Basic Grammar Step by Step Second Edition

Mary W. Ng

Chapter 6

Sentence Structure

A sentence is a word or group of words that expresses a complete thought. A simple sentence has two parts: the subject and the predicate. The predicate is the part of the sentence without the subject.

SubjectPredicate
The sunis shining.
Ihad breakfast with Mona.

6.1 The Subject of a Sentence

The subject is the who or what we talk about in a sentence.

Patty is my friend.(who is my friend)
She walks to school.(who walks to school)

Most birds fly.(what flies)
The dog ran away.(what ran away)

The subject can be a word or group of words.

Judy laughed.
The girl in a pink dress smiled.

The subject normally goes before the verb in a statement.

He cried.
The cat catches the mouse.

In an imperative, the subject is understood to be you.

Watch your step!
Open the door.

Exercise Pick out the subjects in these sentences.

  1. The horse jumped over the fence.
  2. I received a letter.
  3. Koalas live in Australia.
  4. Grandpa makes wooden toys.
  5. The plane flew to London.
  6. Kirk likes chocolate.
  7. We are picking strawberries.
  8. The soup in the pot boiled over.

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