1. Subject, Predicate, Complements
Parts of a Sentence
Subject, Predicate, Complements

2. Quick Activity Write one sentence.
What did you have to include to make that a sentence?
How did you know that was a sentence? What makes a sentence a sentence?

3. Examining Sentences
They race. (Jerry Spinelli, Loser, p. 5) Who or what did something? What did they do?

4. Simple formula Subject + Verb = simple sentence
The light cluster brilliantly up the street at Claudia’s house. (p.174)

5. So…What is a sentence?
A sentence is a word or word group that contains a subject and a verb that expresses a complete thought.
Fragment = word or word group that is capitalized and punctuated as a sentence but that does not contain both a subject and a verb or does not express a complete thought.

6. Questions to ask yourselves:
Who or what did something
= subject: who or what the sentence is about
2. What did they do?
= predicate: main word or word group that tells something about the subject.

7. Matt winces. Maria flinched. Matt froze. Matt nodded.

8. Fragment vs. Sentence Fragment: The room with the high ceiling.
Sentence: The room with the high ceiling glowed in the sunset.
Fragment: After you have finished the test.
Sentence: Exit quietly after you have finished the test.

9. Um…is this a fragment?
[You]
Stop! Pass the asparagus, please.
[You]

10. Coyotes were howling in the distance.
The telephone in the lobby rang.

11. Simple Subject and Predicate
Simple subject = main word or word group that tells whom or what the sentence is about
Simple predicate (verb) = main word or word group that tells something about the subject

12. Examples Rihanna sang her heart out at the benefit concert.
The Jonas Brothers also performed.

13. Prepositional Phrases
Subject of a verb is never in a prepositional phrase (which I will explain later).
Most of the women voted.
One of the parakeets in the pet shop looks like ours.

14. Complements
Complement = word or word group that completes the meaning of a verb.
Some groups of words need more than a subject or a verb to express a complete thought.

15. Complement Examples Aunt Edna looks happy.
Marcella might become a chemist.

16. The 4 Kinds of Sentences:
Declarative: makes a statement and ends with a period.
Interrogative: asks a question and ends with a question mark.
Imperative: makes a request or gives a command.
Exclamatory: shows excitement or expresses strong feeling and ends with an exclamation mark.