You can use the query below:
DECLARE @Sentence VARCHAR(MAX) = 'The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog'
DECLARE @first_space_index int = CHARINDEX(' ', @Sentence) - 1
DECLARE @last_space_index int = CHARINDEX(' ', REVERSE(@Sentence)) - 1
IF @first_space_index < 0
SELECT @Sentence AS [First Word], @Sentence AS [Last Word]
ELSE
SELECT SUBSTRING(@Sentence, 1, @first_space_index) AS [First Word], REVERSE(SUBSTRING(REVERSE(@Sentence), 1, @last_space_index)) AS [Last Word]
First Word Last Word
------------ -----------
The dog
If @Sentence = 'The' then the result will be:
First Word Last Word
------------ -----------
The The

Fails if only 1 word
Thanks for the feedback, Daniel. I have updated the solution. 🙂