by Nick Somoski

Created on: August 30, 2009   Last Updated: July 31, 2010

A sentence is something writers don't really think about. After writing for so many years you just get accustomed to writing without thinking about every word you use and every sentence you write. Without even knowing it, you may be writing sentences the wrong way.

An accurate definition of a sentence would be a group of words put together to form clauses. A sentence with only one clause is called a simple sentence, while a sentence with multiple clauses is called a compound sentence. First, we'll take a look at the simple sentence.

The most basic type of sentence is the simple sentence. It can be as short as one word, like "Stop!" or "Run!" Most simple sentences are at least two words or more, including a subject and predicate. The subject of a sentence is 99% of the time at the beginning and includes who or what the sentence is about. Most of the time, the subject will be a simple noun or pronoun. The predicate of the sentence is often considered "the rest." It always includes the verb and the clause.

For example, in the sentence "Ted and Bill are running through the park," "Ted and Bill" is the subject, or who the sentence is about. The predicate is "are running through the park," including the verb (are running) and the rest of the sentence. Notice how the subject remains in front of the predicate. If we rearrange the sentence to be "Running through the park are Ted and Bill," "Ted and Bill" remains the subject but is now at the end instead of the beginning.

As it's a simple sentence, only one clause is used, meaning conjunction words (and, or, but) are left out, while only one subject is being discussed. What's important to know is that length doesn't matter - simple sentences may be longer than compound sentences as long as they only have one clause. Simple sentences are often used to capture the reader's attention, summarize, or break up a string of compound sentences. They should be learned to use in small doses, though.

The second type of sentence: a compound sentence. It consists of two or more independent clauses associated with the use of conjunctions like "and," "or", and "but." Through conjunctions, compound sentences can be created by joining together two simple sentences of different topics. For example, the sentences "I have a dog. Mary has one too." can be joined together to create one compound sentence: "I have a dog, and Mary has one too."

When creating a compound sentence, a comma will be placed before the conjunction to separate the clauses.

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