Complete Sentences

A complete sentence contains a subject and verb. Additionally, it

often comes with an object.

Example: John gave Ali a present.

(S) (V) (O)

Subject = ‘Do-er’ of the action

Verb = The action
Object = ‘Receiver’ of the action

The subject and object are nouns (or pronouns).

Nouns are people, things, animals, places.
Pronouns are words that replace nouns.

More examples:
- That fierce dog bit my leg.
(S) (V) (O)
- The fire burned down the house yesterday.
(S) (V) (O)
Not all sentences require an object.
When the verb is not done to something, there is no object.

Examples:
- She cried badly in pain.
(S) (V)
- The ice is melting very quickly.
(S) (V)

Recap: A complete sentence must contain a subject and verb.

However, there is an exception to this rule.

Imperative sentences
An imperative sentence is a sentence that convey a command, request,
or forbiddance.

Examples:
- Sit down and listen.
- Please keep quiet.
- Don’t walk on the grass!

Practice writing complete sentences with the comprehension exercise

that follows.
Note the complete sentences that are used in the passage.
Exercise 1
Read the passage and answer the questions that follow.

Ramasamy was a fisherman. He had a good wife and a sweet,

young daughter and he loved them both very much. He worked hard from early
morning to late at night so that he could give his family a comfortable life.

Unfortunately, although Ramasamy worked hard, he never could

catch enough fish. Furthermore, the fish that he caught were mostly small and
did not fetch a high price.

“How I wish I earned more money. I want to be able to buy a nice

brick house with a little garden,” he would think to himself. As he approached
his old, dilapidated wooden house, he gave out a loud sigh. The roof was
leaking, the doors and floor were infested with termites and the window panes
were either loose or cracked. Whenever he had some free time, he would try to
fix the parts of the house that needed repairing, but it seemed like a never-
ending task. No sooner had Ramasamy fixed one thing, when something else
would go wrong.

Mrs Ramasamy was waiting for her husband. As soon as she

heard his familiar footsteps, she opened the front door and waited for him with
a lovely smile on her face. Not once had he ever heard his wife complaining
about the life he had given her or criticising him. Every night, she would wait
up for him, no matter how late he came back home, standing at the doorway
with a bright, cheerful expression on her face. Ramasamy knew that his wife
was his pillar of strength and thanked God for that blessing.

“Hello dear,” Mrs Ramasamy greeted her husband as she kissed

him on the cheek. “Come in and have your dinner.” Ramasamy dished out a
ladleful of rice and then soaked it with the fish curry his wife had cooked. The
pieces of fish were small and few but tasted delicious. Mrs Ramasamy sat
opposite her husband and started to eat too. She would always wait for her
husband before she had her dinner. It had always been that way since the day
she became his wife.
1. From paragraph 1, how do we know that his wife and daughter
were important to Ramasamy?
________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________

2. What was Ramasamy’s dream and why had he not been able to
make it come true?
________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________

3. Explain clearly why fixing Ramasamy’s house was a ‘never-ending

task’.
________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________

4. What would Mrs Ramasamy do every night and why do you think
she did that?
________________________________________________________

5. How can we tell that Mrs Ramasamy was a good cook?

________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________
Exercise 2 (Vocabulary)
Find the meanings of the words in bold and write a sentence with each
of them.

1. approach –
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2. dilapidated –
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3. sigh –
________________________________________________________

4. infested –
________________________________________________________

5. task –
________________________________________________________

6. criticise –
________________________________________________________

7. expression –
________________________________________________________

8. ladle –
________________________________________________________