Prompt
Now that you have worked through a lot of material that includes these basic patterns, and you have compared
grammatically correct and incorrect sentences, write down what you think is a rule that could explain what makes a
sendence grammatically correct or not. For example, you might write something like: "verbs always match nouns in number,
and they usually come before the noun." In other words, make your best guess for the grammar rule that makes sense out
of the pattern(s) you see in the phrases you have been working with. Review if you need to, and you might briefly check
your hunches against the sentences you have been working with in this or previous modules. Keep in mind that what you're
after is your hunch, not a grammar rule from a text book. Now check your hunch with the explanation of this principle in the
following pattern.
Mi regla es que los verbos siempre deben concordar con los sustantivos en número y generalmente deben venir antes del sustantivo.
My hunch for a grammar rule that could explain what makes a sentence grammatically correct or not is:
"A sentence is grammatically correct when it follows the rules of sentence structure, including the proper use of subject-verb agreement, word order, and punctuation."
This means that a sentence should have a subject that agrees with the verb in terms of number and person. The subject usually comes before the verb in English sentences. The sentence should also follow the standard word order of subject-verb-object, although this can vary in certain sentence structures. Lastly, proper punctuation should be used to separate different parts of the sentence and indicate pauses or emphasis.
To check my hunch, I can review the sentences I have worked with in previous modules to see if they adhere to these patterns and rules.
My hunch for a grammar rule that could explain what makes a sentence grammatically correct or not is: "Every sentence must have a subject and a verb, and the verb must agree with the subject in number and tense."
To check this hunch against the sentences we have been working with:
1. Grammatically correct sentence: "The cat is sleeping."
- Subject: "The cat" (singular)
- Verb: "is" (singular, present tense)
- The verb "is" agrees with the subject "the cat" in number and tense.
2. Grammatically incorrect sentence: "The cat are sleeping."
- Subject: "The cat" (singular)
- Verb: "are" (plural, present tense)
- The verb "are" does not agree with the subject "the cat" in number.
From these examples and others we have encountered, it can be observed that the subject and verb must agree in number and tense to form a grammatically correct sentence.