Requirements of a Sentence

Sentences need. . . .

•A subject

•A verb

•And they need to make sense (be an independent clause)

“When writing, silent thoughts produce powerful sentences.”

The PhraseA phrase is a group of words that lacks a subject, a verb, or both. Two phrases that we use are—

Prepositional phrase

•Sentence: They kept dialing Rose’s phone number with no success.

Infinitive phrase (to + verb)

•Sentence: Matilda always wanted to run a marathon

• An infinitive phrase is the word “to” + a verb—to run, to jump, to kiss.•What we call a “split infinitive is when a word or phrase comes between the word “to” and the verb.•We want to sincerely welcome you to class.

(A clumsy infinitive—to welcome.)

Infinitive Phrase

Fix the split infinitives in the following:

1. The coach told her to quickly run five laps around the track.

2. It is important to softly and silently step into the baby’s room.

3. Jonathan Edwards preached with such strong conviction to positively, absolutely, unequivocally keep sinners from hell.

FragmentsSometimes sentences are not really a sentence, but a fragment.

Sometimes a sentence is lacks the subject or verb.

Sometimes a sentence lacks both a subject and verb.

Run-On SentencesSometimes sentences are run-on sentences or what is called, a “comma splice.”

For example:Joey ran to the store he ate a hamburger on his way home. (run-on)

Joey ran to the store, he ate a hamburger on his way home. (comma splice)

Joey ran to the store. He ate a hamburger on his way home. (correct)

Now it’s your turn. How might you correct these fragments or run-on/comma splice sentences?

1.Rosa talks about her relationship with her parents, she grew up following her family’s values.

2.Ralph always wanted to be a stand-up comic he liked to make people laugh.

3.The family set out for a new country. In which they could practice their culture and religion.

A modifier that is not grammatically linked to the noun or phrase it is intended to describe is said to be dangling.

Walking into the house, the telephone rang.

(The sentence says the telephone was

walking.)

Dangling Modifiers

Delighted with the team’s victory, the parade route was decorated by fans.

(The sentence says the parade route was delighted.)

Method 1: Keep the modifier, but make the subject of the independent clause the person or thing modified.

1.Walking into the house, we heard the telephone.

2.Delighted with the team’s victory, the fans decorated the parade route.

Method 2: Change the modifier phrase into a clause with its own subject and verb.

1. While we were walking into the house, the telephone rang.

2. Because the fans were delighted with the team’s victory, they decorated the parade route.

More on Dangle

The sentence is very powerful: choose your words carefully, and use them to your advantage.

Remember….

The Sentence