Subject & Predicate

  The subject of a sentence is that part about which the sentence makes a statement. The subject is often the “doer” of the sentence.

The subject is that part of the sentence which tells the person, place, thing or idea referred to by the predicate about which something is being said.

The subject of a sentence is the person, place, thing or idea that is doing or “being” something.

You can find the subject of a sentence if you can find the verb.

Ask the question, Who or what ·verbs or “verbed”? and the answer to the question is the subject.

Subject &

Predicate

 

•A piece of pepperoni pizza would satisfy his hunger. •Team pennants, rock posters and family photographs covered the boy's bedroom walls•The computers in the self access center must be replaced.•The really important issue of the conference, stripped of all other considerations, is the morality of the nation.•What he had already forgotten about computer repair could fill whole volumes.•Mysterious are the ways of the elephant.

The Sentence: Examples

The subject (cont.)

  The subject is indeed engaged in performing the

action denoted by the verb and also the subject indicates what the sentence is about. However subjects are not always doing something

Subjects can also be meaningless and cannot therefore be said to tell us what the sentences of which they are the subject are about. (formal subjects)

In English the subject of a command, order, or suggestion (you), the person being directed, is usually YOU

 

My cousin wears a hat.The committee disliked her proposal.The customer with the red hat stood on the platform.This car stinks.It is raining in Mahahual.It was hot.It is 6 o’clock.Come here immediately.Before assembling the machine, read the instructions carefully.

The Sentence: Examples

 

The usual position of the subject is before the predicate, before the verb but there are some cases in which this is not so: In questions: Have you eaten breakfast yet? When a sentence begins with an adverb or an adverbial phrase or clause: Seldom has Hansel so much money in one place.

In negative constructions: I don’t believe a word he says, nor does my nephew. Come to think of it, neither does her father

After so: I believe her; so does my brother

For emphasis and literary effect: Into the jaws of Death, Into the mouth of Hell, rode the three hundred

POSITION OF THE SUBJECT

 

There are three cats on the roof.

There exist many ways of making you talk.

There were many persons there.

It is nice to meet you.

It is time to go home.

It is evident that he is not going to pass the test.

It is essential that they come on time tomorrow.

EXAMPLES:

 

A nounMoni is my sister. Time is money.  A pronoun she is my friend. They didn’t come on time. A noun phraseMy friend Moni who works at Cinepolis is now 21 years old. An Infinitive phrase To smoke is bad for the health; to smoke in bed is worse. It is bad for the health to smoke in bed.

  

The forms of the Subject(6 forms)

 

A gerund phrase Eating chocolate is very enjoyable.

 

A clause That she came late is understandable. That she will not pass the test is evident. It is understandable that she came late, It is evident that she will not pass the test. It is necessary that she come on time.

The forms of the subject (Cont.)

The Subject (cont.)

The subject can be simple or compound

The padlock and chain on his refrigerator door speak

louder than words. Sugar and insulin are always changing their levels in

human blood. Muffins, potatoes, and spaghetti are converted to

sugar during digestion. A brief spurt of energy after eating, a sudden attack

of fatigue and then sustained low spirits can follow eating orgies.

THE PREDICATE

The predicate is simply everything else in the sentence that is said about the subject.

The predicate is the part of the sentence that contains the verb.