Beth,
   I think these would all fall in the category of "tricks" to help
students avoid writing errors rather than steps toward a deeper
understanding of what constitutes a sentence. I don't mean that as a
direct criticism since we have decided that conscious understanding is
not necessary or particularly valuable. My point, I think, is that
these softer explanations may mislead in a serious way.
   The "I believe" construct can be shortened down: "I believe [that]..."
You can also do it with "understand" or "know". It doesn't work for
questions or commands. "I believe that be sure to vote on Tuesday." "I
believe will you go to the party?" My own first exposure, I think, was
from Rei Noguchi.
   What is it about declarative sentences that they can be believed or
understood or known?
   I have never seen the question approach. Are students told they can add
words? Otherwise, we would have a problem with simple present or simple
past. She walked the dog. Walked she the dog? We can't make it a
question without adding a finite to the front of the clause. (Did she
walk the doag?)What would happen with "Chestnuts roasting over an open
fire"? If we add an auxiliary to that, it might seem like a sentence.
(Did chestnuts roast or were chestnuts roasting?)
   I'm not sure all your written thoughts are complete thoughts unless you
mena that you naturally write complete sentences rather than fragments.
In isolation, students have trouble with things like "She did it." It
certainly seems incomplete outside of context. "I have something to
tell you." "Here's another issue." If we apply just a commplete thought
test, won't these seem incomplete? For coherence sake, don't we need an
overlap of meaning?

Craig
 Hi Craig,
>
> I agree on the marginal utility of the "complete thought" definition.  I
> don't know about anyone else, but pretty much all of my written thoughts
> are complete thoughts. :)  Writing centers sometimes use these additional
> strategies:
>
> * Turn it into a written question--can you do that without leaving words
> out?  (e.g., *Was he one of the first ones to do so because? shows that
> "Because he was one of the first ones to do so" is not a sentence)
>
> * frame sentence ("they refused to believe the fact that _______" and if
> your group of words fits in the blank, it's a sentence)
>
> * stare test (if you walk up to someone and say those words, will they
> stare at you waiting for you to finish?  e.g., "Because he was one of the
> first ones to do so."  huh?)
>
> Unfortunately, I can't cite a source for these but I'll bet you could find
> them on the Purdue OWL or other wctr website.  At least some of them may
> come from Martha Kolln's text, even.
>
> Beth
>
>>>> Craig Hancock <[log in to unmask]> 9/21/2009 1:02 PM >>>
> I'm working on a project that starts with a critique of current
> (school based) descriptions and definitions of the sentence, but it
> occurs to me that I may be unaware of practices in other parts of the
> country.
>    The most prevalent definition I run into from students starting
> college in New York state is "a sentence is a group of words that
> expresses a complete thought". This is echoed in "Writing Talk", 5th
> edition, 2009, Winkler and McCuen-Metherell, (just sent me by a
> publisher, so I'm using it as a representative text for college level)
> who follow that up with "This completeness is what your speaker's ear
> uses to recognize a sentence" (p. 49), which fairly nicely frames the
> approach--not a full description of the sentence, but an attempt to
> awaken the student writers' intuitive feel for minimally necessary forms.
>    The other definition/description I get is that "a sentence is a group
> of words that begins with a capital letter and ends with a period,
> question mark, or exclamation point", which would seem to grant the
> writer discretion in deciding what constitutes a sentence (complete
> thought or not.)
>     The point I'm trying to make (at least at the start) is that these
> approaches have limited utility and may be deeply misleading for anyone
> hoping to push toward a deeper understanding.
>    But am I missing something? Are any of you aware of school based
> approaches that take a different tack?
>
> Craig
>
> To join or leave this LISTSERV list, please visit the list's web interface
> at:
>      http://listserv.muohio.edu/archives/ateg.html
> and select "Join or leave the list"
>
> Visit ATEG's web site at http://ateg.org/
>
> To join or leave this LISTSERV list, please visit the list's web interface
> at:
>      http://listserv.muohio.edu/archives/ateg.html
> and select "Join or leave the list"
>
> Visit ATEG's web site at http://ateg.org/
>

To join or leave this LISTSERV list, please visit the list's web interface at:
     http://listserv.muohio.edu/archives/ateg.html
and select "Join or leave the list"

Visit ATEG's web site at http://ateg.org/