What is a sentence? It is a group of words which say something that makes sense. A sentence must have a subject and a complete verb. It may contain many other things: objects or complements, modifiers (adjectives or adverbs), prepositional phrases and conjunctions.

Birds fly. I sing. It works. Dogs bark.

Basic sentences:

Declarative: statements of fact

Seattle is the largest city in Washington. School starts in September. Gas costs $1.48 a gallon.

Question: seeking information

What time is it? Who is that? What did you say? Are you sure?

Commands: giving orders or directions, making requests

Please sit down. Stir until light and fluffy. Stop!

Standard sentence word order is subject-verb-object (if there is one):

The boy threw the ball. Sugar is sweet. I like apples.

However: In commands, the subject is understood to be you but is not stated.

Turn left at the next corner. Tell me about it. Sign here, please. Come in. Don't go.

In questions, the subject comes between the helping verb and the main verb. When there is no helping verb, a form of do is used.

I have a cold. Do you have a cold?

I have borrowed ten dollars. May I borrow ten dollars?

I have never been to Mexico. Have you ever been to Mexico?

Types of sentences

Simple sentence: Contains one subject-verb combination.

The boy threw the ball. Please call me. What is it?

But any of the elements may be compounded (doubled up).

The boy and the girl ran and jumped across the street and sidewalk and in and out of the yard.

Simple sentences may be combined into more sophisticated sentences. When they are, the simple sentence is called an independent clause.

Compound sentence: Contains two or more independent clauses.

Mary is studying French, and John is studying math.

I like artichokes, but my husband hates them.

Some people are musical; others are artistic.