Sentence Surgery
This sentence type could never end with a question mark and always delivers information without emotion.
What is a declarative sentence?
When only the main word naming whom or what a sentence is about is used, you’re working with this version of a subject.
What is the simple subject?
When two or more main nouns share the same action, you have this grammatical structure.
What is a compound subject?
When a group of words lacks either a subject or a predicate, it becomes this.
What is a fragment?
A sentence that incorrectly pushes two complete thoughts together without proper punctuation or a conjunction earns this label.
What is a run-on sentence?
In this type of sentence, the subject isn’t written, even though it’s clearly understood.
What is an imperative sentence?
This part of a sentence can stretch all the way to the end, containing the verb plus every word related to the action or state of being.
What is the complete predicate?
When one subject performs two or more actions joined by and, or, or but, the sentence contains this structure.
What is a compound predicate?
This kind of fragment appears when the writer supplies lots of details but forgets the verb.
What is a predicate-less fragment?
When fixing a run-on, this punctuation mark can replace a comma + conjunction—if both sides could stand alone.
What is a semicolon?
This kind of sentence uses punctuation to show powerful emotion—yet students sometimes forget that it must still express a complete thought.
What is an exclamatory sentence?
A sentence can contain several descriptors, prepositional phrases, and modifiers on the left side of the vertical bar, and that entire chunk earns this label.
What is the complete subject?
A sentence joined by a comma + a conjunction, or by a semicolon, earns this classification.
What is a compound sentence?
This type of fragment occurs when a verb phrase is present but there is no one doing the action.
What is a subject-less fragment?
This is why “The sun set quickly, we hurried home” doesn’t work as written.
What is the comma splice (a type of run-on)?
A sentence that requests information but breaks into a fragment if the verb is missing belongs to this category.
What is an interrogative sentence?
The part of the sentence that holds only the verb or verb phrase—not the details—goes by this name.
What is the simple predicate?
This is the reason “The dog barked loudly and chased the squirrel” is not a compound sentence.
What is the fact that it contains only one subject, so the sentence is simple with a compound predicate?
This is the reason “Running through the forest with no light” fails to qualify as a complete sentence.
What is that it lacks a subject performing the action?
The fastest correction for “Lorena baked the pie it smelled amazing” involves adding one of these tiny joining words.
What is a coordinating conjunction?
When you combine intense emotion with a command, you enter the rare zone where two sentence types can overlap; name one of the types involved.
What is an exclamatory sentence or an imperative sentence?
This is the reason “The girl with the bright scarf and wide smile | waved excitedly from the stage” still counts as having only one simple subject.
What is the fact that modifiers and prepositional phrases do not create additional simple subjects?
In the sentence “Maya and her brother walked to the park, and they shared a lemonade,” the structure type shifts halfway through—name both parts.
What are a compound subject (first clause) and a compound sentence (overall)?
Students typically confuse this kind of fragment with a prepositional phrase, as both begin with small connecting words.
What is a fragment missing both a subject and a predicate?
This is the only correction method that changes no words and uses no conjunctions—yet still gives perfect grammar.
What is separating the run-on into two complete sentences?