Sentence Construction There are three main problems that prevent people from writing complete, grammatically correct sentences.

sentence fragment run-on sentence lack of subject-verb and pronoun- reference agreement

What must a complete sentence have? Subject Verb To find the subject, first look for the verb, and then ask who or what is doing the action for active verbs. Ask who or what is acted on for passive verbs. To find the verb, change the time expressed in the sentence (from the present to the past, from the past to the future, and so on). The word that changes is the verb.

Identify Complete Sentences The student felt nervous before the speech. Thought about leaving the room. Many scientists change the world with their discoveries. Einstein, for example.

Look for danger words in a sentence If WhenBecause When these words are used at the beginning of a phrase, they require a follow-up phrase to conclude the thought.

Identify Complete Sentences It will be a cold day. If it rains. I drove for miles this morning. When I lost my dog. I don’t want to go to school. Because he is mean.

More Danger Words After Unless Although How As if When Because Where Before While If Until Once So that Since Whether

Revise! Interviewer: How much rewriting do you do? Hemingway: It depends. I rewrote the ending of Farewell to Arms, the last page of it, 39 times before I was satisfied. Interviewer: Was there some technical problem there? What was it that had stumped you? Hemingway: Getting the words right. (Ernest Hemingway, "The Art of Fiction," The Paris Review Interview, 1956)

Revise! The main thing I try to do is write as clearly as I can. I rewrite a good deal to make it clear. (E.B. White, The New York Times, August 3, 1942)