Building sentences
Understand that words combine to make sentences: a sentence expresses a complete thought; produce and expand complete sentences in speech and writing
What a learner can do afterwards
- Distinguish between complete sentences and fragments
- Compose a complete sentence with a subject and verb
- Expand a simple sentence by adding detail
1 · Read
A sentence tells a whole idea so a friend knows what you mean. It names someone or something, then tells what they do.
Mia says, 'The cat.' That does not tell what happened. She adds words: 'The cat slept.' Now it is complete.
You can always add more words to tell more. 'The cat slept on the mat.' Still one sentence.
A sentence names who or what, then tells what happened. You can always add more detail.
The rewritten readings were written for this dataset.
More to read
Say a complete thought
Words make a sentence when they share a complete thought. Say yours aloud. Does it make sense on its own? Begin with a capital letter and finish with a punctuation mark, such as a period. "The dog runs." tells us a complete thought. Try making short sentences about things around you.
Who is doing what?
Try this sentence: "The cat sleeps." It has two parts. "The cat" names who we are talking about. We call that the subject. "Sleeps" says what the cat does. We call that the predicate. A predicate can also say what someone or something is like. Start with a capital letter and finish with punctuation. Now put "my dog" and "runs fast" together to make your own sentence.
Simple sentences
A simple sentence is one sentence with one idea. It has a subject, which tells who or what the sentence is about. It has a verb, which tells what the subject does or is. Together they make a whole thought. Example: Lemonade is delicious. 'Lemonade' is the subject. 'Is delicious' tells us about it. That is a whole sentence. Try making your own. Pick a subject, then tell what it does.
Sentence fragments
A sentence needs two things to be complete. It needs a subject, which tells who or what. It needs a verb, which tells what happens. It also needs to share a whole idea. If a sentence is missing one of these things, it is called a fragment. A fragment is not a whole sentence. Example: 'Running fast' is a fragment. It has no subject. Add one: 'The puppy is running fast.' Now it is a whole sentence.
Expanding sentences with detail
You can make a sentence more interesting by adding detail words. These extra words tell more about a person, place, or thing. Example: 'The dog runs.' is a simple sentence. Add detail: 'The big brown dog runs fast.' Now we know more about the dog. Try it with your own sentence. Start simple, then add words that tell more.
2 · Watch
به انگلیسیTake it off screen
Where it sits
Learn first
Nothing; this is a starting point.
This opens up
Where this leads
Jobs that lean on this skill. Follow one to see everything it is built on.
23 questions wait behind this lesson, each with its answer explained. Every answer feeds the sky: stars light as they are learned, and dim when it is time to come back.