Post by thethoughtpolice on Oct 10, 2011 8:35:34 GMT
Right folks.
Here is all you need to know about the sentence. The following should hopefully dispell any myths you might have picked up along the way, like 'you put in a comma when you've taken a breath'. Well I breathed several times in that sentences; count the commas.
So what is a sentence?
A sentence contains a subject and a verb.
The subject - this is a person or an object that the sentence is about.
Verb - the 'doing' word. (But what does 'doing' mean? It means that there is an action in the sentence. The subject is 'doing' something) Never forget that 'is' and 'was' are verbs. They come from the verb 'to be'.
Therefore:
I am. Is a simple sentence.
He jumped.
She ran.
He kicked.
Each of these has a subject and a verb.
Let's complicate matters.
Steven kicked the ball into next week.
Steven is the subject. Kicked is the verb. So what's the ball?
Answer - the object This is the thing that the action is being done to. It's on the receiving end of whatever the subject is doing.
Billy jumped up and down on the trampoline.
Billy = subject.
Jumped = verb
trampoline = object
To sum up, a sentence must have a subject and a verb. If there is more than one subject, or there is a second main verb, then it is likely you either need a joining word (a conjunction) or you need a full stop.
E.g
Billy jumped up and down on the trampoline Suzzie watched him.
Billy = subject.
Jumped = verb
trampoline = object
Suzzie = Subject
Watched =verb
So since Suzzie is a new subject who is doing a nmew action, we either need a conjunction or we need a full stop. A COMMA WILL NOT DO.
So our sentence can become:
Billy jumped up and down on the trampoline. Suzzie watched him.
Billy jumped up and down on the trampoline, while Suzzie watched him.
So then what's a comma for?
A comma is there to mark off the different parts of the sentence from each other. It is not to show where the reader should breathe or to 'join two sentences together'. It is to show where the main part of the sentence is and where the secondary (or subordinate clauses) parts are.
E.g
Steven threw his hammer down the well, grinning the whole time.
Steven = subject
threw= verb
hammer = object
well = object
grinning = participle form the the verb 'to grin'.
This could have been wrongly written:
Steven threw his hammer down the well he grinned the whole time.
But since we know that this would repeat the subject and have a new main verb, then we know this is wrong.
To make it right, we had to remove the subject and change the second verb to the -ing form.
Steven threw his hammer down the well, he grinning the whole time.
And to split off these two actions from each other and show the main clause (part of the sentence) from the subordinate clause, we
have used a comma.
This kind of sentence is often used when there is more than one action that is happening at the same time.
Franky played the trombone boldly, puffing his cheeks right out.
Franky = subject
Played = verb
trombone = object
puffing = participle form of the verb 'to puff'
cheeks= object
To sum up:
To tell if what you have written is grammatically correct, look through your work and see if there is a clear subject, a verb attached to it, and that if you have a new subject and a new verb, then you must have a conjunction or you must have changed the form of that verb to -ing.
Here is all you need to know about the sentence. The following should hopefully dispell any myths you might have picked up along the way, like 'you put in a comma when you've taken a breath'. Well I breathed several times in that sentences; count the commas.
So what is a sentence?
A sentence contains a subject and a verb.
The subject - this is a person or an object that the sentence is about.
Verb - the 'doing' word. (But what does 'doing' mean? It means that there is an action in the sentence. The subject is 'doing' something) Never forget that 'is' and 'was' are verbs. They come from the verb 'to be'.
Therefore:
I am. Is a simple sentence.
He jumped.
She ran.
He kicked.
Each of these has a subject and a verb.
Let's complicate matters.
Steven kicked the ball into next week.
Steven is the subject. Kicked is the verb. So what's the ball?
Answer - the object This is the thing that the action is being done to. It's on the receiving end of whatever the subject is doing.
Billy jumped up and down on the trampoline.
Billy = subject.
Jumped = verb
trampoline = object
To sum up, a sentence must have a subject and a verb. If there is more than one subject, or there is a second main verb, then it is likely you either need a joining word (a conjunction) or you need a full stop.
E.g
Billy jumped up and down on the trampoline Suzzie watched him.
Billy = subject.
Jumped = verb
trampoline = object
Suzzie = Subject
Watched =verb
So since Suzzie is a new subject who is doing a nmew action, we either need a conjunction or we need a full stop. A COMMA WILL NOT DO.
So our sentence can become:
Billy jumped up and down on the trampoline. Suzzie watched him.
Billy jumped up and down on the trampoline, while Suzzie watched him.
So then what's a comma for?
A comma is there to mark off the different parts of the sentence from each other. It is not to show where the reader should breathe or to 'join two sentences together'. It is to show where the main part of the sentence is and where the secondary (or subordinate clauses) parts are.
E.g
Steven threw his hammer down the well, grinning the whole time.
Steven = subject
threw= verb
hammer = object
well = object
grinning = participle form the the verb 'to grin'.
This could have been wrongly written:
Steven threw his hammer down the well he grinned the whole time.
But since we know that this would repeat the subject and have a new main verb, then we know this is wrong.
To make it right, we had to remove the subject and change the second verb to the -ing form.
Steven threw his hammer down the well, he grinning the whole time.
And to split off these two actions from each other and show the main clause (part of the sentence) from the subordinate clause, we
have used a comma.
This kind of sentence is often used when there is more than one action that is happening at the same time.
Franky played the trombone boldly, puffing his cheeks right out.
Franky = subject
Played = verb
trombone = object
puffing = participle form of the verb 'to puff'
cheeks= object
To sum up:
To tell if what you have written is grammatically correct, look through your work and see if there is a clear subject, a verb attached to it, and that if you have a new subject and a new verb, then you must have a conjunction or you must have changed the form of that verb to -ing.