A Review of Sentence Facts
Reading and Discussion
A sentence is a group of words that makes complete sense. Sentences are made from the eight parts of speech. We can write a sentence using all eight parts of speech or using just two or three, but a sentence must have two things:
1. A subject: a noun that tells who or what the sentence is about.
2. A predicate: the verb or action word that tells what the subject does.
Remember this simple rule when building a sentence: Subject + Predicate = Sentence
Oklahoma City
Is this a sentence? No. It does not make complete sense. This subject needs a predicate.
Oklahoma City is the capital of Oklahoma.
Is this a sentence? Yes. It has a subject and a predicate. It makes complete sense.
A sentence must always begins with a capital letter. Even if the first word is not a proper noun, it must always capitalized. For example:
Oklahoma is the forty-sixth state.
Is Oklahoma a large state?
The famous athlete, Jim Thorpe, comes from Oklahoma.
Here are three important rules to remember when writing a sentence.
1. A sentence must make complete sense.
2. A sentence must have a subject and a predicate.
3. The first word of the sentence must begin with a capital letter.
There are four different kinds of sentence:
1. Telling sentences or Statements. This kind of sentence tells us something. It always ends with a period. A period is a punctuation mark that means to stop. If you are reading out loud, a period gives you a chance to take a breath before you read the next sentence.
2. Asking sentences or Questions.
This kind of sentence usually begins with a word that asks a question. Some common asking words are: who, what, when, where, why, how
Because asking sentences ask a question, they must end with a question mark. Asking sentences are sometimes called interrogative sentences. Here are two examples:
Who was the first governor of Oklahoma?
Where did Oklahoma get its name?
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3. Command sentences.
This kind of sentence commands or tells someone to do something. Command sentences always begin with a capital letter and end with a period. When writing some command sentences, it is often polite to begin with the word please. Command sentences are sometimes called imperative sentences. Here is an example:
Please feed the goldfish.
4. Exclamatory sentences.
This kind of sentence expresses a strong emotion like happiness, sadness, and fear.
The field is on fire!
Our team won the tournament!
Did you notice the punctuation mark at the end of these exclamatory sentences? It is called an exclamation mark. All exclamatory sentences end with an exclamation mark. Like all other sentences, an exclamatory sentence must always begin with a capital letter.
