Subject & Predicate

What is a subject?

The predicate is: “the rest” of the sentence - the parts that explain what the subject is
doing!

•The verb

•The object of the sentence
(if there is one)

•Other phrases and clauses
(like descriptive info)

The puppy jumped into the car.

The subject of a sentence is
the person or thing that DOES

THE ACTION.

In most sentences (that are
active voice), the subject

appears early in the

sentence.

The puppy jumped into the

car.

What is a predicate?

2

Copyright Secondary Sara (2017)

Simple Subject

The ONE WORD that

represents the subject:
the person’s name, the
subject pronoun, or the

“main” noun of the

sentence.

Ignore any articles (a, an, the), adjectives

(describing words), or predicate pieces!

Simple subject examples:

The puppy jumped into the

car.

A broken iPad was on the

ground.

The Wifi is strong here.

He hit his head and got a

concussion.

Star Wars and Star Trek

are very different
franchises!

3

Copyright Secondary Sara (2017)

Simple Predicate

The MAIN VERB of the

sentence... the one or two

words that say what the

subject is doing!

● Action verb: jumped,

dancing, sing, broke...

● “Being” verbs: is, am,

are, was, were, being,
been...

● Helping verbs: have,

has, had, could, should,
would, can, will...

Simple predicate examples:

The puppy jumped into the

car.

A broken iPad was on the

ground.

The Wifi is strong here.

He hit his head and got a

concussion.

Star Wars and Star Trek

are very different
franchises!

4

Copyright Secondary Sara (2017)

Complete Subject

or Predicate

The simple subject (or

predicate) AND any other...

● articles
● adjectives
● prepositional phrases
● other clauses/phrases

Complete subjects & objects:

The puppy jumped into the

car.

A broken iPad was on the

ground.

The Wifi is strong here.

He hit his head and got a

concussion.

Star Wars and Star Trek are

very different
franchises!

5

Copyright Secondary Sara (2017)

Compound

Subject/ Predicate

Anytime there is TWO

subjects or TWO predicates

within ONE sentence.

Compound subject or predicate
examples...

The puppy jumped into the

car.

A broken iPad was on the

ground.

The Wifi is strong here.

He hit his head and got a

concussion.

Star Wars and Star Trek are

very different franchises!

6

Copyright Secondary Sara (2017)