English 360

Joshua Geist - Summer 2017

Sentence Cheat Sheet

Sentence Cores

Terms

Verb

What’s happening or being done in the sentence. Usually one word.

Subject

Who or what is doing the main action of the sentence.

Remember: these two go together. The subject of a sentence is whatever is doing the verb. The subject is whatever is doing the verb, and the verb is whatever the subject is doing. The subject verbs.

Completer

Whatever the subject and verb need to express a whole idea.

Sentence Core

The simplest possible version of a sentence that is complete—that is, that has a subject, verb, and completer.

A talker by nature, my mother would engage anyone, anywhere.

  • Subject: “My mother”
  • Verb: “would”
  • Completer: “engage anyone”
  • Sentence Core: “My mother would engage anyone.”

Tips

  • Word order matters. Subject -> verb -> completer. (There may be things in between, but unless it’s a question, subject should come first, then verb, then completer.)
  • Don’t be fooled by contractions. Words like “it’s,” “there’s,” “we’d,” “you’ve,” and so on are tricky, because they are a subject and verb together. If you’re not sure, write out those contractions as two words (“It is,” “there is,” “we had,” “you have”).
…the verb. …the subject.
(Almost) always…
  • forms of to be (is, are, was, were)
  • forms of to have (have, has, had)
  • I, he, she, we, they
(Almost) never…
  • words ending in “ing”
  • words with “to” in front
    (maybe “run”, but not “to run”)
  • Me, him, her, them

Sentence Types

Simple Sentence

One sentence core + extra information.

As an adult, Bruce Wayne decided to make Gotham City safer.

Compound Sentence

Two sentence cores combined using a comma and a coordinating conjunction (FANBOYS).

FANBOYS: for, and, nor, but, or, yet, so

Batman works to make the world a better place, but his story is a sad one.

Complex Sentence

Two sentence cores combined using a subordinating conjunction (WABBITS).

WABBITS: when, after, before, because, if, then, since.

There are many other WABBITS words. Here are some more: although, as, as if, even though, in order that, once, so that, than, that, though, unless, until, when, where, while.

Type 1: Crime was a serious problem in Gotham City because poverty was everywhere.

Type 2: Because poverty was everywhere, crime was a serious problem in Gotham City.