Subjects Prediciates and Objects

​Subjects, Predicates, and Objects

​A sentence has two main parts: a subject and a predicate.

The subject is the person speaking or the person, place, thing, or idea the sentence describes.

The predicate describes an action or state of being for the subject.

Both nouns and pronouns can serve as the subject of a sentence.

Examples:

Nouns: cat, girl, Seth, the teacher, Senator Richards

Pronouns: she, they, it, we, I

Multiple Choice

What is the subject of the sentence (the person, place, or thing doing something or being described)?: Anna will sing.

• Anna

• will

• sing

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What is the subject of the sentence (the person, place, or thing doing something or being described)?: Elena writes beautiful poetry.

• Elena

• writes

• beautiful

• poetry

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What is the subject of the sentence (the person, place, or thing doing something or being described)?: They left the party before midnight.

• They

• left

• party

• midnight

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What is the subject of the sentence (the person, place, or thing doing something or being described)?: The small school has nine beautiful classrooms.

• small school

• has

• nine

• beautiful classrooms

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What is the subject of the sentence (the person, place, or thing doing something or being described)?: The little dog has a white house in the backyard.

• little dog

• white house

• has

• backyard

When a sentence discusses more than one noun or pronoun, it has a compound subject.

Example:

Tom and Jerry are popular cartoon characters.

Multiple Choice

What is the compound subject?: My brother and I went to the park.

• My brother and I

• went to the park

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What is the compound subject?: The teacher and the students discussed the project during after-school tutorials.

• The teacher and the students

• discussed the project

• during after-school tutorials

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What is the compound subject?: The birds and the squirrels gathered food to last them throughout the winter.

• the birds and the squirrels

• gathered food to last them

• throughout the winter

The predicate of a sentence includes the verb and other information that tells what the subject is or does.

Example:

Nick was running through the hall.

Multiple Choice

What is the predicate (tells what the subject is or does): The dog barked loudly.

• the dog

• barked loudly

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What is the predicate (tells what the subject is or does): They went to the store.

• they

• went to the store

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What is the predicate (tells what the subject is or does): The summer sun shines brightly.

• the summer sun

• shines brightly

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What is the predicate (tells what the subject is or does): The red car stopped suddenly.

• the red car

• stopped suddenly

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What is the predicate (tells what the subject is or does): Ms. Chung is the principal.

• Ms. Chung

• is the principal

A compound predicate contains two or more verbs joined by a conjunction. Both verbs describe action or state of being for the subject.

Example:

Nick was running through the hall and shouting at other students.

Multiple Choice

What is the compound predicate?: The shy girl writes in her journal and reads books.

• the shy girl

• writes in her journal and reads books

Multiple Choice

What is the compound predicate?: We watched a movie and ate popcorn.

• We watched

• watched a movie and ate popcorn

• a movie

• popcorn

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What is the compound predicate: Antoinette and Nicolas went to the store and bought groceries.

• Antoinette and Nicolas

• went to the store and bought groceries

Multiple Choice

What is the compound predicate?: She sings beautifully and dances gracefully.

• she sings beautifully

• sings beautifully and dances gracefully

• beautifully and gracefully

Sentence predicates often contain objects.

A direct object is someone or something that receives the action of the verb.

Example:

Joey plays the guitar.

Multiple Choice

What is the direct object (receives the action)?: Jamikah fixed the car.

• Jamikah

• fixed

• the car

Multiple Choice

What is the direct object (receives the action)?: Alan baked a cake.

• Alan

• baked

• a cake

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What is the direct object (receives the action)?: Sakura wrote a letter.

• Sakura

• wrote

• a letter

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What is the direct object (receives the action)?: Aisha and Liam planted a tree yesterday.

• Aisha and Liam

• planted

• a tree

• yesterday

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What is the direct object (receives the action)?: Carlos painted a portrait in his studio.

• Carlos

• painted

• a portrait

• in his studio

A predicate that contains a direct object can also contain an indirect object. An indirect object names something or someone to whom or for whom the action of the verb is performed.

Example:

Grandmother gave me a birthday present.

The present is the direct object because it's being given. Me is the indirect object, because it's being given TO.

Multiple Choice

What is the indirect object (something the verb is being performed to or for): The teacher showed the students a video.

• the teacher

• showed

• the students

• a video

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What is the indirect object (something the verb is being performed to or for): Fatima bought her sister a dress.

• Fatima

• bought

• her sister

• a dress

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What is the indirect object (something the verb is being performed to or for): Diego brought his neighbor some cookies.

• Diego

• brought

• his neighbor

• some cookies

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What is the indirect object (something the verb is being performed to or for): Hiroshi told us a story.

• Hiroshi

• told

• us

• a story

Every sentence needs a subject and predicate, but it also needs a capital letter at the beginning and punctuation at the end.

Punctuation for the end of a sentence includes periods (.), exclamation points (!), and question marks (?).

Another word that should always be capitalized in your sentence is "I" when talking about yourself.

Multiple Choice

What's wrong with this sentence?: the flowers bloom in spring.

• Missing a capital letter at the beginning.

• Missing punctuation at the end.

• No subject.

• No predicate.

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What's wrong with this sentence?: Laughed and played games.

• Missing a capital letter at the beginning.

• Missing punctuation at the end.

• No subject.

• No predicate.

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What's wrong with this sentence?: The extremely exhausted teacher.

• Missing a capital letter at the beginning.

• Missing punctuation at the end.

• No subject.

• No predicate.

Multiple Choice

What's wrong with this sentence?: We offered the guests some refreshments

• Missing a capital letter at the beginning.

• Missing punctuation at the end.

• No subject.

• No predicate.

Multiple Choice

What's wrong with this sentence?: After school was over, i played video games.

• Missing a capital letter at the beginning.

• Didn't capitalize "I."

• No subject.

• No predicate.