Subjects & Predicates
What is a subject?
A subject is who or what the sentence is about.
What is a phrase?
A phrase is a group of words that does not have both a subject and a predicate.
What is a clause?
A clause is a group of words with a subject and a verb.
What is a complete sentence?
A complete sentence has a subject, a predicate, and expresses a complete thought.
When do we use quotation marks?
Quotation marks are used to show the exact words someone says (dialogue).
Identify the simple subject in: The excited puppy ran across the yard.
Simple subject: puppy
Is this a phrase or a sentence? Running through the park
A phrase!
What makes a clause independent?
An independent clause can stand alone as a complete sentence.
Is this a sentence or a clause? After the bell rang.
Clause!
Identify what is wrong: She said I’m ready to go.
Missing quotation marks! She said, "I’m ready to go."
Identify the complete predicate in: The students in the class finished their work.
Complete predicate: finished their work
Identify the phrase in: The book on the table is mine.
Phrase: on the table
What makes a clause dependent?
A dependent clause cannot stand alone and usually starts with a subordinating conjunction.
Make this clause into a complete sentence: When we finished our test.
Possible fix: When we finished our test, we turned it in.
OR We finished our test.
Add quotation marks correctly:
He said I forgot my homework.
He said, “I forgot my homework.”
What is a compound subject? Give an example.
A compound subject has two or more subjects joined by a conjunction.
Example: Tom and Sarah went to the store.
Why can’t a phrase be a complete sentence?
A phrase can’t be a complete sentence because it is missing a subject, a predicate, or both.
Identify the dependent clause: I stayed inside because it was raining.
Dependent clause: because it was raining
Explain why this is NOT a sentence: Running late for school.
It’s not a sentence because it has no subject.
Where does punctuation go when ending dialogue?
Ending punctuation goes inside the quotation marks.
Identify the compound predicate in: She packed her bag and rushed out the door.
Compound predicate: packed her bag and rushed out the door
Write your own phrase and explain why it’s not a sentence.
Example answer:
Under the desk → It’s a phrase because it does not have a subject and verb.
Name three subordinating conjunctions from AAWWUBBIS and use one in a sentence.
After, Although, As, When, While, Until, Before, Because, If , Since.
Example: I stayed inside because it was raining.
Create your own complete sentence. Identify the subject and predicate!
Example Sentence: Before the game, we warmed up.
Subject: We
Predicate: warmed
Write a short dialogue between two characters using quotation marks correctly.
Example:
“I can’t believe it,” she said.
He yelled, “We won the game!”