HOW DOES IT FIT TOGETHER?
WRITING WORKSHOP:
KINDS AND TYPES OF SENTENCES WITH
SUBJECTS AND PREDICATES
Sentences
 Definition: a word or word group that
contains a subject and a verb and that
expresses a complete thought.
 A sentence begins with a capital letter and
ends with a period, a question mark, or an
exclamation point.
Examples of Sentences:
 She won a prize for her book.
 Why did you stop running?
 Wait! (The understood subject is you.)
Sentence Fragments
 Definition: a group of words that looks like a
sentence but does not contain both a subject
and a verb or does not express a complete
thought.
 Examples:
 Sailing around the world. (fragment)
 They are sailing around the world. (sentence)
 The hike through the Grand Canyon. (fragment)
 The hike through the Grand Canyon was long and
hard. (sentence)
Sentence Fragments
 After they pitched the tent. (fragment)
 After they pitched the tent, they rested.
(sentence)
Practice: Sentences and
Sentence Fragments
Identify the following word groups as a sentence or
sentence fragment. “S” for sentence or “SF” for
sentence fragment
1. Do you know what happened during her boat
trip?
2. Down the rapids of the Colorado river.
3. At first her boat drifted calmly through the Grand
Canyon.
4. Then the river dropped suddenly.
5. And became foaming rapids full of dangerous
boulders.
Subjects
•
Definition: tells whom or what the sentence is
about.
Examples:
 Nicholasa Mohr is a writer and an artist.
 The girls on the team were all good students.
 He shared his lunch with the boy on the other
team.
 Swimming is a good exercise.
Finding the Subject
 Ask who or what is doing something or
whom or what is being talked about.
 The subject may come at the beginning,
middle, or end of a sentence.
Examples:
 The pitcher struck Felicia out. [Who struck
Felicia out? The pitcher did.]
 After practicing for hours, Timmy bowled
two strikes. [Who bowled two strikes?
Timmy did.]
Finding the Subject
Examples:
 How kind you are! [Who is kind? You are.]
 When will the afternoon train arrive? [What
will arrive? The afternoon train will.]
 Hiding in the tall grass was a baby rabbit.
[What is hiding? A baby rabbit was.]
Simple Subject
• A simple subject is the main word or word
group that tells whom or what the sentence
is about.
• A complete subject consists of all the words
that tell whom or what a sentence is about.
Examples:
 The four new students arrived early
 Complete Subject: The four new students
 Simple Subject:
students
Examples:
 A round walnut table with five legs stood in
the middle of the dining room.
 Complete Subject: A round walnut table with
 Simple Subject:
five legs
table
 Is the winner of the go-cart race present?
 Complete Subject: the winner of the go-cart
 Simple Subject:
race
winner
More Info on Simple Subjects
 A simple subject may consist of one word or
several words.
 Jets often break the sound barrier. (one word)
 Does Aunt Carmen own a grocery store? (two
words)
 On the library shelf was The Island of Blue
Dolphins. (five words)
Identifying Subjects
Identify the subject in the following sentences by
underlining the word or words involved.
1. Born in 1934 in Oklahoma, Momaday lived
on Navajo and Apache reservations in the
Southwest.
2. Momaday’s father was a Kiowa.
3. The book includes poems, an essay, and
stories about the Kiowa people.
4. The Way to Rainy Mountain was published in
1969.
Compound Subjects and Compound Verbs
 A compound subject consists of two or more
subjects that are joined by a conjunction and
that have the same verb.
 The conjunctions most commonly used to connect
the words of a compound subject are and and or.
Examples:
 Paris and London remain favorite tourist
attractions. (two)
 Among my hobbies are reading, snorkeling, and
painting. (three)
 Nelson Mandela or Archbishop Desmond Tutu
will speak at the conference. (two)
Practice: Compound Subjects
Underline the subject or subjects in each of the
following sentences.
1. The national parks and monuments of the
United States include many of the world’s
most spectacular landforms.
2. In river systems throughout the world,
canyons and gorges are cut into the earth by
erosion.
3. Many rapids and waterfalls have also
originated through the process of erosion.
Compound Verbs
 A compound verb consists of two or more verbs
that are joined by a conjunction and that have
the same subject.
 The conjunctions most commonly used to connect
the words of a compound verb are and, or, and but.
Examples:
 The rain has fallen for days and is still falling.
(two)
 The team played well but lost the game anyway.
(two)
 Will Rolando mop the floor or wash the dishes?
(two)
Practice: Compound Verbs
Underline the verb or verbs present in each of the
following sentences.
1. They used place markers and threw bones or
sticks as dice.
2. Senet looked like an easy game but was
actually difficult.
3. These squares could help players or could
block their pieces.
Identifying Subjects and Predicates
Circle the subject or subjects of the sentence;
underline the predicate of each sentence as well.
1. Settlers faced and overcame many dangers.
2. Every winter many skiers rush to the Grand
Tetons.
3. Are some of these taxes also known today as
“tribute”?
4. High officials and the sick did not, however,
pay taxes.
5. The Codex Mendoza is a formal record of the
Aztecs’ taxes.