Subject & Predicate
What is the subject?
The subject is what a sentence is about.
(Always has a noun (or something similar). Performs the action of the verb.)
What is a direct object?
A direct object is the noun that receives the action of a transitive verb.
(It is part of the predicate.)
What is the difference between a transitive and an intransitive verb?
A transitive verb has a direct object, but an intransitive verb does not.
(Compare “Tom sees Jerry” with “Birds are singing.”)
What modifies nouns?
Adjectives modify nouns.
(They describe nouns in some way, either in quantity or quality.)
What is a predicate?
The predicate is what a sentence says about the subject.
(The predicate always includes a verb.)
In 'Julia, bring me the scroll,' what is the use of the noun 'Julia'?
Julia is a noun of address.
(It names whom the speaker is talking to. It is not the subject, which is the implied 'you.')
Diagram the imperative sentence 'Hold the line!'
'Hold' is an imperative verb with an implied subject.
What three kinds of words can an adverb modify?
An adverb can modify a verb, an adjective, or another adverb.
(Compare “ran quickly,” “very tall,” and “very quickly.”)
What are the complete subject and complete predicate in 'The young scribe copied the long letter slowly.'?
The complete subject is 'The young scribe,' and the complete predicate is 'copied the long letter slowly.'
(The complete subject is the subject noun plus its modifiers. The complete predicate is the verb and everything that goes with it.)
Diagram 'Cicero was a famous orator.'
('Orator' is a subject complement, which renames the subject after a copulative verb. 'A' and 'famous' modify 'orator.')
What is the difference between an active and a passive verb?
The subject performs the action of an active verb but receives the action of a passive verb.
For “The soldiers in the tower watched the road at night,” what are the two prepositional phrases and what do they modify?
'In the tower' modifies 'soldiers' like an adjective, and 'at night' modifies 'watched' like an adverb.
What are the core, the complete subject, and the complete predicate of 'Her clever brother quickly solved the difficult puzzle.'?
The core is 'brother solved puzzle,' the complete subject is 'Her clever brother,' and the complete predicate is 'quickly solved the difficult puzzle.'
(The core is what remains after all modifiers are removed.)
Diagram 'Father, the old senator gave Julia a gift.'
('Father' is a noun of address. 'Julia' is the indirect object and 'gift' is the direct object. 'The' and 'old' modify 'senator.')
Name the type of each verb in 'Rome was a republic,' 'Rome defeated Carthage,' and 'Rome grew.'
'Became' is a verb of being, 'defeated' is transitive (doing), and 'grew' is intransitive (doing).
('Republic' is a subject complement, 'Carthage' is a direct object, and grew sentence has neither end.)
Diagram 'Her two loyal sons marched bravely through the narrow pass.'
('Her,' 'two,' and 'loyal,' modify 'sons'; and 'bravely' modifies 'marched.' The adjectives 'the' and 'narrow' modify 'pass.' The prepositional phrase 'through the narrow pass' modifies 'marched' like an adverb.)