An English sentence must have at least one subject and one predicate. The subject denotes the person or thing about which something is said.
The subject is usually the first noun or noun phrase in a sentence and it represents the thing that the rest of the sentence is about. The subject may consist of one word or several words but it must still have a noun or pronoun it. The main word in the subject is called the subject-word.
Different kinds of subjects
The subject is always a noun or a word or phrase used as a noun.
Read the sentences given below:
Wisdom is better than riches. (Here the subject is the noun wisdom.)
He has refused to leave. (Here the subject is the pronoun he.)
The disabled are God’s special children. (Here the subject is the adjective the disabled which is used as a noun.)
Swimming is good for health. (Here the subject is the gerund swimming which is used as a noun.)
To err is human. (Here the subject is the infinitive to err which is used as a noun.)
The subject-word is often modified by an adjective or the equivalent of an adjective which is called its attribute.
Kinds of Attributes
A man knocked at the door.
Here the subject-word man is modified by the article a which is called its attribute.
Fresh milk is wholesome.
Here the subject-word milk is modified by the adjective fresh which is its attribute.
More examples are given below.
His face turned pale. (Here the subject-word pale is modified by the possessive adjective his.)
Lincoln, President of America, was assassinated. (Here the attribute is a noun or phrase in apposition to the subject.)
John himself finished the work. (Here the attribute is an emphatic pronoun.)
Barking dogs seldom bite. (Here the attribute is a participle used as an adjective.)
Participles, prepositional phrases, to-infinitives, adjectival phrases can also be used as subject attributes.
Exercise
In the following sentences pick out the complete subject; then separate the subject word and its attribute:
1. Sweet are the uses of adversity.
2. Dominic, the grocer, sells sugar and rice in the black market.
3. His bark is worse than his bite.
4. The king, generous as ever, pardoned the rebel.
5. Birds of the same feather flock together.
Answers
1. Subject – the uses of adversity; subject-word – uses; attribute – of adversity
2. Subject – Dominic, the grocer; subject-word – Dominic; attribute – the grocer
3. Subject – his bark; subject-word – bark; attribute – his
4. Subject-word – the king; attribute – generous as ever
5. Subject-word – birds; attribute – of the same feather
1. What is the Subject of a Sentence?
A subject is the person, place, idea, or thing that a sentence is about. It’s the noun that is “doing” something in the sentence. Every sentence needs at least one to function properly—otherwise, the sentence wouldn’t be about anything! So, they are absolutely crucial to writing and speaking in English. In fact, subjects might be the most important parts of sentences.
To find a sentence’s subject, usually all you have to ask is: what is this sentence about? Many sentences have only one subject, but they can also have two or more. Sometimes the subject is only one word, called a simple subject; sometimes subjects share a verb and become a compound subject; or sometimes they include other descriptive words, called a complete subject.
2. Examples of Subjects
Every sentence has at least one subject, and it can be almost anything. Because they are the focus, subjects usually come at the beginning of a sentence; many times they are the first word or words. The subjects are underlined in the examples below:
- I really love the county fair. “I” as subject
- He doesn’t like popcorn. “He” as subject
- The dog loves popcorn. “the dog” as subject
- Sally and Sam went to the fair together. “Sally” and “Sam” as subjects
- County fairs always have popcorn stands. “County fairs” as subject
- Dogs love popcorn, but cats like soda. “dogs” and “cats” as subjects
3. Parts of Subjects
Sometimes a subject is only one word, but sometimes it includes modifiers, or can be a noun phrase or gerund. Let’s start with this sentence:
The dog ate the popcorn. Subject = “dog”
- Modifiers
A modifier is an adjective or adverb that “modifies” other words in a sentence to make it more descriptive. A subject with a modifier gives you a clearer idea of the noun that the sentence is about. Here’s an example:
The fat dog ate the popcorn. Subject = “fat dog”
This sentence includes the modifier “fat” to better describe the dog.
a. Noun Phrases
A phrase is a group of two or more words that work together but don’t form a clause; and a noun phrase has a noun or pronoun as the main word, and acts like a noun in a sentence. Since it acts like a noun, a noun phrase can be the subject of a sentence, like this:
The fat dog with brown fur ate all the popcorn. Subject = “the fat dog with brown fur”
So, this sentence is about “the fat dog with brown fur,” not just any dog. Here, the phrase “the fat dog with brown fur” works like a noun. You could easily replace this phrase with only “the dog,” but using a phrase better describes the dog and the situation.
b. Gerunds
A gerund is a word that ends in “ing” but functions as a noun in a sentence, NOT as a verb. Because gerund and gerund phrases work like nouns, they can also be subjects, like this:
Eating is my dog’s favorite hobby. Subject = gerund “eating”
Eating popcorn is my dog’s favorite hobby. Subject = gerund phrase “eating popcorn”
Remember, a gerund works like a noun, not a verb!
3. Types of Subjects
Sometimes the subject of a sentence can’t be as simple as one word, so we need different types in order to be able to say what we mean. There are three main types of subjects: simple, compound, and complete.
a. Simple Subject
A simple subject is the main word that tells what a sentence is about. It does not include modifiers or other words. Here are some examples:
- Sally went to the county fair. Person as subject
- The fair was famous for its popcorn. Place as subject
- The hot popcorn was buttery. Thing as subject
A sentence can have more than one simple subject, if they have their own verbs (green):
- Sally went to the county fair, and Sam drove to the market. Subjects “Sally” and “Sam”
- The dog ate popcorn, and the cat drank Subjects “dog” and “cat”
- The popcorn smelled buttery, and the soda tasted Subjects “popcorn” and “soda”
As you can see, each of the subjects has their own verb. For instance, the first sentence has the simple subjects “Sally” and “Sam,” but Sally “went” and Sam “drove.” So, while they are both subjects, they are each doing their own thing.
If two or more subjects use the same verb, then the sentence has a compound subject.
b. Compound Subject
When two or more subjects in a sentence share the same verb, it makes a compound subject:
- Sally and Sam went to the county fair.
- The dog and the cat ate popcorn.
- The popcorn and the soda are delicious.
For a compound subject to occur, the subjects MUST share the same verb. In the first sentence above, both Sally and Sam do the same thing: they “went” to the county fair. Since they both did the same thing, they can share one verb. Without a compound subject, the sentence would look like this:
Sally went to the county fair, and Sam went to the county fair.
You can see that this sentence is unnecessarily long. We don’t need to say these two things separately, which is why we have compound subjects.
c. Complete Subject
A complete subject is made up of all of the words that tell what a sentence is about, including modifiers:
- The fat dog with brown fur ate all of the popcorn.
- The big dog and the small cat went to the county fair.
- Silly Sally and her best friend Sam drove to the fair.
All of these sentences include modifiers that add to the subject. Let’s look more closely at the third sentence:
Silly Sally and her best friend Sam drove to the fair.
Here, the simple subjects are Sally and Sam. But, the sentence also includes the modifier “silly” to describe Sally, and the noun phrase “her best friend Sam” to describe her friend. So, the complete subject of the sentence includes all of the words that make up the subject. If we ask the question “what is this sentence about?”, our answer is the two subjects “Silly Sally and her best friend Sam.”
4. How to Avoid Mistakes with Subjects
As you now know, the subject is the main thing a sentence is about, and all sentences need one. But, what’s more, all subjects need a verb to show an action that is being done. So remember, a subject is nothing without its verb, and a sentence doesn’t exist without its subject!
Furthermore, you want to be sure not to mistake an object or prepositional phrase for a subject.
a. Objects
It’s important to be able to distinguish between the subject and an object in a sentence. Sometimes it can be confusing, so remember this rule: a subject “does” the verb, and an object “gets” the action of the verb. Let’s look at this sentence:
The dog is cooking popcorn for the cat.
This sentence has only one subject: the dog. That’s because the dog “does” the action “cooking.” The cat is NOT a subject—it is an object, because it “gets” the popcorn. Let’s try another:
The dog danced for the rabbit, and the cat slept.
Here, there are two subjects, the dog and the cat, and one object, rabbit. The dog does the dancing, the rabbit gets to see the dancing, and the cat does the sleeping.
b. Prepositional Phrases
A preposition is a word that indicates location, like in, at, with, on, beside, before, after, to name a few. Prepositional phrases combine a preposition with a noun. Like subjects, they often come at the beginning of the sentence, but, they are NOT the subject—they only give details.
Here are some examples:
The dog went to the county fair. Subject = dog
Last night, the dog went to the county fair. Subject = dog
The dog cooked popcorn. Subject = dog
At home, the dog cooked popcorn. Subject = dog
Adding a prepositional phrase does not affect a sentence’s subject. The prepositional phrases just add details about the subject itself, they do NOT work like nouns, and can’t be the sentence’s subject. An easy trick to remember is that the prepositional phrase can usually be switched to the end of the sentence:
The dog went to the county fair last night.
BUT, you couldn’t do the same thing with a subject, like this:
Went to the county fair the dog. Incorrect!
Now, let’s review!
- To find a sentence’s subject, you just need to ask: what is this sentence about?
- The main word that tells what a sentence is about is the simple subject.
- When more than one subject share the same verb, you have a compound subject.
- A subject together with all of its modifiers is the complete subject.
Presentation on theme: «SUBJECT, PREDICATE, & COMPLEMENT»— Presentation transcript:
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SUBJECT, PREDICATE, & COMPLEMENT
GRAMMAR REVIEW #2
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SUBJECT WHAT IS THE SUBJECT? person, place, thing or idea
that’s the main focus of the sentence COMPLETE SUBJECT: main word of the subject AND all of the words that go along with it SIMPLE SUBJECT: the main word of the subject
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BEFORE WE FIND THE SUBJECT…
THE SIMPLE SUBJECT WILL NEVER, EVER, EVER, EVER, EVER, EVER, EVER, EVER BE IN A PREPOSITIONAL PHRASE!!!! ALWAYS BRACKET OFF PREPOSITIONAL PHRASES FIRST!!!!!
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FINDING THE SUBJECT **ALWAYS BRACKET OFF PREPOSITIONAL PHRASES FIRST!!!!! Plump, lazy gerbils should not snooze in front of moving steamrollers. On bad hair days, Matilda, a fashionable young lady, wears colorful, eye-catching shower caps to hide her trussed-up tresses.
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WHEN SENTENCES BEGIN WITH “HERE” & “THERE”
“HERE” and “THERE” can NEVER be the subject of a sentence. “HERE” and “THERE” are not nouns; they are adverbs. The subject is ALWAYS a noun (person, place, thing or idea).
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FINDING THE SUBJECT WITH “HERE” & “THERE”
**TO FIND THE SUBJECT, YOU MUST REPHRASE THE SENTENCE! Here is a portly platypus. A portly platypus is here. There are little green bumps on your face. Little green bumps are there on your face.
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WHAT ABOUT COMPOUND SUBJECTS?
two subjects that are joined by a conjunction and have the same verb Ernie and Prudence chew bubble gum.
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the verb that shows action or state of being
WHAT IS THE PREDICATE? PREDICATE the verb that shows action or state of being COMPLETE PREDICATE: the verb and all of the words and phrases that go along with it SIMPLE PREDICATE: the verb
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BEFORE WE FIND THE PREDICATE…
THE SIMPLE PREDICATE WILL NEVER, EVER, EVER, EVER, EVER, EVER, EVER, EVER BE IN A PREPOSITIONAL PHRASE!!!! ALWAYS BRACKET OFF PREPOSITIONAL PHRASES FIRST!!!!!
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FINDING THE PREDICATE **ALWAYS BRACKET OFF THE PREPOSITIONAL PHRASES FIRST!!!! Ramona reads mystery stories by the light of her ponderous firefly. At the dinner table, Reginald cleans his toenails with his steak knife.
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WHAT ABOUT COMPOUND PREDICATES?
two verbs that are joined by a conjunction and have the same subject For exercise, Cousin Moe curls and wiggles his toes.
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WHAT IS THE COMPLEMENT? COMPLEMENT
a word that completes the meaning of the subject and the verb in order to make the sentence a COMPLETE thought 3 Types DIRECT OBJECT, INDIRECT OBJECT, SUBJECT COMPLEMENT COMPLEMENT WILL ALWAYS BE A NOUN, PRONOUN, OR ADJECTIVE!!! COMPLEMENT WILL NEVER, EVER BE IN A PREP PHRASE!!
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WHAT IS THE DIRECT OBJECT?
a noun or a pronoun that receives the action of the verb Direct object MUST follow an action verb. To find the direct object, ask “Whom?” or “What?” after the action verb.
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BEFORE WE FIND THE DIRECT OBJECT…
THE DIRECT OBJECT WILL NEVER, EVER, EVER, EVER, EVER, EVER, EVER, EVER BE IN A PREPOSITIONAL PHRASE!!!! ALWAYS BRACKET OFF PREPOSITIONAL PHRASES FIRST!!!!!
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FINDING THE DIRECT OBJECT
***ALWAYS BRACKET OFF THE PREPOSITIONAL PHRASES FIRST!!! Goodness, Egbert, you certainly have an unusual growth on your head. Freda painted an extraordinary picture of a plump, pitted, grape. Thadeus complimented Nadine on her new Tyrannosaurus earrings.
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WHAT IS THE INDIRECT OBJECT?
a noun or a pronoun that receives the direct object To have an indirect object, there MUST be a direct object! The indirect object MUST come BEFORE the direct object. To find the indirect object, ask “To whom?” or “To what?” after the direct object.
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BEFORE WE FIND THE INDIRECT OBJECT…
THE INDIRECT OBJECT WILL NEVER, EVER, EVER, EVER, EVER, EVER, EVER, EVER BE IN A PREPOSITIONAL PHRASE!!!! ALWAYS BRACKET OFF PREPOSITIONAL PHRASES FIRST!!!!!
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FINDING THE INDIRECT OBJECT
***ALWAYS BRACKET OFF THE PREPOSITIONAL PHRASES FIRST!!! Mrs. McDougal read her class a story about Toodles, the dysfunctional doodlebug. Norma taught the jig to her piglets. Norma taught her piglets the jig.
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WHAT IS THE SUBJECT COMPLEMENT?
PREDICATE NOUN a noun or a pronoun that follows a linking verb; explains or identifies the noun in the sentence PREDICATE ADJECTIVE an adjective that follows a linking verb; describes the subject
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BEFORE WE FIND THE SUBJECT COMPLEMENT…
THE SUBJECT COMPLEMENT WILL NEVER, EVER, EVER, EVER, EVER, EVER, EVER, EVER BE IN A PREPOSITIONAL PHRASE!!!! ALWAYS BRACKET OFF PREPOSITIONAL PHRASES FIRST!!!!!
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FINDING THE SUBJECT COMPLEMENT
***ALWAYS BRACKET OFF THE PREPOSITIONAL PHRASES FIRST!!! Gomer’s best friend is his pet eggplant. The food in your refrigerator is slightly furry.
There exist, I’ve been told, over a million words in English. However, all these words can relate to each other syntactically in only five different ways. In syntax the way a word relates to another is called a function. Here are the names of the five possible functions:
1. subject
2. finite verb
3. completer
4. modifier
5. connective
Structural Backbones
The first three functions, subjects, finite verbs, and completers, are components of the structural backbone of a sentence. Like an animal’s backbone, the structural backbone gives sentences their basic form (not a perfect analogy, but it’s helpful for visualizing the relationships involved). As a general rule, a sentence contains at least one subject and one finite verb: that’s the essential relationship. Many sentences contain completers, but not all do. So English grammar has two basic backbone structures:
subject + finite verb
subject + finite verb + completer
Since I’ll need to mark functions, I’ll be using colors for the backbone functions: blue for subjects, red for finite verbs , and green for completers. To illustrate, here is a traditional spell for keeping yourself safe outdoors at night:
I see the moon and the moon sees me;
God bless the moon and God bless me.
Since the primary relationship is between subjects and finite verbs, we’ll start with them and bring completers into the picture afterward.
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Subject-Finite Verb Relationships
Most sentences are identical in two respects. First, they contain a word or phrase that names something—something that the sentence as a whole tells or asks about. This naming element is the subject.
Secondly, sentences contain a word or a phrase that states or asks something about the subject. This stating- or asking-element is the finite verb. A traditional definition of verbs is that they’re words that express an “action” or “state of being” (we’ll be seeing a little later what finite means).
Some simple sentences follow. Say each one, preferably aloud, in order to feel the relationship between the subject and finite verb:
1. Fish swim.
2. Birds fly.
3. Cobras hiss.
4. Babies cry.
5. My great-aunt’s parrot can sing in seven languages.
6. But no one has heard her squawk.
7. The majority of ducks dance very well.
8. Still, most of them waddle their evenings away.
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Main Words in Phrases
Syntactic functions can consist of single words, as in examples 1 through 4, or they can consist of phrases, like my great-aunt’s parrot and can sing in example 5, or has heard in example 6. I noted on the previous page, on sentence rhythm, that phrases are groups of words that stick together and make sense as a unit. Because of this, it makes no difference whether a function consists of a single word or a phrase.
One of the words in a phrase is the main word, the “topic” word to which all the other words relate. In example 5, for instance, the main word of the subject is parrot, the one who sings. In example 7, it may be less easy to see that the main word is majority; the other words of the phrase (the and of ducks) specify what majority the speaker is referring to. In example 8, the main word is most (a pronoun substituting for “majority”). In the example sentences on the rest of this page, I’ll be marking the main words of phrases by showing them in bold, as for example, the majority of ducks or my great-aunt’s parrot.
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One-Word Phrases
Of course, if there’s only one word in a function, as in Birds fly, that word is the main word. So we can say that birds and fly are each one-word phrases. Since we ordinarily think of phrases as having at least two words, the idea of a one-word phrase may sound silly at first, but it’s a useful concept in syntax.
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The Who-or-What? Test
The force that binds functions together is a powerful mental attraction: a kind of psychological magnetism. While listening or reading or talking, you unconsciously feel this magnetism through the sentence rhythm. When you’re analyzing syntax, you can use this feeling to find how a word or phrase functions. You do this by asking who? or what? in certain places. I’m putting these question words in bold because they should be asked, at least at first, with a good deal of emphasis, as though you were insisting on an answer.
If you ask what? just after a suspected subject, the answer will always be the finite verb or verbs that the subject belongs to. Let’s see how this works with some of the examples already given:
Fish what? Answer: Fish swim.
My great-aunt’s parrot what? Answer:My great-aunt’s parrot can sing
Most of them what? Answer: Most of them waddle.
Similarly, if we ask what? (or, for people, who?) just before a suspected finite verb, the answer will always be the subject of the finite verb. Because you may not know when you ask whether the subject will be a person or a thing, it’s easiest to ask who or what?:
Who or what can dance? Answer: The majority of ducks. …
Who or what waddle? Answer: Most of them …
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The Positions of Functions
In statement sentences (as opposed to questions) the subject generally comes before the finite verb. But the subject can also follow the finite verb, as it does in the following two examples:
Around his terrified limbs crept the slimy tentacles. [Test for subject: who or what crept? Answer: the slimy tentacles…Test for finite verb: the slimy tentacles what?… Answer: crept:]
Around his terrified limbs crept the slimy tentacles.
Here comes that idiotic elephant again.[Test for subject: who or what comes? Answer: that idiotic elephant. Test for finite verb: that idiotic elephant what?… Answer: comes
Here comes that idiotic elephant again.
Whether the subject comes before or after the finite verb, It’s crucial to see that the position of the test words always stays the same. To find the subject, we place who or what? directly in front of the finite verb. To find the finite verb, we ask what? directly after the subject.
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Separated Subjects and Finite Verbs
The mental pull between subjects and finite verbs is very powerful and can operate over long distances. In both the following examples, quite a few words come between the two functions:
George one day in a fit of rage locked his teacher in a hamster cage. [Test for subject: who or what locked? Answer: George. Test for finite verb: George what?… Answer: locked…]
George one day in a fit of rage locked his teacher in a hamster cage.
A snowball in Hell, according to many experts on weather conditions in that part of the universe, lasts hardly any time at all.
[Test for finite verb: A snowball in Hell what?… Answer: lasts. Test for subject: who or what lasts? Answer: a snowball in Hell]
A snowball in Hell, according to many experts on weather conditions in that part of the universe, lasts hardly any time at all.
The who or what? test can be very useful for locating subjects and finite verbs, especially if you think you know where one of them is located but not the other. But, to repeat what I’ve been emphasizing, the test works well only if you first read for sentence rhythm. When you do that, for instance, in the examples above, your understanding tells you what’s going on: that tentacles and not limbs were tightening, and that the elephant is coming. Likewise, you won’t think that the subject of lasts is experts or weather conditions. The point is that if you look at words in isolation, they’re just words: you can’t see the structure. But if you feel the sentence rhythm, the structure will become clear.
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Finite Verbs
Finite means having a boundary. The boundary of a finite verb is one of time, that is, of past, present, or future. The name in grammar for such a time-boundary is tense, from the Latin word for time, tempus (the source also of the French word temps). So a finite verb is one that expresses something about its subject within a relative time frame. (There are also non-finite verbs; these are treated in Non-Finite Verb Phrases.)
Since it’s important to understand the idea of finiteness, of time-boundaries expressed by finite verbs, it will be useful to look at some examples of tenses and the time boundaries they express. There’s no need to try to remember the names of the tenses as long as you see how they relate to time boundaries:
| Present time in general (simple present tense) |
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| I walk | She sings | We dance |
| Past time in general (simple past tense) |
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| I walked | She sang | We danced |
| Future time in general (future tense) |
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| I will walk | She will sing | We will dance |
| Actions actually in progress in present time (present progressive tense) |
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| I am walking | She is singing | We are dancing |
| Actions that were in progress in the past (past progressive tense) |
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| I was walking | She was singing | We were dancing |
| Actions that will be in progress in the future (future progressive tense) |
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| I will be walking | She will be singing | We will be dancing |
| Actions starting in the past and extending up into the present (present perfect tense) |
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| I have walked | She has sung | We have been dancing |
| Actions that happened in the past before something else happened in the past (past perfect tense) |
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| I had walked a mile before the flavor of my gum gave out. [The flavor gave out before the mile was up.] | She had hardly sung a single note before the audience fled. [The audience left before she could do much singing.] | When the band arrived we had already been dancing for an hour. |
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Finite Verb Phrases
You may have noticed that a finite verb phrase can contain from one to four words. Here are some additional examples:
The rain stopped.
But the dam has busted.
Fang and Miss Hiss may be practising the venom mazurka.
They should have been encouraged.
The main verb of a finite verb phrase is the one that names (or identifies) the verb, and it’s always the last word in the phrase. The other words in the finite verb phrases in the examples, have, be, may, and should, can be used with any main verb. They’re called auxiliary verbs (from Latin auxilium: “help”) because they “help” to form tenses.
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Primary Auxiliary Verbs
There are two different kinds of auxiliary verbs in English: primary auxiliaries and modal auxiliaries. The three primary auxiliaries are have, be, and do. In the following examples, you’ll notice that have and be are used to form tenses and that do (in the fifth example) emphasizes the assertion made by the verb:
They have not whined all week.
You were warned about Fang’s cheating at poker.
The message had been carved into the butter.
Have you been admiring the migration ceremony?
It does charm most spectators.
Do is also used to form negatives:
Do not pass “go.”
He did not tickle the princess.
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Be, Do and Have as Main Verbs
Besides serving as auxiliary verbs, be, have, and do can also be main verbs in their own right:
I do a good deed once every hour or so.
He was the cutest of the piranhas.
They have over forty working geese.
Thus, a finite verb phrase can have forms of be, have, or do both as auxiliary verbs and main verbs:
We were being silly for the second time that month.
Since then, we have had several offers to do role-modeling.
Nonetheless, we did do a few devilish things.
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Modal Auxiliary Verbs
Besides the three primary auxiliary verbs, there is also a set in English of what are called modal auxiliary verbs. Modal auxiliaries express a situation other than actual fact. We say, as facts, either positively or negatively, I went or I haven’t gone, she’s very impulsive; it tastes terrible. But if what’s expressed is the possibility or capability or necessity of going, or an obligation to go, or other conditions like these, then we say things such as:
I can go. I could go. I may go. I might go. I ought to go. I would go. I should go. I must go. I have to go. I had to go. I need to go. I will go.
A negative modal auxiliary is still a modal: I cannot go, I shouldn’t go, I might not go, and so on.
Unlike the primary auxiliaries, the modal auxiliaries can’t be main verbs themselves. As you know, sentences like the following are not possible:
Last year didn’t should at all.
We had already been oughting for an hour when the police arrived.
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Phrases Inserted Within Finite Verb Phrases
We’ve already seen several example sentences in which the words that make up a finite verb phrase are “interrupted” by various expressions. Here are some more: I’ve made the interrupting phrases bold:
I would, in any case, have brushed the fleas afterward.
The frog has practically taken over the castle.
We will definitely be disgusted by dinner.
The salamander was merely puckering.
They may, if necessary, bring the snake.
Such phrases are not part of the finite verb phrase. (As we’ll be seeing in due course, they’re modifiers.)
Words that turn sentences negative are “interrupters” too:
The folks around here do not tickle toads.
I have never tried it myself.
You should not tease fleas.
Wouldn’t you give a million to migrate with the flock?
Please don’t snicker while swallowing.
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Types of Sentences
There are basically three types of sentences:
statements
questions
imperatives
All of what’s been said so far about subjects and finite verbs applies directly to statement sentences, but questions and imperative sentences have a few special characteristics:
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Questions
You can ask a question, of course, just by changing the emphasis in a statement sentence and raising the pitch of your voice. In the following examples, the syllables that take the strongest stress are in capitals:
The Princess kissed the FROG?
[Same wording with different emphasis] She KISSED the frog? [instead of just hugging him?]
Usually though, questions use a different word order, in which an auxiliary verb comes before the subject:
Does Tommy Toddle tickle tons of toads?
Why does he do it?
How could he touch their tacky tummies?
Was Fang feeling frisky Friday?
If you ever have trouble finding the subjects and finite verbs in this kind of question, you can mentally change the word order into the form of a statement. If the question starts with a question word, such as who, what, why, when, where, or how, either take it out temporarily or move it out of the way to the end of the sentence. That way the subject-finite verb relationship is easier to spot:
Tommy Toddle does tickle tons of toads?
He does do it? Why?
He could touch their tacky tummies? How?
Freddie was feeling frisky Friday?
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Imperative Sentences
Imperative sentences make requests (requests you can’t refuse are commands). The finite verb in an imperative sentence is called an imperative verb:
Stop!
Please leave immediately.
Dry your hands, Lady Macbeth.
Hey, my lord, don’t drag your slain lord chamberlains in here.
The subject of an imperative verb doesn’t usually appear in the sentence (it’s often said that the subject is “you, understood”). Even if the person who receives the request or command is directly addressed, as in the third and fourth example above, they’re still not the subject: you can also address someone directly in a statement or question, as in, Gretel, I just love your baking techniques or Won’t you come home, Bill Bailey? When the person who receives the command is named, you can feel the pause (indicated in writing with a comma) between the words used to address the person and the rest of the sentence.
Sometimes, however, the subject of an imperative verb is expressed, either to single out the person to whom the request is addressed or if we’re emotionally charged up. You’ll notice that the subject is stressed in the sentence rhythm in such circumstances and that there’s no pause between the named subject and the rest of the sentence:
YOU stand here.
The REST of you go over there.
I ‘ll phone the vet; YOU catch the cobra. [The first part of the sentence isn’t a command; the second part is.]
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Coordinate Functions
When two or more words or phrases have exactly the same function in the same sentence—say, two or more subjects of the same finite verb or two or more finite verbs that have the same subject—they’re said to be coordinate:
Jack and Jill went up the hill… [Who went? Answer: both Jack and Jill]
Jack fell down and broke his crown. [Jack What? Answer: both fell and broke]
Along came a spider and sat down beside her and frightened Miss Muffet away. [a spider what? Answer: came and sat and frightened]
As we’ll be seeing, all functions can be coordinated.
Download practice sentences for Subjects and Finite Verbs.
–> Continue on to Completers.
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Continue Learning about English Language Arts
What is a simple subject and a simple predicate?
The «simple subject’ is the main word in the sentence that tell, «whom» or «what» the sentence is aboutNow on the other hand, the «simple predicate» or «verb» is the main word or word group that tells something about the subject of the sentence.
What is the definion of complete and simple subjects?
A simple subject is a main word that tells what the sentence is
about. A complete sentence is when all of the words tell what a
sentence is about.
What is the correct verb for this sentence . Carl has written a nice letter to his grandmother?
The correct verb in the sentence is ‘has written’. The word
‘written’ is the main verb; the word ‘has’ is the auxiliary
verb.
What is sentence with philosophy in it?
Philosophy was his main subject in masters. This is a sample
sentence using the word philosophy.
What is the simple predicate of this sentence The men finished the game in a short time?
In the previous sentence, the simple predicate is the word
finished. This is the main verb in the sentence which is telling
you what is happening.