Basic parts of a sentence (1)
1 Subject and predicate
A sentence is a group of words that expresses a complete thought Every sentence has two basic
parts a subject and a predicate The subject of the sentence is generally what the sentence is about
— its topic The predicate is what is said about the subject So the two parts can be thought of as
the topic and the comment
Subjects are nouns and other forms that can function as nouns such as pronouns clauses
infinitives and gerunds A subject is the thing about which the speaker or writer is speaking or
writing It is the topic the theme the gist or the focus of a sentence It usually comes first in a
sentence For example
1) My grandfather bought the car many years ago
2) The car was bought many years ago by my grandfather
The two sentences above are similar in meaning but they have different focus In sentence 1 the
focus of the meaning is my grandfather whereas sentence 2 is mainly about the car In different
contexts we have a different choice of the two sentences See if you can put a suitable one of the
two sentences above into each space below
In my garage there is an old car _______________ It is a Cadillac a very classical
luxury car manufactured in 1966 The car has 65000 original miles on it but sitting in
a damp garage for most of its life didn’t do many favors for it
In my garage there is an old car It is my grandfather’s gift for my grandmother
_____________ In order to buy this car my grandfather had been saving his money
for quite a few years He worked as a truck driver for a local grocery chain and
supported a big family on his salary Needless to say money was pretty hard to come
by that time According to my grandmother at the end of the day he would come home
and empty his space change into a jar beside the bed When the jar was full he would
take it to the band
Predicates are the parts of sentences containing the verbs as well as other words such as direct
objects predicate nouns predicate adjectives and adverbs or adverbial phrases The predicate in
short is everything that is not the subject A predicate is the doing or being part of a sentence
expressing the action performed by the subject or its state of being The predicate which most
commonly follows the subject is the semantic and grammatical center of a sentence
I bought a house for my parents
Some of the buried workers are still alive
The babies grew nervous from the loud noise
The predicate at its core is a verb that tells what the subject does or is A verb often consists
of more than one word The verb that expresses the subject’s action or state of being is called the main verb The word that accompanies the main verb is called an auxiliary or helper verb It helps
the main verb express mood or time by forming various tenses
George must be playing basketball with them now
The thief has been caught in a deserted building
Usually auxiliaryhelper verbs cannot be used alone in a sentence It must go together with main
verbs Correct the following sentences：
Tomorrow will surely better
Our campus will more and more beautiful
When you opened the window the room would immediately bright
Verb can be classified as either action or linking verbs An action verb expresses an action such
as do act make walk take break react write see say buy build and so on A linking verb links
or joins the subject of a sentence (often a noun or a pronoun) with a noun a pronoun or an adjective
that identifies or describes the subject It does not express action but rather the existence or state of
being of the subject
A noun pronoun or adjective that follows a linking verb is called a predicative It points back to
the subject to rename it to identify it or to describe it further
There are 11 linking verbs that are most frequently used We can briefly put them into three
groups
1) expressing judgment or change be get turn prove
2) indicating five senses of humans look feel smell taste sound
3) GRABS grow remain appear become seem
Examples：
For years her grandfather was one of the town leaders
My coat seemed too large
Pineapple sometimes tastes better with salt
Most students feel disappointed with the result
The time of his birth remains a mystery to us
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1 Subject and predicate
A sentence is a group of words that expresses a complete thought Every sentence has two basic
parts a subject and a predicate The subject of the sentence is generally what the sentence is about
— its topic The predicate is what is said about the subject So the two parts can be thought of as
the topic and the comment
Subjects are nouns and other forms that can function as nouns such as pronouns clauses
infinitives and gerunds A subject is the thing about which the speaker or writer is speaking or
writing It is the topic the theme the gist or the focus of a sentence It usually comes first in a
sentence For example
1) My grandfather bought the car many years ago
2) The car was bought many years ago by my grandfather
The two sentences above are similar in meaning but they have different focus In sentence 1 the
focus of the meaning is my grandfather whereas sentence 2 is mainly about the car In different
contexts we have a different choice of the two sentences See if you can put a suitable one of the
two sentences above into each space below
In my garage there is an old car _______________ It is a Cadillac a very classical
luxury car manufactured in 1966 The car has 65000 original miles on it but sitting in
a damp garage for most of its life didn’t do many favors for it
In my garage there is an old car It is my grandfather’s gift for my grandmother
_____________ In order to buy this car my grandfather had been saving his money
for quite a few years He worked as a truck driver for a local grocery chain and
supported a big family on his salary Needless to say money was pretty hard to come
by that time According to my grandmother at the end of the day he would come home
and empty his space change into a jar beside the bed When the jar was full he would
take it to the band
Predicates are the parts of sentences containing the verbs as well as other words such as direct
objects predicate nouns predicate adjectives and adverbs or adverbial phrases The predicate in
short is everything that is not the subject A predicate is the doing or being part of a sentence
expressing the action performed by the subject or its state of being The predicate which most
commonly follows the subject is the semantic and grammatical center of a sentence
I bought a house for my parents
Some of the buried workers are still alive
The babies grew nervous from the loud noise
The predicate at its core is a verb that tells what the subject does or is A verb often consists
of more than one word The verb that expresses the subject’s action or state of being is called the main verb The word that accompanies the main verb is called an auxiliary or helper verb It helps
the main verb express mood or time by forming various tenses
George must be playing basketball with them now
The thief has been caught in a deserted building
Usually auxiliaryhelper verbs cannot be used alone in a sentence It must go together with main
verbs Correct the following sentences：
Tomorrow will surely better
Our campus will more and more beautiful
When you opened the window the room would immediately bright
Verb can be classified as either action or linking verbs An action verb expresses an action such
as do act make walk take break react write see say buy build and so on A linking verb links
or joins the subject of a sentence (often a noun or a pronoun) with a noun a pronoun or an adjective
that identifies or describes the subject It does not express action but rather the existence or state of
being of the subject
A noun pronoun or adjective that follows a linking verb is called a predicative It points back to
the subject to rename it to identify it or to describe it further
There are 11 linking verbs that are most frequently used We can briefly put them into three
groups
1) expressing judgment or change be get turn prove
2) indicating five senses of humans look feel smell taste sound
3) GRABS grow remain appear become seem
Examples：
For years her grandfather was one of the town leaders
My coat seemed too large
Pineapple sometimes tastes better with salt
Most students feel disappointed with the result
The time of his birth remains a mystery to us
《香当网》用户分享的内容，不代表《香当网》观点或立场，请自行判断内容的真实性和可靠性！
该内容是文档的文本内容，更好的格式请下载文档