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Understanding subjects and predicates to ensure every sentence makes sense.
Have you ever tried to tell a story but forgot to say who you were talking about? It would be like saying '...jumped over the moon' without mentioning the cow! Every sentence needs two special parts to make sense.
Every sentence has a star! We call this star the subject. The subject tells us who or what the sentence is about. It is usually a person, an animal, or a thing. For example, in the sentence 'The cat naps,' the subject is 'The cat' because that is who we are talking about. Without a subject, we wouldn't know who is doing the action. It would just be a mystery!
Let's find the subject in this sentence: 'The red apple fell.' 1. Ask yourself: 'Who or what is this about?' 2. The answer is 'The red apple.' 3. So, The red apple is our subject!
Quick Check
In the sentence 'The brave fireman climbed the ladder,' who is the subject?
Answer
The brave fireman
Now that we have our star, we need to know what they are doing! The predicate is the part of the sentence that tells us the action. It always includes a verb (a doing word). If the subject is 'The dog,' the predicate tells us what the dog does, like 'barks at the mailman.' A predicate explains what is happening in the story.
Let's find the predicate in this sentence: 'The hungry squirrel hides a nut.' 1. We know the subject is 'The hungry squirrel.' 2. Now ask: 'What is the squirrel doing?' 3. The squirrel 'hides a nut.' 4. The predicate is 'hides a nut.'
Quick Check
In the sentence 'The sun shines brightly,' what is the predicate?
Answer
shines brightly
Let's build a sentence using two fragments: 1. Subject: 'My best friend and I' 2. Predicate: 'played soccer all afternoon' 3. Put them together: 'My best friend and I played soccer all afternoon.' 4. Now it makes perfect sense!
What is the subject in this sentence: 'The little bird sang a song'?
What is the predicate in this sentence: 'The baker made a cake'?
A sentence is complete if it only has a subject.
Review Tomorrow
Tomorrow morning, look at a book and try to find one subject and one predicate on the first page.
Practice Activity
Draw a picture of an animal (the subject) and then write one thing it is doing (the predicate) to make a full sentence!