Sentence

For other uses, see Sentence (law).

A sentence is a group of words that are joined together to mean something. A sentence is the basic unit of language. It expresses a complete thought. It does this by following the grammatical basic rules of syntax. For example: "Ram is walking".

A complete sentence has at least a subject and a main verb to state (declare) a complete thought. Short example: She walks. A subject is the noun (name) which is doing the main verb. The main verb is the activity that the subject is doing.

In English and many other languages, the first word of a written sentence has a capital letter. At the end of the sentence there is a punctuation mark depending on whether it is a statement, a question, a command, a request or an exclamation.

Phrases and clauses

A phrase or clause is part of a sentence.^p773–777

This is an example of a sentence:

• The dog is happy.

In this sentence, 'The dog' is the subject, and 'is' is the verb.

This is an example of a phrase:

• The happy dog

There is no verb, so we do not know anything about what the happy dog is doing. Therefore, it is not a sentence.

A clause is a sentence within a sentence. Example:

• They milked the cows, and then they made cheese and butter. This sentence has two co-ordinate (~equal) clauses, linked by 'and'.^{p220 and indranil das}

Types of sentence

• A simple sentence has only one clause, and one independent variable. The cat is sleeping.
• A compound sentence has two or more clauses. These clauses are joined with conjunctions, punctuation, or both. The dog is happy, but the cat is sad.
• A complex sentence has one clause with a relative clause. The dog, which is eating the bone, is happy.
• A complex-compound sentence (or compound-complex sentence) has many clauses, at least one of which is a relative clause: The dog, which is eating the bone, is happy, but the cat is sad.

Sentences have different purposes:

• A declarative sentence, or declaration, is the most common type of sentence. It tells something. It ends with a full stop . (The dog is happy.)
• An interrogative sentence, or question, asks something. It ends with a question mark ? (Are you happy?)
• An exclamatory sentence, or exclamation, says something out of the ordinary. It ends with an exclamation mark ! (That dog is the happiest dog I have ever seen!)
• An imperative sentence, or command, tells someone to do something. (Give the dog a bone.)

Basic English sentences

Here are some sentences written in Basic English:

The sky is blue.

Today is Monday.

Tomorrow is Tuesday.

The baby is smiling.

Sheila is reading a book.

This is the road to take.

Read a book about the history of America.

There are beautiful flowers growing in the garden.

The cushions are new and I feel the comfort they give me.

They are playing in the grounds.

Related pages

• Phrase
• Punctuation
• Word

References

TYpes of sentences worksheet