Subject and Predicate
Understanding Subject and Predicate is the key to good sentence writing. The subject of a
complete sentence is who or what the sentence is about, and the predicate tells about that
subject.
The dog ran.
The dog is the subject of the sentence, because the sentence is telling something about that dog.
And what is it telling? It says that the dog ran. So in this example the subject is “dog” and the
predicate is “ran.”
The dog ran after the cat.
Here we have more detail, but the subject is still “dog.” How can we know that the subject is
“dog” and not “cat” since the sentence seems to be about both animals?
To determine the subject of a sentence, first find the verb and then ask “who?” or “what?” In this
sentence, the verb is “ran.” If we ask, “who ran?” the answer is, “the dog ran.” This is how we
know that “dog” is the subject of the sentence.
What is the subject in the following sentence:
Yesterday after lunch the students were complaining about the short recess.
The sentence is telling about several different things: yesterday, lunch, students, and recess. How
can we know which of those is the subject of the sentence? We first find the verb: “were
complaining.” Next we ask, “who were complaining?” And immediately we recognize that “the
students” are the subject of the sentence. The predicate always includes the verb, and tells
something about the subject; in this example, we see that the students “were complaining about
the short recess.”
The "Understood You"
In some sentences the subject is not so easy to find. Here is an example of a sentence that seems
to have no subject:
Go sit down in that chair.
We see the verb is “go sit,” but who is doing that action? The only noun present is “chair” but
certainly the chair is not about to “go sit!”
In this sentence the speaker is giving a direct command to another person, and might have said,
“You go sit down in that chair.” The rule to remember for a sentence that is a command is that if
the subject is not named, we can assume that subject is “you.”
"There" is Not the Subject
Another example to watch for is a sentence that begins with “there” and has a form of the verb
“to be.” Even though the word “there” is at the beginning of the sentence, next to the verb, it is
not the subject. See if you can find the subject and predicate in this sentence:
There were three different desserts arranged on the table.
First find the verb: “were arranged.” Then ask, “who or what were arranged?” The answer is
“three different desserts,” which is the correct subject.
Simple Subject and Simple Predicate
The subject of a sentence includes the noun or pronoun along with all the words that modify, or
describe it. The simple subject is the noun or pronoun all by itself.
The light blue shirt with the colorful pattern was her favorite top.
In this sentence “shirt” is the simple subject, and all the descriptive words tell us more about that
shirt. The subject is “shirt” and all its modifiers (the light blue shirt with the colorful pattern), but
the simple subject is simply “shirt.”
The predicate of a sentence is based on the simple predicate, which is the verb. All the other
words in the predicate tell more about the subject, and some of the words can modify the verb. In
the example above, the word “was” is the verb, and therefore it is the simple predicate.
Compound Subject and Compound Predicate
Sometimes a sentence has a compound subject, when there are two or more nouns in the
subject:
Bobby and his friends ran outside to play basketball.
The verb is “ran” and we ask, “who ran?” The answer is “Bobby and his friends” which
comprise the subject.
A compound predicate includes two or more verbs that relate to the subject:
The little girl picked up her doll and climbed into bed.
The verbs are “picked up” and “climbed.” We ask, “who picked up? who climbed?” The answer
is the same for both verbs: “the little girl.”
What is a Verb?
When you head to the movie theater to catch an action movie, you expect a lot of stuff to happen, like cars
chasing each other, action heroes leaping off buildings, and things exploding. In other words, you're in the
mood for a lot of exciting verbs. So, what is a verb? That's an easy one, right? A verb is a word that expresses
an action or occurrence.
It's true that that's the core of it, but it does get a bit more complicated than that, and there are a few more
definitions and rules that you'll need to be acquainted with as you work toward achieving your ultimate goal of
becoming a verb master. There are a few different types of verbs and a few things to keep in mind about each
type.
Action Verbs
Action verbs are what we most commonly think of when we think about verbs (and particularly when we think
about action movies). An action verb is a word that expresses an action that the subject of a sentence does, did
in the past, or will do in the future. Note that the subject of a sentence is a noun or pronoun that the sentence is
about. The subject usually, though not always, performs the action of the verb. Remember that every sentence
must have both a subject and a verb to be complete.
Examples of action verbs are:
run
jump
go
think
do
live
study
Note that action verbs include not just verbs that are truly action-packed. They include words like 'think' and
'decide' and other actions that aren't actually visible. For example, in the sentence, Miriam leapt over the
couch, the subject 'Miriam' is performing the action of the verb 'leapt.' In the sentence, Miriam thought about
what she had done, the subject 'Miriam' is performing the action of the verb 'thought.' Both sentences contain
action verbs, even though one action is a bit more perceptible - and exciting - than the other.
Linking Verbs
A linking verb is quite different from an action verb in that it doesn't actually express action. Instead, it
connects a subject to the other words in a sentence that describe it or that provide additional information. Here
are some examples of common linking verbs:
appear
be (including am, is, are, was, and were)
become
feel
get
look
seem
smell
sound
taste
Linking verbs quite literally do what the name suggests: They link the subject of a sentence to additional words
that tell more about the subject. Here are some examples of linking verbs at work.
The kids appear excited about the holidays.
My sister is nervous.
I feel sick.
Dinner smells delicious.
Even though these linking verbs aren't showing big, kinetic actions and movements, they are nonetheless
verbs. They're not the kind of verbs that drive big-budget action movies, but rather movies that are maybe a
little less exciting, and that feature a lot of sitting around, talking, and emoting.
Definition of Helping Verbs
Helping verbs are verbs that come before the main verb, or the verb describing the action of the
sentence. Helping verbs do just what they sound like - they help verbs by making them complete.
More specifically, helping verbs can help a verb to tell us exactly when something occurred in
time and refine the meaning of a sentence by setting the mood or tone.
Before we continue with examples, here is a list of the helping verbs in the English language:
has
could should does
will
have
had
might
shall
did
can
must
ought to would might do
am
is
are
was
were
be
being
been
How Helping Verbs Work
In this section, we are going to see how helping verbs are used in sentences. Let's take the
helping verbs 'does' and 'did.' See how the sentence meanings differ according to the helping
verb choices:
Mary does complete her homework.
Mary did complete her homework.
In the first sentence, we see that Mary does, on a regular basis, complete her homework, but in
the second sentence, the meaning changes. Mary did complete her homework. The word 'did'
gives us the idea that Mary completed her homework recently.
Let's look at another example:
Jim must complete two courses before he graduates.
Jim might complete two courses before he graduates.
There is a vast difference between the meaning of these two sentences above simply based upon
the choice of either using the helping verb 'might' or 'must.' One indicates that Jim has to
complete the courses, while the other says completing the courses is optional and may or may
not happen.
'To Be' Helping Verbs
'To be' verbs - am, is, are, was, were, be, being, and been - can either be linking verbs or helping
verbs, but there is a difference. Let's look at a few examples:
I am going to the store.
In this sentence, 'am' is a helping verb, and the complete verb in the sentence is 'am going.' Now
contrast this sentence with this one:
I am glad.
In this sentence, the word 'am' acts as a linking verb, 'linking' the subject 'I' to the predicate
adjective 'glad.'
Another example of using 'am' as a linking verb would be to say:
I am Julie.
In this case, 'am' is linking the subject 'I' to the predicate noun 'Julie.'