What Is a Sentence?

A sentence is a group of words that tells a complete thought. It has a beginning and an end. It tells us something that makes sense!

Two Important Parts of a Sentence#

Every sentence has two main parts:

1. Who or what the sentence is about (this is called the subject)
2. What happens (this is called the predicate)

For example:

• The dog runs fast.

  • Who? The dog
  • What dös the dog do? Runs fast.

• Sam ate a red apple.

  • Who? Sam
  • What did Sam do? Ate a red apple.

• The bird sings in the tree.

  • Who? The bird
  • What dös it do? Sings in the tree.

How a Sentence Looks#

A sentence has some special features when you write it:

• It starts with a capital letter (a big letter)
• It ends with a period (a dot at the end) for a telling sentence
• It has spaces between each word

For example: The cat is fat.

See the capital T at the start? See the period at the end? Those are the marks that show us it is a complete sentence!

Sentences vs. Not Sentences#

Not every group of words is a sentence. Look at these examples:

• "The dog" — this is NOT a sentence. It dös not tell us what the dog dös.

• "The dog runs." — this IS a sentence. It tells us who and what!

• "A big red" — this is NOT a sentence. It dös not make complete sense.

• "A big red ball rolled away." — this IS a sentence!

Reading Sentences#

When you read a sentence, read all the words from left to right. Start at the left side of the page and read to the right. When you see a period, that is the end of one sentence. Take a tiny pause, then start the next sentence.

Practice reading simple sentences every day. You are building a very important skill!