SUBJECT AND PREDICATE
The subject is the topic of the sentence.
The predicate is what is said about the subject.
Subject
|
Predicate
|
The balloon
New York City
The lion tamer
|
floated up through the trees
is a major cultural center
astonished the audience
|
In most cases, as in the preceding
examples, the subject of a sentence comes first, followed by the predicate.
However, there are instances when the subject is placed after the predicate,
omitted from the sentence, or placed inside the verb.
Example:
- Into the valley or death rode the six
hundred.
- Wash the car by tonight. (subject is
understood)
- Are your parents coming tomorrow?
- There are four chickens in the
yard. (There occupies the place of the subject, but four chickens is
still the subject of the sentence.)
1) FORMS OF THE SUBJECT
The most common forms of the subject are
nouns, pronouns, and proper nouns.
Example:
- Carol came close to flunking her
classes this year.
- Why don’t you pick up some
lettuce for tonight?
- Who left these socks here?
At times, noun phrases and clauses,
gerunds and gerund phrases, and infinitive phrases can also function as the
subject.
Example:
- The girl on the swing is my
niece. (noun phrase)
- What they said upset Francine.
(noun clause)
- Swimming is my favorite sport.
(gerund)
- Playing checkers kept him from
thinking about his injuries. (gerund phrase)
- To see clearly is an artist’s
greatest task. (infinitive phrase)
a) Complete Subject
The noun or pronoun and all its modifiers
are known as the complete subject.
Example:
- The ship in the harbor seemed
small and frail.
- What he said in the car surprised
us all.
- The trees, which had been damaged in
the storm, were cut down the next day and burned.
b) Simple and Compound Subjects
The noun or pronoun by itself is known as
the simple subject. It is important to identify the subject because it
controls the form of the verb used in the sentence.
Example:
- The ship in the harbor seemed
small and frail.
- Daffodils reported the fire
immediately.
The compound subject is composed of
two or more nouns, pronouns, or phrases or clauses to express the topic of a
sentence.
Example:
- The wheat and oats ripped
late this year. (nouns)
- She and I used to be best
friends in high school. (pronouns)
- What he wanted and what he got
were two different things. (noun clause)
- Hiking in the mountains and camping
out at night are experiences everyone should enjoy. (gerund phrase)
2) FORMS OF PREDICATE
The predicate always contains a verb. An
action verb generally will have an object as well as various verb modifiers. A
linking verb will have a complement along with its verb modifiers. Thus, the
predicate usually is composed of a verb, object or complement, and verb
modifiers.
a) Predicate with Action Verbs
Ø The most common
form of predicate is one in which the verb describes some sort of action. The
verb is followed by a direct object (d.o.) and, in some cases, by an indirect
object (ind.o.)
Example:
- Indiana Hones threw the jewel
(d.o.) his partner (ind.o.).
- I brought four sandwiches (d.o.)
and one pizza (ind.o.).
- Carl Lewis won four gold medals
(d.o.) in the Olympics.
- She called a cab (d.o.) for him
(ind.o.).
Ø Some action verbs
can drop their objects and still make sense. The predicate then consists of the
verb only.
Example:
- They have been practicing.
- We were reading.
- The reporter disappeared.
- The weather has changed.
Ø Action verbs can
also take complements. Nouns, pronouns, prepositional phrases, adverbs,
adjectives, and verb phrases can serve as complements in the predicate.
Example:
- He taught the dog to roll over. (The
infinitive phrase to roll over is the complement.)
- I call him a prince. (The noun prince
is the complement.)
- They made camp on the hill. (The
prepositional phrase on the hill is the complement.)
- Her pony behaved beautifully.
(The adverb beautifully is the complement.)
- We saw the tornado heading this way. (The
participial phrase heading this way is the complement.)
- She lay down in the tall grass.
(The adverb down and the prepositional phrase in the tall grass
are the complement and predicate direction and location.)
b) Predicate with Linking Verbs
Linking verbs that express being, seeming,
or becoming need a predicate or verb complement to complete them. The more
common of these verbs include seem, become, grow, taste, smell, appear,
look, fee, and sound.
Example:
- He looks sick. (He looks
is the complete. The adjective sick acts as the predicate complement.)
- I feel that you should apologize for
your outburst. (The noun clause that you should apologize for your
outburst is the verb complement.)
c) Compound Predicate
At times a sentence will contain more than
one verb, object, or complement. These structures are known as compound
verbs, compound objects, or compound complements
Example:
- The rookie bats like Reggie
Jackson and fields like Willie Mays. (Two verbs function as the compound
verb.)
- I gave the stove to Francis and
the bookcase to Jill. (The two nouns stove and bookcase
serve as the compound direct object of the verb gave.)
- Sammy’s week at camp was long and
lonely. (The two adjectives long and lonely are the
compound complement.)