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Hi there! I am Studyfin, your ELA tutor. Today, we will explore how to build and edit complete sentences!
Every complete sentence needs two main parts to express a whole thought. First, it needs a subject, which is the person or thing doing the action. Second, it needs a predicate, which is the action itself.
When we edit our drafts, we must look out for run-on sentences. A run-on happens when two complete thoughts are pushed together without the right punctuation to separate them.
To fix a run-on, we edit our work. We can add a period to make two separate sentences. Or, we can use a comma and a joining word like 'and', 'but', or 'so' to link them safely.
Let us practice editing a draft. Read this run-on sentence: 'The puppy barked at the mail carrier he wagged his tail.' How can we fix this to make it grammatically correct?
- Identify the first complete thought (subject and predicate): 'The puppy barked at the mail carrier.'
- Identify the second complete thought (subject and predicate): 'He wagged his tail.'
- Notice that they are pushed together with no punctuation or connecting words in between.
- Choose a way to fix it. Let us use a period to separate them into two clean, clear sentences.
- Write the final edited version: 'The puppy barked at the mail carrier. He wagged his tail.'