Parts of a Sentence One Sheet
A. PARTS OF A SENTENCE
1. Subjects. A subject is the noun or pronoun whose state of being or action the verb expresses.
2. Verbs/Predicate. A verb brings the subject to life, giving it being or action.
3. Complements. A complement can complete the expression of the subject and verb. A sentence does not
need to have a complement, though the majority do. Just as a sentence can have a compound subject or verb,
it can have a compound complement as well.
Four principal kinds of complements.
a. Predicate adjectives (PA). A predicate adjective (pa) is an adjective that follows a linking verb and
describes the subject:
The sunset was stunning.
They seemed excited.
b. Predicate nominatives (PN). Like a predicate adjective, a predicate nominative (pn) follows a linking
verb; it is a noun or pronoun that renames the subject.
Susie is my friend.
Those people are the volunteers.
c. Direct objects. A direct object (DO) is a noun or pronoun that follows an action verb and receives its
action. The direct object answers the question "what?" or "who?"
The storm smashed the windows.
The cat ate the mouse.
d. Indirect objects. An indirect object (IO) is a noun or pronoun that comes after an action verb and
before a direct object. It cannot appear in a sentence that does not have a direct object. It tells to whom
or for whom the action of the verb is performed. Some of the verbs that frequently take an indirect object
are promise, make, give, hand, toss, throw, send, and mail.
I mailed my mother(IO) the recipe (DO).
Sheila tossed Janice(IO) the basketball (DO).
B. PHRASES
1. Prepositional phrases. A prepositional phrase consists of a preposition, its object (or objects), and any
modifiers of the object. Prepositional phrases act as adjectives or adverbs.
Adjective phrase: The dog with the floppy ears is one of my favorites.
Adverb phrase: After his run he jumped into the pool.
2. Appositive phrases. An appositive phrase consists of an appositive—a noun that renames another noun—
and the appositive's modifiers. Here are some examples:
Willa Cather, a native Nebraskan, writes eloquently of life in the Midwest.
I haven't heard from Steve, my college roommate, for years.
3. Verbal phrases – verbs acting as other parts of speech.
a. Participial phrases – Verb phrases acting as adjectives.
Pursued by the purple moose, the hunter screamed and woke up.
My father, relaxing after a difficult day's work, asked me to fetch the newspaper.
b. Gerund phrases – Verb phrase acting as a noun. The phrase can serve as a subject, predicate
nominative, or object of a verb or preposition.
Subject: Learning to snow ski can be a cold and miserable experience.
Predicate nominative: A task that demands dexterity is repairing a clock.
Object of a verb: She loved teaching first graders.
Object of a preposition: After finishing the Stephen King novel, the boy could feel his heart racing.
c. Infinitive phrases. An infinitive phrase consists of an infinitive (to + verb) and any objects and modifiers
attached to it. An infinitive phrase can serve as a noun, adjective, or adverb.
Noun: To excel in school is a difficult task.
Adjective: Senator Ross is a man to admire.
Adverb: Riding to see his grandmother, he was bucked from the horse.
C. CLAUSES
A clause is a group of related words with a subject and a verb. There are two kinds of clauses: dependent and
independent.
1. Dependent clauses. A dependent clause begins with a relative pronoun or a subordinate conjunction and
does not express a complete thought. Dependent clauses are adjectives, adverbs, or nouns.
a. Adjective clauses. Beginning with who, whom, whose, which, or that, an adjective clause provides
information about a noun or pronoun generally more complicated than an adjective or adjective phrase can
convey. For example:
The traveler whom we saw arrive at the train station yesterday has since disappeared.
The prayer plant that I had been keeping for Jim for two years was infested with repulsive mealy
bugs.
b. Adverb clauses. An adverb clause, beginning with a subordinate conjunction, answers the adverb
questions "how?", "when?", and "why?"
How: He pulled the tourniquet as tight as he could.
When: After Lee surrendered, his men wept.
Why: The lawyer defended the accused murderer because she was convinced he was innocent.
c. Noun clauses. A noun clause is a dependent clause acting in a sentence as a subject, direct object,
predicate nominative, object of a preposition, or (rarely) an indirect object. Noun clauses begin with the
relative pronouns (who, whom, whose, which, that, whoever, whomever, whose ever, and what) or such
subordinate conjunctions as how, when, why, and where. For example:
Subject: Where he was going wasn't certain.
Direct object: I learned that clematis wilts easily.
Predicate nominative: The problem was that he had only two hours to finish.
Object of a preposition: The letter was mailed to whoever lived here previously.
2. Independent Clauses. An independent clause expresses a complete thought and can stand as a sentence.