What is a Sentence?
A sentence is a group of words that expresses a complete thought. It starts with a capital letter and ends with a punctuation mark.
Subject and Predicate
Every sentence has two main parts: the subject and the predicate.
- Subject: who or what the sentence is about. It tells us who or what performs the action or is described.
- Predicate: what about the subject; it tells the action or state of being. It often contains the verb.
Example: The cat (subject) sleeps (predicate).
Sentence Types by Purpose
There are four common types of sentences based on their purpose. They all can have a subject and a predicate.
- Declarative – makes a statement. Ends with a period.
- Imperative – gives a command or request. Often has an understood subject (you). Ends with a period, or an exclamation mark for emphasis.
- Interrogative – asks a question. Ends with a question mark.
- Exclamatory – shows strong feeling. Ends with an exclamation mark.
Examples
- Declarative: The dog barks every morning. (subject: The dog; predicate: barks every morning)
- Imperative: Please close the door. (subject: you are implied; predicate: Please close the door)
- Interrogative: Did you finish your homework? (subject: you; predicate: did finish your homework; note inversion of word order typical in questions)
- Exclamatory: What a beautiful garden! (subject: [implied you or garden], predicate: is a beautiful garden; ends with !)
Quick Tips to Identify Them
Practice: Take a sentence, find the subject and predicate, and decide which type it is. For example, in “The bird sings loudly.”, the subject is The bird, the predicate is sings loudly, and it is a declarative sentence.