Simple Sentences

A simple sentence consists of one independent clause.

OClause: group of words with a subject and a predicate

Independent - strong, stands aloneDependent - weak, needs support

OExamplesThe students yawned.Jason jumped.

A simple sentence consists of a subject and a predicate.

O Subject: Who or what the sentence is about (noun)

O Predicate: What the subject is doing (verb)

O Examples:The students yawned. Jason jumped.The assignments were due on Friday.

Subjects Predicates

A simple sentence has only one independent clause, but it can have more than one

subject or predicate.OExamples:

TWO SUBJECTS: The student and his friend yawned.

TWO VERBS : The student yawned and fell asleep.

Usually, simple sentences are short. For this reason, they are generally preferred for young writers, because short sentences are easier to control and easier to read. Perhaps the most famous writer of short sentences was Ernest Hemingway. He also wrote many sentences that were moderately long, but his short, staccato sentences are part of his legacy. Consider the following passage from

The Short Happy Life of Francis Macomber

The Short Happy Life of Francis Macomber, about a man finding his courage on a safari after an embarrassing display of cowardice:

Beggar had probably been afraid all his life. Don’t know what started it. But over now. Hadn’t had time to be afraid with the buff. That and being angry too. Motor car too. Motor car made it familiar. Be a fire eater now. He’d seen it in the war work the same way. More of a change than any loss of childhood. Fear gone like an operation. Something else grew in its place. Main thing a man had. Made him into a man. Women knew it too. No bloody fear.

• The sentences in this passage average fewer than six words.

• You will notice that Hemingway also used some sentence fragments.

• His short style looks easier than it is. Give it a try yourself.

• Assemble the following items into a paragraph in which you write sentences no more than six words in length.

• No sentence fragments.

• You can use all or some of the items listed.An island . . . a family . . . a storm . . . treasure . . . rescue . . . sharks