We communicate with each other on a daily basis, almost everywhere. Some of the ways to communicate with other people can be either spoken or written. For being able to understand each other, we need to speak or write right, clear, which means using correct sentences to express our thoughts. For sentences, we need words, for the words we need the letters. In this lesson, we are going to describe in a brief the letters and words, but are going to closely learn:
What are letters and words?
From here we can see that the above group of words means something. They also express one complete thought. That is what we call a sentence.
A sentence is a basic unit of language that expresses a complete thought.
We use sentences to express ourselves, either speaking or writing. But, we must be aware that a sentence must follow some basic grammatical rules, otherwise, it will not have a sense. If we don't order the words properly, we will get something confusing, which will be difficult to understand. Let's try to group some other words now.
1. I like ice cream and strawberries.
2. Strawberries like ice cream and I.
What you can see from the above group of words? Which one expresses a complete thought? Which one has some meaning? It is the first one, right? So we can state that the first group of words forms a sentence. Because the second group of words has no meaning and it is not expressing a complete thought it can not be a correct sentence.
Now you can practice and form as many sentences as you like. Be careful of combining the words so they can make a sense. I will start and you can continue:
1. Today the weather is very hot.
2. Isabella is picking flowers.
3. What do you like more, tea, or juice?
4.________________________________________
5.________________________________________
In many languages, when writing, the sentence begins with a word that starts with a capital letter. We have three options for punctuating the end of a sentence: a period (.), an exclamation mark (!), or a question mark (?).
A complete sentence contains two parts: a subject and a predicate. The subject is what (or whom) the sentence is about, while the predicate tells something about the subject.
Let's see how the complete sentences look like:
1. I want to go to France.
2. I like summer.
3. Paul and Victor are best friends.
4. My teacher is a very nice person.
5. What is your favorite color?
The subject of a sentence is usually a noun, but it can be a pronoun too. It can be a person, place, thing, or idea that is doing something or being something.
How can we determine the subject of a sentence? To determine the subject of a sentence, we should first isolate the verb and then ask a question by placing "who?" or "what?" before it. The answer is the subject. Let's see an example:
Isabella is picking flowers.
First, we will isolate the verb. The verb in this sentence is-"picking". From that, we will ask: Who is picking flowers? The answer is "Isabella". From here we see that Isabella is a noun and is doing something. We can now confirm that Isabella is the subject of this sentence.
Now let's determine the predicate in this sentence. The predicate always includes the verb and relates something about the subject. We will ask a question: what about Isabella? She "is picking flowers". That is the predicate of this sentence. It contains the verb and it tells us something about the subject.
The sentences that do not have either subject or predicate, or describe incomplete thought are called incomplete sentences. Incomplete sentences look as following:
1. This year. (incomplete thought)
2. Yes, they. (lack predicate)
3. Tried, but nothing. (lack subject)
4. She is (lack predicate)
5. Fly a kite. (lack subject)
As you can see, these sentences, either lacks a subject or predicate or represent an incomplete thought.
As a practice, you can form some new sentences and try to determine the subject and the predicate.
Have you ever noticed that we are expressing our thoughts in different forms? Sometimes we state something; sometimes we are asking something, or we are giving some instructions. Because the sentence can express the thought in a different form as statement, question, instruction, or exclamation, we can distinguish four different types of sentences by their function. Let's learn about them a little bit more.
We use these sentences to give some information, to share facts or ideas. With them, we state, declare, or claim something. These sentences end with a period (.).
1. Birds fly.
2. I like ice cream.
3. He plays the piano.
Interrogative sentences are questions. They ask a direct question and are punctuated at the end with a question mark (?). That is how they are easily recognizable.
1. Where are you from?
2. How far is the moon from the earth?
3. What is your favorite color?
Imperative sentences give instructions, requests, demands, or a forbiddance and also are used to share wishes and make invitations. Depending upon its delivery, an imperative sentence may end with a period (.) or an exclamation mark/point (!).
1. Come here right now!
2. Don't touch my phone.
3. Open the window.
These sentences are a more forceful version of declarative sentences. Exclamatory sentences make a statement (just like a declarative sentence), but they also convey excitement or emotion. These sentences are used to express strong feelings or emotions. They express surprise, happiness, anger, and excitement. They end with an exclamation point (!).
1. What a beautiful lake!
2. I love you so much!
3. She is so amazing!
Remember!
