Subject and Predicate

Every sentence has two parts: a subject and a predicate. The subject part of a sentence names whom or what the sentence is about. The predicate part of a sentence tells what the subject does or has, and it can also describe what the subject is or is like. The complete subject is all of the words in the subject part of a sentence. The complete predicate is all of the words in the predicate part of a sentence.

Let’s take a look at some examples:

Yasmine has very long hair.

How do we identify the subject? We can answer some questions to help us.

Does this sentence name what it is about? – No

Does this sentence tell who it is about? – Yes, Yasmine. Therefore, Yamine is the subject of the sentence.

Now that we have identified the subject part of the sentence, let’s see if we can find the predicate part.

Yasmine has very long hair.

Does the sentence tell us what the subject is doing? – No

Does the sentence tell us what the subject has? Yes.  What does Yasmine have? She has very long hair. Therefore, the complete predicate part of the sentence is “has very long hair.”

More examples:

Sarah’s phone kept ringing during class.

Kaitlin's Dog, Max, loves to chase after chipmunks. 

Simple Subject and Simple Predicate

The simple subject is the main word in the complete subject. It is always a noun or pronoun. Sometimes, the simple subject is also the complete subject. The simple predicate is the complete verb in the complete predicate. The simple predicate may be one or two words. 

For example:

The family made chocolate chip cookies for the party.  

The main word in the complete subject is "family," therefore family is the simple subject.  The main verb in the complete predicate is "made," which would make "made" the simple predicate.