A clearly written and complete sentence always has a subject, a verb, and a complete idea. A clear and complete sentence makes sense on its own. Sometimes, complete sentences may be called an independent clause. See the sentence building section for more information about clauses.
Subjects:
Every sentence needs to start with a subject. The subject tells the reader who or what the sentence is about. Usually, the subject of the sentence will be a noun or a pronoun. Nouns are people, places, or things. Pronouns are words that replace nouns.
Every sentence must have a subject, but the subject is not always simple and may actually be a phrase or clause.
Examples: For all the examples listed below, the subject is underlined.
a noun - Instructors expect students to study for exams.
a pronoun - They can help students study by preparing practice tests.
an -ing phrase - Succeeding on exams takes a lot of hard work and energy.
a noun phrase - The end of the term is stressful for most students.
a noun clause - Students who spend at least an hour per day studying achieve higher scores on exams.
"It" often acts as a filler subject - It is important to study regularly.
"There" often acts as a filler subject - There are many strategies students can use to help improve their grades.
Verbs:
Every sentence must contain a verb. The verb makes a statement about the subject. The verb agrees in number with the subject and shows the tense of the sentence.
Examples: In all the examples listed below, the subject is underlined. The main verb is highlighted in yellow.
The end of the term is stressful for most students.
Students who spend at least an hour per day studying achieve higher scores on exams.
The instructor told us the exam would be difficult.
I should have started studying for the exam earlier.
SOURCES:
Adapted Writing for Success by University of Minnesota is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License, except where otherwise noted.
The Charts are inspired by Grammar Troublespots: A Guide for Student Writers by Ann Raimes from Cambridge University Press Third Edition 2004
Some verbs are linking verbs, like "is (to be)," while others are action verbs. At the link below, we have posted a useful list of action verbs with ideas for where and how to use them in documents, reports, and essays.
English sentences follow a standard word order of Subject + Verb + Object. The subject, verb, and object are usually at the beginning of the sentence and additional information comes after these three items. The subject, verb, and object should stay together.
Sentences usually follow the order below:
Watch the video below for more detail on sentence word order.
Look at the example sentences below. The different parts of the sentence are coded using different colours:
WHO + WHAT + HOW + WHERE + WHEN + WHY
Amir and Jason study math at the library every Tuesday.
I prefer to ride my bike to school during the spring and summer because it provides me with good exercise.
Computers have the ability to make complex calculations extremely quickly.
I was 40 minutes late for work because there was a car accident in my neighbourhood this morning.
Notice that when you have a compound or complex sentence, each part of the sentence contains the same who, what, when, where, how, why order: I was 40 minutes late for work because there was a car accident in my neighbourhood this morning.
It is possible to put the "where, when, and why" section of a sentence before the "who and what" section of the sentence. However, sentences of this sort sound less natural and should only be used if you want to emphasize the "where, when, or why" section of a sentence. Notice that the "who" and "what" portion of the sentence always stays together.
Every Tuesday, Amir and Jason study math at the library.
Because there was a car accident in my neighbourhood this morning, I was 40 minutes late for work.
SOURCES:
Adapted Writing for Success by University of Minnesota is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License, except where otherwise noted.
The Charts are inspired by Grammar Troublespots: A Guide for Student Writers by Ann Raimes from Cambridge University Press Third Edition 2004
In academic writing at a post-secondary level, instructors expect students to write longer and more complicated sentences. You can write more complicated sentences by combing different types of clauses to create compound and complex sentences.
A clause is a group of words that tell you who (subject) and what (a verb). A clause may or may not be a complete idea.
An independent clause is any group of words with a subject and verb that can stand alone as a complete and grammatically correct sentence.
A dependent (or subordinate) clause is a group of words that has a subject and verb, but does not form a complete idea. A dependent clause is not a complete sentence.
You can create a compound sentence by combining two independent clauses that are closely related to one another. Usually, you create a compound sentence by using a coordinating conjunction. The seven coordinating conjunctions are and, but, so, or, yet, for, and nor.
Notice how each independent clause in the examples below has a subject, a verb, and a complete idea that could stand on its own.
| Independent clause 1 | Comma | Coordinating Conjunction |
Independent clause 2 |
| Maya felt very stressed about her math exam | , | and | she pulled an all-nighter to study for it. |
| She spent all night studying | , | but | she still did not understand the concepts. |
| She couldn't answer a lot of the questions | , | so | she ended up failing the exam. |
You can create a complex sentence by combining one or more independent clauses with a dependent (subordinate) clause. Complex sentences use subordinating conjunctions to show the relationship between two ideas.
In the example below, the dependent clause is italicized and the subordinating conjunction is in bold. Notice that when the subordinating conjunction is at the beginning of the sentence, you need to use a comma, but when it is in the middle of the sentence, no comma is needed.
Maya felt very stressed during her math exam because she didn't have enough time to study for it.
Although Maya spent all night studying for her exam, she still didn't understand the concepts.
Notice how some of the example sentences combine both compound and complex structures.
| Type of clause | Subordinating Conjunction | Example Sentence |
| Reason/cause | because, as, since | Maya felt very stressed during her math exam because she didn't have enough time to study for it. |
|
Concession (unexpected result) |
although, even though, |
Even though effective time management improves student outcomes during exams, students must understand basic concepts to be successful. |
| Purpose | so that, in order that | In order to be successful in exams, students must attend classes, manage their time, study materials regularly and ask their instructions questions. |
| Result |
so...that, |
Sometimes students get so anxious on exams that their minds go blank and they forget everything. |
| Condition | If, unless | If students manage their time effectively and become comfortable asking instructors for support, they are more likely to be successful in exams. |
| Time |
When, before, after, until, since, as soon as |
Before writing an important exam, it's crucial to get a good night's sleep. |
Table adapted from Raimes, A (2004). Grammar Troublespots: A Guide for Student Writers (3rd ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 13.
1. Simple sentences - independent clauses that contain a subject, verb and complete thought.
2. Compound sentences - contain two or more independent sentences joined by a comma + coordinating conjunction, semicolon or semicolon plus transitional word or phrase.
3. Complex sentences - contain a dependent clause and an independent clause.
4. Compound-Complex sentences - contain a dependent clause and two or more independent clauses.
Adapted (University of Guelph McLaughlin Library, 2020)
Every sentence needs both a subject and a verb to be complete. The subject and the verb in a sentence must agree in the following ways:
1. A verb should always agree with its subject: singular or plural.
Some subjects are singular (cat), and some are plural (cats). A singular subject requires a certain form of a verb. In many cases, a plural subject requires a different form of a verb. For example:
2. Subjects and verbs must agree even when words come between them.
3. Two or more subjects joined by “and” take a plural verb.
4. Singular subjects joined by “or” or “nor” take singular verbs; plural subjects joined by “or” or “nor” require plural verbs.
5. When a singular subject and a plural subject are joined by “or” or “nor,” the verb agrees with the subject closer to it.
6. Words ending in “one,” “thing,” or “body” and words such as “each,” “either,” and “neither” take singular verbs.
7. The agreement of pronouns depends on the countable nature of the word or phrase to which the pronoun refers.
The agreement of pronouns such as “any,” “most,” “all,” “many,” “more,” “some,” “who,” “that,” and “which” depends on whether the word or phrase to which the pronoun refers is countable or noncountable (also known as uncountable).
Countable nouns can usually be expressed in singular and plural (tree/trees, cat/cats, student/students).
Noncountable or uncountable nouns cannot usually be expressed in plural (research, literature, evidence).
8. Collective nouns can take singular or plural verbs, depending on whether the sentence is referring to the group as a unit or as individuals.
Collective nouns refer to a single group that has multiple members. If the noun refers to the group as a unit, use a singular verb. If the noun refers to the group members as individuals, use a plural verb.
9. When a sentence begins with “there” or “here,” the verb still agrees with the subject.
This rule is applicable to sentences in an inverted word order (where the subject follows the verb).
University of Guelph McLaughlin Library. (2020, April 23). Write Clearly: Understanding Subject-Verb Agreement. Retrieved from University of Guelph McLaughlin Library Lib Guides: https://guides.lib.uoguelph.ca/Grammar