English/Simple Sentences
| English Wikibook (edit) |
| General: Introduction - Grammar |
| Parts of speech: Nouns - Verbs - Adjectives - Adverbs - Pronouns - Conjunctions - Prepositions - Interjections |
| Parts of the sentence: Subjects - Predicates |
| Word functions: Subjects - Predicates - Direct Objects - Indirect Objects - Objects of the Preposition |
| Types of sentences: Simple Sentences - Complex Sentences |
| Types of Phrases: Adjective - Adverb - Noun |
| Types of Clauses: Adjective - Adverb - Noun |
| Other English topics: Gerunds - Idiomatic Phrases - Spelling - Vocabulary - Punctuation - Syntax - Appositives - Phonics - Pronunciation |
Sentences in English are made of...
- A subject - the person, place, thing or idea the sentence is about
- And a predicate - a word or phrase that tells about the subject.
In a sentence, the subject is first. The subject must be a noun (a person, place, thing, or idea), a pronoun (a word that replaces a noun), or a phrase that describes one of those. The subject is what the sentence is about.
After the subject comes the predicate. The predicate is the rest of the sentence. The predicate tells what the subject is or does. It almost always begins with a verb (an action or state of being). It can be a verb alone. When there is more than one verb in a sentence, we call the one at the beginning of the predicate the main verb.
- For example: He eats.
- "he" is the subject.
- "eats" is the predicate.
- "He" is a pronoun.
- "Eats" is a verb. It tells what the subject (he) does.
Sentences often also include an object - a noun or phrase that the verb does something to.
- For example: He eats food.
- "he" is the subject.
- "eat food" is the predicate.
- "Eat" is the verb, that tells what "he" does. It is the first part of the predicate.
- "Food" is the rest of the predicate. "Food" is a noun, the direct object of the verb.
- "Food" receives the action — food gets eaten.
- "He" (the subject) "eats" (the action) "food" (the direct object).
Sentences may often include a complement.
- For example: He is a good boy.
- "he" is the subject.
- "is a good boy" is the predicate.
- '"is" is the verb.
- "a good boy" is the part of the predicate without the verb.
- "a good boy" is the complement; it describes what "he" is like.
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