The Sentence: Subject and Predicate

 THE SENTENCE

• A sentence is a grammatical unit made up of a SUBJECT and a PREDICATE (with a finite/conjugated verb). 
• It is a unit of meaning that begins with a capital letter and ends with a full stop, question mark or exclamation mark.

SENTENCE ELEMENTS: SUBJECT AND PREDICATE

Every sentence may be divided into two parts: the subject and the predicate. 

E.g. The man lost his brown suitcase yesterday.

The subject 

• It consists of the word or words about which something is said by the predicate.

• The subject tells who or what the sentence is about, often who or what does something.

• The subject most often appears near the beginning of the sentence, but it can appear later: Taking too long to decide, she missed her chance. (She is the subject of the sentence).

The predicate

The predicate is the word or words which express what is said about the subject, and consists of the verb, together with such words as may be needed to complete its meaning. 

The sun rises.

CATEGORIES FUNCTIONING AS SUBJECT

• A NOUN/NOUN PHRASE:

The car is white.
John studies English.

• A PRONOUN:

He is tall.
Someone is singing. (SOMEONE=INDEFINITE PRONOUN)

This is a great idea.

• A GERUND:

Smoking is bad for your lungs.

• AN INFINITIVE:

To smoke cigarettes is very bad.

• A NOUN CLAUSE:

What he said is right.

Now watch the following video and take down notes:

Homework: identify the subject in each sentence.

1. My first trip to Istanbul was two years ago.
2. A friend and I went there in the summer.
3. The best hotels were all booked.
4. Fortunately, we found a comfortable hotel in the center.
5. Our ten vacation days went by very fast.
6. Both of us want to go back soon.