UNIT13 SIMPLE SENTENCE STRUCTURE
A sentence expresses a complete idea. Sentences form the building blocks of written communication. They
include affirmative statements, negative statements, and questions.
A complete sentence must have SUBJECT + VERB
I. The subject:
The subject tells WHO or WHAT the sentence is about. To find the subject of a sentence, we ask the question
Who? or What?
1. A subject can be Singular or Plural:
The baby smiled. (singular subject)
Computers have changed our lives.(plural subject)
2. A subject can be more than one word:
Karen and Andrew have four children.
The blond girl is my sister.
II. Verb
The verb refers to an action or a state. It indicates tense and time.
Jody sings. (present tense)
They are going to buy a house. (future tense)
He walked across the street. (past tense)A sentence can have more than one verb for one subject
My brother studied hard and earned a degree in Economics.
III. Subject - Verb Agreement
A verb must agree in number with its subject.
1. Singular subjects require singular verbs whereas plural subjects require plural verbs.
We are tired. CORRECT We is tired. INCORRECT
2. Use a plural verb following two or more nouns joined by and.
Claire and her sister live in Las Vegas.
3.Use a singular verb following a noun in expressions that refer to a single member of a group.
One of the students owns a restaurant.
The leader of the wolves always eats first.
B. Complete each sentence with the correct form of a present tense verb below.
watches/watch does not agree/ do not agree performs/perform
drives/ drive shares/ share studies/study
1. Harold and Ron _______________________to work together at least twice a week.
2. The president of the organization ________________________________with the
Committee’s recommendation.
3. One of my sisters_____________________________ too much television.
4. The United States and Canada ________________________a border.
5. He _________________________English and Economics at the university.
Exercise 3 - Editing a paragraph
A. Read the paragraph below. Correct the mistakes with present tense verbs. There are ten mistakes.
My Talented Sisters
My sisters are both talented people. Vanessa and Rita is musicians. Vanessa is a piano player
and Rita play the guitar. They are students at the High School for the Performing Arts. Vanessa
and some other girls in her class is guest performers at churches and other events nearly every
weekend. This are good practice for them because they wants to play professionally one day.
My other sister, Rita, is younger than Vanessa. She is not ready to perform yet, but she play the
guitar very well. She usually perform at family parties. They works hard. Every day when they
comes home, they are tired, but sometimes they play music for us at home. We feels lucky to
have such talented people in our family.
IV. Language Focus
1. Fragments
Every sentence must have a subject and a verb and express a complete idea. A sentence that does not
have a subject and a verb is incomplete. It is called a fragment.
Examples:
Incorrect Correct
I like Minneapolis. Is a clean city I like Minneapolis. It is a clean city
(subject is missing)
Incorrect Correct
They successful. (verb is missing) They are successful.
Incorrect Correct
Because he was late. He missed the bus because he was late.
Exercise : Correct the following fragments
1. Some food very spicy.
Some food is very spicy ___________________________________________
2. Corn my favorite vegetable.
_______________________________________________________________
2. A run-on Sentence
A run-on sentence is a sentence in which two or more complete sentences are joined with no punctuation or
conjunction; or two complete sentences are joined by a comma.
Example:
- It is nearly half past eight we are going to be late. → Two sentences joined with no punctuation
- It is nearly half past eight, we are going to be late. → Two sentences joined by a comma.
Correcting run on sentences:
The run-on sentences above can be corrected as follows:
a) Write the two sentences as separate sentences:
It is nearly half past eight. We are going to be late.
b) Insert a coordinating conjunction such as “and” “but” “so” “because” etc. after a comma:
It is nearly half past eight, so we are going to be late.
Insert a semicolon between them:
It is nearly half past eight; we are going to be late.
1. Boğaziçi University offers many majors in engineering. Such as electrical, chemical, and industrial
engineering.
______________________________________________________________________
2. Toys of all kinds all over the floor.
______________________________________________________________________
