Questions tagged [sentence]
A sentence is a set of words that is complete in itself, typically containing a subject and predicate.
121
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How do you capitalize a proper noun such as "iPhone"?
I was always taught to capitalize the first letter of the first word in a sentence, and also the first letter of proper nouns. In the last few years it's been common for certain firms to name their ...
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5
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Is it really incorrect to start a sentence with "and"?
I know it's wrong, but I do it all the time or else my sentences would go on forever.
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6
answers
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Can you use two "and"s in a coordinate noun phrase?
For example,
I like chocolate, vanilla, and lemon and orange ice cream.
Indicating "lemon and orange" is a combined flavor, as an item in the list needing an initial and.
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17
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Shortest comprehensive sentence in English [closed]
What is the shortest comprehensive sentence in English?
283
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16
answers
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How many spaces should come after a period/full stop?
In the past — or at least, when I was in elementary school — periods/full stops were followed by two spaces. Lately, it's become more and more common to see just one space. In the modern ...
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Can this be considered a complete sentence?
Can this be considered a complete sentence?
There lived a princess named Gretchen.
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1
answer
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Capitalization of names that begin lowercased, at the beginning of a sentence [duplicate]
Possible Duplicates:
How Should Trademarks be Written?
How do you capitalize a proper noun such as “iPhone”?
Many products these days have names that intentionally begin with ...
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6
votes
3
answers
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Shortest correct sentence in English- use of contractions [duplicate]
I often hear people saying that "I am" is the shortest sentence in the English language. I know that there are also discussions about sentences using the imperative mood such as "Go." that would be ...
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5
votes
9
answers
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Is a sentence always grammatically incorrect if it has no verb?
Is the following grammatically correct? My friend says the second sentence is grammatically incorrect, but couldn't explain why.
I have always been fascinated by statistics. The different ways in
...
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15
votes
2
answers
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Initial capitalization of foreign surnames when starting a sentence
In the book, "The Crystal Shard," by R.A. Salvatore, a character is surnamed "de Bernezan." Which of the following complete sentences uses the correct English-language capitalization:
de Bernezan ...
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1
vote
1
answer
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To + verb in sentence without any other verb
From time to time I come across a sentence with to + verb, but with no other verb in it. I see it often in news titles. For example:
Squall, Tina and Lightning to appear in Final Fantasy Explorers
...
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39
votes
3
answers
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"Outside" or "outside of"?
The word rarely turns up outside that context.
and
The word rarely turns up outside of that context.
Which one is correct and why?
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31
votes
11
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Can a sentence start with "Because"?
In my grade school days, I recall a teacher proclaiming to the class:
You should never start a sentence with the word "Because".
Of course, I've since seen lots of examples to the contrary, and ...
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7
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Is there any valid rule discouraging the use of a certain word to start a sentence?
Is there any rule you think is valid that discourages the use of a certain word to start a sentence?
Because I suspect the answer is no.
But it would be good to have a blanket answer to this kind of ...
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15
votes
1
answer
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How to deal with abbreviations at the end of a question?
In a sentence like
Should we host them on imgur et cetera?
where I want to abbreviate the "et cetera", what is the correct punctuation? Using a period after the "etc." like mid sentence usages ...
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5
votes
2
answers
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Capitalising a sentence whose first word is explicitly lowercase [duplicate]
Possible Duplicate:
Capitalization of names that begin lowercased, at the beginning of a sentence
Let's say that you have a word that should be typed with leading lowercase letter. Perhaps it's a ...
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3
votes
2
answers
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What is the meaning of this sentence - "Were it not for the bodies there on the ground, it would have appeared to be a normal day at the oasis."? [duplicate]
Possible Duplicate:
Conditional sentences not starting with “if”
What is the meaning of this sentence - "Were it not for the bodies there on the ground, it would have appeared to be a normal day ...
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31
votes
12
answers
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"Nothing to tell" versus "nothing to say"
There's nothing to tell.
There's nothing to say.
Can anyone explain the difference between those two statements and give some examples on how they should be used? I think I do have a basic ...
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19
votes
6
answers
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Is there an online sample sentence database or search engine?
Sometime, I am not sure if I use a specific word correctly. I would like to get some sample sentences to learn from.
So, is there a online sample sentence database/search engine?
15
votes
4
answers
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Can I start a sentence with "i.e."?
While writing a rhetorical question I ran into a case where it seemed natural to start a sentence with "I.e":
How do we handle the case when the list is empty? I.e., if the filter matched no ...
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votes
3
answers
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The sentence with the most prepositions at its end -- does it really work?
What did you bring that book that I don't want to be read to from out of about 'Down Under' up for?
I was wondering whether this sentence is actually correct and if it is, whether someone could ...
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10
votes
4
answers
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Why am I always compelled to begin a response with "Well, "?
Because of a certain 140 character limit I've learned where I can trim characters on responses but even after all this time I still reply with "Well, so and so . . ." and I go back and have to delete ...
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votes
2
answers
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When using complete sentences in parenthetical e.g. or i.e. situations, should the first word be capitalized?
In a bulleted list of very technical sentences, where each bulleted item has one or two parenthetical examples or restatements which are complete sentences, should the first letter of each e.g. or i.e....
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5
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Active to Passive voice: "Go to School Now"
How would you convert the imperative sentence: "Go to school now."
to the passive voice?
While discussing it in class, our teacher gave the following solution:
"You are ordered to go to school now."
...
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6
votes
2
answers
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"I give nothing to no-one" or "I do not give anything to anyone"
I have a bit of an issue with negations. Are the following correct?
I do not give anything to anyone //I guess this is correct
I give nothing to no-one //can I say that?
Generally, is it the same ...
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2
votes
4
answers
701
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Does standard English include non-trivial sentences which admit no verb?
One of the interesting aspects of the Maori language, as I understand it, is that it includes a class of sentences which not only have no verb, it is positively wrong to form them with a verb.
Does ...
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125
votes
19
answers
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Is "women men girls love meet die" a valid sentence?
Is "women men girls love meet die" a valid sentence? If so, what does it mean?
The sentence shows up in academic papers about the "Sausage Machine" for natural language processing. ...
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17
votes
3
answers
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Starting an independent statement with "I mean, ..."
A friend was noting that his daughter would occasionally start sentences with the phrase "I mean, " simply for emphasis, not for clarification:
Friend: How was the Miley Cyrus concert?
...
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10
votes
3
answers
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When to use "most" or "the most"
I came across with this sentence and it cast me doubt the usage of "most" and "the most"
The sentence states: "But what I remembered most is moving a lot"
Would it change the meaning of the ...
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votes
2
answers
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How to use the “not only . . . but also” construction? [closed]
I’m trying to create the following phrase:
It is important not only to ____ but also to ____ in general.
But the way I’ve written it above doesn’t sound that good to me. Since I’m not a native ...
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votes
5
answers
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"While" followed by simple past/past continuous
I'm currently reading "Molly Fyde and the Parsona Rescue" by Hugh Howey.
Here's a short passage with my problem zone and the subsequent question:
...Well, I'm going to go do more Officser sstuff," ...
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2
votes
1
answer
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Do "that" and "it" refer to different things in this sentence?
He likes going to the library
to study. That always makes her happy.
What if the last sentence were to be changed to
It always makes her happy.
Do these two sentences mean something different? ...
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2
votes
0
answers
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Are there other repeated single word sentences like the Buffalo sentence? [duplicate]
Possible Duplicate:
Awkward sounding but grammatically correct sentences?
My friend told me about the Buffalo sentence:
Buffalo buffalo Buffalo buffalo
buffalo buffalo Buffalo buffalo.
It ...
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0
votes
2
answers
214
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Comma after or before "parenthetic" and?
After showing me the house, Nana led us to the living room, and with Mongai's Take Me Somewhere Nice playing on in the background, we started on the Scotch we'd bought at the 7-Eleven. The dim light ...
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2
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Meaning of "you don't need no memory" and its grammar or rhetoric [duplicate]
Possible Duplicate:
“We don't need no education”
You don't need no memory.
Just don't know what it means.
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5
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What is the correct punctuation after "as follows"?
I am consistently confused by by the usage of "as follows", in particular, I don't know if I should end "as follows" with a period, or with a colon.
Should I always use a colon, or ...
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votes
2
answers
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Is it okay to start a sentence with a Greek letter (variable)?
Is it okay to start a sentence with a variable? Do I need to rewrite a sentence just because the subject is typeset as a Greek letter?
For example:
Φ is treated in a special way.
vs.
The ...
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9
votes
3
answers
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Ambiguity of "I don't know what you know."
This sentence is interesting to me:
I don't know what you know.
It seems ambiguous. It has two possible meanings. It is so ambiguous that I'm actually struggling a bit to explain the differences ...
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votes
4
answers
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Is there any rule of order for time, date, place, building, etc?
I sent an email to confirm my meeting with a person which specified time, date, place, and building on the email like below:
I would like to meet you at 5pm this Sunday in KFC on the first floor in ...
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votes
4
answers
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Attributive and predicative position of an adjective
I have some difficulty understanding the position of adjectives.
In English I have to put the adjective before the referred name (e.g., I'm an Italian man).
In some languages (as Italian or Ancient ...
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votes
6
answers
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Forming valid one word sentences
I remember my English teacher saying that there are only two valid ways to make a one-word sentence:
A question:
Why? Where?
A command:
Go! Stop!
Is this correct?
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Is it a good idea to begin a sentence with a number or a variable name?
Is it acceptable to have the following sentences in formal writing?
2.5 years have already been completed.
or
n shows the number of something.
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1
answer
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Use of "too" instead of "so" or "very"
I have a problem with using "too" in a sentence. In what situation would you use "too" instead of "so" or "very"? Please include an example to illustrate the difference.
user57550
5
votes
1
answer
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"New York is a great place to live." (no preposition?)
New York is a great place to live.
New York is a great place to live in.
I've seen the former usage a lot and I've started wondering what the grammar aspects of it are.
The main question I'm asking ...
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votes
4
answers
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'The average person' or 'an average person'?
Which one is correct, or are both of them fine?
"It would take the average person 10 days to read this novel"
Or
"It would take an average person 10 days to read this novel"
3
votes
2
answers
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"You'll be hoping for a bit more from the new player, I suppose." Why the future continuous?
“You'll be hoping for a bit more from the new player, I suppose.”
Why the future continuous?
Wouldn't one rather use the future simple instead? If not: why not?
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3
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Is the comma usage proper in this sentence?
As a result, I am able to be understanding and accommodating to the people that I work with, including clients, which I believe is an important asset for a professional to have.
I wanted to make sure ...
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1
answer
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Is it acceptable to use digit and word form of numbers in the same sentence/paragraph?
To illustrate, this reads a bit awkward:
In a country with 75 billion SMBs, at least seven billion of them should advertise.
What's the acceptable practice in such sentences ?
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vote
4
answers
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How can I rephrase compound sentences to make them simpler?
Following Martha's advise I am splitting up a question Compound sentences, the punctuation and mooore.
Consider the following sentence:
One of the items that needed a further development was a ...
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vote
2
answers
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Adverb sentence query
He is arguably the best actor of his generation
In the above sentence the adverb is placed just after "be"
Can we use adverb after "be"? If we can use then please explain properly because I have ...
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