What is a sentence?
Where a sentence starts and stops, the main clause at its heart, and the comma mistake that joins two by accident.
The answer
A sentence is a group of words that belong together and make sense, with at least one main clause, starting with a capital letter and ending with a full stop, question mark or exclamation mark.
Examples
The fox ran across the field.
A single-clause sentence.
The fox ran across the field and hid under a hedge.
Still one sentence: the verbs share the subject, the fox.
The fox ran away because the dog barked.
A multi-clause sentence: a main clause and a subordinate clause.
John went to his friend’s house. He stayed there till tea-time.
Two sentences, each with its own capital letter and full stop.
How to spot it
- Every sentence has at least one main clause: a subject and a verb that make sense together.
- It starts with a capital letter and ends with a full stop, a question mark or an exclamation mark.
- The words inside it are joined to each other, but not to the words in the next sentence.
The common mistake
Joining two sentences with a comma.
‘John went to his friend’s house, he stayed there till tea-time’ is a comma splice, which the national curriculum glossary calls a common error. Use a full stop, a semi-colon or a conjunction instead.
When it is taught
- First met
- Year 1
- On the pupil word list
- Year 1, as “sentence”
Year 1 learns how words combine to make sentences and marks them with capital letters and full stops. Year 2 learns the four sentence types, and later years join clauses into longer sentences.
Try a question
Which of these is a complete sentence? Tick one.
- Running down the lane.
- The dog ran down the lane.
- Because the dog was late.
- Down the lane with the dog.
Show the answer
Answer: The dog ran down the lane.
It has a main clause: a subject (the dog) and a verb (ran). The others are phrases or a subordinate clause on its own.
Related terms
- Practise the 11+ skill: Mark a sentence boundary
More grammar terms
Questions parents ask
What are single-clause and multi-clause sentences?
A single-clause sentence has one clause (The fox ran away). A multi-clause sentence has more than one, joined by a conjunction or punctuation. The glossary suggests these names instead of simple, compound and complex.
Can a sentence be one word?
Yes, if that word is a whole clause. ‘Stop!’ is a command: the verb is stop and the subject, you, is understood.
Is a long sentence better than a short one?
Not by itself. Good writers mix them: a short sentence after a long one can add punch. What matters is that each sentence is correctly punctuated.
Grammar turns up in 11+ English too
Many 11+ English papers include grammar and punctuation questions alongside comprehension. The free diagnostic checks maths, English and both kinds of reasoning, and shows what to practise next. No card is required.