Download The Parts of a Sentence: Subjects and Predicates

The Parts of a Sentence
A simple sentence always includes a subject and a predicate, and it expresses a complete thought.
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Subject
Predicate
1. The subject of a sentence tells who or what the
sentence is about.
2. The subject is often a noun or pronoun. The
subject can be one or more nouns. A singular
subject has one noun and a compound subject
has two nouns.
 The pirates captured the ship and stole its
treasure. (singular subjecct)
 She captured the ship and stole its treasure.
(singular subject with pronoun)
 John and Peter quit their jobs to pursue a
life at sea. (compound subject)
3. Usually a subject appears before the verb, but
it may be separated by modifiers or
prepositional phrases. To determine a subject,
ask who or what is the sentence about?
 The train runs. (Who or what runs? The
train.)
 Pedro, who is late for the train, runs
marathons. (Who runs? John.)
4. A subject may have a noun, adjective, or
phrase that appears after a linking verb for the
purpose of restating or telling about the
subject. This is called a complement.
 Dr. Sawyer will become an outstanding
university president. (Dr. Sawyer is the
subject; president tells about Dr. Sawyer.
Will become is the linking verb.
5. A gerund uses the –ing form of a verb and acts
as a noun.
 Walking is a healthy exercise.
6. An infinitive uses to and a simple verb to
function as the subject.
 To travel by train across Europe has been a
long-time dream of mine.
1. The predicate of a sentence tells what the subject
is doing, what is being done to the subject, or
expresses a state of being. The verb may be
singular or compound.
 The bandits captured the stagecoach.
(singular verb)
 The bandits captured and looted the
stagecoach. (compound verb)
2. The verb may represent action, thought, or state
of being. The verb may be written in the active
or passive voice.
 Mariella ran the race. (active voice)
 The race was run by Mariella. (passive
voice)
Objects
1. In the predicate, an object receives the action of
the verb. The object answers the question what?
or whom? after the verb.
 Harriet Tubman helped many poor people.
Harriet is the subject. Helped is the verb.
Whom or what was helped by Harriet?
People. People is the object.
2. An object may be direct or indirect.
3. A direct object is a noun, pronoun, or noun
phrase that receives the action expressed by the
verb.
 I have read the book. (Read what? The
book.)
 The author researched the time period before
writing the book. (Researched what? The
time period.)
4. An indirect object names the person to whom or
for whom something is done.
 She gave runaways shelter. (She gave what?
Shelter? To whom? Runaways.) Shelter is
the direct object. Runaways is the indirect
object because it names to whom shelter was
given.
*In order for a sentence to have an indirect object, it
must have a direct object.
am
is
are
was
were
be
being
been
Helping Verbs
has
do
have
did
had
does
may
might
must
Linking Verbs
am, is, are, was, were
being, been
smell
look
taste
feel
seem
appear
become
(I) am, was
(you) are, were
(he/she/it) is, was
I, me, my, mine
you, your, yours
he, him, his
she her, hers
it, its
verb: to be
(we) are, were
(they) are, were
Pronouns
we, us, our, ours
they, them, their, theirs
can, could
will, would
shall, should