What is a sentence?
A sentence is a complete thought. It makes sense on its own, starts with a capital letter and ends with a full stop (or a question mark or exclamation mark).
- ✔ The dog barked.
- ✘ Because the dog barked (not complete: because what happened?)
Run-on sentences
A run-on is two sentences joined together with no full stop between them:
- ✘ Snow was falling outside The children rushed out to play
- ✔ Snow was falling outside. The children rushed out to play.
How to spot where a full stop goes
- Read it aloud. Where your voice stops and takes a breath, you probably need a full stop.
- Look for a new “who or what” doing something: The children rushed… starts a new sentence.
- Check both parts make sense on their own. If they do, they’re two sentences.
Watch out! Don’t put a full stop in the middle of one sentence: We went to the park. After school. ✘ “After school” doesn’t make sense on its own.
Top tip: a capital letter in the middle of a line (that isn’t a name or I) is often a clue that a full stop is missing just before it.
👆 Stop spotter
It was raining hard We stayed inside Mum made hot chocolate. Tap each word that should have a full stop after it.
🔎 Missing full stops1 of 5