+12.+ When we want to express a thought we use more than one word. Words
are the symbols of ideas, but a thought is the expression of the
relation between ideas. For example, I say _man_, and you get an idea or
an image in your mind of a man, but I have not said anything about any
man. But if I say, _Man works_, then I have expressed a thought. I have
related the idea of a man and the idea of work and have expressed a
complete thought.
So we express our thoughts by _groups of words_. The very smallest group
of words which will express a complete thought must, therefore, contain
two words. If I say _men_, _fire_, _flowers_, and stop, you wonder what
I mean, for I have not expressed a thought. Or, I might say, _work_,
_burns_, _bloom_, and you would still be in the dark as to my meaning;
but, when I say, _Men work_, _Fire burns_, _Flowers bloom_, you
understand, for I have told you my complete thought. I have put two
words together in a way to make sense; I have formed a sentence.
+13.+ If we say, _Go_ or _Wait_, in the form of a command or entreaty,
the single word seems to make complete sense and to form a sentence in
itself. But this is only because _you_, who are to do the going or the
waiting, is clearly implied. The words _go_ or _wait_, by themselves, do
not make sense or form a sentence unless they are uttered in the
commanding or beseeching tone of voice which makes you understand that
_You go_ or _You wait_ is the intended meaning. With the exception of
words used in this way as a command or entreaty, it is always necessary
to use at least two words to express a complete thought.
But will any two words make a sentence--express a complete thought?
+14.+ Which of these combinations of words are sentences and which are
not?
Busy men.
Men travel.
Snow flies.
Blue sky.
Red flag.
Rustling trees.
Workers strike.
Bees sting.
Grass grows.
Cold winds.
Green fields.
Happy children.
_Busy men_ does not express a complete thought. We are wondering _busy
men do what?_ But, _men travel_ is a complete thought. It makes sense
and forms a sentence, and tells us what men _do_. In the words, _busy
men_, we have spoken the name of something but have made no assertion
concerning it. In the two words, _men travel_, we have spoken the name
_men_ and we have told what they _do_.
If we were walking down the street together we might say:
The street is crowded to-day.
Does the open road attract you?
See the jostling crowds.
Or if we were discussing the class struggle, we might say:
Two classes have always existed.
To which class do you belong?
Join your class in the struggle.
In every one of these six groups of words we have a complete thought
expressed. Each of these groups of words we call a sentence.
+15.+ +A sentence is a group of words expressing a complete thought.+