What Is a Sentence? (with Examples of the Different Types of Sentence)

What Is a Sentence? (with Examples of the Different Types of Sentence)

A sentence is a group of words which expresses a complete thought.

A sentence must contain a subject and a verb (although one may be implied).

The Four Types of Sentence

There are four types of sentence.

The Four Sentence Structures

A sentence can consist of a single clause or several clauses. When a sentence is a single clause, it is called a simple sentence (and the clause is called an independent clause). A sentence must contain at least one independent clause. Below are the four types of sentence structure (with their independent clauses shaded:
BEWARE THE RUN ON ERROR

Once you have written a sentence, you cannot put a comma and carry on writing. This is called a run-on error or a comma fault. For example:


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See Also

Advice or advise? List of easily confused words