Sentence

What is sentence?

Simple Definition

A sentence is a group of words giving a complete thought. A sentence must contain a subject and a verb.

Definition form Oxford Dictionary

 “A set of words expressing a statement, a question or an order, usually containing a subject and a verb. In written English sentences begin with a capital letter and end with a full stop/period (.), a question mark (?) or an exclamation mark (!).”

A More formal Definition

“A set of words that is complete in itself, typically containing a subject and predicate, conveying a statement, question, exclamation, or command, and consisting of a main clause and sometimes one or more subordinate clauses.”

Subject: (what the sentence is about, the topic of the sentence)

Predicate: (what is said about the subject)

Look at this simple example

SUBJECT	PREDICATE
He	plays cricket.
Smoking	is injurious to health.
You and I	are working in the garden.

Sentence structure
The parts of a sentence are the subject, verb, object, complement and adverbial.

Subject	Verb	Object
He	plays	cricket.
They	are watching	television.

Subject	Verb	Complement
This table	is	heavy.
It	was	a big problem.

The complement can be an adjective (e.g. heavy) or a noun phrase (e.g. a big problem). The complement often comes after be verb. It can also come after appear, become, get, feel, look, seem, stay or sound.

BE VERB
First form	Second form	Third form	Fourth form
Infinite form	Past form	Past participle form	Present participle form
Be Present cases (is, are, am)	Was / were	Been	being

Subject	Verb	Object	Object	Adverbial
His house	is	-	-	nearby.
The bat	Is	-	-	on her foot.
Yaqoob	has made	Maria	a cake	yesterday.

An adverbial can be a prepositional phrase (e.g. on her foot) or an adverb (e.g. nearby)

Look at some adverbial examples

* You really need a rest.

* Of course this table is heavy.

* Fortunately his house is nearby.

* Yaqoob has made Maria a cake yesterday.

Last sentence confusion?? Read the article about direct and indirect object.