Parts of a Sentence
Subject and Predicate
Every complete sentence contains two parts: a subject and a predicate. The
subject is what (or whom) the sentence is about, while the predicate tells
something about the subject. In the following sentences, the predicate is enclosed
in braces ({}), while the subject is highlighted.
Judy {runs}.
Judy and her dog {run on the beach every morning}.
To determine the subject of a sentence, first isolate the verb and then make a
question by placing "who?" or "what?" before it -- the answer is the subject.
The audience littered the theatre floor with torn wrappings and spilled
popcorn.
The verb in the above sentence is "littered." Who or what littered? The audience
did. "The audience" is the subject of the sentence. The predicate (which always
includes the verb) goes on to relate something about the subject: what about the
audience? It "littered the theatre floor with torn wrappings and spilled popcorn."
Simple Subject and Simple Predicate
Every subject is built around one noun or pronoun (or more) that, when stripped of
all the words that modify it, is known as the simple subject. Consider the following
example:
A piece of pepperoni pizza would satisfy his hunger.
The subject is built around the noun "piece," with the other words of the subject - "a" and "of pepperoni pizza" -- modifying the noun. "Piece" is the simple subject.
Likewise, a predicate has at its centre a simple predicate, which is always the verb
or verbs that link up with the subject. In the example we just considered, the
simple predicate is "would satisfy" -- in other words, the verb of the sentence.
A sentence may have a compound subject -- a simple subject consisting of more
than one noun or pronoun -- as in these examples:
Team pennants, rock posters and family photographs covered the boy's
bedroom walls.
Her uncle and she walked slowly through the Inuit art gallery and admired
the powerful sculptures exhibited there.
The second sentence above features a compound predicate, a predicate that
includes more than one verb pertaining to the same subject (in this case, "walked"
and "admired").
Using Verbs
The verb is perhaps the most important part of the sentence. A verb or compound
verb asserts something about the subject of the sentence and expresses actions,
events, or states of being.
In each of the following sentences, the verb or compound verb appears highlighted:
Dracula bites his victims on the neck.
The verb "bites" describes the action Dracula takes.
In early October, Giselle will plant twenty tulip bulbs.
Here the compound verb "will plant" describes an action that will take place in the
future.
My first teacher was Miss Crawford, but I remember the janitor Mr.
Weatherbee more vividly.
In this sentence, the verb "was" (the simple past tense of "is") identifies a
particular person and the verb "remembered" describes a mental action.
Objects
A verb may be followed by an object that completes the verb's meaning. Two kinds
of objects follow verbs: direct objects and indirect objects. To determine if a
verb has a direct object, isolate the verb and make it into a question by placing
"whom?" or "what?" after it. The answer, if there is one, is the direct object:
Direct Object
The advertising executive drove a flashy red Porsche.
Direct Object
Her secret admirer gave her a bouquet of flowers.
The second sentence above also contains an indirect object. An indirect object
(which, like a direct object, is always a noun or pronoun) is, in a sense, the recipient
of the direct object. To determine if a verb has an indirect object, isolate the
verb and ask to whom?, to what?, for whom?, or for what? after it. The answer is
the indirect object.
Not all verbs are followed by objects. Consider the verbs in the following
sentences:
The guest speaker rose from her chair to protest.
After work, Randy usually jogs around the canal.
Predicate Adjective
A predicate adjective is an adjective that is used to predicate an attribute of the
subject.
Examples (English)


Roses are red.
Noses often become red.
Predicate Nominative
The predicate nominative is the noun following a linking verb that
restates or stands for the subject.
Typically, a predicate nominative has the same value or grammatical
weight as the subject.
[In the following examples, the predicate nominative is bold and the
subject is underlined.]

At the end of the tournament, Tiger Woods was the leader.
o

The subject and the predicate nominative are essentially the same
thing.
For many of us on the team, the fans were an embarrassment.
o
EMBARRASSMENT restates the subject FANS.
Adjective
An adjective modifies a noun or a pronoun by describing, identifying, or quantifying
words. An adjective usually precedes the noun or the pronoun which it modifies.
In the following examples, the highlighted words are adjectives:
The truck-shaped balloon floated over the treetops.
Mrs. Morrison papered her kitchen walls with hideous wall paper.
The small boat foundered on the wine dark sea.
The coal mines are dark and dank.
Many stores have already begun to play irritating Christmas music.
A battered music box sat on the mahogany sideboard.
The back room was filled with large, yellow rain boots.
Adverb
An adverb can modify a verb, an adjective, another adverb, a phrase, or a clause.
An adverb indicates manner, time, place, cause, or degree and answers questions
such as "how," "when," "where," "how much".
While some adverbs can be identified by their characteristic "ly" suffix, most of
them must be identified by untangling the grammatical relationships within the
sentence or clause as a whole. Unlike an adjective, an adverb can be found in
various places within the sentence.
In the following examples, each of the highlighted words is an adverb:
The seamstress quickly made the mourning clothes.
In this sentence, the adverb "quickly" modifies the verb "made" and indicates in
what manner (or how fast) the clothing was constructed.
The midwives waited patiently through a long labour.
Similarly in this sentence, the adverb "patiently" modifies the verb "waited" and
describes the manner in which the midwives waited.
The boldly spoken words would return to haunt the rebel.
In this sentence the adverb "boldly" modifies the adjective "spoken."
We urged him to dial the number more expeditiously.
Here the adverb "more" modifies the adverb "expeditiously."
Unfortunately, the bank closed at three today.
In this example, the adverb "unfortunately" modifies the entire sentence.
Preposition
A preposition links nouns, pronouns and phrases to other words in a sentence. The
word or phrase that the preposition introduces is called the object of the
preposition.
A preposition usually indicates the temporal, spatial or logical relationship of its
object to the rest of the sentence as in the following examples:
The book is on the table.
The book is beneath the table.
The book is leaning against the table.
The book is beside the table.
She held the book over the table.
She read the book during class.
In each of the preceding sentences, a preposition locates the noun "book" in space
or in time.
A prepositional phrase is made up of the preposition, its object and any associated
adjectives or adverbs. A prepositional phrase can function as a noun, an adjective,
or an adverb. The most common prepositions are "about," "above," "across,"
"after," "against," "along," "among," "around," "at," "before," "behind," "below,"
"beneath," "beside," "between," "beyond," "but," "by," "despite," "down," "during,"
"except," "for," "from," "in," "inside," "into," "like," "near," "of," "off," "on," "onto,"
"out," "outside," "over," "past," "since," "through," "throughout," "till," "to,"
"toward," "under," "underneath," "until," "up," "upon," "with," "within," and
"without."
Each of the highlighted words in the following sentences is a preposition:
The children climbed the mountain without fear.
In this sentence, the preposition "without" introduces the noun "fear." The
prepositional phrase "without fear" functions as an adverb describing how the
children climbed.
There was rejoicing throughout the land when the government was
defeated.
Here, the preposition "throughout" introduces the noun phrase "the land." The
prepositional phrase acts as an adverb describing the location of the rejoicing.
The spider crawled slowly along the banister.
The preposition "along" introduces the noun phrase "the banister" and the
prepositional phrase "along the banister" acts as an adverb, describing where the
spider crawled.
The dog is hiding under the porch because it knows it will be punished for
chewing up a new pair of shoes.
Here the preposition "under" introduces the prepositional phrase "under the
porch," which acts as an adverb modifying the compound verb "is hiding."
The screenwriter searched for the manuscript he was certain was
somewhere in his office.
Similarly in this sentence, the preposition "in" introduces a prepositional phrase "in
his office," which acts as an adverb describing the location of the missing papers.