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Sentence Style
What Makes a Complete Sentence?
Subject and Verb
In all the writing that you have ever read, you've probably noticed lots of different sentences. Some sentences are short. Other sentences seem to just stretch on until they're unbearably long. With all the different types of sentences there are, how do you decide what makes a sentence complete?
Your first and biggest hint: A complete sentence tells a complete thought.
A complete sentence has a subject (someone or something) and a verb (action). In the next sentences, the subject is bold and the verb is underlined.
Maria wore her red coat.
Rain soaked the ground.
The subject may not be the first part of a sentence. To find the subject and verb, ask yourself, "What is the action?" That is the verb. Then ask, "Who or what did it?" That is the subject.
Last week, all the snow melted.
Further south, people can swim in October.
When the sentence you are looking at is a question, it can be harder to find the subject and the verb. A good trick to try? Change the order of the words in the question, so that the sentence looks like a statement. Then, it's much easier to find your subject and verb to decide if you're looking at a complete sentence.
(Question) Should I wear my boots today?
(Statement) I should wear my boots today.
Let's do a quick exercise on finding the subject and verb in sentences. Below is a news article; in each sentence, underline the subject and circle the verb.
Subject/Verb Exercise
When will the rainy season end? Many Artonians are asking this question. For the fifteenth day in a row, people drooped in the heavy summer rains today.
Swimming pools were empty. Town residents huddled inside their homes.
