Sentence Formation Notes, Quizzes & Revision

Notes: Sentence Formation

Topic: topic_name_replace — Subject: subject_replace — Target learners: age_replace (Kenya)

What is a sentence?

A sentence is a complete idea expressed in words. It usually begins with a capital letter and ends with a full stop (.), a question mark (?) or an exclamation mark (!).

Basic parts of a sentence

• Subject — who or what the sentence is about. (e.g., The boy, Mama, The teacher)
• Verb — action or state of being. (e.g., runs, eats, is)
• Object — who or what receives the action (not all sentences have an object). (e.g., the ball, ugali)

Common word order (English)

The usual order is Subject → Verb → Object (S V O).

Examples (Kenyan context):

• The farmer plants maize. (S V O)
• Students read the book.
• Mama cooks ugali.

Types of sentences

• Declarative – makes a statement. (e.g., The market opens at 7 am.)
• Interrogative – asks a question. (e.g., Do you like chapati?)
• Imperative – gives a command or request. (e.g., Close the door.)
• Exclamatory – shows strong feeling. (e.g., What a beautiful sunset!)

Making questions and negatives

- For many questions in English, we use an auxiliary verb (do, does, did) before the subject:
  Do you like mangoes? / Does he play football?

- To make negatives, put not after the auxiliary:
  She does not (doesn't) study on Sundays. / They did not (didn't) come.

Subject–verb agreement (simple rules)

• Singular subjects take singular verbs: He walks.
• Plural subjects take plural verbs: They walk.
• With "I" and "you" use the base form: I like, You like.
• Watch for tricky subjects: The group is (group = singular), Two-thirds are (fraction = plural meaning).

Joining sentences (simple connectors)

Use joining words to make better sentences:

• and – adds information (e.g., She cooks and sings.)
• but – shows contrast (e.g., He studied but failed the test.)
• so – shows result (e.g., It rained, so the match was cancelled.)

Punctuation reminders

• Start with a capital letter.
• End with ., ?, or !
• Use commas to separate items in a list: bananas, oranges, and mangoes.
• Use quotation marks for speech: She said, "Come home."

Common mistakes and how to fix them

• Sentence fragments: add a subject or verb. ✖ "Walked to school." → ✔ "He walked to school."
• Run-on sentences: split or add connectors. ✖ "I woke up I missed the bus." → ✔ "I woke up, so I missed the bus."
• Wrong verb form: match tense and subject. ✖ "She go to school." → ✔ "She goes to school."

Short practice activities (age: age_replace)

1. Reorder the words to make a sentence:
   a) "plays / football / Daniel" → __________
2. Change to a question:
   b) "They are in class." → __________
3. Make negative:
   c) "Mama cooks chapati." → __________
4. Join the sentences with and / but / so:
   d) "The rain started. The game continued." → __________
5. Fix the error:
   e) "My friends is coming." → __________

Answers

1. a) Daniel plays football.
2. b) Are they in class?
3. c) Mama does not (doesn't) cook chapati. OR Mama does not cook chapati today.
4. d) The rain started, but the game continued. (or: The rain started, so the game was postponed.)
5. e) My friends are coming.

Quick tips for learners:

• Read short Kenyan news or school notices; notice sentence structure.
• Speak simple sentences aloud: this helps word order become natural.
• When unsure, find the subject and verb first, then add extra information.

Good work! Practice with familiar words (school, market, home) to build confidence. ✔️