{"id":41,"date":"2024-01-15T15:41:47","date_gmt":"2024-01-15T20:41:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pressbooks.bccampus.ca\/grammarbasics\/?post_type=chapter&#038;p=41"},"modified":"2026-01-26T12:58:11","modified_gmt":"2026-01-26T17:58:11","slug":"introduction","status":"publish","type":"chapter","link":"https:\/\/pressbooks.bccampus.ca\/grammarbasics\/chapter\/introduction\/","title":{"raw":"Introduction","rendered":"Introduction"},"content":{"raw":"Have you ever had a thought? Of course you have!\u00a0And have you ever communicated that thought to someone else? Again, I know you've done this too!\r\n\r\nPerhaps you communicated your thought with a piece of art, or an interpretive dance move, or a sarcastic eye roll. But if you chose to communicate it with words -- written or spoken -- you probably did so in the form of a <strong>sentence<\/strong>, because that's what a sentence is: A sentence is a group of words (even a single word, on rare occasions) that communicates a complete thought\/idea.\r\n<ul>\r\n \t<li>Some sentences make a statement:\u00a0\u00a0<em>This bread is very tasty.\r\n<\/em><\/li>\r\n \t<li>Some sentences ask a question:\u00a0\u00a0<em><em>Is this bread free?<\/em><\/em><\/li>\r\n \t<li>Some sentences deliver a command:\u00a0<em>Bring me more of this free bread!<\/em><\/li>\r\n<\/ul>\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\nDoes that mean any group of words is a sentence, as long as I can see a thought or idea in there somewhere? Well, the answer to that is complicated, so let's simplify things. A sentence has three required components:\r\n<ol>\r\n \t<li>It must contain at least one\u00a0<strong>[pb_glossary id=\"42\"]subject[\/pb_glossary]<\/strong>.<\/li>\r\n \t<li>It must contain at least one\u00a0<strong>[pb_glossary id=\"606\"]verb[\/pb_glossary].<\/strong><\/li>\r\n \t<li>It must express a\u00a0<strong>complete thought.<\/strong><\/li>\r\n<\/ol>\r\nTwo other characteristics are often overlooked, but I think they're important:\r\n<ul>\r\n \t<li>A sentence begins with a capital\/uppercase letter.<\/li>\r\n \t<li>A sentence ends with either a period, question mark, or exclamation point.<\/li>\r\n<\/ul>\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n&nbsp;","rendered":"<p>Have you ever had a thought? Of course you have!\u00a0And have you ever communicated that thought to someone else? Again, I know you&#8217;ve done this too!<\/p>\n<p>Perhaps you communicated your thought with a piece of art, or an interpretive dance move, or a sarcastic eye roll. But if you chose to communicate it with words &#8212; written or spoken &#8212; you probably did so in the form of a <strong>sentence<\/strong>, because that&#8217;s what a sentence is: A sentence is a group of words (even a single word, on rare occasions) that communicates a complete thought\/idea.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Some sentences make a statement:\u00a0\u00a0<em>This bread is very tasty.<br \/>\n<\/em><\/li>\n<li>Some sentences ask a question:\u00a0\u00a0<em><em>Is this bread free?<\/em><\/em><\/li>\n<li>Some sentences deliver a command:\u00a0<em>Bring me more of this free bread!<\/em><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Does that mean any group of words is a sentence, as long as I can see a thought or idea in there somewhere? Well, the answer to that is complicated, so let&#8217;s simplify things. A sentence has three required components:<\/p>\n<ol>\n<li>It must contain at least one\u00a0<strong><a class=\"glossary-term\" aria-haspopup=\"dialog\" aria-describedby=\"definition\" href=\"#term_41_42\">subject<\/a><\/strong>.<\/li>\n<li>It must contain at least one\u00a0<strong><a class=\"glossary-term\" aria-haspopup=\"dialog\" aria-describedby=\"definition\" href=\"#term_41_606\">verb<\/a>.<\/strong><\/li>\n<li>It must express a\u00a0<strong>complete thought.<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p>Two other characteristics are often overlooked, but I think they&#8217;re important:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>A sentence begins with a capital\/uppercase letter.<\/li>\n<li>A sentence ends with either a period, question mark, or exclamation point.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<div class=\"glossary\"><span class=\"screen-reader-text\" id=\"definition\">definition<\/span><template id=\"term_41_42\"><div class=\"glossary__definition\" role=\"dialog\" data-id=\"term_41_42\"><div tabindex=\"-1\"><p>The subject can be thought of a few ways:<\/p>\n<p>1. In a sentence with an action verb, the subject is the person or thing that does the action (it's the \"doer\").<\/p>\n<p>2. In a sentence with a linking verb rather than an action verb, the subject is the focus of the sentence -- the thing being described.<\/p>\n<p>Every verb in a sentence needs a subject.<\/p>\n<p>Subjects are either nouns or pronouns.<\/p>\n<\/div><button><span aria-hidden=\"true\">&times;<\/span><span class=\"screen-reader-text\">Close definition<\/span><\/button><\/div><\/template><template id=\"term_41_606\"><div class=\"glossary__definition\" role=\"dialog\" data-id=\"term_41_606\"><div tabindex=\"-1\"><p>One of the parts of speech, and one of the three required components of a sentence. Verbs can express actions, link subjects to the words describing them, or help express actions in different tenses and moods.<\/p>\n<\/div><button><span aria-hidden=\"true\">&times;<\/span><span class=\"screen-reader-text\">Close definition<\/span><\/button><\/div><\/template><\/div>","protected":false},"author":1879,"menu_order":1,"template":"","meta":{"pb_show_title":"on","pb_short_title":"","pb_subtitle":"","pb_authors":[],"pb_section_license":""},"chapter-type":[48],"contributor":[],"license":[],"class_list":["post-41","chapter","type-chapter","status-publish","hentry","chapter-type-standard"],"part":30,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.bccampus.ca\/grammarbasics\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters\/41","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.bccampus.ca\/grammarbasics\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.bccampus.ca\/grammarbasics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/chapter"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.bccampus.ca\/grammarbasics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1879"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.bccampus.ca\/grammarbasics\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters\/41\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":607,"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.bccampus.ca\/grammarbasics\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters\/41\/revisions\/607"}],"part":[{"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.bccampus.ca\/grammarbasics\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/parts\/30"}],"metadata":[{"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.bccampus.ca\/grammarbasics\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters\/41\/metadata\/"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.bccampus.ca\/grammarbasics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=41"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"chapter-type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.bccampus.ca\/grammarbasics\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapter-type?post=41"},{"taxonomy":"contributor","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.bccampus.ca\/grammarbasics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/contributor?post=41"},{"taxonomy":"license","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.bccampus.ca\/grammarbasics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/license?post=41"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}