English for Students

Subject Object Predicate

Subject is the person or a thing who or which carries out the action of the verb.

Examples:

• Mr. Clinton is teaching Algebra to the students.

• Monkeys are playing around in the garden.

In the first sentence, the action is “teaching". That action is carried out by Mr. Clinton. So, “Mr. Clinton" is the subject of the verb.

In the second sentence, the action is “playing". That action is carried out by the monkeys. So, “The monkeys" is the subject of the verb.

The subject of sentence may be a simple noun or a simple pronoun as in the following sentences.

Examples:

1. Oxygen is essential for life on earth.

2. John F. Kennedy was elected as US President in 1960.

3. Honesty is the best policy.

4. Horses are majestic animals.

5. When students travel to US, they usually go by air.

The subject may be also noun-phrase as in the following cases.

Examples:

1. The Earth revolves around the sun.

2. Borrowed-garments never fit well.

3. All matter is destructible.

4. No man can serve two masters.

5. The greatest similarity between India and China is that they both have huge population.

The subject may also be an infinitive or an infinitive phrase as in the following sentences.

Examples:

1. To err is human, but to forgive is divine.

2. To retreat was difficult; to advance was impossible.

3. To seek admission in a US college is the purpose with which I take TOEFL.

4. To bribe a public servant is a penal offence.

5. To score high marks in this examination means to have bright future.

The subject may be gerund or a gerund phrase as in the following sentences.

The subject may be a full subordinate clause as in the following cases.

A sentence may also have “it" as the subject as in the following sentences.

Examples:

1. It was raining heavily when I reached home.

2. It was in 1970 that man first landed on moon.

3. It is possible that scientists will one day release the energy that is stored in water.

4. It was already dark when they started studying.

5. It is not he who came here as invigilator.

OBJECT:

The object is the person or a thing upon whom or upon which the action of the verb is carried out.

Examples:

• Monkeys are destroying the garden.

In this sentence the action is “destroying". That action is carried by the monkeys. But the action (destroying) is carried upon the garden. So “Monkeys" is the SUBJECT and “GARDEN" is the object of the verb.

• Mr. Clinton is teaching Algebra to the students.

In this sentence, the action is “teaching". That action is carried out by Mr. Clinton. That action is carried upon ‘Algebra’. So “Mr. Clinton" is the SUBJECT of the verb whereas “algebra" is the OBJECT of the verb. The word “The students" is the INDIRECT OBJECT of this sentence.

PREDICATE:

The predicate in a sentence is what tells about what a person or a thing does or did or what happened to a person or to a thing?

The predicate must (1) agree in number with subject, (2) have the correct tense and (3) be in the proper voice {active or passive}.

Examples:

• Monkeys are destroying the garden.

In the above sentence, the word “monkeys" is subject. Whereas the phrase “are destroying" is the predicate. And the word “the garden" is the object.

• Mr. Clinton is teaching Algebra to the students

In the above sentence, the word “Mr. Clinton" is the subject. The phrase “is teaching" is the predicate. The words “Algebra & The students" are objects.

Words (or participles) such as “coming", “eating", can not form full predicates of a sentence.

Similarly, Phrases (or infinitives) such as “to come", “to eat" also can not form full predicates of a sentence.

Phrases involving participles and infinitives with auxiliary verbs such as “will to come", “will to go", “may expecting", “must starting" etc… can not form the predicates of the sentence.

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