What is a sentence? | Syntax | Khan Academy

Hello Garans, hello Paige, hi David. So today we're going to tackle this idea of what is a sentence as we go into this realm of language that is called syntax.

Syntax is this concept of basically grammatical order. This word "syntaxis" literally means in Greek is, uh, you know, putting together and arranging, right? So it just means ordering of language. So that's like what a sentence is. That's what a sentence is. That's what a sentence is. It's what the components of a sentence are.

We'll go into all of that in much greater detail, but in order to do that, first of all, we have to figure out what a sentence actually is. So the definition that you and I came up with, Paige, is that a sentence is a grammatically complete idea, right? It's a bunch of words that say one complete thing.

So all sentences have a noun or pronoun component, right? And that's what we call the subject. Then we have the verb part, which is the predicate. So a sentence has to have like a thing or a noun or pronoun. Sure, that's the subject. Yeah? And something that it's doing. Sure, that's the predicate.

Yeah. Okay, so let's say we've got this sentence: "The Great Big Dog Licked My Face." Here is our sentence. What is the subject? The subject is "the great big dog." All right, and that means that everything that's not the subject is part of the predicate, right? Mhm. So "licked my face" is the predicate.

So this is the noun chunk that is performing the action of the sentence. You got it. Cool. So all sentences have to have this, right? Yeah, they have to have a subject and a predicate, these two separate parts.

So if you said, if you asked a question like, "Are you named David?" Okay, if you ask that of me, MH, which go ahead, are you named David? I am. Is this a sentence? It's really short. It is very short but you see, "I" is a pronoun, okay? So that can be the subject. That's our subject, and "am" is a verb. So it has a subject and a predicate.

So this is the noun or pronoun part and this is the action that it is performing. Although "am" or "being" isn't really an action, it's more of a linking verb. Sure, um, but it's still a verb. That's okay. So this is the predicate then for sure.

Yeah. Okay, so but Paige, let's say I dropped a muffin, right? And you told me, "Pick up that muffin." Uh-huh, that sentence doesn't seem to have. So let me write that down. That sentence doesn't seem to have a subject. I see how all of this is predicate, right?

"Pick up" is a verb, and then the muffin is the thing that's being picked up. Like, that's all one thing. Where's what goes in the blue box? I see. So when we have a sentence like this where I'm telling you to do something, there doesn't always have to be a subject said out loud.

Okay, this is like an order, right? I'm telling you, you have to pick up that muffin. So this is kind of like an invisible secret subject, right? And the subject really is you. You pick up that muffin. But I don't have to say it out loud 'cause I know that you're talking to me 'cause I can tell, 'cause you're looking at me and you're yelling at me about a muffin.

Yes, I am. So a sentence is a grammatically complete idea or expression and it has to have a noun or pronoun part, which we call the subject and it has to have a verb and all its baggage part, which is what we call the predicate.

Uh, and sometimes that subject can sort of be implied or invisible as in the command "Pick up that muffin." Right. Cool. You can learn anything, David. Out, Paige. Out.