with disgust. Prepositional phrase = on the cafeteria tray.