Intro to Writing

Writing a good sentence is an art, and you can master that art by learning what makes a
sentence work.

At its most basic, the simple sentence contains a subject and a verb.

The trick is to look for multiple independent clauses joined by a coordinating conjunction, a
semicolon or a colon. These are characteristics of a compound sentence. A simple sentence,
on the other hand, only has a single subject-verb relationship.

COMMA SPLICE AND RUN-ON SENTENCE

Do not link two main (independent) clauses with only a comma (comma splice) or run two
main sentences clauses together without any punctuation.

SENTENCE FRAGMENT

Avoid sentence fragments. The term fragment refers to a group of words beginning with a
capital letter and ending with a period. Although written as if it were a sentence, a fragment
is only a part of a sentence- such as a phrase or a subordinate clause.

Eliminate fragments by making them into complete sentences or by connecting the existing
sentences. Make sure each sentence has one subject and a predicate.

AGREEMENT

Make a verb agree in number with its subject; make a pronoun agree in number with its
antecedent.

A singular subject takes a singular verb, and a plural subject takes a plural verb.
When a pronoun has an antecedent (noun to which the pronoun refres), the noun and
pronoun should agree in number.