Every complete sentence contains two parts: a subject and apredicate. 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."
Imperative sentences (sentences that give
a command or an order) differ from conventional sentences in that their
subject, which is always "you," is understood rather than expressed.
Stand on
your head. ("You" is understood before "stand.")
Be careful with sentences that begin with "there" plus
a form of the verb "to be." In such sentences, "there" is
not the subject; it merely signals that the true subject will soon follow.
There were three
stray kittens cowering under our porch steps this morning.
If you ask who? or what? before the
verb ("were cowering"), the answer is "three stray
kittens," the correct subject.
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").
Exercise of Subject and Predicate
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