Subject
Every sentence must have a subject although sometimes, a subject may not appear in a sentence. The subject is one of the two main parts that make up a sentence.
The other part is the predicate which usually follows the subject. The subject of a sentence is either a noun that can be a person, place, thing, or idea; or a pronoun such as I, you, she, it, or they; or a noun phrase. The subject either performs an action as expressed by the main verb or shows a state of being as indicated by the verb. Likewise, every verb in a sentence must have a subject.
|
Subject |
+ |
Predicate |
= |
Sentence |
Examples:
-
Stan
sings
.
(Stan = subject /noun; sings = predicate/action verb) -
She
is sick .
(She = subject / pronoun; is sick = predicate indicating state of being of the subject) -
Wait
here while I go and get some drinks .
(A predicate without the subject. The subject is understood to be you .) You wait here while I go and get some drinks.
The subject of a sentence is called a compound subject when it is composed of two or more nouns or pronouns connected by the conjunction and or or . A compound subject i s followed by a plural verb.
Examples of subjects followed by main verbs shown in bold:
Examples:
- Tom and Tommy are twin brothers.
- He or his sister is driving.
Predicate
Every sentence is made up of a subject and a predicate . A predicate completes a sentence by expressing what the subject does or what the subject is.
The predicate consists of one main verb which can be an action verb or a linking verb, or a verb phrase and the complement (or object) that follows.
Compound Predicate
A compound predicate expresses two or more actions performed by the same subject in a sentence . Such a predicate is used to indicate that the subject is doing more than one action.
Complement
A complement is a word or word group that completes the predicate in a sentence . it includes objects and modifiers.
Verb
The action verb describes the action performed by the subject while the linking verb shows the state of being of the subject .
The action verb is usually followed by a direct object , an indirect object, or a phrase, which can be a prepositional phrase, an adverbial phrase, or any other phrase or modifier .
The linking verb is usually followed by either a noun , called subject complement , or predicate nominative , or an adjective known as ?
The linking verb is usually followed by either a noun , called subject complement , or predicate nominative , or an adjective known as predicate adjective .
adjective.Verb and Predicate
Predicates are shown in bold.
Examples:
- Predicate of a single verb: The child sneezes.
- Predicate of a verb phrase: Our dog is barking .
- Predicate of a verb and a direct object: Abu rides a camel .
- Predicate of a verb, direct object and indirect object: John bought his monkey a packet of peanuts .
- Predicate of a verb and its modifier: She dresses smartly .
- Predicate of a linking verb and its complement: He is an ambulance driver .
The predicate tells us all about the subject . It begins with a verb or verb phrase as indicated in this table:
| Subject | Predicate | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Noun | Verb/verb phrase | Noun | Pronoun | Adjective | Adverb |
| Jack | yawns. | ||||
| Jill | likes | rabbits. | |||
| Pronoun | |||||
| She | is shopping. | ||||
| They | bully | him. | |||
| Noun phrase | |||||
| Some passengers | are feeling | seasick. | |||
| The road accident | happened | here. | |||