October 2026 - Complete Sentences Study Guide

The three requirements

• A subject — who or what the sentence is about.
• A verb — what the subject does or is.
• A complete thought — it can stand alone and make sense.
• The third is what catches people out. Because the ward was short-staffed has both a subject and a verb, and is still a fragment.

The three errors

Independent and dependent clauses

An independent clause can stand as a sentence: she checked the chart. A dependent clause cannot, because a subordinating word has left it hanging: because she checked the chart, although she checked the chart, when she checked the chart.

Words such as because, although, since, when, if, while, after and unless create dependent clauses. Attach one to an independent clause and you have a sentence; leave it on its own and you have a fragment.

Four ways to fix a splice or a run-on

The exam offers all four as answer choices, and usually more than one is grammatically correct — pick the one that fits the relationship between the ideas.

• Full stop — The alarm sounded. She went to check.
• Semicolon — The alarm sounded; she went to check. Best when the ideas are closely linked.
• Comma plus a coordinating conjunction — The alarm sounded, so she went to check.
• Subordination — When the alarm sounded, she went to check. Best when one idea depends on the other.

Testing a string of words

Terms to know

Subject

Who or what the sentence is about.

Predicate

The verb and everything that follows it.

Independent clause

A clause that can stand alone as a sentence.

Dependent clause

A clause that cannot stand alone, introduced by a subordinating word.

Fragment

An incomplete sentence.

Run-on

Two independent clauses joined with no punctuation.

Comma splice

Two independent clauses joined by only a comma.

Coordinating conjunction

for, and, nor, but, or, yet, so — the seven that join equals.

Subordinating conjunction

because, although, when, if, since — words that create dependent clauses.

What the TEAS asks most

The same core ideas appear in different wording. If you can answer these without stopping to think, you have what this section requires.

Key points

• Subject, verb and complete thought — all three are required.
• A dependent clause has a subject and verb and is still a fragment.
• Two independent clauses joined by a comma is a comma splice.
• Fix with a full stop, a semicolon, a comma plus conjunction, or subordination.
• However and therefore are not conjunctions and cannot fix a splice on their own.