Parts of Speech and Subject Predicate: Two Lessons, Grades 3-5

English has eight parts of speech. A part of speech is the name for the job a word does. A noun names a person, a place, a thing, or an idea. Sailors, soldiers, gates, ships, shields, and courage are nouns. A pronoun stands in place of a noun. He, she, it, they, him, her, them, we, and you are pronouns. A verb is the action of the sentence, or a being word such as is, am, was, or were. Rowed, marched, and carried are verbs. An adjective describes a noun. It tells what kind, which one, or how many. Golden, tall, heavy, and three are adjectives. The three small words a, an, and the are adjectives too, and they answer which one. Those three are called articles. Some books call them determiners. On this sheet they land with the adjectives. An adverb tells how, when, or where about the verb. Slowly, later, and here are adverbs. A preposition shows position or direction, and a noun comes after it, sometimes with a small word or two in between. In, on, under, over, across, toward, into, from, and beside are prepositions. A conjunction joins two parts together. And, but, or, and so are conjunctions. An interjection is a sudden feeling word, and a comma or an exclamation point sets it off. Oh, wow, alas, and hurrah are interjections.

Here is the idea that makes this page harder than it looks. The label does not belong to the word. It belongs to the job that word is doing in its own sentence. Read these two lines. The hero won the race. The horses race down the hill. Race is the same word both times. In the first line it names a thing, so it is a noun. In the second line it tells what the horses do, so it is a verb. One word, two labels. Many words work both ways. Race, guard, water, light, and fire can each name a thing in one line and tell what somebody does in the next. Farmers water a field, and the field then holds water. So read the whole line first. Then decide.

Guessing is slow, and a fixed order is faster and surer. Ask these eight questions about one word at a time, and stop at the first yes. One. Is it a sudden feeling word set off by a comma or an exclamation point? Interjection. Two. Does it join two parts together? Conjunction. Three. Does it show position or direction, with a noun after it, sometimes with a small word or two in between? Preposition. Four. Does it stand in place of a name? Pronoun. Five. Does it name a person, a place, a thing, or an idea? Noun. Six. Is it the action of the sentence, or a being word such as is or was? Verb. Seven. Does it describe a noun by telling what kind, which one, or how many? Adjective. Remember that a, an, and the always land here. Eight. Does it tell how, when, or where about the verb? Adverb.

Now watch the eight questions work across a whole sentence. Read the line first. Oh, the tired sailors rowed slowly across the wine-dark sea, and they reached the shore. Oh is a sudden feeling word with a comma after it, so it is an interjection. The is an article, so it is an adjective. Tired describes sailors, so it is an adjective. Sailors names people, so it is a noun. Rowed is the action, so it is a verb. Slowly tells how they rowed, so it is an adverb. Across shows direction and a noun follows it, so it is a preposition. The is an adjective again, and wine-dark describes sea, so that is an adjective too. Sea names a place, so it is a noun. And joins the two parts of the sentence, so it is a conjunction. They stands in place of sailors, so it is a pronoun. Reached is the action of the second part, so it is a verb. The is an adjective one more time, and shore names a place, so shore is a noun. All eight parts of speech are in that one sentence.

You already know how this feels, because you do it every day without thinking. Run down the hill, and run is something you did. Go for a run, and now a run is a thing you went for. Nobody has to tell you which is which. The sentence tells you. Words behave the same way at your house as they do in a myth. Read the line, find the job, then write the label.

Every sentence has two parts. One part names who or what the sentence is about. That part is the complete subject. The other part tells what the subject does or is. That part is the complete predicate. The complete predicate always holds the verb. Here is a sentence about the king. The greedy king Midas touched a red rose. The complete subject is The greedy king Midas. The complete predicate is touched a red rose.

Here is how to cut a sentence into its two parts. Step one. Find the verb. Step two. Ask who or what does that verb. Step three. The answer, plus the words that go with it, is the complete subject. Everything left over is the complete predicate. On this sheet the cut lands right in front of the verb. Try it on a new sentence. The gold cup slipped from his hand. Find the verb. The verb is slipped. Ask who or what slipped. The cup did. So the complete subject is The gold cup. The complete predicate is slipped from his hand. Try it once more. A heavy stone jar sat in a dark corner. The verb is sat. Ask who or what sat. The jar did. The complete subject is A heavy stone jar. The complete predicate is sat in a dark corner.

Inside each part sits one key word. The simple subject is the one main word that names who or what. The simple predicate is the verb. Look at our first sentence again. The complete subject is The greedy king Midas, and the simple subject is Midas. The complete predicate is touched a red rose, and the simple predicate is touched. Both parts still have a key word even when the sentence is short. The cup turned to gold. The simple subject is cup. The simple predicate is turned.

A group of words that is missing one of the two parts is a fragment. A fragment is not a sentence yet. Read this. The red rose in his hand. It names something, but it never tells what that something does. There is no verb, so there is no predicate. It is a fragment. Now read this. Sat in a dark corner. It tells what happened, but it never names who or what. There is no subject. It is also a fragment. Here is the test. Put your finger under the words and ask two questions. Who or what is this about? What does it do, or what is it? If either question has no answer, you are holding a fragment.

This test is worth using on your own writing. You have seen fragments before. A note on the table says Back at five. A shopping list says Six eggs. Those are fine as notes, but they are not sentences. To repair a fragment, add the part that is missing. His food turned to gold is a sentence. Turned to gold is a fragment, and adding a subject in front of the verb repairs it. The tired king is a fragment, and adding a predicate after it repairs it. The king could not eat is a sentence, because it has both parts. One more kind of sentence hides its subject. An order such as Sit down. has a subject, you, that is not written down, and a later lesson covers it.