Download Elements of a Sentence

ENG 299
Spring Term
Stammen
Parts of Speech
Nouns: Words that refer to persons, places, things, states or qualities
Pronouns: Words that replace nouns, such as I, you, he, this, who, what
Verbs: Words that express action or a state of being
Prepositions: Words that are placed before nouns or pronouns and typically show
special or temporal (time) relationships
Interjections: Words that show emotion
Conjunction: Words that connect words, phrases, clauses, or sentences
Adjective: Words that describe nouns or pronouns and have endings that show
comparisons
Adverbs: Words that describe verbs, adjectives, and other adverbs
Elements of a Sentence
Every complete sentence must have these elements:
1. A subject
2. A verb
3. First word capitalized
4. End mark, such as “?,” “!,” or a period
When a sentence does not have these elements, it is called a fragment.
Nouns and pronouns are used in sentences in a variety of ways:
1. Subjects - Kathy enjoys working in the ABLE Program.
2. Objects of Prepositions - Kathy enjoys working in the ABLE Program.
3. Direct Objects – Kathy knocked all the pins down in three consecutive
sets when she bowled.
ENG 299
Spring Term
Stammen
4. Indirect Objects – I gave Ginger the list of students to call.
5. Predicate Nominatives – In one grandmother’s opinion, Rose is the cutest
baby in the whole, wide world!
6. Direct Address – Rosebud, it’s time to eat lunch.
To give more meaning to a sentence, other elements are added.
Direct Object
A direct object is a noun or pronoun and will answer the question “who” or “what”
received the action of the verb.
Mary called Kathy.
A tired teacher can make careless mistakes.
Indirect Object
An indirect object is a noun or pronoun and will answer the question “to whom” or
“for whom” the action is performed.
He gave me the report.
He is the subject—he did the action—the doer
Gave is the verb --- shows what he did
Me is the indirect object---“for whom” the action is performed
Report is the direct object---shows what received the action
Predicate Nominative
This is a noun that always follows a linking verb and renames the subject.
Ex: The Jim is the teacher.
Jim is the subject. Teacher renames or is the same as a subject. The linking
verb is “is.”