The sentence is made up of two basic parts: the subject and the predi- cate. The predicate may be simple or it may be extremely complicated.

The subject of a sentence is the main noun, the noun doing the action. Every sentence has a subject, although sometimes the subject is implied. To

find the subject of a sen- tence, first find the main verb. Then ask yourself, “Who or what is doing this action?” More often, the subject comes first in

a sentence, and putting the subject first is probably the more straightforward way to organize a sentence. But for variety, and even for

suspense, writers can choose to reverse the order, putting the predicate first and the subject last, or putting parts of the predicate on

either side of the sub-ject. The foolproof way to find the subject is first to locate the verb and then to ask yourself who or what is doing this action?

My dog has three legs, two of which are wooden, and the other made of pure gold.

My uvula is very sore for some unknown reason. Ask Yourself: “What is” Answer: “uvula”

Those socks have been under the bed for three weeks. (To find the subject ask yourself, “What has been?”) Answer: the “socks”

The subject and verb must agree in number. This means that a singular subject takes a singular verb, and a plural subject takes a plural verb. You don’t have to distinguish singular verbs from plural verbs; you have to distin- guish between singular and plural

subjects. Get it? Because if you can determine whether a subject is singular or plural, your ear will match it with the correct verb. (Trust me!) If your subject is singular, match the verb with it; if your subject is plural, use they.

Choose the Correct Subject & Verb The danger of eating too many chips (do, does) not worry her.