1. GRAMMAR MINI LESSON Is this a sentence?

2. A sentence has a subject and a verb (a doer and an action) He kicked. She ate. We kissed. They laughed. The shortest sentence in the Bible: “Jesus wept.”

3. A complete sentence is an INDEPENDENT CLAUSE. It can stand on its own. Do you see the subject? The verb?  My cat has fleas.  I love fast cars.  Rain makes me sleepy.

4. What happens when you stick 2 independent clauses together? It’s a RUN-ON. INCORRECT: I hate her cat there is always cat hair in the food. INCORRECT: One time she made a pot roast long white hairs were stuck to it our dinner was wearing a mustache.

5. But how do you fix a run-on sentence?

6. There are many ways to correct a run-on sentence!  Make 2 sentences: I hate her cat. There is always cat hair in the food.  Add a comma and a coordinating conjunction (a FANBOY): I hate her cat, for there is always cat hair in the food. NOTE: FANBOYS (for, and, nor, but, or, yet, so)

7. And other ways... 4. Add a heavyweight connector: I hate her cat because there is always cat hair in the food. 5. Separate with a semi-colon: I hate her cat; there is always cat hair in the food.

8. Having problems with a sentence? Hints : 1) Make sure you have a sentence. 2) Put the subject and main verb at the beginning of the sentence for a strong tone. If you struggle with sentence structure, keeping the subject and main verb together is important for you.