1.12 What Is a Sentence? Building Blocks and Units Building blocks used together form a unit. You have learned that a noun becomes the subject of a sentence when it is connected to a verb as the performer of that action. In a sentence, the subject and the verb need each other in order to make sense. Let’s replace the word “sentence” with the term “unit.” Units are composed of different parts that we will call building blocks. They must be placed in such a way that the unit is complete and makes sense. Example: Jake Proper Noun
Jake swims. Subject Noun
Verb
Subject and Verb form a Unit.
Jake, the subject, is a building block. The noun Jake will not be a subject if you separate it from the verb. In order to label Jake as the subject, he needs to perform an action, in this case, swimming. When you put these two parts —Jake (subject) and swims (verb)— together, you form the simplest possible unit. Use a period to indicate that your sentence or unit is complete: Jake swims. You have also learned that a noun can be used as a subject complement when it is connected to the subject through a linking verb. Here we have the building blocks of a subject (hamburger) and a subject complement (winner) that must be connected by a linking verb (is) to be complete and make sense. Thus, together they form a unit.
Example: The hamburger Common Noun
The hamburger is the winner. Subject Noun
Linking Subject Verb Complement
Subject, Verb, and Subject Complement form a Unit.
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