Subject/Predicate

1. Subject/Predicate

2. Day 1

3. Complete Sentences • A complete sentence is a group of words that express a complete thought. • Every complete sentence has a subject and a predicate. • A sentence fragment is not a complete sentence. • It may have a capital and punctuation, but that does not make it a complete sentence!

4. Prepositions • In order to find subjects and predicates this week, we need to remember to IGNORE prepositions and prepositional phrases! • Prepositions show the relationship between words in a sentence. They always come with other words that go with them, which become the prepositional phrase. • The subject and predicate will never be inside the prepositional phrase. Cross out any prepositional phrases before looking for subjects and predicates. • Keep your preposition list all year to help you whenever we identify subjects and predicates. • A prepositional phrase on its own cannot be a complete sentence. This is probably the most common sentence fragment error that people make.

5. Cross out the Preposition • The coat under the table is red. • The cat in the box is sleeping. • In the garage, there are tools. • The boy inside the store is hungry.

6. Day 2

7. Subjects and Predicates • The subject of a sentence is the person or thing that performs the action. It is the WHO or WHAT of the sentence. • The predicate tells what the subject does, has, feels or is.

8. Subjects • The complete subject includes all the words that describe the subject. • The simple subject is the main word or words in the complete subject. Example: The silly, cute dog was wagging her tail.

9. Predicates • The complete predicate includes all the words that tell what the subject does, has, feels or is. • The simple predicate is the main word or words in the complete predicate. • It is always a verb or a verb phrase Example: The silly, cute dog was wagging her tail.

10. Implied Subjects • In imperative sentences, like commands or requests, the subject looks like it is missing. • It is what we call the implied subject. It’s not written, but it’s still there. • YOU is the subject in these sentences. Examples: Go to the store. Pick up the book, please. Write this down.

11. Practice • The boy walked down the street. • He was going to go to the store but wasn’t sure what he wanted to get. • He only had $5 in his wallet. • He knew he should get his mom a birthday present. • However, he really wanted to spend it on junk food. • His conscience was gnawing at him. • Finally, he decided to spend $4 on his mom and treat himself to something with the other $1.

12. Day 3

13. Compound Subject and Verb • A compound subject contains two or more subjects that share the same verb. • They are connected with coordinating conjunctions, like and, or, and nor. • A compound verb contains two or more verbs that share the same subject. • Using compound subjects and verbs can make your writing less repetitive. • Examples: • The boy walked to school. The girl walked to school. • The boy and girl walked to school. • We swam Saturday afternoon. We took naps Saturday afternoon. • We swam and took naps Saturday afternoon.