Simple Subjects
What is simple subject?
Definition: The subject of a sentence is the noun or pronoun that the sentence is about.

Hint: Ask yourself, "Who did it?" or "What did it?"

EXAMPLE
Carlos wrote a letter to his uncle. (Carlos did the writing.)
My neighbour's dog barked all night. (The dog did the barking.)

Hint: A proper name or compound noun is considered a single word.

EXAMPLE
Fred Mosby will be my new tutor.
The police officer explained what had happened.

Simple Predicates
Definition: The simple predicate of a sentence is the verb that is done in the sentence. It can be the action that happens, the state of being, or the linking verb.

Hint: Ask yourself, "The subject did what?" It can help if you find the subject first.

EXAMPLE
Carlos wrote a letter to his uncle. (Carlos did what? He wrote.)
My neighbor's dog barked all night. (Dog did what? It barked.)

Hint: A verb phrase is considered a single idea; therefore, it is still a simple predicate.

EXAMPLE
Fred Mosby will be my new tutor.
The police officer had explained what happened.

Hint: Not is not a verb. Therefore, it cannot be part of the simple predicate. Be careful when dealing with contractions.

EXAMPLE
I don't want spaghetti for dinner again.
I do not want spaghetti for dinner again.

Challenging Subjects
Challenge 1: Questions In questions
The subject is often either after the verb or between parts of the verb phrase.

EXAMPLE
Where are my slippers?
Will we be going to the mall?

Hint: Keep all the words and turn the sentence into a declarative sentence.
- We will be going to the mall.


Challenge 2: Commands In commands
The subject of the verb is always the unstated you

EXAMPLE
Raise your hand. = (You) Raise your hand.

Challenge 3: Inverted order Sometimes for emphasis
writers will switch around the parts of the sentence. In those sentences, the subject is usually after the verb.

EXAMPLE
Behind the bookcase is the door to the secret room.

Hint: Find the verb first and ask yourself who did it. You can also turn the sentence back to the usual order.

EXAMPLE
What is? The door is.
The door to the secret room is behind the bookcase.

Challenge 4: Sentences that begin with here/there
If a sentence begins with here or there, here or there is never the subject.

Hint: Sometimes here or there are adverbs telling where the subject is.

Often, though, the words here or there are considered expletive constructions - words that are expressions we use that have no real meaning in the sentence.

EXAMPLE
Here are your missing earrings.
There goes the four o'clock train.

Hint: Find the verb first and then ask yourself who did it. You can also rearrange the sentence to the usual order.

EXAMPLE
What are here? Earrings. Your missing earrings are here. (In this case, here works as an adverb.)
What goes there? Train. The four o'clock train goes there. (In this case, there is an explicative expression.)

Challenge 5: Subjects followed by prepositional phrases.
Sometimes a noun is followed by a prepositional phrase explaining more about the noun. It is easy to confuse the subject with the object of the preposition.

EXAMPLE
The box of books belongs in the library.
The members of the committee worked hard to come up with a plan.

Hint: Think of the prepositional phrase in parentheses.

EXAMPLE
The box (of books) belongs in the library.
The members (of the committee) worked hard to come up with a plan.

Lesson 4 : Compound Subjects and Predicates
Definition: A sentence has a compound subject when it has more than one subject. It has a compound predicate when there is more than one predicate. Sometimes sentences can have both a compound subject and a compound predicate.

EXAMPLE
Rachel and Steffi read the same book. (compound subject)
Ulysses ran, swam, and rode a bicycle in the triathlon. (compound predicate)
My dog and ferrets play and sleep together. (compound subject and predicate)

Compound subjects and predicates are joined with either the coordinating conjunctions (and, but, or, nor) or the correlative conjunctions (both/and, either/or, neither/nor, not only/but also).

Hint: Don't confuse a verb phrase with a compound predicate.
- We will be going to China this summer. (verb phrase - it has only one main verb - going)

A compound predicate might share a helping verb, or it might be two (or more) separate verb phrases.

EXAMPLE
Dolphins are swimming and splashing near our dock. (swimming and splashing share the helping verb are.)
Dolphins do swim and do splash near our dock. (do swim and do splash have the same helping verb but are two separate verb phrases.)
Dolphins do swim and might splash near our dock (do swim and might splash are two separate verb phrases.).

Hint: Don't confuse a simple sentence with a compound subject and predicate with a compound sentence.

EXAMPLE
Sam and Clarence are talking and eating at the same time.	(compound subject and predicate - notice the pattern: subject, subject, verb, verb. Both subjects are doing both verbs.)
Sam is talking, and Clarence is eating at the same time.	(compound sentence - notice the pattern: subject, verb, subject, verb. The first subject is doing the first verb, and the second subject is doing the second verb.)

Lesson 5 : Complete Subjects and Predicates
Definition: A sentence can be divided into two halves: the complete subject and the complete predicate. The complete subject is made up of all the words that tell who or what the sentence is about. The complete predicate includes the verb and all the words that tell what happened in the sentence. Every word in the sentence belongs either in the complete subject or complete predicate.

Hint: Find the simple subject and simple predicate first. Then divide the sentence between the parts.

EXAMPLE
Carlo | wrote a letter to his uncle.
My neighbor's dog | barked all night.

Hint: Sometimes a word or phrase will come between the simple subject and simple predicate. You will need to decide if the phrase describes the subject or the predicate.

EXAMPLE
Fred Mosby, a high school senior | will be my new tutor. (a high school senior describes Fred)
The police officer | later explained what had happened. (later tells when he explained)

Hint: Watch out for inverted sentences or sentences with adverb prepositional phrases. (Remember, an adverb modifies a verb, adjective, or another adverb. For more information on adverbs, refer to lesson 5 in Module 5, Modifiers: Adjectives and Adverbs.)

EXAMPLE
Filling the auditorium were | fascinated students.
Our electricity | went out during the storm.
During the storm, our electricity | went out. (The adverb prepositional phrase, During the storm, is part of the predicate even though it is at the beginning of the sentence.)

Lesson 6 : Direct Objects Transitive Verb
Definition: A transitive verb is a verb that takes a direct object.

Direct Object
Definition: A direct object is the noun or pronoun that directly receives the action of the verb. - Dante threw the ball. (He took the ball and threw it. Ball is the direct object.)

Hint: First find the subject and verb. Then ask yourself, "The subject verbed what?" putting the subject and verb into the question.

EXAMPLE
"Dante threw what?" (Answer: the ball = the direct object.)

Intransive Verb
Definition: An intransitive verb is a verb that does not take a direct object.
- Christopher Columbus sailed across the Atlantic.

Hint: Sometimes what looks like a direct object is really an adverbial noun. If the answer to "what?" is a where, how, or when, it's an adverbial noun.

EXAMPLE
Christopher Columbus sailed the Atlantic. (He sailed a ship across the Atlantic. Atlantic is where he sailed.)
We hiked five miles along the mountain ridge. (We hiked the trail for five miles. Five miles is how long we hiked, not what we hiked.)

Hint: The same verb can be either transitive or intransitive, depending on how it is being used.

EXAMPLE
Jerome ran the marathon. (Jerome took the marathon and ran it.)
Jerome ran around the track. (around the track just tells where he ran.)

Challenges with Direct Objects
Challenge 1: Compound Direct Objects A verb may have two direct objects.

EXAMPLE
- Bob hit the trash can and the mail box on his way out of the driveway.

Challenge 2: Direct Objects in Questions
In a question, the direct object may be the interrogative pronoun what, which, or whom. It cannot be where, how, or when. They are adverbs. Sometimes it helps to keep all the words in the sentence and turn it into a declarative sentence.

EXAMPLE
What did you buy? (You did buy what.)
Whom did you see at the mall? (You did see whom at the mall.)
Which is mine? (Mine is which.)

The interrogative pronoun, however, could be acting as an adjective modifying the direct object.

EXAMPLE
What color do you like best? (You do like what color best.)
Whose books do you read? (You do read whose books.)
Which figurine did you buy in Japan? (You did buy which figurine in Japan.)

The direct object may also be a noun in the sentence, but the noun may not be where you expect it to be.

EXAMPLE
Where will you spend your summer? (You will spend your summer where.)
How many books have you read? (You have read how many books.)

Indirect Objects
Definition: The indirect object is a noun that receives the action of the verb, but the action is indirect because it affects the direct object first. Not all sentences that have a direct object also have an indirect object. All sentences with an indirect object must have a direct object.

EXAMPLE
I threw Jonas the ball. I threw the ball (direct object) but Jonas got it (indirect object).

Hint: The indirect object always comes before the direct object.
- My grandfather left me his gold watch.

Hint: To find the indirect object, ask to or for what was the verb done?
The indirect object is very similar to the object of the preposition. They can mean the same thing. If the preposition is missing, the word is an indirect object. If the preposition is there, the word is the object of the preposition.

EXAMPLE
I gave my mother my report card. (Mother is the indirect object.)
I gave my report card to my mother. (Mother is the object of the preposition to.)

If there is no direct object, the indirect object is the direct object.

EXAMPLE
I told her the news. (indirect object)
I told her. (direct object)

Compound Indirect Objects
An indirect object may be compound.

EXAMPLE
Kevin brought Madeline and Josie flowers for Valentine's Day.

Common Indirect Object Mistakes
Some verbs that seem like they should take direct objects do not. They sometimes lead to grammatical mistakes.

Subject Complement
If the verb in a sentence is a linking verb instead of an action verb, then it cannot take a direct object.

Definition: A subject complement is the word after the linking verb that renames or describes the subject. It completes (not gives a compliment to) the verb.

EXAMPLE
Hayley is a nice girl. (girl renames Hayley)
Hayley is nice. (nice describes Hayley)

Subject complements can be nouns, pronouns, or adjectives. They are called predicate nouns, predicate pronouns (both can also be called predicate nominatives), and predicate adjectives.

EXAMPLE
Keith is our class president. (predicate noun)
The new substitute is he. (predicate pronoun)
All our students are responsible. (predicate adjective)