Introducing Subordinate Clauses as Main Sentence Elements
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Subjects, Verbs, and Objects in Sentences with Multiple Clauses
The SUBJECT of a sentence, nearly always first in a simple statement, is what the statement is about. What is said (or "predicated") about the subject is called the PREDICATE.
The most important word in the predicate is the VERB, which can be identified easily by changing the time the sentence refers to. Verbs change form to respond to changes in time (I SLEEP, I SLEPT, I HAVE SLEPT, I WILL SLEEP), and every sentence has a verb.
The direct object of a verb is an optional part of a sentence. It follows the verb and receives the "action," if any, indicated in the verb. Like the subject, the direct object is never part of a prepositional phrase.
Subject + Verb + Direct Object prepositional phrase
Harriet cooked the canary for her startled guests.
Harold underwent surgery in the spring.
If you are not sure you can tell a phrase from a clause, you are not ready for this exercise. Click on "Review of Phrases and Clauses" at the top or bottom of the screen, and when you have done the review, return here.
Copy into the box the subject in
Clare knew what mattered.
Copy into the box the subject in
Results were what mattered.
The two preceding sentences will serve as review of the two different kinds of verbs: action verbs and linking verbs.
First let's review verbs that express action (in the broadest sense). When a verb expresses an action that can be performed ON someone or something, normal sentence structure (as opposed to passive or question structure) identifies the actor or agent in the subject position, before the verb. The recipient of the action (the direct object) comes after the verb.
Example: Clare knew what mattered.
Parsing this example sentence would yield the following description:
Clare: actor/subject knew: active verb taking an object (This sort of verb is called a "transitive verb.") what mattered: direct object, the thing known, in this case expressed in the form of a subordinate clause.
A second, smaller group of verbs (forms of "to be" and others implying equation or resemblance, verbs of the five senses, and verbs referring to becoming or remaining) link the subject to a word in the predicate that describes the subject.
Example: Results were what mattered.
Results: subject but not an "actor" were: linking verb what mattered: predicate element linked to the subject.
Knowing is an "action" performed on the thing known, "what mattered." "Results," on the other hand, are the same thing as "what mattered." "What mattered" is called a direct object only in the sentence where it receives action, as in "Clare knew what mattered."
Which of the following sentences contains a direct object?
Winona knew higher mathematics.
Higher mathematics was important to Winona.
Copy into the box the direct object:
I have never forgotten your story of the snakes.
Copy into the box the verb:
I have never forgotten your story of the snakes.
Now you are going to have to distinguish between a main clause (also called an independent clause) and a subordinate clause (also called a dependent clause). Subordinate clauses always begin with a word that subordinates them to another clause. There is a sizeable list of subordinating words (e.g., when, how, that, where, although, because, so that, who, which, that, what).
Although a subordinate clause has structure, the sentence as a whole owes its shape to the structure of the main clause. Therefore, when you revise your sentences, pay special attention to the main clause, the independent clause.
Copy into the box the verb in the independent clause:
Cover yourself with a blanket before you freeze to death.
Copy into the box the direct object in the main clause in
I have never forgotten how you escaped from the snakes.
Copy into the box the verb in the independent clause:
We will prove that Colin killed the butler.
Copy into the box the subject in the independent clause:
We will prove that Colin killed the butler.
From here on, when you are asked to find a main sentence element (subject, verb, object), you are to understand that the independent clause is meant, unless otherwise indicated.
Copy into the box the direct object in
Colin killed the butler.
The preceding sentence demonstrates that a clause can be independent if it starts with a capital letter and ends with a period, but it can also become a unit in a larger structure. When this happens, it becomes "dependent" or "subordinate."
Copy into the box the direct object in
We will prove that Colin killed the butler.
Copy into the box the verb in the dependent clause (that is, the verb in the clause serving as the direct object in the sentence as a whole):
We will prove that Colin killed the butler.
Copy into the box the subject in
I ask only that you deliver my dead body to my grandfather.
Unless the question asks about the structure of a dependent clause, as the preceding one did, all questions about sentence structure concern the sentence as a whole, meaning the independent clause and its parts, but (as you have already seen) these parts may themselves be dependent clauses.
Copy into the box the direct object in
I ask only that you deliver my dead body to my grandfather.
Now you will be asked to distinguish between subjects and other sentence elements coming before them. Single words, phrases, and even clauses can come at the beginning of a sentence without being the subject (or even being capable of being a subject), as in "From here to the border, the fog is very thick," where "the fog" is the subject.
Identify the subject in
Whenever I finish a sentence, you always say, "Uh huh."
I
you
Copy into the box the direct object in
Whenever I finish a sentence, you always say, "Uh huh."
Copy into the box the subject and the verb in
I will escape from here if ever I get the chance.
Copy into the box the subject and the verb in
If ever I get the chance, I will escape from here.
Copy into the box the subject and the verb in
When you get up, you should make your bed.
Copy into the box the subject and the verb in
When you woke up, did you make your bed?
It's important to be able to distinguish between the subject of a sentence and any modifiers (single words, phrases, or clauses) that may come before the subject. For one thing, every sentence must have a subject, and confusion about what kind of unit starts the sentence may sometimes cause you to leave out the subject, mistaking a modifier for it.
Identify the subject in
While we ate, enormous flies and mosquitoes buzzed about our heads.
enormous flies and mosquitoes
While we ate
we
Copy into the box the subject in
What happened after we left?
Identify the subject in
What happened to Laura should happen to no one.
What happened to Laura
What
Laura
Identify the subject in
Juggling school, work, and homework, Paul had little time for a social life.
Juggling
Juggling school, work, and homework
Paul
Identify the subject in
Juggling school, work, and homework left Paul little time for a social life.
Juggling
Juggling school, work, and homework
Paul
Identify the subject in
While he was juggling school, work, and homework, Paul had little time for a social life.
While he was juggling school, work, and homework
Paul
Copy into the box the subject in
Mourning the dead, Lincoln appealed to the assembly's desire to invest this heavy loss with lasting meaning.
You may have noticed the great value of placing a comma after elements that precede the subject. This comma alerts readers that the introductory words are not the subject, and in certain cases this knowledge is very helpful indeed. Compare these pairs of sentences:
While we ate, enormous flies and mosquitoes buzzed about our heads. While we ate enormous flies and mosquitoes, we tried to look as if we enjoyed them.
Now copy into the box the complete subject in the following sentence, assuming that it is correctly punctuated:
Mourning the dead Lincoln appealed to the assembly's desire to invest this heavy loss with lasting meaning.
Copy into the box the sentence below and insert a comma to show where the introductory words end and the subject begins.
There in the distance beyond the vast plain sloped gently to the sea.
Copy into the box the sentence below and insert a comma to show where the introductory words end and the subject begins.
When violently angry elephants trumpet.
The question of punctuation is closely related to this lesson. If you care to take an excursion into punctuation, click on this link, and when you finish, close the window to return to this spot.
Proceeding now, remember that subordinate clauses can appear not only at the beginning but anywhere in a sentence, and some of them can perform the work of nouns, while others work like adverbs or adjectives. As a noun-substitute, a subordinate clause can come at the beginning of the sentence as the subject. As an adverb-substitute a subordinate clause can likewise come at the beginning of a sentence—but before the subject. Careful punctuation will make clear what kind of element starts your sentences, for readers know that writers do not separate subject from predicate by a comma, but they do separate introductory words from the subject.
Copy into the box the direct object in
Do you remember how cold it was that winter?
Copy into the box the subject in
She always said what was in her heart.
Copy into the box the verb in
She always said what was in her heart.
What grammatical name is given to "what was in her heart" in this sentence?
She always said what was in her heart.
What is the subject in
Whether sad, angry, or happy, she always said what was in her heart.
Copy into the box the subject in
In the voice of Arnold Schwartzenegger, the image said, "Get your ass to Mars."
Copy into the box the direct object in
In the voice of Arnold Schwartzenegger, the image said, "Get your ass to Mars."
Identify the complete subject in
All I ask is that you deliver my dead body to my grandfather.
All
All I ask
I
you
Copy into the box the direct object in
Michael screamed, "You'll never take me alive!"
Copy into the box the subject in
Sherman wondered, "Once I reach the top, how will I ever get down?"
Copy into the box the direct object in
Sherman wondered, "Once I reach the top, how will I ever get down?"
Copy into the box the subject in
"Once I reach the top," Sherman wondered, "how will I ever get down?"
Copy into the box the direct object in
"Once I reach the top," Sherman wondered, "how will I ever get down?"
Copy into the box the subject in
Upon being wakened in the middle of the night and led away to more questioning, Sir Thomas complained, "This is iniquitous!"
Copy into the box the subject in
"This is iniquitous," complained Sir Thomas.
Copy into the box the subject in
"You don't say!" laughed the blonde.
Identify the verb in the main clause in
"If you don't watch your step, you mutt," threatened Mrs. Volpe, "I'm going to have you stuffed."
do watch
threatened
'm going
Copy into the box the direct object in
"Don't forget," said Grandma, "to light a candle for Effie."