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A subject of a sentence is a word or group
of words that names what or who that sentence is about.
index The verb of a sentence is a word or group of
words that either expresses action (ran, has studied, will sing), existence (am, are,
were), or links the subject with the predicate of the sentence. The verb is often
composed of a main verb along with one or more helping verbs.
index Compound simply means more than one: a
sentence with a compound subject
has more than one subject; a sentence with a compound verb has
more than one verb; a compound sentence contains more than one independent
clause.
index A phrase is a meaningful group of words
which may appear to contain either a subject
OR a verb--but NOT both. A phrase can NOT stand alone as a
sentence.
index A clause is a meaningful group of words
which contains a subject
and a verb. There are two types of clauses: 1) independent and 2) dependent.
index An independent clause (IC) is a meaningful
group of words that contains both a subject
and a verb. An independent clause (IC) can stand alone
as a simple sentence.
index A dependent clause (DC) is a meaningful group
of words that contains both a subject
and a verb, but a dependent clause (DC) can NOT stand alone
as a sentence.
index A compound sentence contains more than one independent
clause (IC). There are only three patterns for constructing compound sentences: IC ,cc IC. or
IC; IC. and a variation on this pattern--
IC; cc, IC.
index A complex sentence contains one independent
clause (IC) and at least one dependent
clause (DC). There are many exceptions, but
remebering these two patterns will help you punctuate most complex sentences: IC DC. (No comma is necessary if the IC comes first in the sentence.)
DC, IC. (If the DC comes first, you must use a comma.)
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