liza swift13: April 2015

1. What is the Subject ?

The subject of a sentence is the person or thing doing the action or being described. For example (subjects shaded):

· Lee ate the pie.

(Lee is the subject of the sentence. Lee is the subject of the main verb ate; i.e., Lee is the doing the action.)

· Lee is putting on weight.

(Lee is the subject of the sentence. Lee is the subject of the main verb is; i.e.,Lee is being described.)

The subject of a sentence is one of the basic parts of a sentence. The other basic part is the predicate. The predicate tells us something about the subject (i.e., it tells us what action the subject is performing, or it describes the subject). Every sentence must have a verb, and every verb must have a subject.

2. What is Verb ?

A verb is a word that expresses an action or a state of being. Because action verbs are strong enough to be used in sentences all by themselves, they are called main verbs.

Example :

ð I love cheese. I turned the page. ( action verbs )

3. What is Verb Phrase ?

In simple words, a verb of more than one word is called a verb phrase. It is a phrase consisting of a verb, its auxiliaries (helping verbs), its complements, and other modifiers. Auxiliary verbs always come before the main verb.

A verb phrase is a syntactic unit that corresponds to the predicate. There are two types of auxiliary verbs. Inflected auxiliary verbs e.g. be, have, do and Modal auxiliary verbs e.g. will, should, must etc

verb phrase examples with explanation:

1. She has taken the job. (Auxiliary has + main verb taken)

2. Mom is making the room. (auxiliary is + main verb make)

3. He did sing at the party. (auxiliary do + main verb sing)

4. He has been coming late everyday. (auxiliaries has been + main verb take)

4. What is Complements ?

Complement is the term used for a word (or words) which are needed to complete the meaning of an expression.

Most phrases and clauses will include a complement of some kind. If you can't remove it from your sentence, then it's likely to be a complement. This is how complements differ from adjuncts. Adjuncts are optional as they are usually just descriptive. Complements are not optional. They are essential to ensure understanding.

Examples of Complements

Here are some examples of complements (complements shaded):

· Tino is weak.

(The adjective weak tells us something about the subject (Tino). This is an example of a subject complement.)

· Tino is a chicken.

(The noun phrase a chicken tells us something about the subject (Tino). This is another example of a subject complement.)

The vote made John's position untenable.

· We voted Tino Alexander.

(The noun Alexander tells us something about the object (Tino). This is another example of an object complement.)

5. What is Modifiers?

A modifier is a word, phrase, or clause which functions as an adjective or an adverb to describe a word or make its meaning more specific.

Examples of Modifiers

Modifiers can play the roles of adjectives or adverbs.

Modifiers As Adjectives

When a modifier is an adjective, it modifies a noun or a pronoun. (In these examples, the modifiers are shaded, and the words being modified are bold).

· Lee caught a small mackerel.

(Here, the adjective small modifies the noun mackerel.)

· Lee caught a small mackerel.

(Don't forget that articles (i.e., the, an, and a) are adjectives too. Here, amodifies the noun mackerel as does small.)

· Lee caught another one.

(Here, the adjective another modifies the pronoun one.)

Modifiers As Adverbs

When a modifier is an adverb, it modifies a verb, an adjective, or another adverb. For example:

· Lee accidentally caught a small whelk.

(Here, the adverb accidentally modifies the verb caught.)

· Lee caught an incredibly small mackerel.

(Here, the adverb incredibly modifies the adjective small.)