Sentences and Paragraphs

Parts of Sentences

SUBJECT: Who or what the sentence is about. The noun, pronoun, or group of words acting as a noun, that performs the action indicated in the predicate of the sentence or clause. EX: Katie is going downtown. Stopping at a red light is always a good idea.

PREDICATE: Basically, the rest of the sentence or clause other than the subject; it usually has a verb, and thus indicates some action, but may have other functions such as modifying the subject. EX: Katie is going downtown. Stopping at a red light is always a good idea.

OBJECT: A word or group of words which receives the action of a verb or that completes the description or statement being made about the subject. Lots of confusing possibilities here; here are a few major ones.

• Direct Objects: a word or group of words that follow transitive verbs (see above), and name the receiver of the action. EX: I threw the baseball.
• Indirect Objects: a noun or pronoun that come before or behind a direct object, and tells to whom or for whom or what the action is done. EX: I gave the ball to Jack.
• Subject complements: follow a linking verb (see above) and describe or complete the meaning of the subject. These can be nouns (I am the manager), or adjectives (I am so stupid!).
• Object complements: like a subject complement, but applied to something else: a word or group of words that describes or completes a direct object's meaning. These can also be nouns or adjectives. EX: Love makes the world a happier place. Yes, I am calling you ridiculous.

CLAUSES: unlike a phrase, a clause contains both a subject and a predicate. If a clause can stand by itself as a sentence, it is an independent clause. If the clause is acting as a noun, adjective or adverb and cannot stand by itself, it is a dependent or subordinate clause.

Sentences should make sense by themselves.

As you can see, complete sentences can be very short, while long groups of words can be incomplete sentences.

Paragraphs

A paragraph is a series of sentences that are organized and coherent, and are all related to a single topic. Almost every piece of writing you do that is longer than a few sentences should be organized into paragraphs. This is because paragraphs show a reader where the subdivisions of an essay begin and end, and thus help the reader see the organization of the essay and grasp its main points.

Paragraphs can contain many different kinds of information. A paragraph could contain a series of brief examples or a single long illustration of a general point. It might describe a place, character, or process; narrate a series of events; compare or contrast two or more things; classify items into categories; or describe causes and effects. Regardless of the kind of information they contain, all paragraphs share certain characteristics.

source: http://wi.essortment.com/partsofspeech_rigq.htm