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Recognizing Subjects and Verbs By Kevin Chen A simple sentence • • The simplest form of a complete statement is called an independent clause or a simple sentence. Every simple sentence must have two basic elements: 1. The Subject 2. The Predicate The Subject • the thing one is talking about; • usually a noun, a pronoun, or some other group of words used as a noun. The Predicate • what one says about; • a verb is the essential part of the predicate. Ex. Birds fly. Dogs bark. Stones roll. • Birds, dogs and stones are the subjects. • Fly, bark and roll are the verbs, seen as the predicate. The first step • Finding subjects and verbs in a sentence is the first step to see if the sentence expresses a complete thought. • Look first for the verb, the most important word in a sentence, and then for the subject. Note: The ancient men knew what they need to do first, such as eat, hunt, run, and then they knew and named what to eat and hunt. So, remember the first thing is that you need to do something and then determine what something is. One sentence, one verb • In principle, there must be one subject and one verb in a sentence. (Without conjunction; not an imperative sentence) If you see conjunctions in the independent clause, there would be more than one verb. Or if there are dependent clauses, the verbs in the dependent clauses are not the so-called main verbs of the sentence. Example Test: • Read the short passage below and find the main verb of each sentence (the verb of independent clause). • Please post your answers on the discussion board of our course in EngSite. • The Beatles were without any question the most popular, most influential of all rock groups. Their influence expressed itself first of all in the simple sociological dimensions of their success, unmatched in pop-music history. But the band also managed almost singlehandedly to transform the innocent entertainment of rock-and-roll into the artistically self conscious pretensions of rock. • As the Beatles began to define their generation, it became apparent that John Lennon and Paul McCartney were the creative forces behind the band. Ringo Starr was cute and cuddly and George Harrison played eloquent lead guitar, but it was Mr. Lennon and Mr. McCartney who composed most of the band's songs and were the lead singers. They worked together in a classically complementary manner. Mr. McCartney was the sunny, bright one, the purveyor of lilting ballads and cheery love songs. Mr. Lennon was the harder, fiercer man, the true rocker of the foursome, with the deepest, most convoluted sense of rock's anger and potential triumph. •—The Beatles By John Rockwell • http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/tim estopics/organizations/b/beatles_the/index .html • END