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.
- A box of apples arrived from Washington.
- Our new computer prints photographs.
- A tiny gray kitten slept on our front porch.
- The car across the street has a flat tire.
- The crowd rose to its feet to cheer for the
team.
- A heavy snow covered the houses and streets.
- My sister won first place in the spelling
bee.
- The woman in the red shirt is my aunt.
- Three little bluebirds made a nest in the
old oak tree.
- A shaggy white puppy wandered into the room.
English
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