Writing - Complete Sentences

One of the most important parts of good writing is to make sure that you are not writing sentence fragments. Remember that a fragment is sentence that's missing either its subject, its verb, or both. Let's look at three examples of fragments.

Example 1: "Went running for miles."
(In this case, the subject is missing. Who went running for miles?)

Example 2: "My cousin Henry."
(In this case, the verb is missing. What is it about your cousin Henry?)

Example 3: "At the mall."
(In this case, both the subject and the verb are missing. Who was at the mall and what was done there?)

You may hear the word referred to as a "predicate." A complete sentence must have a subject and a predicate (or verb). The subject is who or what the sentence is about. The predicate (or verb) is the action that's happening. Sometimes the verb will seem to not show an action, as is the case if you use the verbs "am," "is," "are," "were," "be," "been," etc.

Look at the predicates (verbs) that are underlined in the sentences below.

Kristen was at the mall today. The stores were all open for customers. She shopped all day.

Now that you've had a chance to review subject & predicates, try your skills at identifying them in this Quia activity. Click this link to play the game. Once you're done, come back to the blog and type 2 complete sentences to tell us if you enjoyed the game and how you did!

Have fun!