INTRODUCTION

Chaste English is absolutely imperative for expressing your self-confidence and for securing gainful employment. Show me one person whos English is good and who is without work. Therefore, we are starting a series of articles for gearing you up to the right pitch of competence in correct and refined English. Our advice is that you should preserve the cutting of those articles for making a book of chaste English for yourself and that book will become your valuable legacy. ENGLISH AS A LIFE-LONG ACQUISITION SUBJECT AND PREDICATE 1. 2. Birds flew Tree fell

English is a two word language, namely Subject and Predicate. Therefore, every sentence can be logically divided into two parts, Subject and Predicate: 1. The Subject: The Subject is the person, place or thing about which we say something.

2. The Predicate: The Predicate expresses the action or state of the subject. It consists of the verb(with object or complement, if any) and any modification and qualifications. Thus, the short sentence Birds flew has Bird as the subject and flew as the predicate. Identifying the subject is very important for starting a sentence. In the following sentences the first word is the subject and the remaining words form the predicate: Ravi lifted the chair. Ravi gave Rajiv a pen. Ravi is a teacher. Ravi is tall. Ravi made Rajesh the captain. Ravi left the door open. Ravi works hard. Birds fly in the morning. Ravi likes kites with long tails. I met Ravi who seemed angry. It is good to pay taxes. (Factitive verb and two direct objects as predicate) (Factitive verb with one noun and one adjective as predicate) (Verb and adverb as predicate) (Verb and adverb phrase as predicate) (Verb, direct object and adjective phrase as predicate) (Verb, direct object, and adjective clause as predicate) (Verb, adjective, and real subject in the predicate. It is anticipatory subject; to pay taxes is infinitive, and it is the real subject) (Verb and direct object as predicate) (Verb, indirect object & direct as predicate) (Verb and noun (complement) as predicate) (Verb & adj. (complement) as predicate

It will be observed that the predicate may contain one word or a number of words. Similarly a subject may also contain one word or a number of words as is clear from the following sentences Where the subject is in bold letters: 1. 2. Ravi of St. columbas school is our captain. (Noun with an adjective phrase as subject) Many customers who supported his for years have now left him because the train service is bad. (Noun with an adjective clause as subject)

Thus, a subject can also have modifications and qualifications: Modification of the subject takes place by the addition of a word, phrase, or clause: Modification with gerund 1. 2. 3. Shouting loudly is bad. (adverb loudly modifies.) Shouting in the class is band. (adverb phrase in the class modifies the gerund (shouting) that acts here as intransitive verbal noun.) Shouting slogans in the class is bad. (slogans is the object of the transitive gerund, shouting. It means that a transitive gerund acts like a transitive verb and can have an object as slogans here. The object becomes a part of the subject. The word in the class modifies the subject shouting slogans and become a part of the subject.)

Modification and infinitive 1. 2. 3. To shout loudly is bad. (the verbal noun, infinitive, To shout, is the subject and loudly modifies the subject. To shout slogans in the calss was bad, (the verbal noun plus its object, slogans, and adverb phrase of the verbal noun (in the calss form the subject.) To shout when the teacher is there is bad. (an adverb clause modifying the subject, to shout)

Qualification of the subject in the shape of a phrase and a clause 1. 2. The boy of my school played well. (of my school qualifies the subject, and is an adjective phrase.) The man with the read bag is my brother. (with the read bag qualifies the subject, and is an adjective.

EXERCISE NO.1 Read each sentence given below very carefully. The underlined word/words may be subject, predicate, verb, direct object of the verb or complement. Every question has four options, the right option is your answer. Choose the right option and mark that option as your answer. 1. The man with the red bag is a doctor.

(a) (b) (c) (d) 2. (a) (b) (c) (d) 3. (a) (b) (c) (d) 4. (a) (b) (c) (d) 5. (a) (b) (c) (d) 6. (a) (b) (c) (d)

Subject Direct object Complement Predicate The boys of this class broke this table. Subject Direct object Complement Predicate Nobody believed your false story. Subject Direct object Complement Predicate These two boys are unwell. Subject Direct object Complement Predicate This Olympic of 2012 brought glory to Great Britain. Subject Verb Complement Predicate The usefulness of computers is immense. Subject Verb Complement Predicate

7. (a) (b) (c) (d) 8. (a) (b) (c) (d) 9. (a) (b) (c) (d) 10. (a) (b) (c) (d)

Amit became the captain of our team. Subject Direct object Complement Verb These Shops of our market are closed today. Subject Direct object Complement Predicate Your statement is totally false. Subject Direct object Complement Predicate The captain of this team will be Amit. Subject Direct object Complement Predicate

ANSWER & SOLUTION

Before checking your answers, you should read the following definitions of Subject and Predicate. All these answer are based on these two definitions:SUBJECT: The subject is the person, place, or thing about which we say something. PREDICATE: The predicate expresses the action or state of the subject. It consists of the verb (with object or complement, if any) and any modifications and qualifications.

COMPLEMENT: The complement means the completer of the action or condition conveyed by such verbs as is, am, are, was, were, appear, seem, look, become, prove etc. The condition or action stated in these verbs remains confined to the subject, but the meaning of the verb is still not clear. In that case these verbs require a complement. The complement may be a noun or adjective. 1. Ans (d) These words indicate the state of the subject. They consist of the verb and the complement. 2. Ans (b) The action denoted in the verb broke goes to the object, this table. Therefore, this table is the direct object of the verb. 3. Ans (a) Nobody is an indefinite pronoun here. It acts as the subject of a sentence as we say something about an unknown person, nobody. 4. Ans (c) The word unwell is an adjective acting as a complement of the verb are. In these two boys are the condition is limited to the boys, but still the sense is not clear. Therefore, a complement is needed. 5. Ans (b) The word brought denotes the action done by this Olympic of 2012, the subject of the sentence. 6. Ans (d) The words is immense constitute the predicate as these words indicate the condition of the subject. 7. Ans (c) These words indicate the completer of the verb became. This verb does not complete the predicate itself. Therefore, it requires a completer. 8. Ans (a) These words indicate a thing/things about which we say something in the following words. 9. Ans (d) These words indicate the condition of the subject. They consist of the verb and the complement(completer of the verb) 10. Ans (c) The word Amit is the complement (completer) of the verb will be (a verb denoting the condition of the subject. This verb requires a complement, and the noun Amit acts as a complement of will be.