sentence case

Examples of sentence case in the following topics:

• Making Subject and Verbs Agree

  • Subject-verb agreement assures that verbs match their subjects in case and number.
  • Incorrect sentence: My dog and my cat likes to be petted.
  • Correct sentence: My dog and my cat like to be petted.
  • Most mistakes happen because writers are not paying careful attention to the number and case of their subjects.
  • Recognize subject-verb agreement by paying careful attention to the number and case of the sentence subject.

• Em-Dashes and En-Dashes

  • Dashes are often used to mark interruptions within sentences.
  • Em dashes are also sometimes used to summarize or define prior information in a sentence.
  • In these cases, there should not be any spaces around the en dash.
  • In these cases, using an en dash is distracting.
  • The title contains an example of em dash usage, which, in this case, shows a break in the sentence.

• Introduction to Commas

  • The first phrase could not stand on its own as a sentence, but when joined to the independent clause by the comma, the sentence is complete.
  • Note that a dependent clause can come later in the sentence, but in that case, you would not use a comma:
  • In these situations, say the sentence to yourself.
  • In this sentence, "new" and "weird" are nonrestrictive.
  • In other words, if you dropped a restrictive modifier from a sentence, the meaning of the sentence would change.

• Structure of a Sentence

  • Structural classifications for sentences include simple sentences, compound sentences, complex sentences, and compound-complex sentences.
  • In this case, the subordinate clause, "who eat chocolate cake" is in the middle of the sentence.
  • In looking at the various sentence forms above, you can see that each sentence gives you a different feel.
  • The complex sentence sounds more like a lesson in its "if-then" format, and the compound-complex sentence packs all the information into one conclusive sentence.
  • A declarative sentence, or declaration, is the most common type of sentence.

• Components of a Sentence

  • Compare and contrast the sentences below:
  • In active-voice sentences, it is the noun or pronoun performing the action in the sentence.
  • in a sentence.
  • In a given sentence, there may be more than one of any of the five core sentence elements.
  • You also have some verbals (leaving, smashing), but in no case is the noun functioning as a subject doing a predicate verb.

• Approaches to Your Body Paragraphs

  • Like your thesis, each topic sentence is an arguable statement, not a fact.
  • Check, too, to see whether the topic sentence is arguable and clear. 
  • Your concluding sentence will often have an echo of the topic sentence in it while moving the reader forward to the next topic.
  • You might decide to have a concluding sentence and then a transition sentence.
  • In this case, we can presume the paragraph gave evidence that toxins are polluting streams, rivers, lakes, and oceans.

• Step 6: Editing and Proofreading

  • Editing looks at your work on a sentence-by-sentence level, considering ways to make everything you say as clear and precise as possible.
  • If you think a sentence is too complicated, rephrase it so that it is easier to read, or break it into two sentences.
  • Consider the following sentences:
  • In this case, changing from passive to active made a major improvement.
  • Some sentences do read better with them.

• Overall Structure and Formatting of a Chicago/Turabian Paper

  • In the above sentence, the comma immediately after "Wales" is the Oxford comma.
  • In most cases, the first word after a colon should not be capitalized:
  • However, if what follows a colon is a series of multiple sentences, or a quotation, you do need to capitalize the first word after the colon:
  • If you have a colon in the middle of a sentence, and what follows after is a quotation or multiple sentences, the first word after the colon should be capitalized.
  • However, typewriters, and therefore this practice, are now obsolete—in fact, using two spaces after sentences is now generally frowned upon.

• Overall Structure and Formatting of an APA Paper

  • In the above sentence, the comma immediately after "Wales" is the Oxford comma.
  • If you have a colon or em dash (—) in the middle of a sentence, and what follows after is an independent clause (i.e., it could be a sentence on its own), the word after the colon or em dash should be capitalized (as though the following sentence were on its own).
  • However, if we make one small change to this sentence, the rule changes:
  • Here, "the train conductor" cannot stand as its own sentence, so its first word following the colon is not capitalized.
  • However, typewriters, and therefore this practice, are now obsolete—in fact, using two spaces after sentences is now generally frowned upon.

• Structure of a Sentence