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# sentence

«sentence» in Mova's school dictionary: **a group of words that makes a complete statement…** — its meaning for a pupil, its sense in the lessons and examples, with 5 sentences of Mova's corpora that use it.

### part of speech

noun (a sentence, sentences); verb (sentence, sentences, sentenced, sentencing)

### meaning for a pupil

1) A sentence is a group of words that makes a complete statement, question or command; in writing it starts with a capital letter and ends with a full stop, question mark or exclamation mark. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/S/sentence/#m1)

2) A sentence is the punishment a judge gives to someone found guilty of a crime. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/S/sentence/#m2)

3) To sentence someone is to give them that punishment. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/S/sentence/#m3)

### sense in the lessons

In English lessons: a sentence needs a verb and usually a subject (The dog barks.); types are statements, questions, commands and exclamations; simple, compound and complex sentences; join sentences with «and», «but», «because». In maths, a number sentence is an equation such as 3 + 4 = 7. In stories about courts: the judge sentenced him to prison. Phrases: write in full sentences, number sentence, life sentence.

### examples

- Start every sentence with a capital letter. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/S/sentence/#x1)
- «I like cake.» is a short sentence. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/S/sentence/#x2)
- Write three sentences about your weekend. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/S/sentence/#x3)
- Use a question mark at the end of a question sentence. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/S/sentence/#x4)
- 5 + 3 = 8 is a number sentence. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/S/sentence/#x5)
- The judge gave the thief a sentence of two years. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/S/sentence/#x6)
- Can you put this word in a sentence? [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/S/sentence/#x7)
- Answer in full sentences. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/S/sentence/#x8)
- The servant was led out and his sentence read to him. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/S/sentence/#x9)

### note

Countable. Spelled sen-tence (not «sentance»). A phrase (like «in the morning») is not a full sentence because it has no verb. In maths, a number sentence = an equation or inequality.

### In the corpora

- [You don't have to explain everything; one sentence is enough: "I saw something not for kids."](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/adult-life/60-next-time-switch-off-tell-and-parental-controls/3/)
- [AI "tasted" millions of sentences or pictures in the same way and learned what usually goes together.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/ai/1-what-is-ai/2/)
- [AI programs learn patterns from very large numbers of examples, such as sentences or photos.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/ai/1-what-is-ai/6/)
- [A chatbot is wonderfully good at sounding right: clear sentences, a calm voice, no "erm".](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/ai/3-sounding-right-and-being-right/0/)
- [In one sentence: "I'm Mova, a small AI that learns language from lessons and shows why it decides."](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/ai/30-who-you-are-what-you-will-do/20/)

### Trees and pragmatics

[Every meaning and example of «sentence» parsed by Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/S/sentence/), each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.