B1 Lesson 1 What is a sentence

 B1 Lesson 1

What is a sentence

A sentence is a group of words that expresses a complete thought. For example: 

Joe likes basketball

The weather is cold today. 

Parts of a sentence: subject, verb, and object

In English, every sentence has two main parts: the subject and the verbs. Sometimes there is an object and or other information after the verb. 

subject	verb	object	Other information
Maria	sings
She	plays	the piano
Maria	practices		at home.
She	sings	songs	in the morning.

The object

The object is the thing after the main verb. The object:

• Receives the action of the verb

• Can be a noun or a pronouns

• Can be two or more nouns- pronouns

• Maria’s brother plays guitar and violin. 

Other information

Sentences can contain other information after the verb and the object, such as time words/ phrases or place phrases. When a sentence has a time word/ phrase and a place phrase, the time word/ phrase usually comes last. 

Maria and her sister practice the piano at home every day. 

Activity 1

Identify subject, verbs, and objects. 

1. Tuna salad is easy to make.

2. The ingredients are simple and cheap. 

3. Two ingredients are tuna fish and mayonnaise. 

4. I also use onions, salt, and pepper. 

5. First, I cut up the onion. 

6. Then I add the tina fish and the mayonnaise. 

7. Finally, I add some salt and a lot of pepper. 

8. Without a doubt, tuna salad is my favorite food!

Activity 2 Complete the paragraph 

Caroline   she    her lunch break    Anderson Supermarket     has    is     wakes up    Starts    attends       likes     enjoys     works

A Great Place to Work

1_____________ a great job at Anderson Supermarket. 2__________ there on Monday, Tuesday, and Thursday. She does not go to work there on Wednesday because 3_______ classes at Jefferson Community College. On her workdays, 4________at 6 am. 5_________ her workday at 8 am. 6________from 8 am to 5 pm. 7_________ from 12:30 to 1:30. 8_________ her job very much. 9 _________ her coworkers, too. For Caroline, ____________ a great place to work. 

A fragment – an incomplete sentence

A sentence without a subject or without a verb is called a fragment. A fragment is a piece of a sentence. It is not a complete sentence.

John is my brother. Works at Ames Bank. 

John is my brother. He works at Ames bank. 

Many people a white car. 

Mary people have a white car. 

Activity

Editing: sentence or fragment?

1. Hans lives in a big apartment. 

2. My mother breakfast every morning. 

3. Is incredible delicious. 

4. Karen has a car. 

5. They my cousins from Miami.

6. You a student. 

7. Michael likes classical music.

8. Nicole and Jean very best friends. 

9. The girls play soccer after school. 

10. I am from Mexico. 

Activity

Identify subject and verb.

Underline the subjects and circle the verbs in the paragraph. 

There are four books on the desk. The two large books are textbooks. The grammar book is green. There is a composition book next to the grammar book. It is blue. The other two books are smaller. They are workbooks. The textbooks are easy, but the workbooks are difficult. 

Activity

Identify words and phrases

Identify the words or phrases in boxes as an adjective, a noun, or a place phrase. 

1. On the desk.

2. Textbooks.

3. Green.

4. Next to the grammar book. 

5. Blue.

6. Smaller

7. Workbooks

8. Easy

9. difficult

Prepositions of place—at, on, and in

Three important prepositions are at, on, and in. These prepositions are often used to describe location. 

The top of the pyramid is a small, specific place. We use at for a specific location or building, such as business names and street addresses. 

The middle of the pyramid is larger than the top. We use on for a street name, which is larger than a specific place like a bank or specific address. 

The bottom of the pyramid is the largest. We use it for a city, state, region, or country–places that are much larger than a street. 

Activity 

Choose the correct preposition

1. The Sahara is a desert region ________ Africa. 

2. My friend Tina works ________ Washington Central Bank. 

3. The Eiffel Tower is a famous landmark _________Paris. 

4. There is a very popular sushi restaurant ________ Pine street. 

5. Busan is an interesting city ________ South Korea. 

6. My friends and I attend classes _______ a local university ________ out city. 

7. There are many theaters ________ Broadway Avenue _______ New York. 

8. The company meeting will be_______ 1202 Water Avenue. 

Activity

Choose the correct preposition

Banks in a Small Town

It is surprising that Nelson has seven banks. Nelson is a small town _____ California. There are only about 36,000 people ____ this town. However, there are three banks, and each bank has at least two branches. The banks are National, First California, and Trust. National Bank branches ____ 60 Green Street and _____ Princeton Street and _____ Lee Road. Trust Bank has branches ____ Temple Street, ______ Whispering Street, and ____ 443 Orange Avenue. No one understands why there are seven banks _____ a small town like Nelson, California. 

Capital letters for proper nouns

A proper noun is a specific person, place, or thing. A proper noun always begins with a capital letter. 

person	One famous person is Nelson Mandela.
place	My favorite city is New York.
Specific thing	Paco watched the movie Slumdog Millionaire last night.
Days and months	The first Sunday of July is an important day to me.
Languages and countries	In India, the most common language are Hindi and English.

Activity

Editing simple sentences

1. my cousin albert has an interesting job

2. he is a taxi driver in chicago. 

3. albert  owns his own taxi company

4. it is called lightning taxi service

5. albert drives a taxi every day except Sunday 

6. may and june are busy months for albert

7. tourists from canada and europe often use albert’s company

8. he drives his passengers to interesting locations

9. he often sees the john hancock observatory, millennium park, and wrigley field

10. my cousin practices english with his customers

11. albert loves his job

Editing: grammar and sentence review

There are 10 mistakes.

3 capitalization mistakes, 1 missing subject, 1 incorrect preposition, 2 punctuation mistakes, 3 missing verbs. 

Making Hummus

Hummus a very easy snack to make. The ingredients simple and cheap. Chickpeas and crushed Garlic are two ingredients. I also use lemon juice, olive oil, and salt. First, wash and mash the chickpeas at a bowl. Then I add the crushed garlic and salt Finally, i mix in the lemon juice and olive oil. Some people add tahini past, too? This fast treat now ready to eat. 

Parts of speech

Use the correct form of the verb. If necessary, use a dictionary to check the meaning of words you do not know. 

noun	Verb	adjective	Sentence practice
addition	add	additional	She _______ sugar to her coffee.
Attendance	attend		We plan to build an _______ to our home
popularity		popular	Mr. Cox checks the students’_______ ever day.
happiness		happy	Do you want to_______ the concert tomorrow?
work	work		Taylor is a_______ singer.  The ________ of motorcycles is incredible! She is very ______ because it is her birthday.  You cannot buy ______ with money.  My sister _______ in a supermarket.  Do you enjoy your ______?

Activity 

Editing simple sentences. 

1. Mexico not neat Great Britain. 

2. The Statue of Liberty is in new york.

3. Sudan is in africa.

4. Portland is a popular city in Oregon. 

5. Australia and Hungary in Europe. 

6. Russia and Canada bigger than the United States. 

7. Rains a lot in Southeast Asia during the rainy season. 

8. Three main groups of people live in Malaysia. 

9. Is between Mexico and Canada. 

10. Nepal is north of India. 

11. Of Thailand is more than 67,000,000.

12. Bolivia does not any seaports. 

Editing: grammar and sentence Review

There are 10 mistakes.

5 missing be verbs.   2 capitalization mistakes.  2 missing subjects.  1 punctuation mistake. 

The Beauty of Tuscany

Tuscany is a beautiful region in Italy. Is famous for cities such as florence, Siena and Pisa. the amazing apennine Hills un Tuscany. Tuscany also famous for the production of beautiful ceramics. For example, bowls, vases, and oil jars very popular with tourists. Tuscany has so many interesting places to see. Pisa and Siena two beautiful cities that many people love to visit. Is a wonderful place to visit.