Subject and Verb
- Every sentence needs two things, a subject and a verb. The subject is the person or thing doing the action. And the verb? The verb is the action itself. So let's see how that works.
The boy eats. Who is doing the eating? The boy. So boy is the subject, and eats is the verb. Here's another one. Many people swim. Who is swimming? The people.
People is the subject, and swim is the verb. Now, what about many? Many is just a modifier. It tells us something about the people, but it's not doing the action, so we set it aside. Okay, here's a trickier one.
The dog across the hall barks. Who is barking? The dog. Hopefully not the hall. "Across the hall" is what we call a prepositional phrase. It tells us where the dog is, but it's not the subject. Dog is the subject, and barks is the verb.
So, how do you find the subject? Ask yourself, who or what is doing the verb? Strip away the extra words, the modifiers, the prepositional phrases. What's left doing the action, that's your subject. Let's put it all together.
The boy eats. Boy is doing the eating, so boy is the subject. Eats is the verb. Many people swim. People is doing the swimming, subject, verb. The dog across the hall barks.
Strip away across the hall and we're left with dog doing the barking. Subject, verb. Every sentence has them. Once you can spot them, you're ready to build on everything else.
Read full transcriptThe boy eats. Who is doing the eating? The boy. So boy is the subject, and eats is the verb. Here's another one. Many people swim. Who is swimming? The people.
People is the subject, and swim is the verb. Now, what about many? Many is just a modifier. It tells us something about the people, but it's not doing the action, so we set it aside. Okay, here's a trickier one.
The dog across the hall barks. Who is barking? The dog. Hopefully not the hall. "Across the hall" is what we call a prepositional phrase. It tells us where the dog is, but it's not the subject. Dog is the subject, and barks is the verb.
So, how do you find the subject? Ask yourself, who or what is doing the verb? Strip away the extra words, the modifiers, the prepositional phrases. What's left doing the action, that's your subject. Let's put it all together.
The boy eats. Boy is doing the eating, so boy is the subject. Eats is the verb. Many people swim. People is doing the swimming, subject, verb. The dog across the hall barks.
Strip away across the hall and we're left with dog doing the barking. Subject, verb. Every sentence has them. Once you can spot them, you're ready to build on everything else.