For example, “Eggs near river” is not a sentence because it does not express a complete idea. “I ate eggs near a river yesterday” is a sentence because it has a clear, complete meaning. “Because I ate eggs” is a sentence fragment because it is incomplete; “because” sets the reader up for a cause-and-effect, but there is no effect here. “Because I ate eggs near a river, I got wet” is a sentence because it completes the cause-and-effect established by the word “because. "
An exclamation mark indicates surprise, whereas a question mark indicates confusion or questioning.
For example, in the sentence “I ate eggs”, “I” is the subject and “ate” is the verb.
In the above example, the subject is “Janet”. She is the person being discussed. “Writes” is the verb. It is the action that the subject (Janet) is doing. Remember, the subject can be a person (I or Janet), place (Baltimore or Bathroom), thing (Chocolate), or idea (Jealousy). [3] X Research source
The phrase “romance novels” is the direct object here: they are what Janet writes, so they receive the action of the verb. Simple sentences can also have compound subjects or compound verbs. A compound subject could look like this: “Janet and Sujata write romance novels. " “Janet and Sujata” is a compound subject here, since there are two people doing the action. A compound verb could look like this: “Janet writes and publishes romance novels. " Janet is doing two things here, writing and publishing, so this is a compound verb.
A singular subject and verb looks like this: “My son is a doctor”. A plural subject and verb looks like this: “My sons are doctors”.
He was happy, for he just passed his exam. The road was long, and we could not see the end. She was not wrong, nor was she entirely right. She would have fallen, but Sally helped support her. Deon is smart, or Deon is lucky. I am eating steak, yet I really wanted lamb. Jack was wet, so he changed his clothes.
You may want to use “and” to express a continuing thought or meaning, or you can use “but” as part of an explanation. There are many possibilities.
Be careful not to overuse compound sentences, particularly those that use “and. " They do not always indicate a clear relationship and may seem cluttered. [5] X Research source
Examples of subordinating conjunctions are as follows: after, although, as, as if, because, before, even if, even though, if, in order to, since, though, unless, until, whatever, when, whenever, whether, and while. [7] X Research source Examples of dependent clauses by themselves are as follows: “Because Yao shares his books”, “Before eating my breakfast” and “Until I have more money”.
Because Yao shares his books, he is kind. -or- Yao is kind because he shares his books. Before eating my breakfast, I have to walk my dog. -or- I have to walk my dog before eating breakfast. Until I have more money, I won’t be able to buy an engagement ring. -or- I won’t be able to buy an engagement ring until I have more money.
Periodic sentences are great for building up tension or interest, since the the dependent clause “builds up” to the meaning or complete thought at the end. For example: “As I sat waiting in traffic, I realized I would be late for class. "
“Although I was late to the party. " The “although” here is what’s known as a subordinating conjunction, and it creates a subordinate clause, which cannot stand on its own. [10] X Research source This is a fragment because it does not provide a complete thought; there’s meaning here that isn’t explained (Although. . . what?). “Hit something with my car. " While you might use type of language in everyday speech, it’s technically a fragment because it lacks a subject (who did the hitting). You could correct it as “I hit something with my car. "
For example, this is a run-on sentence: “I went to the store I got bread and milk. " Each of the parts, I went to the store and I got bread and milk have a subject and verb, and each expresses a clear, complete idea. You can fix run-ons in a few ways. You can separate the clauses with a semicolon, or you can use a comma and a conjunction, or you can break the clauses up into separate sentences: I went to the store; I got bread and milk. The semi-colon shows the close relationship between clauses here. I went to the store, and I got bread and milk. This conjunction shows less of a close relationship than the semi-colon, but it communicates that they’re connected ideas. I went to the store. I got bread and milk. This full break indicates that the ideas aren’t all that related.
For example, this is a comma splice: “I texted my friend, she didn’t reply. " Both of these are independent clauses, because they have subjects and verbs and express a complete thought. You can fix comma splices the same ways you fix run-on sentences: With a semi-colon: “I texted my friend; she didn’t reply. " With a comma and coordinating conjunction: “I texted my friend, but she didn’t reply. " By splitting into two sentences: “I texted my friend. She didn’t reply. "
For example, this sentence lacks parallel structure: “I enjoy fishing, swimming, and hike. " Instead, keep all the verbs in the same form: “I enjoy fishing, swimming, and hiking. " This can be a particular problem if you have a lot of clauses in your sentence. For example: “My teacher told me that I should submit my essay on time, that I should proofread it carefully before turning it in, and to not email her the night before. " Instead, keep all the clauses in the same structure: “My teacher told me that I should submit my essay on time, that I should proofread it carefully before turning it in, and that I should not email her the night before. "
For example, consider how repetitive this is: “I saw a zombie. I started to run. I tripped over a rock. I got up again. I kept running. " All of the sentences have the same word order (subject-verb-direct object) and begin with the same subject. Now look at a spiced-up version: “I saw a zombie and started to run, but I tripped over a rock. Panicked, I picked myself up and kept running. "
