Download Basic Sentences

Basic Sentences
Section 19.1
What is a sentence?
• A sentence is a set of words that must contain
at least three things.
• 1) a subject
• 2) a verb
• 3) a complete thought
• If you do not have these two things, the set of
words would not be considered a sentence. It
would be considered a fragment.
The Subject
• The subject of a sentence is the word or words
that names the person, place, or thing.
(noun/nouns)This noun/pronoun will perform
the action or will be described in the same
sentence.
• Without a subject, there wouldn’t be a
sentence to build on!
Examples of Subjects
• The dog is chasing the cat.
Since a dog is a person, place, or thing, dog would
be the subject.
1. What is the subject of this sentence?
The seed germinated into a huge plant.
a) plant
b) germinated
c) seed
The correct answer is C- seed.
(continued)
2. Purple is the last color in the rainbow.
The subject of this sentence is _______.
a) rainbow
b) purple
c) color
The answer is purple. The answer purple tells what.
Usually, subjects can tell who or what is doing
something. For instance, you can ask yourself the
question: What is the last color in the rainbow?
Purple.
The Verb
• A verb is a word used to describe an action, state,
or occurrence.
• The verb forms the main part of the predicate.
• A predicate is the part of the sentence or clause
that contains a verb.
• In a sentence, the verb has to tell:
1) What is done to the subject.
2) What the subject does.
3) What the condition of the subject is.
Examples
• My brother won a goldfish.
• The verb in this sentence is won. Won is the verb
because it tells what my brother did. What did
my brother do? He won a goldfish.
• What is the verb in this sentence?
• A monkey eats bananas.
• a) eats
• b) bananas
• c) monkey
• The correct answer is a- eats.
Helping Verbs
• A helping verb is when one verb helps out another verb
(the main verb would be helped out by “the little helper.”)
• For example,
• Alyssa was walking to lunch 10 minutes ago.
• Was would be the helping verb because it tells when she
was walking.
• A HELPING VERB TELLS THE TIME THAT THE SENTENCE
TOOK PLACE IN.
• It could be:
1) Past
2) Present
3) Future
Examples
She was walking to class when I accidentally
dropped my books.
The Helping Verb in that sentence is was. It is the
helping verb because it helps you to understand
when the action occurred.
What is the verb in this sentence?
He is getting ready to run the marathon.
a) He
b) Is
c) Ready
The correct answer is b, is.
The Helping Verb Song!
Helping verbs, helping verbs, there are 23! Am,
is, are, was, and were, being, been, and be. Has,
have, had, do, does, did, shall, should, and
would, there are 5 more helping verbs, may,
might, must, can, could!!!
Linking Verbs
• Linking verbs are verbs that link other words
together in a sentence.
• Some examples of linking verbs are:
• Is, am, are, was, were, be, being, been.
• If there is another verb after the linking verb,
it would be called a helping verb.
• Just like helping verbs, linking verbs can tell
the past, present, or future.
Examples of linking verbs
• 1. What is the linking verb in this sentence?
The dinosaur is hungry.
a) dinosaur
b) hungry
c) is
C is the correct answer.
(continued)
• What is the linking verb in this sentence?
The meat smells spoiled.
A) smells
B) meat
C) spoiled
The correct answer would be A- smells.
Even though smells is not a usual linking verb, it still
is because if something smells spoiled, it is not an
actual action. Linking verbs do not show action.