Identifying Subjects and Predicates

First, what are subjects and predicates?

Every sentence consists of two essential sentence elements, the subject and the predicate. The subject tells us who or what the sentence is about, and the predicate tells us what that subject is doing—or sensing—or is. The most basic part of the predicate is the verb. In fact, sometimes the predicate may consist of only a verb, but it still tells us what the subject is doing.

Example: Airplanes fly.

Even though there are only two words in this sentence, it does meet the three requirements of a complete sentence. The sentence is about airplanes (the subject); the word fly (the verb) tells us what airplanes do (the predicate), and the sentence expresses a complete thought.

Example: The soft, purring kitten nestled in the child’s lap.

In this case, the soft, purring kitten is the subject of the sentence because the kitten (the simple subject) is what the sentence is about. What did the kitten do? It nestled in the child’s lap; therefore, these words form the predicate of the sentence. More specifically, the word nestled (the verb) indicates the kitten’s action.

How can I find the subjects and verbs in my sentences?

One way is to first ask yourself, "What is this sentence about?" Once you have identified the subject, to find the verb ask, "What is this subject doing?" Some people find it easier to do the reverse—first find the verb and then find the subject. Here are other hints that my students have proposed:

Criteria/Hints for Finding Subjects

Criteria/Hints for Finding Verbs

Ask who or what the sentence is about.

Find the main person or thing in the sentence.

The subject is usually a noun (a person, place or thing) or pronoun (words like he, she or they that take the place of a noun).

The subject is usually at the beginning of a sentence, before the verb.

There may be more than one subject in a sentence.

The subject can never be the object of a preposition, words like with, from, under, over, and of.

Ask what is the subject doing?

Look for a word that shows action.

Look for common verb endings like –ing or –ed, or if you can add –ing to a word, it is probably a verb.

The verb usually comes after the subject.

There may be more than one verb in a sentence.

Words like is, was, are, am, was, were, has, have, had, seems (linking verbs) will always be at least part of the verb.

Now let’s look at a longer sentence and try out these suggestions.

The soft, hypnotic motion of the waves serenaded us with tender songs of happier times and finally lulled us into a peaceful, dreamless sleep.

One of the first things you can do to make finding the subject and verb easier is to eliminate all of the prepositional phrases because neither the subject nor the verb can be part of a prepositional phrase. Then the sentence would look like this:

The soft, hypnotic motion ~~of the waves~~ serenaded us ~~with tender songs of happier times~~ and finally lulled us ~~into a peaceful, dreamless sleep~~.

Now we’re left with

The soft, hypnotic motion serenaded us and finally lulled us.

What is this sentence about? Even though waves is the word closest to the verb, it can’t be the subject because it’s part of the prepositional phrase "of the waves." So who or what is this sentence about? It’s about the soft, hypnotic motion. Which of these words is a noun or pronoun? Motion is the noun, so motion is the simple subject.

What did the subject (motion) do? Or are there any words that have common verb endings like -ing or –ed? There are two words that end in –ed and come after the subject, serenaded and lulled. In addition, they do show what the motion did (the action); therefore, serenaded and lulled are the verbs.

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