When I finished my first few blogs, I realised that I had based many of my descriptions on “complete sentences”. But what are complete sentences? I decided not to add a description of that to my other posts; they were already full size. However, I knew I couldn’t leave it out altogether. So, here we are, ready to tackle it head-on: What makes a complete sentence?
In this blog series, I also pledged to avoid jargon as much as possible. This explanation of sentences will require three slightly technical words—noun, pronoun, and verb—but for anyone who isn’t familiar those or wants them absolutely clarified, I’ll aim to explain them in brief, memorable ways. Let’s go!
Put simply, for a sentence to be complete, it must have two components: a noun (or pronoun) and a verb; and those two components must refer to each other.
Right, what’s a noun? It’s a word that names a person, place, object, or idea: Steve, New York, plate, happiness; or Mr Williams, skyscraper, screwdriver, jealousy.
What’s a pronoun? It’s a word that stands in for a noun: Barbara – she, cows – they, clock – it; or Matthew Ward – I, reader – you, blog – it.
What’s a verb? It’s a word that names an action: throw, chase, hug, smile, hit, cook, eat. (Indeed, there are other verbs like is and are, which are called state of being verbs. Since they operate in essentially the same way as action verbs, we’re going to let action verbs show us how this sentence stuff is done. I will pop in a little note about state of being verbs at the end, though.)
Got those definitions down? There’s no need to rush. I promise that whatever time you take on those definitions won’t be wasted. Nouns, pronouns, and verbs make up so much of the English language. You really can’t get very far without them.
Alright, let’s now remember that for a sentence to be complete, it must have two components: a noun (or pronoun) and a verb; and those two components must refer to each other. We now need to focus on what “refer to each other” means. This is the crux of the matter. It means that the noun (or pronoun) names who or what is doing the action named by the verb. Take a look at these examples. The noun will be underlined and the verb italicised.
Roger threw a ball.
The plate fell from the table.
Matthew lives.
New York City rises in tall skyscrapers.
You watched the movie yesterday.
They drove to the beach.
All those sentences are perfectly complete. But wait a minute. Let’s take a closer look at the first example: Roger threw a ball.
Isn’t ball a noun? It names an object, so it must be a noun. Then, why isn’t the following example a complete sentence? Doesn’t it have a noun and a verb?
Threw a ball.
Here’s the catch: The noun and the verb don’t refer to each other in the way I described. The noun must name who or what is doing the action named by the verb. But Ball isn’t doing the throwing. Therefore, we haven’t got a complete sentence. We could have a million nouns and a million verbs, but until we have one noun (or pronoun) that names who or what is doing the action named by the verb, we haven’t got a complete sentence. In short, we need one noun and one verb that refer to each other.
What about the second example from above? Wouldn’t it be a complete sentence if we wrote it like this?
The plate from the table.
Here’s the catch: Although we’ve got a noun, and we’ve got some interesting information about that noun—it’s “from the table”—we’ve got no verb. We don’t know what action the noun is doing. A sentence needs both a noun and a verb to be complete. Indeed, the moment we’ve got our two components, we’ve got a sentence, even if we’ve got nothing else.
Matthew lives.
That’s a complete sentence. Matthew is the noun. Lives is the verb. And they refer to each other. The noun names who or what is doing the action named by the verb.
Alright, let’s make our way through some more examples, figuring out which ones are complete sentences and which ones are sentence fragments.
Keep in mind that for a sentence to be complete, it must have two components: a noun (or pronoun) and a verb; and those two components must refer to each other.
The shop closed early today.
That’s a complete sentence. We have both our components. Shop is the noun. Closed is the verb. And they refer to each other. The noun names who or what is doing the action named by the verb.
New York in the summer breeze.
That’s a sentence fragment. We don’t have both components. New York is the noun. But there is no verb that refers to the noun. What action is New York doing?
It hopped away.
That’s a complete sentence. We have both our components. It is the pronoun. Hopped is the verb. And they refer to each other. The pronoun names who or what is doing the action named by the verb.
Fell a thousand feet, crashing through the atmosphere in a fiery spectacle.
That’s a sentence fragment. We don’t have both components. Fell is the verb. But there is no noun that refers to the verb. Who or what is falling?
Flowers bloom in the sunshine.
That’s a complete sentence. We have both our components. Flowers is the noun. Bloom is the verb. And they refer to each other. The noun names who or what is doing the action named by the verb.
My phone with its green case.
That’s a sentence fragment. We don’t have both components. Phone is the noun. But there is no verb that refers to the noun. What action is phone doing?
Although I like to walk, I thought I’d take the train today.
That’s a complete sentence. We have both our components. I is the pronoun. Thought is the verb. And they refer to each other. The noun names who or what is doing the action named by the verb.
Just before I head off, here’s that promised note about state of being verbs.
They’re verbs like is, are, was, were, has, etc. They work essentially the same way as action verbs.
Matthew is happy.
That’s a full sentence because Matthew (the noun) refers to is (the state of being verb), and they refer in the correct way—the way I described up above. Because is is a state of being verb, the noun that refers to it correctly is the noun that is experiencing that state of being. In this case, that’s Matthew.
Interestingly, though, you can’t make a complete sentence only with a noun and a state of being verb like you can with a noun and an action verb.
Matthew is.
That’s not a complete sentence because you have to include whatever it is that Matthew is. You have to include happy. However, I’m sure you knew that already.
There we go.
Hopefully, I’ve been able to help. As always, I’ll be watching the comments section, ready to answer any questions you have. I wish you all the best!
In my next post, I’m going to address the placing of commas in a series of descriptive words. If my next post is going to be interesting and informative, should I call it “an interesting informative post” or “an interesting, informative post” or “an interesting, informative, post”? If this conundrum puzzles you, keep an eye out for that post.
Hi Matthew. More great suff – thank you for continuing my (somewhat belated) education!