CHAPTER 8

Writing Correct and Complete Sentences

You should read this chapter if you need to review or learn about

➜Identifying sentences
➜The four sentence functions
➜The four sentence forms
➜Identifying and correcting run-on sentences
➜Identifying and correcting sentence fragments and comma splices

What is a Sentence?

Each of these three word groups is a sentence because they each meet the three requirements for a sentence. To be a sentence, a group of words must

• Have a subject (noun or pronoun)
• Have a predicate (verb or verb phrase)
• Express a complete thought

A sentence has two parts: a subject and a predicate. The subject includes the noun or pronoun that tells what the subject is about. The predicate includes the verb that describes what the subject is doing.

Subject	Predicate
(You is understood but unstated)	Halt!
Age	is the outrageous price paid for maturity.
A crocodile	cannot stick its tongue out.
Several tourists	are lost in the winding roads of Corfu.
Some toothpastes	contain antifreeze.

Therefore, a sentence is a group of words with two main parts: a subject area and a predicate area. Together, the subject and predicate express a complete thought.

Being able to recognize the subject and the verb in a sentence will help you make sure that your own sentences are complete and clear. To check that you’ve included the subject and verb in your sentences, follow these steps:

• To find the subject, ask yourself, “What word is the sentence describing?”
• To find an action verb, ask yourself, “What did the subject do?”
• If you can’t find an action verb, look for a linking verb.

The Four Different Sentence Functions

In addition to classifying sentences by the number of clauses they contain, we can pigeonhole sentences according to their function. There are four sentence functions in English: declarative, exclamatory, interrogative, and imperative.

1. Declarative sentences state an idea. They end with a period.
   Grasshoppers contain more than 60 percent protein.
   Insects are rich in necessary vitamins and minerals.
   Crickets are packed with calcium, a mineral crucial for bone growth.
   Termites and caterpillars are a rich source of iron.
   


2. Exclamatory sentences show strong emotions. They end with an exclamation mark.
   I can’t believe you left the car at the station overnight!
   What a mess you made in the kitchen!
   Our evening is ruined!
   The china is smashed!
   


3. Interrogative sentences ask a question. They end with a question mark.
   Who would eat bugs?
   Where did you put the eraser?
   Would you please help me with this package?
   What do you call this dish?
   


4. Imperative sentences give orders or directions, and so end with a period or an exclamation mark. Imperative sentences often omit the subject, as in a command.
   Take this route to save 5 miles.
   Clean up your room!
   Sit down and listen!
   Fasten your seatbelts when the sign is illuminated.
   

The Four Different Sentence Types

In Chapter 7, you reviewed independent and dependent clauses. These word groups can be used in a number of ways to form the four basic types of sentences: simple, compound, complex, compound-complex. Let’s look at these sentence types now.

1. Simple sentences

   A simple sentence has one independent clause. That means it has one subject and one verb—although either or both can be compound. In addition, a simple sentence can have adjectives and adverbs. What a simple sentence can’t have is another independent clause or any subordinate clauses.

   The snow melted quickly in the bright sunshine.
   snow = subject
   melted = verb
   
   Oprah Winfrey and Conan O’Brien host talk shows.
   Winfrey and Conan O’Brien = subject
   host = verb
   
   The flower bent in the wind but did not break.
   flower = subject
   bent and break = verb
   
   Both the students and the teachers cheered and clapped for the winning team.
   students and teachers = subject
   cheered and clapped = verb
   
   

   Just because a simple sentence seems “simple” doesn’t mean that it isn’t powerful. It is. For instance, Noble Prize-winning author Ernest Hemingway crafted a powerful style using mainly simple sentences. In the following excerpt from his book A Farewell to Arms, Hemingway uses the simple sentence to convey powerful emotions. The simple sentences are in italic:

   My knee wasn’t there. My hand went in and my knee was down to my shin. Passini was dead. That left three. Someone took hold of me under the arms and someone else lifted up my legs.
   “There are three others,” I said. “One is dead.”
   “It’s Manera. We went for a stretcher but there wasn’t any. How are you, Tenente?”
   “Where are Gordini and Gavuzzi?”
   “Gordini’s at the post getting bandaged. Gavuzzi has your legs. Hold on to my neck, Tenente. Are you badly hit?”


2. Compound sentences
   A compound sentence has two or more independent clauses. The independent clauses can be joined in one of two ways:
   • With a coordinating conjunction: for, and, nor, but, or, yet, so.
   • With a semicolon (;)

As with a simple sentence, a compound sentence can’t have any subordinate clauses

You may also add a conjunctive adverb to this construction. The following words are conjunctive adverbs:

The sentence construction looks like this:
independent clause; conjunctive adverb, independent clause

3. Complex sentences

   A complex sentence contains one independent clause and at least one dependent clause. The independent clause is called the main clause. These sentences use subordinating conjunctions to link ideas. The subordinating conjunctions include such words as: because, as, as if, unless, provided that, if, even if.

   Since insects don’t have much muscle,	their texture is similar to that of a clam.
   dep. clause	indep. clause
   No one answered	when he called the house.
   indep. clause	dep. clause
   It was no secret	that he was very lazy.
   indep. clause	dep. clause

A compound-complex sentence has at least two independent clauses and at least one dependent clause. The dependent clause can be part of the independent clause.

Choosing Sentence Types

You now have four different types of sentences to use as you craft your ideas into language: simple sentences, compound sentences, complex sentences, and compound-complex sentences. Which ones should you use?

Should you write mainly simple sentences, as Ernest Hemingway did? Perhaps you should use complex sentences, favored by Charles Dickens and William Faulkner. Consider the Big Three—purpose, audience, and subject—as you craft your sentences:

• Purpose. Always consider your purpose for writing before you select a sentence type. Are you trying to entertain, persuade, tell a story, or describe? Sentences that describe are often long, while those that persuade may be much shorter. However, this guideline isn’t firm: The length and complexity of your sentences also depends on your audience, topic, and personal style.
• Audience. Your choice of sentences also depends on your audience. For example, the more sophisticated your audience, the longer and more complex your sentences can be. Conversely, the less sophisticated your audience, the shorter and simpler your sentences should be.
• Subject. Your choice of sentence types also depends on your subject matter. The more complex your ideas, the simpler your sentences should be. This helps your audience grasp your ideas.

Overall, most effective sentences are concise, conveying their meaning in as few words as possible. Effective sentences stress the main point or the most important detail. This ensures that your readers understand your point. Most writers—professional as well as amateur—use a combination of all four sentence types to convey their meaning.

Quick Tip

No matter which sentence form you select, remember that every sentence must provide clear and complete information.

Sentence Errors: Run-on Sentences and Comma Splices

There are two basic types of sentence errors: fragments and run-on sentences. These problems with sentence construction confuse your readers and obscure your meaning. Their use will also result in clumsy, unpolished writing and speech. Let’s look at each of these sentence errors in detail so that you’ll be able to fix them with ease.

As you’ve learned, there are two types of clauses: independent and dependent

• Independent clauses are complete sentences because they have a subject, a verb, and express a complete thought.
  
  

  I go to the movies every Saturday night.

  Richard Nixon’s favorite drink was a dry martini.

• Dependent clauses cannot stand alone because they do not express a complete thought, even though they have a subject and a verb.
  
  

  Since I enjoy the movies.
  I = subject
  enjoy = verb

  Because Richard Nixon’s favorite drink was a dry martini.
  drink = subject
  was = verb

A run-on sentence is two incorrectly joined independent clauses. A comma splice is a runon sentence with a comma where the two independent clauses run together. When your sentences run together, your ideas are garbled.

Run-on: Our eyes are always the same size from birth our nose and ears never stop growing.

Corrected: Our eyes are always the same size from birth, but our nose and ears never stop growing.

Run-on: A duck’s quack doesn’t echo, no one knows why.

Corrected: A duck’s quack doesn’t echo; no one knows why.

or

A duck’s quack doesn’t echo, and no one knows why.

Run-on: The traditional sonnet has 14 lines, 10 syllables make up each line.

Corrected: The traditional sonnet has 14 lines; 10 syllables make up each line.

or

The traditional sonnet has 14 lines, and 10 syllables make up each line.

Quick Tip

Run-on sentences are not necessarily long. Some can be quite short, in fact. Mary fell asleep John left. Nick cooked Rita cleaned up.

You can correct a run-on sentence in four ways. Let’s use the following example.

Water and wind are the two main causes of erosion, they constantly change the appearance of the Earth.

1. Divide the run-on sentence into two sentences with the appropriate end punctuation, such as a period, exclamation mark, or a question mark.

   Water and wind are the two main causes of erosion. They constantly change the appearance of the Earth.

2. Add a coordinating conjunction (and, nor, but, or, for, yet, so) to create a compound sentence.

   Water and wind are the two main causes of erosion, for they constantly change the appearance of the Earth.

3. Add a subordinating conjunction to create a complex sentence. Since water and wind are the two main causes of erosion, they constantly change the appearance of the Earth.
   Since water and wind are the two main causes of erosion, they constantly change the appearance of the Earth.


4. Use a semicolon to create a compound sentence.

   Water and wind are the two main causes of erosion; they constantly change the appearance of the Earth.

Here’s what the sentence looks like with a conjunctive adverb added:
Water and wind are the two main causes of erosion; as a result, they constantly change the appearance of the Earth.

Which corrected version do you choose? Select the one that best suits your audience, purpose, and writing style. Ask yourself these questions as you decide:

• Which version will my readers like best?
• Which version will most clearly and concisely communicate my message?
• Which version fits best with the rest of the passage?

Sentence Errors: Fragments

As its name suggests, a sentence fragment is a group of words that do not express a complete thought. Most times, a fragment is missing a subject, a verb, or both. Other times, a fragment may have a subject and a verb but still not express a complete thought. Fragments can be phrases as well as clauses.

Quick Tip

Sentence fragments are common and acceptable in speech, but not in writing— unless you are recreating dialogue in a short story or novel.

There are three main ways that fragments occur.

1. Fragments occur when a dependent clause masquerades as a sentence.
   Because more and more teenagers are staying up far too late.
   Since they do not compensate for the sleep they miss.


2. Fragments also happen when a phrase is cut off from the sentence it describes.
   Used to remove a wide variety of stains on carpets and upholstery.
   Trying to prevent the new cotton shirt from shrinking in the dryer.


3. You can also create a fragment if you use the wrong form of a verb.
   The frog gone to the pond by the reservoir.
   Saffron being a very costly and pungent spice.

Quick Tip

Don’t be misled by a capital letter at the beginning of a word group. Starting a group of words with a capital letter doesn’t make the word group a sentence. It just makes it a fragment that starts with a capital letter.

You can correct a fragment three ways:

1. Add the missing part to the sentence.
   
   Fragment: Because more and more teenagers are staying up far too late.
   Complete: Because more and more teenagers are staying up far too late, they are sleep deprived.
   
   Fragment: Since they do not compensate for the sleep they miss.
   Complete: Since they do not compensate for the sleep they miss, teenagers often get cranky in the afternoon.
   
   Fragment: Used to remove a wide variety of stains on carpets and upholstery.
   Complete: This product is used to remove a wide variety of stains on carpets and upholstery.
   
   Fragment: Trying to prevent the new cotton shirt from shrinking in the dryer.
   Complete: Jean was trying to prevent the new cotton shirt from shrinking in the dryer.


2. Correct the misused verb.
   
   Fragment: The frog gone to the pond by the reservoir.
   Complete: The frog went to the pond by the reservoir.
   
   Fragment: Saffron being a very costly and pungent spice.
   Complete: Saffron is a very costly and pungent spice.
   


3. Omit the subordinating conjunction or connect it to another sentence.
   
   Fragment: Because more and more teenagers are staying up far too late.
   Complete: More and more teenagers are staying up far too late.
   
   Fragment: Since they do not compensate for the sleep they miss.
   Complete: They do not compensate for the sleep they miss.

✔ A sentence has a subject, a verb, and expresses a complete thought.
✔ The four sentence functions are declarative, exclamatory, interrogative, imperative.
✔ The four types of sentences are simple, compound, complex, compound complex.
✔ Run-on sentences are incorrectly joined independent clauses; fragments are parts of sentences. Both are considered incorrect in formal written speech (although fragments are often used in written dialogue).