Subjects and Predicates
Every sentence has two main parts. They are the subject and the predicate.
The subject tells who or what the sentence is about.
The predicate tells what the subject did.
Subject (Who or What?) Predicate (Did what?)
My parents planted some trees.
A cold wind blew all night.
Her sister’s car has a flat tire.
Towson University Online Quiz on Identifying Simple Subject and Simple Predicate:
http://www.towson.edu/ows/exercisesubjpred.htm
Simple Subjects and Simple Predicates
Every sentence has a few key words that are more important than the rest.
Look at these sentences:
Busy sparrows
hopped around in the grass.
The subject of this sentence is Busy sparrows. The key word is sparrows.
The predicate of this sentence is hopped around in the grass. The key word is hopped.
The crickets
chirped loudly outside the cabin.
The subject of this sentence is The crickets. The key word is crickets.
The predicate of this sentence is chirped loudly outside the cabin. The key word is chirped.
Notice that when you put the two key words in a sentence together, they make sense. With just
those two words, you have an idea of what the sentence is about.
sparrows hopped
crickets chirped
These key words are called the simple subject and the simple predicate.
Definitions:
Simple subject: The key word in the subject is the simple subject.
Simple predicate: The key word in the predicate is the simple predicate.
The simple predicate is always the verb in the sentence.
From now on we will use the word verb instead of simple predicate.
How do you find the subject and the verb of a sentence?
The subject and the verb are the most important parts of a sentence. If one of them is missing,
you don’t have a complete sentence. The rest of the sentence is built around them.
First, find the verb in the sentence. (Remember, a verb is a word that tells an action or a state of
being.)
Then ask who or what about the verb. This will tell you the subject of the verb.
Look at the example:
The busy sparrows hopped around in the grass.
Find the verb: hopped (word that tells action or state of being)
Ask what hopped: Sparrows.
Sparrows is the simple subject of the sentence.
You have now found the subject and the verb of the sentence.
Exercise: Find the simple subject and the verb. (Remember to look for the verb first.) Write S
over the simple subject, and V over the verb.
1. A box of apples arrived from Washington.
2. Our new computer prints photographs.
3. A tiny gray kitten slept on our front porch.
4. The car across the street has a flat tire.
5. The crowd rose to its feet to cheer for the team.
6. A heavy snow covered the houses and streets.
7. My sister won first place in the spelling bee.
8. The woman in the red shirt is my aunt.
9. Three little bluebirds made a nest in the old oak tree.
10. A shaggy white puppy wandered into the room.
Main Verbs and Helping Verbs
Sometimes verbs are made up of more than one word. There is a main verb, and one or more
words that are called helping verbs. Together they make the whole verb.
Whole Verb
Helping Verbs
Main Verb
had climbed
had
climbed
was seen
was
seen
can go
can
go
might have run
might have
run
must have been caught
must have been
caught
Here is a list of words often used as helping verbs:
can
shall
will
may
could
should
would
might
must
It reads like a poem!
Sometimes the words of a whole verb are separated from each other by words that are not part of
the verb.
I did not run fast enough. (whole verb: did run)
Mike was rapidly walking away. (whole verb: was walking)
The separating words are never part of the verb.
Exercise:
Find the helping verbs and the main verbs in the sentences. Write HV about the helping verb, and
MV above the main verb.
1. We are going to the mall tomorrow.
2. We have not finished our study of the solar system.
3. Everyone had quietly gone to bed.
4. It must have rained all night.
5. We are going out for dinner after the play.
6. I was writing a story at my desk.
7. My brother is running in the track meet.
8. Kate and I have never skated at the park.
9. The small plane landed in the field.
10. My Dad will go to Florida in April.