Subjects and objects - and how they relate to verbs

Identifying the subject and object in a sentence

Revision for English students

The subject in the sentence

The subject is sometimes called the “naming part” of a sentence or clause. It shows what the sentence is about, or who or what is performing an action in the sentence. The subject is most often a noun, pronoun, or noun phrase.

Who or what is doing the action (or relates to the verb) of the sentence?

That is the most important question that we ask ourselves when we are looking for the subject in the sentence.

An example

The students represented Germany at the Model United Nations Conference in New York.

Step 1: Find the main verb: represented.

Step 2: Ask the right question: who or what is doing the action of the verb?

Step 3: Apply this question to the sentence: who or what represented Germany?

Step 4: Answer the question: The students.

The subject of the sentence is therefore the students.

The giraffe is napping.

The giraffe is the subject of the sentence. The giraffe is the thing that is doing the action (napping).

Pineapple is delicious on pizza.

Pineapple is the subject of this sentence. It is the thing that has the quality of being delicious!

(Note: verbs are not just 'doing' words, but also 'having' and 'being' words).

He has muscles.

He is the subject.

'Has' is the verb - as verbs are 'doing', 'being' or 'having' words.

Online learning is difficult.

Online learning is the subject. It has the quality of 'being' difficult.

Multiple Choice

Identify the subject in this sentence: To prepare for their descriptive writing assignments, the students were revising their understanding of grammar.

• descriptive writing assignments

• prepare, revising AND understanding

• the students

• grammar

Multiple Choice

Identify the subject in this sentence: I took my laptop into the kitchen.

• my laptop

• the kitchen

• took

• I

Simple subjects vs. complete subjects

 A simple subject is a main word or words that tell what or whom a sentence discusses, not including any modifiers.

A complete subject is all of the words that tell what or whom a sentence discusses, including any modifiers. (Modifiers are optional, extra information).

The complete subject is the subject and all its modifiers. The simple subject is the core idea without all the description.

Hans Zimmer’s dramatic sound track to the movie Inception remains one of my favourite compositions.

Simple subject: sound track.

Complete subject: Hans Zimmer’s dramatic sound track to the movie Inception.

The guy in the yellow jumper looks the most excited to be back in the classroom.

Simple subject: the guy

Complex subject: the guy in the yellow jumper

The complete subject is the subject and all its modifiers. The simple subject is the core idea without all the description.

Hans Zimmer’s dramatic sound track to the movie Inception remains one of my favourite compositions.

Complete subject: Hans Zimmer’s dramatic sound track to the movie Inception.

Simple subject: sound track.

Multiple Choice

Identify the simple subject of this sentence: After eating, the dog with the floppy ears likes to roll in the mud.

• the dog

• the dog with the floppy ears

• roll

• after eating

Multiple Choice

Identify the complex subject in this sentence: The Australian teacher with extremely poor coordination does not know how to swim.

• the Australian teacher

• the ... teacher

• the Australian teacher with extremely poor coordination

• know how to swim

Why are we recapping our understanding of subjects?

...because even though a sentence without a subject is not a sentence... many of you are writing sentences without a subject.

Do not stress! This is VERY common. So, let's tackle it together.

Potential reasons for this mistake

• You do not know how to identify the subject

• Sometimes you mistake the OBJECT for the subject

• Sometimes you mention the subject in the previous sentence, so you think the subject is not needed again.

Let's quickly recap the OBJECT of the sentence.

The object of a sentence is the person or thing that receives the action of the verb.

It is the who or what that the subject does something to.

I ate the piece of pineapple.

Subject: I

Verb: ate

Object: the piece of pineapple

I put pieces of pineapple on the pizza.

You can also have an indirect object.

Object: pieces of pineapple

Indirect object: pizza

(The verb 'put' relates to the pineapple, not the pizza... so the pineapple is the object).

Multiple Choice

Identify the object in this sentence: the rabbit stuffed its face with carrots.

• rabbit

• stuffed

• face

• carrots

Multiple Choice

Identify the object in this sentence: the adorably fluffy koala hung onto the tree with one little claw.

• the adorably fluffy

• koala

• tree

• one little claw

Now you know!

Apply your understanding of subjects and objects (and how they relate to the verb) by identifying incomplete sentences.

We are going to return to the lesson and look at samples of student work.