ABSTRACT
To qualify as a sentence at all, a group of words must contain within it at least one example of a verb in a finite form. We have established in the last chapter that this means one of the forms of a verb that is bounded by tense and person. A sentence with only one finite verb in it is technically known as a simple sentence, or a one-clause sentence. The fact that it is labelled ‘simple’ does not have anything to do with its length; not all simple sentences are like the sentences we read from the reading scheme. In Prowlpuss, by Gina Wilson (1997), we are introduced to the eponymous hero with a terrifying picture of a huge moggy on the first double-page spread. Here is no simple opening sentence to get us off to a gentle start. Gentleness is not what this book is about. We plunge straight in with: Prowlpuss is cunning and wily and sly, A kingsize cat with one ear and one eye. He’s not a sit-by-the-fire-and-purr cat, A look-at-my-exquisite-fur cat, No, he’s not! He’s rough and gruff and very very tough. Where ya goin’, Prowlpuss? AHA
