Grammaropolis
The Sentence Factory

Sentence Complements

A linking verb joins the subject to a subject complement that completes it.

Start the lesson →

Preview how it deepens, Grades 4 through 8.

subject + linking verb + complement See it · tap a half
Try it on the line

Build one yourself.

Pick one chip at each station and snap them together. The Mayor inspects the finished sentence, a quick taste of how the parts combine.

1 · Nelson's office · the subject

2 · Lucy's linking verb

3 · the complement (describes or renames)

4 · The Mayor inspects
Link a subject to a word that describes or renames it.
✓ Subject linked to a complement · approved
Keep going in the Arcade · free, plays daily
Sentence Surgeon · revising sentences
Sentence Surgeon

A change order drops: make it plural, give it an adverb, swap in a pronoun. Re-tool the sentence and roll it back onto the line.

Play Sentence Surgeon →
Garbage Sentences · syntax vs. meaning
Garbage Sentences

Slang builds a sentence that follows every rule of grammar and still means nonsense. Catch which rule he really broke, and let the Mayor judge.

Play Garbage Sentences →
Watch for

After a linking verb, use a describing word, not an adverb.

Adverb (wrong)

Badly is an adverb, so it describes the verb. That would mean the soup is bad at tasting.

Predicate adjective

The linking verb tastes links back to the soup, so it needs a describing word: bad, the complement, boxed inside the predicate.

The crew on this station

The characters host. The sentence is the star.

Lucy portrait
Lucy
works the line
Jake portrait
Jake
works the line
Nelson portrait
Nelson
works the line
The Mayor portrait
The Mayor
inspects the sentence
What you'll learn

The same concept, deeper every grade.

Sentence Complements runs the length of the Factory, Grades 4 through 8. The lesson meets the standard at each grade, across all four frameworks.

Grade 4 A linking verb joins the subject to a subject complement that completes it. CCSS L.4.1
Grade 5 A linking verb joins the subject to a subject complement that completes it. CCSS L.5.1
Grade 6 After a linking verb, a subject complement completes the subject. It lives in the predicate. CCSS L.6.1
Grade 7 After a linking verb, a subject complement completes the subject. It lives in the predicate. CCSS L.7.1
Grade 8 After a linking verb, a subject complement completes the subject. It lives in the predicate. CCSS L.8.1