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Identifying Subjects, Verbs, and Direct Objects
The SUBJECT of a sentence is what the sentence is about (in a simple statement it comes at the beginning). What is said or asked (let us say "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.
Subject + Verb + Direct Object Harriet cooked the canary. Harold underwent surgery.
Prepositional phrases (phrases in which a relational word is "pre-positioned" in front of a noun or pronoun) add meaning to amplify or modify the central idea. The prepositions are capitalized to call your attention to them, but the bones of the sentence are in bold type because they convey the most important ideas.
Harriet, IN a blue and white neglige, cooked the canary FOR her startled guests.
Harold underwent surgery WITHOUT fear OF the consequences.
It is useful to know that the key words in a sentence's structure are never found in prepositional phrases. The reason we care about recognizing the key structural words is that when writers let important ideas drift away from the words that form the structure, these ideas lose emphasis.
Into the box, copy the subject in
Curiosity killed the cat.
Into the box, copy the verb in
Napalm kills living organisms.
In the preceding sentence, there are nouns both before and after the verb. That pattern of word order is how speakers of English distinguish the subject from the direct object in a statement. The subject comes before the verb, the direct object after it.
Into the box, copy the subject in
The twinequartle's fliptwerk plepped a slirnd.
Into the box, copy the verb in
Drandors exmankled our little libbet.
Now let's expand the sentence a little. Into the box, copy the complete subject in
Those fifteen slamping drandors exmankled our little libbet.
Now let's expand it some more. Into the box, copy the complete VERB in
Those fifteen slamping drandors have been exmankling our little libbet.
If you did not get number 6 right and if your cumulative score after doing number 7 is less than 80%, click here to do an exercise that will teach you some useful vocabulary. It will open in a new window, and when you finish it, you can close the window and continue this exercise where you left off. _________________________
Nonsense is used in this exercise to demonstrate that once you understand word order and have command of a few terms for discussing it, the MEANING of the words themselves is not what guides you in grasping the structure of the sentence. On the contrary, meaning can actually get in the way. Attending to MEANING only, copy into the box the single word in the following sentence that tells most nearly what the sentence as a whole is about:
The actual breach of the skin seems to have been made by a savage thrust with this curved Indian dagger.
Which of the following versions of the sentence is a more powerful description?
The skin was breached when this curved Indian dagger entered the body by the assailant's savage thrust.
To breach the skin, the assailant thrust this curved Indian dagger savagely into the body.
The shorter sentence is often the stronger, but there is also structure to consider. Looking not at meaning now but at sentence structure, we see that the first sentence contains two clauses. One is independent, and the other is introduced by "when."
The skin was breached when this curved Indian dagger entered the body by the assailant's savage thrust.
The grammatical structure of the sentence is not provided by the words in the "when" clause. This clause is hooked onto the independent clause, which is what receives emphasis: The skin was breached. Not too gripping, is it? Now see what happens when this merely clinical idea is tucked into a modifying phrase:
To breach the skin, the assailant thrust this curved Indian dagger savagely into the body.
The "to" phrase now hooks onto the following independent clause. What is the verb in the independent clause below?
The assailant thrust this curved Indian dagger savagely into the body.
Into the box, copy the direct object in
To breach the skin, the assailant must have thrust this curved Indian dagger savagely into the body.
Into the box, copy the direct object in
The kids raided the refrigerator.
Into the box, copy the subject in
Your sister is asleep.
Into the box, copy the verb in
The jail provides jobs.
As the lesson on the left mentions, a direct object is an optional part of a sentence. Many sentences lack objects.
Subject + verb + direct object: I ate lunch. Subject + verb: I ate.
Eating is an action, but we don't always say we have performed it on anything in particular. Moreover, some verbs express no action at all. Rather, they introduce a description or identification of the subject:
THE BEST THINGS IN LIFE are FREE. YOU seem PLEASED with yourself. THAT ROAST smells GOOD. MY SON is A LIEUTENANT.
Verbs of being, appearing, and the five senses link the subject to a noun or adjective in the predicate, but the subject is not said to act upon what those words describe. Rather those words describe the subject itself. Into the box, copy the word in the predicate that describes the subject in
The harvest dance will be fun.
Into the box, copy the word in the predicate that describes the subject in
Those old skis look fragile.
Into the box, copy the word in the predicate that describes the subject in
Mary's father appeared agitated.
Returning to sentences involving action, another optional part besides the direct object is the INDIRECT OBJECT. It tells for whom the action described in the sentence is performed:
A scapegoat suffers for OTHERS. Sing ME a song.
The indirect object, when present, can be expressed after a preposition ("for" or "to") or alone. It can be expressed in a prepositional phrase because it is not one of the most important STRUCTURAL pieces of a sentence. Prepositional phrases of all kinds, as well as adjectives and adverbs, amplify and modify the meaning of the basic sentence elements, the SUBJECT, VERB, and (sometimes) the DIRECT OBJECT. Into the box, copy the indirect object in
Aunt Lydia crocheted a blanket for us.
What two prepositions introduce an indirect object?
In certain cases only the position of the indirect object (between verb and direct object) identifies it; no preposition is needed:
They did our club a favor = They did a favor for our club.
Which of the following sentences contains an indirect object marked by nothing but its position? (Note that it must be convertible into a "for" or "to" phrase.)
The other team made him an offer he couldn't refuse.
Harold's enemies made him a laughingstock.
Into the box, copy the direct object in
Aunt Lydia crocheted a blanket for us.
Into the box, copy the direct object in
Scandal rocked the White House.
Note in the preceding sentence that "White House" is a proper noun, a unique name of a particular building, so the adjective "White" is not an extra part of the sentence as it might be in "I need some white paint." In both sentences, of course, "white" is necessary if the idea is to be fully expressed, but in "the White House" it is necessary in a different way, for it is part of a name. Names are treated as units, no matter how many words they contain. Into the box, copy the subject in
Mr. Summers opened the black box.
Into the box, copy the verb in
Mr. Summers opened the black box.
Into the box, copy the direct object in
Mr. Summers opened the black box.
As you see, "Mr. Summers" is treated as a single word because it is a person's name, in effect one of the basic vocabulary units we start with when we begin to write. The verb, likewise, consists sometimes of one and sometimes of several words, and writers find it useful to recognize all parts of the verb. Into the box, copy the verb in
The play will run for three weekends.
Into the box, copy the direct object in
Fat leather-bound books lined the wide shelves.
In the preceding example, although "the wide shelves" is the COMPLETE DIRECT OBJECT, there may be more value in focusing precisely on the "TOP WORD" in this phrase: "shelves." This might be called the SIMPLE DIRECT OBJECT. It is useful to be able to pick out the top words (or the key words) in a sentence because when they express the key ideas, those ideas receive emphasis from being in such prominent positions. Into the box, copy the complete subject in
Fat leather-bound books lined the shelves.
The "simple subject" is the "top word" in the complete subject. In other words, it is the one word that does not modifiy any other word or phrase. Into the box, copy the simple subject in
Fat leather-bound books lined the shelves.
Into the box, copy the simple subject in
Hydrochloric acid is very unhealthy to drink.
Let us add an idea to the one you have just read, but we will add it in two different ways. Which is more powerful and interesting?
Acidic substances can cause bodily harm, hydrochloric acid being among the most dangerous.
Of all dangerous acidic substances, hydrochloric acid can harm the body most.
To find out why the second sentence has more power, write the complete subject, the complete verb, and the complete direct object in the box. Omit all words that are not subject or verb or direct object. Here is the sentence again:
Of all dangerous acidic substances, hydrochloric acid can harm the body most.
Now analyze the weak sentence. Write its complete subject, complete verb, and complete direct object in the box. Here is that sentence again:
Acidic substances can cause harm, hydrochloric acid being among the most dangerous.
Into the box, copy the simple subject (the "top word" or the "key word" in the subject) in this sentence:
Several pretty young things played daintily on the lawn.
Into the box, copy the simple subject in
Fifteen-dollar arch supports improved my eight-dollar shoes.
Into the box, copy the simple subject in
Reginald Fitzhurst believed that pigs can fly.
Let's see if you can hack through the undergrowth to identify "top words" in longer sentences. Into the box, copy the simple subject, the verb, and the simple direct object in
Some early results of the poll suggest a slight increase in support for the challenger.
In the preceding sentence, if you wrote either "poll" or "support," you were looking at meaning only and not structure. The words that form the core of a sentence's STRUCTURE are never found in prepositional phrases like "OF the poll," "IN support," or "FOR the challenger." Into the box, copy the simple subject, the verb, and the simple direct object in
The challenger leads the incumbent in early results of the poll.
Into the box, copy the simple direct object in The mysterious cat scorned the old slave who brought her cream.
Into the box, copy the complete subject in
Soup kitchens helped the millions who could not find work.
Into the box, copy the simple subject in
Soup kitchens helped the millions who could not find work.
Into the box, copy the simple subject in
During the Great Depression of the '30s, soup kitchens (often run by religious agencies) helped the millions who could not find work.
Into the box, copy the simple subject in
During the Great Depression of the '30s, soup kitchens (often run by religious agencies) helped the millions of ragged and destitute people, the "new poor" who could not find work and who hated to take charity.
Into the box, copy the simple subject, the verb, and the simple direct object in
Soup kitchens helped the millions who could not find work.
Into the box, copy the simple subject, the verb, and the simple direct object in
During the Great Depression of the '30s, soup kitchens (often run by religious agencies) helped the millions of ragged and destitute people, the "new poor" who could not find work and who hated to take charity.
Look at the following weak sentence. The prepositions have been capitalized and prepositional phrases have been bolded so that you can ignore them. Into the box, copy the subject and verb in
DURING the Great Depression OF the '30s, help FOR the millions OF ragged and destitute people, the "new poor" who could not find work and who hated to take charity, came FROM soup kitchens (often run by religious agencies).