Grammar Smart 3rd Edition - Princeton Review 2014

A. The Subject
Part 2. The Sentence

The sentence is the primary unit of grammar, and understanding the sentence is the key to good grammar. Try to think of it as fluid and malleable, and as expressive of the information you’re communicating, of the orderliness of your thinking, and of your personality. Your syntax, which is simply the structure of your sentences, tells your audience something about how your mind works—you don’t want your message to be that the lights are on but nobody’s home.

Basic Elements Of The Sentence

The sentence is made up of two basic parts: the subject and the predicate. The predicate may be simple or it may be extremely complicated; this chapter shows you how to separate subject from predicate, and how to break the predicate down into its component parts: phrases, clauses, and objects. In Part 1, you learned parts of speech, and those lessons still apply here. Instead of looking at the functions of single words, you’ll be looking at the functions of longer and longer groups of words.

A. The Subject

The subject of a sentence is the main noun (the noun doing the action), along with any words or phrases that modify the main noun. The main noun by itself is called the simple subject. Every sentence has a subject, although sometimes the subject is implied. To find the subject of a sentence, first find the main verb. Then ask yourself, Who or what is doing this action? Below are some examples of subjects, which are italicized.

My dog has three legs. (Who has? My dog.)

After tonight, Wanda will never speak to Ralph again. (who will never speak? Wanda.)

Wanda and Max left the office at midnight. (Who left? Wanda and Max.)

Obviously, the election is over. (What is over? The election.)

Get lost! (Who should get lost? The implied subject is you.)

Quick Quiz #15

Finding the Subject

Find the simple subject in the following sentences.

1. Oscar saw a Martian sitting on a bench eating a banana.

2. Don’t walk on the grass.

3. Who could live without ice cream?

4. Those socks have been under the bed for three weeks.

5. The roommates, after much discussion, finally bought a new sofa.

Rules For Subjects

1. The subject and verb must agree in number. This means that a singular subject takes a singular verb, and a plural subject takes a plural verb. You don’t have to be able to distinguish singular verbs from plural verbs; you do have to distinguish between singular and plural subjects. Why? Because if you can determine whether a subject is singular or plural, your ear will be able to match it with the correct verb. If your subject is singular, match the verb with it; if your subject is plural, use they. See Part 3, Section A for more explanation and practice.

2. Bracketing prepositional phrases may help you find the subject.

Six [of the men] [with beards] wore only one shoe.

(verb: wore; subject: six)

[On Tuesday] people [with dogs] [on leashes] meet [in the park].

(verb: meet; subject: people)

Quick Quiz #16

Billy Wifflamoo, Teen Love Idol

Locate each verb and circle it. Underline the subject of each verb, and draw a line connecting the two.

There came a moment (and a short moment it was) when Billy was the primary love object of all the girls in his school. Girls had been falling for the best-looking, most athletic, most charming boys, but one day, Billy had something none of them had: he had actual contact with an alien. This made him famous and much admired.

The alien had touched Billy’s ear with his spiky green finger. Billy’s ear had swelled to six times the normal size for ears, and he was suddenly able to hear very acutely. He could hear what his neighbors were saying in their living room, which was not at all interesting. The alien touched all of Billy’s body parts, and in turn, each grew to six times its normal size. Soon Billy himself was a pretty big guy. The alien taught Billy how to do this for himself, whenever he felt like it. He performed this trick at school, which was why the girls fell in love with him. It didn’t last.

After Billy shrank back to normal size, he and the alien talked about baseball. The alien liked the Red Sox, a doomed team if ever there was one.

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