What is Sentence?

Sam An Teng

A sentence is a group of words which contains at least one subject and one verb, and expresses a complete thought. It starts with a capital letter and finishes with an ending punctuation.

The ending punctuation is either a full-stop (.), a question mark (?), or an exclamation mark (!).

Look at the examples below.

  •  He runs.
  •  He likes apple.
  •  What are you doing?
  •  He studies English.
  •  We haven't finished our assignment yet.
  •  I go to school very day.

Some sentences have hidden subjects which is understood to be "you". For examples,

  •  Open the book! (the hidden subject is "You")
  •  Close the door.
  •  Don't go there.
  •  Be quiet!
  •  Please try harder.

Other exceptional sentences do not follow the grammatical pattern or structure, but they are considered to be complete sentences. They are understood when spoken or written. For examples,

  •  Hello!
  •  What a lovely day!
  •  Pardon!
  •  How cruel it is.


NOTICE: Not a sentence!!

However, the groups of words below are not considered to be sentences. The reasons are explained in brackets.

  •  Last month, took a flight to Korea. (No subject.)
  •  She interested in book. (Lack of verb.)
  •  Who is rich. (It is just a clause which doesn't have complete thought.)
  •  On the table. (It is just a phrase; no subject and verb.)