Basic Sentence Patterns

Los Angeles Mission College

Academic Success Center
Title V Hispanic Serving Institutions Funded by the United State Department of Education

Identifying Subjects and Verbs

Key Concept: A complete sentence requires a subject and a verb; it also must express a complete thought.

This PowerPoint presentation is based on the following source:

Fitzpatrick, Carolyn H. and MaryBeth B. Ruscica. The Complete Sentence Workout Book. 4th ed. Mass: Allyn and Bacon, 2000. Print.

Subjects
A sentence must have a subject. A subject is a noun

A person, place or thing Ms. Jones Los Angeles Mission College Hat A word that takes the place of a noun She/he/they It

Or a pronoun

Verbs
A sentence must also have a verb. There are 2 types of verbs:
Action

Show movement Examples: to sing, to joke, to run, to walk Linking verbs do not show action. Instead, they convey existence, being, becoming, and sometimes, one of the 5 senses. Linking verbs connect the subject and the word after the linking verb. Examples: to be, to seem, to become

Linking

Identifying Subjects and Verbs

To identify the subject and verb in a sentence, ask these questions:

What is the action? What word links two or more other

words?

the verb

Who or what is performing the action?

the subject

Practice
1. Barbara sang.
What is the action?

Sang (verb action)

Who sang?

Barbara (subject)

2. The children were happy.

What word joins the description

to the subject?
Who were happy?

Were (verb linking)

Children (subject)

More Practice
Identify the subjects and verbs in the following sentences:

1.

Terry laughs.
Subject = Terry Verb = laughs (action)

2. Lady Gaga is famous.

Subject = Lady Gaga Verb = is (links description to subject)

3. The dog barked.

Subject = the dog Verb = barked (action)

4. Seth MacFarlane creates funny characters. Subject = Seth MacFarlane Verb = creates (action)

Simple and Compound Subjects and Verbs

A single subject is referred to as a simple subject. A single verb is referred to as a simple verb.

Example: The artist quickly drew the tourists caricature. What is the action? Who drew? Drew (one action = simple verb) Artist (one actor = simple subject)

Compound Subjects
A sentence may also contain a compound subject: two or more stated nouns or pronouns perform the same action.
Example:

Charles and the boys have gone to the movies. What is the action? Have gone (one action = simple verb)

Who has gone?

Charles + boys

(two stated actors = compound subject)

Compound Verbs
A sentence may also contain a compound verb: the subject performs two or more actions.
Example:

Jane frequently drinks, dances, and parties through the night. What is (are) the action(s)?
Drink, dance, + party (3 actions = compound verb) Jane (one stated actor = simple subject)

Who drinks, dances and parties?

3 Possible Combinations 1. Compound Subject/Simple Verb:

In this case, two or more subjects perform one action.
Example: George and Frank went to Mexico. Verb: went Subject: George + Frank

3 Possible Combinations
2. Simple Subject/Compound Verb: The simple subject of the sentence performs two or more actions.
Example: The audience booed and hissed at the performer. Verb: booed + hissed Subject: The audience

3 Possible Combinations
3. Compound Subject/Compound Verb This means that two or more subjects perform two or more actions.
Example: Greg, Peter, and Bobby danced and ate all night. Verb: danced + ate Subject: Greg, Peter, + Bobby

Practice
Directions: Find the verbs and subjects. Indicate whether they are simple or compound by writing S (for simple) or C (for compound) beside the verbs and subjects. C S S

1.

Fords and Chevrolets are two makes of American cars.

C

2. He and Martha took a vacation last spring.

S C

3. The clown juggled and sang.

C S

4. Whales and skates returned to the bay.

C
S

5. Fred and Ethel visited the Ricardos every day.

Sentence Formats
Here is an example of a Format 1 sentence: Birds sing. The abbreviation for Sentence Format 1 is NS-V. NS = Birds V = sing

Format 1 - Practice
Directions: Fill in the blanks with words that follow Sentence Format 1.

1.
2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8.

Children _______________ yell. Cats _______________ meow. Dancers _______________ dance. Swimmers _______________ swim. practice Athletes _____________. bark Dogs ________________. Joggers ______________. jog blossom Flowers ______________.

Format 1 - Practice
Directions: Put a box around the subject and circle the verb.

1. The lamb cried loudly. 2. Every summer, Selina goes to day camp. 3. The class practiced for an hour every week.

4. The price of gas just increased by 20 cents.

5. At night, hundreds of bats fly out of that

cave.

Format 2: The Direct Object

Example: Harry hit the baseball. Noun Subject = Harry Verb = hit
What relationship does baseball have to hit? Baseball is the noun direct object (NDO) of the verb. Abbreviation for Sentence Format 2: NS-V-NDO

Format 2: Practice
Directions: Label each sentence format. Identify the subjects, verbs, and direct objects.

1. Children like ice-cream.

2. The arrow struck a tree. 3. Mary cried. 4. The dog crossed the road. 5. The speaker declined the invitation. 6. The fullback caught the football. 7. The children jumped the fence.

NS-V-NDO NS-V-NDO NS-V NS-V-NDO NS-V-NDO NS-V-NDO NS-V-NDO

Format 3: The Indirect Object

Example: Hector threw me the ball. Noun Subject: Hector Verb: threw Noun Direct Object: ball ME?
The noun indirect object tells to whom the object was thrown. The abbreviation for Format 3 is: NS-V-NIO-NDO

Format 3: The Indirect Object

To test for indirect objects in a sentence, follow these 2 steps:

1. Rewrite the sentence in format 2 (NS-V-NDO) 2. Add to or for plus the word in question to the end of the sentence.

Format 3: The Indirect Object

Example: May gave me the book.

Lets decide whether me is the NIO:

1.

Rewrite the sentence to follow Format 2: May gave the book. (NS-V-NDO)

2. Add to or for plus the word in question to the end of the sentence: May gave me the book. (May gave the book to me?)

NS-V-NIO-NDO

Format 3: Practice
Directions: Label all subjects, verbs, indirect objects, and direct objects.

1. Pablo awarded Henry the prize. 2. The boy bought the girl a flower. 3. I gave my friend an umbrella. 4. Sharon bought her father a sweater. 5. My English teacher gave me an A on my test. 6. Hector fed the dog his dinner.

Thank you
Presented by the

Los Angeles Mission College Academic Success Center

Title V Hispanic Serving Institutions Funded by the United State Department of Education