by Donna | Mar 1, 2011
Sometimes a sentence may have two verbs. This is called a compound verb.
If the subject of the sentence does two different things, it has a
compound verb. Examples:
Joshua wrote and edited.
- What did Joshua do?
- Two things:
- Wrote
- Edited
Kayla passed out medicines and took blood pressures.
- What did Kayla do?
- Two things:
- Passed out medicines (passed)
- Took blood pressures (took)
Sometimes a sentence can even have three or more verbs.
Verbs can be all throughout a sentence — in opener, the main part of
the sentence, and clauses at the end.
For example, in the sentences provided below, notice all of the bold fonted action verbs.
- When Cami got to the church, she answered her emails, picked up her mail, and made phone calls but not before she ran into an old friend and chatted for a while.
- If the kids wanted to perform the drama, Kara knew that they must learn to listen carefully to instructions rather than playing around during class.
by Donna | Feb 27, 2011
In the sentences provided, highlight the main subjects.
Hint: The main subject is usually one of the first few words of a sentence!
1. Sickness is caused by different things.
2. Some animals carry sicknesses. (You may have indicated the one-word subject animals or the describer with the one-word subject.)
3. People can get sick from them.
4. Other diseases are in the air.
5. People breathe them in.
6. Then they get sick.
7. People would get sick less often if they would stay clean.
8. Children need to learn to wash their hands frequently.
- People can use anti-bacterial soap.
- We can “wash away germs.”
by Donna | Feb 23, 2011
The main subject of a sentence is never in a prepositional phrase.
This is why we spent so much time on prepositions last month. If you can find prepositions, you can find prepositional phrases. If you find prepositional phrases, you can isolate them (mentally or with parentheses) and discover that the main subject is not in a prepositional phrase. This will help you determine subject verb agreement in your sentences more clearly.
For example:
1. Kara, (along with her sisters), is coming.
a. Kara is the subject and needs the verb is
b. Sisters is not the sentence’s subject.
2. Josiah and Jake, (though not Jonathan), are at basketball.
a. Josiah and Jake are the subjects of the sentence, not Jonathan.
b. Thus, Josiah and Jake need a plural verb—are.
In review, a sentence’s main subject has the following traits:
a. It is the person or thing that the sentence is about.
b. It usually comes at the beginning of the sentence.
c. It is usually a noun or a pronoun.
d. It is the source (person or thing) of the action.
e. It is never found in a prepositional phrase.
Better study up! Tomorrow is a pop quiz! Smile…
by Donna | Feb 18, 2011
The main subject is the word or words in the sentence that the entire
sentence is about.
Two facts about the main subject for today:
a. It is often found at the beginning of the sentence.
1) He turned his head.
2) The boy had heard something.
b. It is the person or thing that the whole sentence is
about.
1) The girl ran. Who ran? girl
2) The father prayed. Who prayed? Father
Tomorrow–compound subjects!
