Basic Sentence Patterns
Los Angeles Mission College
Academic Success Center
Title V Hispanic Serving Institutions
Funded by the United State Department of Education
Identifying Subjects and Verbs
Key Concept:
A complete sentence requires a subject and a verb; it
also must express a complete thought.
This PowerPoint presentation is based on the following source:
Fitzpatrick, Carolyn H. and MaryBeth B. Ruscica. The Complete Sentence Workout Book. 4th ed. Mass: Allyn and Bacon, 2000. Print.
Subjects
A sentence must have a subject.
 A subject is a noun

A person, place or thing
 Ms. Jones
 Los Angeles Mission College
 Hat
 Or a pronoun

A word that takes the place of a noun
 She/he/they
 It
Verbs
A sentence must also have a verb.
 There are 2 types of verbs:
 Action


Show movement
Examples: to sing, to joke, to run, to walk
 Linking


Linking verbs do not show action. Instead, they convey
existence, being, becoming, and sometimes, one of the 5
senses. Linking verbs connect the subject and the word after
the linking verb.
Examples: to be, to seem, to become
Identifying Subjects and Verbs
To identify the subject and verb in a sentence, ask these questions:
 What is the action? What word links two or more other
words?

the verb
 Who or what is performing the action?

the subject
Practice
1. Barbara sang.
 What is the action?
Sang (verb – action)
 Who sang?
Barbara (subject)
2. The children were happy.
 What word joins the description
to the subject?
Were (verb – linking)
 Who were happy?
Children (subject)
More Practice
Identify the subjects and verbs in the following sentences:
1.
Terry laughs.
Subject = Terry
Verb = laughs (action)
2. Lady Gaga is famous.
Subject = Lady Gaga
Verb = is (links description to subject)
3. The dog barked.
Subject = the dog
Verb
= barked (action)
4. Seth MacFarlane creates funny characters.
Subject = Seth MacFarlane
Verb
= creates (action)
Simple and Compound Subjects and Verbs
 A single subject is referred to as a simple subject.
 A single verb is referred to as a simple verb.
Example:
The artist quickly drew the tourist’s caricature.
What is the action?
Who drew?
Drew (one action = simple verb)
Artist (one actor = simple subject)
Compound Subjects
A sentence may also contain a compound subject: two or
more stated nouns or pronouns perform the same action.
Example:
Charles and the boys have gone to the movies.
What is the action? Have gone (one action = simple verb)
Who has gone?
Charles + boys
(two stated actors = compound subject)
Compound Verbs
A sentence may also contain a compound verb: the subject
performs two or more actions.
Example:
Jane frequently drinks, dances, and parties through the night.
What is (are) the action(s)?
Drink, dance, + party
(3 actions = compound verb)
Who drinks, dances and parties?
Jane (one stated actor = simple
subject)
3 Possible Combinations
1. Compound Subject/Simple Verb:
In this case, two or more subjects perform one
action.
Example:
George and Frank went to Mexico.
Verb:
went
Subject:
George + Frank
3 Possible Combinations
2. Simple Subject/Compound Verb:
The simple subject of the sentence performs
two or more actions.
Example:
The audience booed and hissed at the performer.
Verb:
booed + hissed
Subject:
The audience
3 Possible Combinations
3. Compound Subject/Compound Verb
This means that two or more subjects perform
two or more actions.
Example:
Greg, Peter, and Bobby danced and ate all night.
Verb:
danced + ate
Subject:
Greg, Peter, + Bobby
Practice
Directions:
Find the verbs and subjects. Indicate whether they are simple or
compound by writing S (for simple) or C (for compound) beside
the verbs and subjects.
C
1.
S
Fords and Chevrolets are two makes of American cars.
C
S
2. He and Martha took a vacation last spring.
C
S
3. The clown juggled and sang.
S
C
4. Whales and skates returned to the bay.
C
S
5. Fred and Ethel visited the Ricardos every day.
Sentence Formats
Here is an example of a Format 1 sentence:
Birds sing.
The abbreviation for Sentence Format 1 is NS-V.
NS = Birds
V = sing
Format 1 - Practice
Directions: Fill in the blanks with words that follow Sentence Format 1.
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
Children
_______________
yell.
Cats
_______________
meow.
Dancers
_______________
dance.
Swimmers
_______________
swim.
practice
Athletes _____________.
bark
Dogs ________________.
Joggers ______________.
jog
blossom
Flowers ______________.
Format 1 - Practice
Directions: Put a box around the subject and circle the verb.
1. The lamb cried loudly.
2. Every summer, Selina goes to day camp.
3. The class practiced for an hour every week.
4. The price of gas just increased by 20 cents.
5. At night, hundreds of bats fly out of that
cave.
Format 2: The Direct Object
Example:
Harry hit the baseball.
Noun Subject = Harry
Verb = hit
What relationship does baseball have to hit?
Baseball is the noun direct object (NDO) of the verb.
Abbreviation for Sentence Format 2:
NS-V-NDO
Format 2: Practice
Directions: Label each sentence format. Identify the subjects, verbs, and direct
objects.
1. Children like ice-cream.
NS-V-NDO
2. The arrow struck a tree.
NS-V-NDO
3. Mary cried.
NS-V
4. The dog crossed the road.
NS-V-NDO
5. The speaker declined the invitation.
NS-V-NDO
6. The fullback caught the football.
NS-V-NDO
7. The children jumped the fence.
NS-V-NDO
Format 3: The Indirect Object
Example:
Hector threw me the ball.
Noun Subject: Hector
Verb: threw
Noun Direct Object: ball
ME?
The noun indirect object tells to whom the object was thrown.
The abbreviation for Format 3 is: NS-V-NIO-NDO
Format 3: The Indirect Object
To test for indirect objects in a sentence, follow these 2 steps:
1. Rewrite the sentence in format 2 (NS-V-NDO)
2. Add to or for plus the word in question to the end
of the sentence.
Format 3: The Indirect Object
Example: May gave me the book.
Let’s decide whether me is the NIO:
1.
Rewrite the sentence to follow Format 2:
May gave the book. (NS-V-NDO)
2. Add to or for plus the word in question to the end of the
sentence:
May gave me the book. (May gave the book to me?)
NS-V-NIO-NDO
Format 3: Practice
Directions: Label all subjects, verbs, indirect objects, and direct objects.
1. Pablo awarded Henry the prize.
2. The boy bought the girl a flower.
3. I gave my friend an umbrella.
4. Sharon bought her father a sweater.
5. My English teacher gave me an A on my test.
6. Hector fed the dog his dinner.
Thank you
Presented by the
Los Angeles Mission College
Academic Success Center
Title V Hispanic Serving Institutions
Funded by the United State Department of Education