COMPOSITION
Grammar: The Sentence (Identifying Verbs)
Name:________________
The easiest way to find the subject of a sentence is first to find the verb.
 This is important to you because during testing situations, such as the SAT, you
will be asked to make sure that your subject and verb are in agreement with each
other. You can’t understand that particular concept without being able to identify
the subject and verb.
 It is important to your writing, because one of the most basic steps you can do to
make yourself a better writer is to use stronger verbs. And you can’t do that
without knowing what verbs are in the first place.
********************************************************************************
Once you have located the verb, which is the action or state of being in the sentence,
you can ask yourself “Who?” or “What?” is performing that action to identify the
subject.
Example: The car rolled off the cliff. The action word is rolled. Who or what rolled?
The car rolled. Therefore, the subject of the verb rolled is car.
********************************************************************************
First, let’s focus on just the verb. There are a few main terms to remember in regard to
verbs:
Action verbs, express actions that a person, animal, force of nature, or thing can do.
Being verbs, which tell about something in a state of being. A noun or pronoun does
not always take action. Sometimes it just is. There are the eight being verbs, which you
should MEMORIZE: am, are, is was, were, be, been
Linking verbs, which are similar to being verbs in that they do not express action. They
simply connect the subject to other information about the subject. For example,
Mary seems hungry. OR Lisa feels sleepy. OR My mother became a librarian.
They are: become, grow, seem, appear, look, remain, stay, feel, smell, taste,
sound
Verb tense, which refers to the time of the verb. The most common tenses are present,
past, and future.
Exercise: Highlight the verb in each of the following sentences. Then write A for
action, B for being, or L for linking.
1. Many men produced great works of art despite serious handicaps.
2. Ludwig Van Beethoven was one such man.
3. Certainly deafness is a horrible affliction for a musician.
4. Symptoms of his deafness first appeared during Beethoven’s late twenties.
5. In the beginning, the musician felt sorry for himself.
6. He directed his anger at his fate at his friends and associates.
7. In time, though, the rage in him subsided.
8. Courage in the face of seeming destruction became the driving force in his life
and a central theme of his music.
9. From the dying man came an appropriate gesture.
10. The fifty-six-year-old composer raised a clenched fist at the storm raging outside
his house.
Now, let’s make it a little more complicated. Here are a few more verb terms:
Infinitive, which is the base form of a verb. (You learn about these in your foreign
language classes.) It is “to + the verb.”
For example, I like to walk. OR
I think she is going to win the election.
***So, if a word that you identify as a verb follows the word TO, it is called the infinitive
of the verb, and does not count as the main verb. Infinitives take on another
grammatical function in a sentence. (e.g. “to walk” is direct object of “like”)
Verbals, which are words formed from verbs but that do not work as verbs in the
sentences. The two main types of verbals are gerunds and participles.
 A gerund is a word formed from a verb that is used as a noun.
Example: Dad talked about winning the game. (winning
comes from the verb win, but is used here as a noun.)
Gerunds always end in –ing, (but not all words that end in –ing are gerunds.)
 A participle is a word formed from a verb that is used as an adjective. Participles
which occur in the present end in –ing and are called present participles.
Participles which occur in the past end in –ed, -t, or –en and are called past
participles.
Example: Racing around the corner, he slipped and fell.
(present participle)
Annoyed by our noise, the neighbor called the police.
(past participle)
So, a word that you identify as a form of a verb, but is working as a noun or as an
adjective, will not be the main verb of the sentence.
Exercise: Follow the following steps to identify the main verbs:
a. First, cross of any infinitive phrases. (To + verb.) They will not be the main verbs.
b. Look at verbs that end in –ed. Ask yourself if they are verbals, or simply verbs in the past
tense. Use a pencil to cross off the verbals. They are not the main verbs.
c. Use a pencil to cross off any words that end in –ing. They are not the main verbs.
d. HIGHLIGHT the main verb. Remember that a sentence can have more than one main verb.
1.
I must work hard to do well on the research paper.
2. My teacher does not approve of talking without raising your hand.
3. In order to win the typing contest, you must practice.
4. This grammar seemed to confuse the students.
5. This grammar confused the students.
6. I found a dying mouse under the front porch.
7. I love tormenting my sister and do it all the time.
8. Lindsay enjoys playing basketball and softball.
9. My health secret is going to bed at nine o’clock.
10. Balancing a book on your head is difficult.
Finally, we can add the subject. You do this by asking yourself WHO or What is
performing the action or state of being. Here are some simple, but important, rules you
can remember to help you with some of the “trickier” sentences:
1. The subject of sentence is never inside a prepositional phrase. (Can you list ten prepositions?)
Example: One of the boys helped us.
“Of the boys” is a prepositional phrase. You may be tempted to say, incorrectly, that the subject is boys.
Cross it off, and you are left with “One helped us”. The subject of the verb “helped” is “one.”
2. There (or here) is almost never the subject of a sentence. Usually, “there” is used to get the sentence
started, and the real subject comes after the verb. This is known as an expletive.
Example: There is a log cabin in the clearing.
If you cross off the “there,” and identify the verb as “is,” you can see that the subject is cabin.
3. In a request, or command, the subject (or doer of the action) is usually not stated.
Example: Please close the door. The subject is not stated, but can be understood to be “you.”
4. Remember that gerunds (verbs + ing) CAN be the subject of the sentence. So if you crossed it off
when you were looking for verbs, remember to uncross it before you look for the subject.
Example: Playing with fire is never a good idea. Playing with fire is not the main verb, because it is a
gerund. It is, however, the subject of the sentence.
5. Remember that the subject can come after the verb.
Example: Where is Plymouth Rock? The verb is “is” and the subject is “Plymouth Rock.”
6. Remember to keep your eyes open for compound subjects compound verbs.
Example: Both kings and poets are buried in Westminster Abbey. (compound subject)
Janet can neither sing nor dance. (compound verb)
The boys and girls played games and sang song. (compound subject and verb)
EXERCISE:
1. Cross out all prepositional phrases to help you isolate the subjects and verbs.
2. Cross out any instances of here or there at the beginning of these sentences.
3. Highlight the verbs. Remember to look for compound verbs. (Circled below.)
4. Using another color, highlight all subjects. Include compound subjects. (Underlined below.)
Example: During the last ten years, I-pods have become very popular.
There are individual singers and bands on my play list.
1. There are many reasons for the popularity of ballads.
2. Ballads tell simple stories and create strong moods.
3. In ballads, people live, work, and die.
4. The words of ballads were written by common people and therefore relate to the concerns of common
people.
5. In one ballad can be heard a jilted lover’s complaints.
6. In another is found the lament of a mother for her dead son.
7. The death of a dog and the heroism of a coal miner are related in still other ballads.
8. Resisting the appeal of such simple tales is impossible.
9. Everyone at some time or other has felt the emotions portrayed in ballads.
10. Here, then, are some of the reasons for the phenomenal success of ballads during the last few years.