How to Write a Grammatically Correct Sentence
Writing a concise, grammatically correct sentence helps your readers understand your meaning, whether you intend to inform or persuade. Proper grammar also lends credibility and authority to your words and ideas. Being able to identify the parts of your sentence will assist you in constructing it properly. Then, proofread it to identify possible grammar pitfalls.
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Write down the subject of the sentence. The subject could be a person or an object. For example, if you wish to write a sentence about a television, the TV is your subject. The subject could also be a proper noun like “Henry” or a pronoun like “he.”
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Write down the verb of the sentence. The verb is the action word. It indicates what’s happening in the sentence. For example, if you wish to write about a towel that fell off a hook, “fell” is the verb. In the sentence, “Henry thought about the dinner menu,” the word “thought” is the verb.
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Make your subjects and verbs agree with each other. This means that both of these parts of the sentence are either plural or singular. For example, you would write, "Each of the colors was used in the design." The subject is "each," which is singular, so it takes a singular verb, "was." To take a plural verb, "colors" would need to be the subject, such as, "The colors used in the design complemented each other perfectly."
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Use the correct pronouns. A pronoun must agree with its noun in number. An example of incorrect pronoun agreement is: “The chef burned the dinner, but they were able to fix it.” Written correctly, this sentence is: “The chef burned the dinner, but he was able to fix it.”
Collective nouns often trip people up. Another incorrect example would be something like this: "The department's management team pushed for their marketing ideas." It might sound awkward to use "its" to agree with "management," so recasting the sentence could improve it. "Three members of the department's management team pushed for their marketing ideas."
Collective pronouns also cause writers problems, such as in this incorrect example: "Everyone had to plan what they'd bring to the holiday cookie exchange." Pronouns such as "everyone" and "someone" agree with singular verbs and pronouns. This is another instance where recasting the subject of the sentence might be the best option.
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Connect two clauses. Select an appropriate conjunction, such as “and,” “or,” “but” or “yet.” A conjunction connects the parts of your sentence. For example, write, “Henry thought about the dinner menu, but he couldn’t think of anything interesting to cook.” The word “but” is the conjunction. It requires a comma before it, because both of the clauses around it are independent. That is, each has its own subject and verb. If the second clause did not have its own subject, no comma would be used: "Henry thought about the dinner menu but couldn't think of anything interesting to cook." In this example, both "thought" and "could think" are connected to the subject "Henry" and should not be separated by a comma. They are a compound predicate, just like "Henry and Sheila" would be a compound subject.
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Add a prepositional phrase, if appropriate. Examples of prepositions are “across,” “between,” “about” and “on.” Combine one of these with other words to form a prepositional phrase. For example, “Henry placed the dinner menu on the table.” The word “on” is the preposition, and "on the table" is the prepositional phrase.
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Add a dependent clause where needed. Dependent clauses do not have their own subjects and add more information or description. For example, "Henry placed the dinner menu, which had been printed by his wife's company, on the table." The description of the menu is a nonessential, or nonrestrictive, clause. With or without the clause, the sentence is still grammatically correct and clear. It is set off by parenthetical commas and called an appositive. There is only one menu, and his wife's company printed it.
A restrictive clause, or essential clause, specifies one of many, for example. The sentence, "Henry placed on the table the dinner menu that his wife's company had printed" signifies that there is a menu that his wife's company had printed and one or more that her firm did not. It specifies and adds more information to what's being talked about. There is no comma to set off a restrictive clause. Its inclusion essential to the accuracy and clarity of the topic at hand.
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