Forming Complete Sentences

What constitutes a sentence?
Sentences in English have both a subject and a verb.

• A subject names who or what the sentence is about. A subject is the actor in the sentence. Subjects can be nouns (persons, places, or things) or noun phrases or gerund phrases.
• Nouns are usually signaled by an article (a, an, the). They can be identified by asking who or what is doing an action.
• A verb expresses action (jump, think, has been jumping, is thinking) or state of being (is, become). They can be identified by asking what the action is.

What are common problems with sentence boundaries?

Sentence Fragments

• How to identify
  • A sentence fragment is a word group that pretends to be a sentence but lacks either a subject or a verb.
    (For more information, see A Writer’s Reference p. 205 or the on-line handbook.)

• How to revise
  • Attach fragmented subordinate clauses or turn them into sentences.
  • Attach fragmented phrases or turn them into sentences.
  • Attach other fragmented words group or turn them into sentences.
  • Attach lists to a complete sentence with a colon or a dash.
    (For more information, see A Writer’s Reference p. 204 - 209 or the on-line handbook.)

Run on sentences

•  How to identify
  • Run-on sentences are independent clauses, word groups that can stand alone as a sentence, that have not been joined correctly.
• How to revise
  • Use a comma and a coordinating conjunction – and, but, or, nor, for, so, yet.
  • Use a semicolon if the two sentences are of about the same length, and the second sentence tells more about the first sentence, or if there is no word that shows the relationship between the two ideas.
  • Make the clauses into two separate sentences.
  • Revise the sentence.
  • Join the two sentences with a subordinating conjunction.
    (For more information, see A Writer’s Reference p. 209 - 214 or the on-line handbook.)

Comma splices

• How to identify
  • A comma splice is two or more independent clauses joined by a comma without a coordinating conjunction.
• How to revise
  • Use a comma and a coordinating conjunction – and, but, or, nor, for, so, yet
  • Use a semicolon if the two sentences are of about the same length, and the second sentence tells more about the first sentence, or if there is no word that shows the relationship between the two ideas.
  • Make the clauses into two separate sentences.
  • Revise the sentence.
  • Join the two sentences with a subordinating conjunction.
    (For more information, see A Writer’s Reference p. 209 - 214 or the on-line handbook.)