Sentence Construction

There are three main problems that prevent people from writing

complete, grammatically correct sentences.

• sentence fragment• run-on sentence• lack of subject-verb and pronoun-

reference agreement

What must a complete sentence have?

SubjectVerb

To find the subject, first

look for the verb, and then ask who or what is doing the action for active

verbs. Ask who or what is acted on for

passive verbs.

To find the verb, change the time expressed in the

sentence (from the present to the past, from the past to the future, and so on).

The word that changes is the verb.

Identify Complete SentencesThe student felt nervous before the speech. Thought about leaving the room.

Many scientists change the world with their discoveries. Einstein, for example.

Look for danger words in a sentence

If When Because

When these words are used at the beginning of a phrase, they require a follow-up phrase to conclude the thought.

Identify Complete Sentences

It will be a cold day. If it rains.

I drove for miles this morning. When I lost my dog.

I don’t want to go to school. Because he is mean.

More Danger Words

• After• Unless• Although• How• As if• When• Because

• Where• Before• While• If• Until• Once• So that• Since• Whether

Revise!Interviewer: How much rewriting do you do?Hemingway: It depends. I rewrote the ending of Farewell to Arms, the last page of it, 39 times before I was satisfied.Interviewer: Was there some technical problem there? What was it that had stumped you?Hemingway: Getting the words right.(Ernest Hemingway, "The Art of Fiction," The Paris Review Interview, 1956)

Revise!

• The main thing I try to do is write as clearly as I can. I rewrite a good deal to make it clear.(E.B. White, The New York Times, August 3, 1942)