Question 1

What is a sentence?

Accepted Answer

A sentence is a group of words with a subject and a finite verb that can stand on its own: The dog barked. Length does not decide it. Stop. is a sentence, because its subject is an understood you, while Because the bus was late is not, because because leaves the reader waiting for the main clause.

Question 2

What are the subject and the predicate of a sentence?

Accepted Answer

The subject is who or what the sentence is about; the predicate is everything it says about them, starting with the verb. In The children in the park laughed, the subject is The children in the park and the predicate is laughed. Either part can be one word or many.

Question 3

How do I find the subject of a sentence?

Accepted Answer

Find the verb first, then ask who or what before it: Yesterday my aunt visited us. Who visited? My aunt, not yesterday. Take the whole answer: in The boy with the dog laughed, the subject is the boy with the dog. The subject is not always first, and a command has an understood you as its subject.

Question 4

What is an object, and what is the difference between a direct and an indirect object?

Accepted Answer

An object is who or what the verb acts on; ask verb what? or verb whom? In Ravi gave Mum a card, a card is the direct object, the thing given, and Mum is the indirect object, the one who receives it. Without to or for, the receiver comes first: gave Mum a card, or gave a card to Mum.

Question 5

What is a complement in grammar?

Accepted Answer

A complement completes the verb by describing or renaming someone already in the sentence. In She became a doctor, a doctor is a subject complement: she and the doctor are one person. In They made him captain, captain is an object complement: he is the captain. An object names a separate thing: She met a doctor means two people.

Question 6

What is a sentence fragment?

Accepted Answer

A sentence fragment is a group of words punctuated as a sentence but missing a subject or finite verb, or leaning on another clause: Walking to school. Because it rained. Repair it by joining it to a nearby sentence or adding what is missing. Fragments are errors in formal writing; in dialogue, ads and fiction they can be deliberate.

Question 7

What is a run-on sentence?

Accepted Answer

A run-on, or fused sentence, joins two complete sentences with no punctuation or joining word at all: The bus was late Yusuf missed his flight. Length has nothing to do with it. Fix it with a full stop, a semicolon, or a conjunction: The bus was late, so Yusuf missed his flight.

Question 8

What is a comma splice, and how do you fix it?

Accepted Answer

A comma splice joins two complete sentences with only a comma: Riya finished her homework, she went out. Fix it with a full stop, a semicolon, a coordinating conjunction (and, but, so) or a subordinating one (After Riya finished her homework, she went out). Choose by meaning. However is not a conjunction; a comma before it leaves the splice.

Question 9

What are the basic sentence patterns in English?

Accepted Answer

The standard set is the seven clause patterns in A Comprehensive Grammar of the English Language by Quirk et al.: SV (The baby slept), SVO (Ravi kicked the ball), SVC (Asha is happy), SVA (They live in Delhi), SVOO (Mum gave me a card), SVOC (They made him captain) and SVOA (She put the book on the shelf). Other grammars count differently.

Question 10

Is a command a complete sentence?

Accepted Answer

Yes. A command such as Stop. or Close the door. is a complete sentence. Its subject is an understood you: add it and you get You close the door. A name in a command is the person spoken to, not the subject: in Rohan, close the door, the subject is still you. Never mark a command wrong for having no visible subject.

Question 11

What is a dangling modifier?

Accepted Answer

A dangling modifier is an opening phrase that attaches to the wrong subject. In Walking home, the rain started, the rain seems to be walking. Fix it by changing the subject (Walking home, I got caught in the rain) or giving the opener its own subject (As I was walking home, the rain started).

Question 12

Can you start a sentence with 'because'?

Accepted Answer

Yes, as long as the sentence also has a main clause: Because the shop was closed, we went home. That is standard English. The error is a because clause standing alone, as in I was late. Because the bus broke down. That second part is a fragment in formal writing. Join it: I was late because the bus broke down.

Question 13

How do I find the verb in a sentence?

Accepted Answer

Use the time trick: change the sentence to yesterday or tomorrow, and the word that changes is the verb. The frog jumps becomes The frog jumped. Being words count too: The sky is blue becomes was blue. Some verbs are two words, like will sing. A word is a verb because of its job, not its look.

Question 14

Does every sentence need an object?

Accepted Answer

No. Some verbs are complete without one: The baby slept. The train arrived. Others need an object: She put and We enjoyed leave the reader asking what? Many go both ways: She sang, or She sang a song. Words that tell how, where or when, like loudly or to school, are not objects, even when they come straight after the verb.

Question 15

Why does word order matter in English?

Accepted Answer

Because English mostly shows who did what to whom by position: the subject comes before the verb and the object after it. The dog bit the man and The man bit the dog use the same words and tell opposite stories. Words that tell when or where can often move without changing the meaning: Yesterday we went, or we went yesterday.

What makes a sentence?