Sentence Factory · Today with The Mayor

Subject & Predicate

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Every sentence splits into a subject half and a predicate half.

Subject & Predicate

Every sentence is built from two halves. Work through each one, then test it on the line.

Complete subject

Complete predicate

Two halves, one complete thought

Every sentence divides into a complete subject and a complete predicate. Put the orange half and the green half together, and you have a complete thought.

On the line

My favorite music played on the radio .

Now you try

Put a who or what together with what they do. That is a complete thought.

The complete subject and the simple subject

We begin with the complete subject, the orange half: who or what the sentence is about. The single main noun inside it is the simple subject.

On the line

My Spanish teacher waved .

Simple subject: “teacher.”

Now you try

Pick a person, an animal, or a thing. That noun is your simple subject.

The complete predicate and the simple predicate

Next, the complete predicate, the green half: everything said about the subject. Its engine is the verb, and that verb is the simple predicate.

On the line

That kitten raced away .

raced = action verb; away tells where.

Now you try

Add an action word: ran, jumped, sang. That verb is your simple predicate.