 A sentence is a word group that contains a subject and a verb that expresses a complete thought. ◦ Britney Spears was a well-known singer. ◦ A vampire stalked his victim through the dark streets of New Orleans. ◦ Michael Jackson did not get to perform in his last tour even though he had worked on it a long time.

 A sentence fragment is a word group that looks like a sentence but does not contain a subject and verb or does not express a complete thought. ◦ Was a well-known singer. (Who was?) ◦ A vampire stalked his victim through. (through what?) ◦ Even though he had worked on it a long time. (he…? What happened?)

 There are four types of sentences. ◦ Declarative ◦ Imperative ◦ Interrogative ◦ Exclamatory

 Makes a statement and ends with a period. ◦ Example: I really like pie.  I made a statement about pie, or, I declared to the world my thoughts. When you ‘declare’, it is always with a period.

 Gives a command or makes a request. Most imperative sentences end with a period. A strong command might end with an exclamation point. ◦ Example: John, please close the door.  I have requested or ‘kindly commanded’ John to do something. It is punctuated with a period. ◦ Example: Do your homework.  I have commanded a task be done. ◦ Stop her!  A strong command can be ended with a !

 Asks a question and ends with a question mark. (Think of an interrogation room…they are used for questioning suspects.) ◦ Example: What do you know about aliens? Was the game exciting? Where were you on the night of August 15 th ?

 Shows excitement or strong feeling and ends with an exclamation point. ◦ Example: You’ve just won a trip to Disneyland! What a beautiful sunset! Our notes are over!

 Use at the end of a sentence. ◦ I like pie. ◦ Other uses of a period:  Use after an initial.  J.K. Rowling ◦ Use after an abbreviation  etc. ◦ Use as a decimal point  3.1 ◦ Use to separate dollars from cents  $3.41

 Use to show: ◦ Strong emotion ◦ Anger ◦ Shock ◦ Excitement ◦ Fear  Use with interjections: ◦ Wow! That was cool! ◦ Oh no! I dropped my wig! **Unacceptable to use more than one exclamation point in formal writing!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 Use at the end of a question. ◦ Don’t you love taking notes?  Use at the end of a declarative statement to indicate disbelief. ◦ She’s our new teacher. (declarative statement) ◦ She’s our new teacher?(declarative disbelief)  Other uses of the question mark:  Use with parentheses to show you are unsure of the spelling of a certain word.  I have to visit the orthopedic(?) surgeon.