Complete Sentences

A complete sentence consists of

1. a subject:  the topic of a sentence
2. a main verb:  tells us what the subject is or what the subject does 
3. any other words:  needed to make a complete idea.

 

Subject	Verb	Other Words
Ricardo	played	basketball
Psychology	is	the study of the mind
All my friends	attend	Las Positas College.

 

Sentences that do not have all of these elements are grammatically incorrect. To learn more about grammatically incorrect sentences, see the pages on fragments and run-ons.

Subjects

A subject is a noun that is the topic of a sentence (in a few cases, the subject might be a different part of speech, but it's usually a noun). There are often many nouns in a sentence, but it is not difficult to figure out which one is the subject, because in English, the subject almost always comes before the verb. 

Subjects with Action Verbs

In a sentence with an action verb, the subject usually does the action expressed by the verb. For example, consider the following sentence: "Jennifer ran to the store." The subject, verb, and other words are as follows:

Subject	Verb	Other Words
Jennifer	ran	to the store.

In this sentence, Jennifer is doing the action of running. Jennifer is the subject, and ran is the verb. Even though there is one other noun in this sentence, store, we can tell it is not the subject for couple of reasons: 1) it comes after the verb ran, and 2) it is not doing the action of the verb (how could a store run?).

The following sentences all use action verbs. In each sentence, Jennifer is the subject and she is the one doing the action expressed by the verb.

Subject	Verb	Other Words
Jennifer	slipped	on a banana peel lying on the sidewalk.
Jennifer	laughed	out loud.
Jennifer	contemplated	the absurdity of the universe.

Jennifer is doing the actions of slipping, laughing, and contemplating. That makes her the subject of those verbs, and the subject of the sentences.

Subjects with Linking Verbs

Linking verbs are those that describe what the subject is rather than what the subject does. For sentences with state of being verbs, the verb and the words that come after it describe or equal the subject. For example, consider the following sentence: "Jennifer is a pediatrition." The subject, verb, and other words are as follows:

Subject	Verb	Other Words
Jennifer	is	a pediatrition.

In this sentence, Jennifer is being described by the verb and other words. She is a pediatrition. This makes Jennifer the subject of the verb is. There is one other noun in the sentence, pediatrition, but it cannot be the subject because it comes afte the verb is.

The following sentences all use state-of-being verbs. In each sentence, Jennifer is the subject and she is being described by the verb and the words after it.

Subject	Verb	Other Words
Jennifer	used to be	a poor student.
Jennifer	became	interested in science.
Jennifer	will be	a role model for her younger siblings and cousins.

Each of the sentences above describes the subject, Jennifer.

Compound Subjects

Some sentences have more than one subject linked together with the word "and." This is called a compound subject. The following sentences each have more than one subject.

Compound Subject	Verb	Other Words
Jose and Felicia	moved	from Mexico to the United States.
Lasagna, pizza, and spaghetti	are	my favorite foods.
Honesty and hard work	will help	any student succeed in school.

 

Main Verbs

Sentences may have many verbs, but usually only one verb or group of verbs is the main verb of a sentence. The main verb is the one that has a tense or time. For example, the following are tenses of the verb "love."

Past	Present	Future
loved	love / loves	will love

These verb forms can be used in sentences that take place in the past, present, or future.

past

The cat loved canned catfood.

present

The cat loves canned catfood.

future

The cat will love canned catfood.

Compound Verbs

Some sentences have more than one verb linked together with a coordinating conjunction. This is called a compound verb. The following sentences each have more than one main verb.

Subject	Verb #1	Other Words	Verb #2	Other Words
The jello	wiggled	and	jiggled	on the plate.
Dimitra	loves	cats but	hates	dogs.
The track team	runs	sprints and	jumps	hurdles.

 

Other Words

Some sentences are complete with just a subject and a verb. For example: “Susan jumped.”

Subject	Verb	Other Words
Susan	jumped.	(none)

Susan is the subject and jumped is the verb. More elements could be added to make the sentence more interesting, informative, or descriptive (“Susan fearfully jumped into the cold, deep water.”), but the sentence is grammatically correct without them.

However, some sentences are not complete with just the subject and the verb. This is usually because the verb requires extra information to make sense. For example, consider the sentence, “Alex likes to play chess.” The subject, verb, and other words are as follows.

Subject	Verb	Other Words
Alex	likes	to play chess.

Alex is the subject—the doer of the action. Likes is the verb—the action word. Even though a subject and verb are the most important and necessary parts of a sentence, with just those two words, the sentence would sound strange and incomplete, and it would not be grammatically correct.

Subject	Verb	Other Words
Alex	likes.	(none)

The sentence above is not grammatically correct. This particular verb, “likes,” needs extra words to show what is liked, in this case, to play basketball. The following are some other examples of sentences that would be ungrammatical with only a subject and a verb.

Subject	Verb	Other Words
Alex	cut	his finger.
My mother	believes	in ghosts.
Jennifer	will serve	as a role model for her younger siblings and cousins.

 More Resources

RAW Center Handout: Subject-Verb Agreement