Name__________________________________________Date______________________
English Basics
Volume 4, Number 22, March 6, 2000
www.rhlschool.com
Will the real sentence please stand up? How do you know that a group of words is really a sentence? A sentences expresses a complete thought.
Example: The girls wear pink hats.
This is a sentence. We know who the sentence is about and what they are doing.
Example: The girls who wear pink hats.
This is not a complete thought, so it is not a sentence. The phrase “who wear pink hats” only helps to identify who the words are about. When you read or hear, “The girls who wear pink hats,” it leaves you wondering, “What are those girls doing?” or, “What about those girls?”
Example: Are prettier than worms.
This is not a complete thought, so it is not a sentence. It leaves you asking, “Who or what are prettier than worms?”
This is a sentence:
They are prettier than worms.
Here’s another sentence:
The girls who wear pink hats are prettier than worms.
Write “S” after each sentence. Write “N” if the words do not make a real sentence. The first three have been done for you.
1.
Carrots in the lunch box. N
2. Putting things back in the proper drawers. N
3. I saw carrots in the lunch box. S
4. Anthony’s favorite funny television show.
5. I forgot my coat.
6. When I’ll be able to drive a car?
7. Can you drive a car?
8. Paper plates that can be used in the microwave.
9. Veronica’s choice of words offended her dog.
10. Hearing voices that are not really there.
11. Chad works very hard.
12. Winning an important race.
13. Winning a race is fun.
14. Loves her friends no matter what.
15. Looking like he’d seen a ghost!
16. Things that creep in the shadows.
17. Never farther than a phone call.
18. Cookies that taste better than mud.
19. Apples can be added to the recipe.
20. Place your shoes on the blue mat.
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