SUBJECT
Definition: The subject of a sentence
is the noun, pronoun or noun phrase that precedes and governs the main verb.
The subject is the part of the sentence that performs an action or which is
associated with the action.
For example:
* He is a really nice guy.
* "He" is the subject of the sentence, controlling the verb and the
complement.
* My dog attacked the burglar.
* "My dog" is the subject, controlling the verb and the rest of the
sentence.
* David plays the piano
* The subject "David" performs the action of "playing the
piano".
* The police interviewed all the witnesses.
* The subject the police performs the action of interviewing all the witnesses.
To determine the subject of a sentence, first isolate the
verb and then make a question by placing "who?" or "what?"
before it. Having identified the Subject, we can see that the remainder of the
sentence tells us what the Subject does or did. We refer to this string as the
"predicate" of the sentence.
For example:
* Who plays the piano?
=> "David" ( = Subject)
=> "plays the piano" ( = predicate) tells us
what David does.
* Who interviewed all the witnesses?
=> "The police" (= Subject)
=> "interviewed all the witnesses" ( =
predicate) tell us what the police did.
Subjects can either be "simple",
"compound" or "complex"
Simple Subject
Composed of a single pronoun, noun or noun phrase.
Complex Subject
A complex subject consists of a noun phrase and any words,
phrases, or clauses that modify it.
For example:
* The man who had followed us inside walked over to the
telephone.
=> central noun: man
=> complex subject: the man who had followed us inside
* The superior performance of La Traviata pleased the
wealthy audience.
=> central noun: performance
=> complex subject: the superior performance of La
Traviata
Compound Subject
A compound subject consists of two or more noun phrases
(and their modifiers if any) joined together with a coordinating conjunction.
For example:
* The man and the woman walked over to the telephone.
=> The compound subject here is the whole phrase,
"the man and the woman."
* Neither the superior performance of La Traviata nor the
excellent wine at intermission pleased the wealthy audience.
=> Again, the whole phrase, "neither the superior
performance of La Traviata nor the excellent wine at intermission," is the
subject. The phrase answers the question, "What pleased the wealthy
audience?"
VERBS
Definition: Verbs are a
class of words used to show the performance of an action (do, throw, run),
existence (be), possession (have), or state (know, love) of a subject. To put
it simply a verb shows what something or someone does.
For example:
* Paul rides a bicycle.
* Here, the verb rides certainly denotes an action which
Paul performs - the action of riding a bicycle.
* We buy some books to learn English verbs.
* In this example, the action word is "to buy".
It tells us that the subject "we", that is the person who performs
the action of the verb is "buying some books".
The verb tense shows the time of the action or state.
Aspect shows whether the action or state is completed or not. Voice is used to
show relationships between the action and the people affected by it. Mood shows
the attitude of the speaker about the verb, whether it is a declaration or an
order. Verbs can be affected by person and number to show agreement with the
subject.
Most statements in speech and writing have a main verb.
These verbs are expressed in "tenses" which place everything in a
point in time.
Verbs are conjugated (inflected) to reflect how they are
used. There are two general areas in which conjugation occurs; for person and
for tense.
Conjugation for tense
Conjugation for tense is carried out on all verbs. All
conjugations start with the infinitive form of the verb.
The infinitive is simply the to form of the verb For
example, to begin.
The present participle form (the -ing form), is formed by
adding ing to the bare infinitive. For example, to begin - beginning.
There are two other forms that the verb can take,
depending on the tense type and time, the simple past form and the past
participle.
The form of the verb or its tense can tell when events
take place.
For example, the verb kiss:
Present Simple: kiss/kisses
Past Simple: kissed
Future Simple: will kiss
Present Perfect: has/have kissed
Past Perfect: had kissed
Future Perfect: will have kissed
Present Continuous (Progressive): is/am/are kissing
Past Continuous (Progressive): was kissing
Future Continuous (Progressive): will be kissing
Present Perfect Continuous (Progressive): has/have been
kissing
Past Perfect Continuous (Progressive): had been kissing
Future Perfect Continuous (Progressive): will have been
kissing
Conjugation for person
Conjugation for person occurs when the verb changes form,
depending on whether it is governed by a first, second, or third person
subject. This gives three conjugations for any verb depending on who is acting
as the subject of the verb. For example: we have I begin, you begin , and he
begins. Note that only the third conjunction really shows a difference.
In English, we distinguish between regular and irregular
verbs. Regular verbs are those ones which form their past simple and past
participle just by adding "-ed" to the base of the verb. The rest are
irregular.
For example:
* Dracula bites
his victims on the neck.
* In early October, Giselle will plant twenty tulip bulbs.
* She travels to work by train.
* We walked five miles to a garage.
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COMPLEMENT
Complement can often be
confused with the Object. While the Subject and Object of a clause, in the
vast majority of cases, refer to different entities, the Complement gives
more information about either the Subject or the Object. As with the Subject
and Object elements, there is only one grouping or phrase which is considered
to be the Complement of a clause.
The Subject
Complement
Let's begin by looking at some pairs of sentences where this
information centres on the Subject.
- Bill
hit Harry.
- Bill
is a policeman.
- The
camel carried the load.
- The
camel smells awful.
- A
car hit the lamp post.
- A
car was what she wanted for her birthday.
So, in the preceding examples the first sentence of each pair
contains an Object - Harry, the load, the lamp post. These are clearly not
the same entities as the Subjects of the sentences. However, the same cannot
be said for the second sentence of each pair where there is a strong
connection between the Subjects and the phrases a policeman, awful and what
she wanted for her birthday. These phrases act to identify the Subject more
precisely. These are known as Complements; more specifically they are subject
complements because they define the Subjects of the clauses, in this case
Bill, the camel and a car.
In most sentences where
the Complement defines the Subject, you will find a particular type of verb
being used. The most usual is the verb be and its forms (e.g. am, are, was,
have been) followed by a noun phrase or an adjective phrase, often as a
single word. In the instances above, a policeman is a noun phrase and awful
is an adjective phrase. Other examples are:
Noun phrase as
Subject Complement:
- Love
is a drug.
- This
is her pen.
- He
is the father of three.
- Time
is the great healer.
- Those
animals were very rare Siberian tigers.
- The
Earth is 150 million kilometres from the Sun.
Adjective phrase as Subject Complement:
- The
weather is hot.
- All
the passengers were Russian.
- The
little cottage was nice and cosy.
- Her
teeth were pearly white.
- The
argument became more heated.
- The
weather gradually got hotter and hotter.
In all of these cases, the phrases after is, was and were
define the Subject. You should notice that, although two of the Complements
in the first set of examples contain adjectives (great, very rare Siberian),
these are still treated as noun phrases because the main words in the groups
are themselves nouns (healer, tigers).
Earlier I commented that
a particular type of verb is often used in clauses with a subject Complement
and that verb is usually be. However, there is a small number of other verbs
either closely connected with be or to do with sensing that frequently occur
in this type of clause. A short list with examples might include:
Be type: seem, appear, become, turn out, grow, remain
- The
sky seems clearer today.
- He
turned out to be a bad influence.
- His
client became more and more angry.
Sense
type: look, sound, feel, taste, smell (all followed by like with a noun)
- Her
voice sounds lovely.
- That
sounds like heaven.
- The
tea tastes foul.
There is still one type of subject Complement that we haven't
looked at yet - this is the subordinate clause. The example from the original
sentences is:
- A
car was what she wanted for her birthday.
Here a car is the Subject, the Verb is was and the Complement
defining the Subject is what she wanted for her birthday, which is a clause
since it has its own Subject (she) and Verb (wanted). Other examples of
clauses used as subject Complements are:
- Justice
is what we're looking for.
- The
first thing I did was open all the windows.
- The
remaining problem is where to find the money.
- Our
only option is to run away.
The Object Complement
In all the instances in
the previous section the Complement gave additional information about the
Subject of the clause. Additional information can similarly be given about
the Object. Look at the examples below:
- Everyone
thought him an idiot.
- The
accusation made me livid.
- The
whole town wanted the outlaw dead.
- The
board has made him manager.
- I
find it difficult to believe.
Here, the phrases in bold are giving extra information about
the Objects of the clauses which are him, me, the outlaw, him, it. The object
Complement usually follows the Object of the clause as in all the examples
above and the choice of verb is not so restricted as it is with the subject
Complement clauses.
MODIFIER
Tells the time, place or
manner of the action. Very often it's a prepositional phrase. Prepotional
phrase is a group of words that begins with a preposition and ends with a
noun.
Note : A modifier of time usually comes last if more than one modifier is
present.
Example of prepositional phrases :
In the morning, at university, on the table
A modifier can also be an adverb or an adverbial phrase :
Last night, hurriedly, next year, outdoors, yesterday
Example
:
John bought a book at
the bookstore
(modifier place)
Jill was swimming in the pool yesterday
(modifier of place)(modifier of time)
Note:
The modifier normally follows the complement, but not always. However, the
modifier, especially when it's a prepositional phrase, usually can't separate
the verb and the complement.
Example : She drove the car on the street
(verb) (complement)
Exercise
Identify the subject, verb, complement, and modifier in each
of the following sentence.
1. Henry and Marcia have visited the president
2. We eat lunch in this restaurant today
3. Pat should have bought gasoline yesterday
4. Trees grows
5. It was raining at seven o'clock this morning
6. She buy pineaple in the market
7. They were watching tv a few minutes ago
*Answer*
1. Henry and Marcia/ have visited/ the president
(subject) (verb phrase) (complement)
2. We /eat/ lunch /in this restaurant /today
(subject) (verb phrase) (complement) (modifier of place)(modifier of time)
3. Pat /should have bought /gasoline /yesterday
(subject) (verb phrase) (complement) (modifier of time)
4. Trees /grows
(subject) (verb phrase)
5. It/ was raining /at seven o'clock this morning
(subject) (verb phrase) (modifier of time)
6. She /buy /pineaple /in the market
(subject) (verb phrase) (complement) (modifier of place)
7. They /were watching /tv /a few minutes ago
(subject) (verb phrase) (complement) (modifier of time)
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