By bonding, how many valence electrons do main group atoms tend to end up with?

1. Main group atoms form enough bonds to reach eight valence electrons, and that tendency is the octet rule. 2. Eight is the count that matches a noble gas arrangement, which is unusually stable. 3. The rule also predicts how many bonds an atom will make, from how far short of eight it starts. 4. Carbon has four valence electrons and so forms four bonds to reach eight. _Source: OpenStax Chemistry (CC BY 4.0), Ch 7 "Chemical Bonding and Molecular Geometry", section The Octet Rule_