Definition: The common definition of a sentence is that it is a group of words that by themselves make sense. Generally this involves making a statement or asking a question.
The basic elements of a sentence are the subject and the predicate (verb), though most sentences contain other elements as well (most often, adirect obeject, indirect object and prepositional phrases).
Sentences are divided into three types:
- simple
- compound
- complex.
Contrast a sentence to a phrase. Each is merely a group of words, but in the case of a phrase, something more is needed for that group of words to make complete sense.
- into the pit (prepositional phrase)
- He fell into the pit. (sentence)
- falling into the pit (participle phrase)
- Falling into the pit, he broke his leg. (sentence).
In Greek, a full sentence may be as short as one word (predicate), in contrast to English, where the shortest typical sentence is two words (subject and predicate). The reason is that, in Greek, the subject is expressed in the ending of the predicate. Thus luousin in Greek is a full sentence, but English requires two words (They loose.)
If the subject of a Greek sentence is not expressed by a noun (or noun-like thing) in the nominative case, the subject is determined by the ending of the verb. In such cases, the subject will be a pronoun.