Parts of the Sentence
Subject Predicate Prepositional Phrase Objects Object of the Preposition Direct Object Indirect Object Appositive Predicate Adjective Predicate Noun Antecedent
All sentences have to have at least two parts: a SUBJECT and a PREDICATE.
Subject - The noun or pronoun the sentence is about --- Bobby ate an apple.--- Dogs bark. --- Anna and Jenny went to the store.
Simple subject - the one noun or pronoun (or the smallest number of nouns or pronouns) that tells who or what is doing the action of the sentence; who or what the sentence is focused on; --- Fifteen big, ugly guys who play football one season a year were chasing me all over town. --- My mother loves me very much. --- Mr. Tetreault often terrifies his students.
Compound subject - more than one simple subject in a sentence --- Bob, Jim, and Barry are friends.
Complete subject - the simple subject and any other words that describe it, rename it, or otherwise go with it that are before the PREDICATE --- That big, ugly dog chased me.
Predicate - the verb or verbs that describe the action or state of being of the subject --- Belize is a nice place to visit. --- I have waited a long time for this day to arrive.
Simple predicate - the one verb (or verb group) in a sentence --- I like cake and pie. --- Did you see that? --- Doug was walking.
Compound predicate - more than one simple predicate --- Mary skipped and jumped. --- The dog barked all night and slept all day.
Complete predicate - the simple predicate (verb or verb group) and any words that follow it that describe it or otherwise go with it --- I went to the movies last weekend. --- Fifteen big, ugly guys who play football one season a year were chasing me all over town.
Phrase - a group of words (more than one) that go together; there is no subject and no predicate in this group (see "Words and Groups of Words" for a more complete definition and examples)
Prepositional Phrase - a phrase that begins with a preposition and ends with a noun or pronoun; if you remove the prepositional phrase from the sentence, the sentence still expresses a complete thought --- In 1492, Columbus sailed to America.
Objects - a noun or pronoun that is not the subject
Object of the Preposition - the noun or pronoun that ends a prepositional phrase --- When Bobby received a Valentine's Day Card from Gretchen, he smiled because he was in love.
Direct Object - a noun or pronoun that directly receives the action done by the subject; who or what the subject does the action to --- Garth gave his cat a treat. (What did Garth give? A treat (NOT his cat!).) Direct objects follow transitive verbs.
Indirect Object - a noun or pronoun that indirectly receives the action done by the subject; who or what gets some of the action, even though the subject isn't doing the action directly to it/him/her --- Vivian threw Diana a party. (Vivian threw the party [D.O.], not Diana; Diana still enjoyed the action of the party)
Direct v. Indirect Objects: Pretend the word "action" actually means "booger". If I sneeze on a ball and then I throw Jim the ball, I am DIRECTLY putting booger on the ball, and Jim is INDIRECTLY getting booger on him; the booger goes DIRECTLY from my nose to the ball, but it does NOT go directly from my nose to Jim -- the booger gets to Jim INDIRECTLY.
Helpful Object Hints:
Appositive Phrase - A phrase that is set off by commas and that restates or renames a noun in the sentence; if you remove the appositive phrase from the sentence, the sentence still expresses a complete thought. --- Mr. Tetreault, the best teacher in the world, is my English teacher.
Appositive - the single noun or pronoun set off by commas that restates or renames another noun (subject or object) in the sentence --- Mr. Tetreault, the best teacher in the world, is my English teacher.
Predicate Adjective - an adjective that describes the subject but that is on the predicate side of the sentence; follows a linking verb --- That motorcycle is yellow.
Predicate Noun - a noun that restates or renames the subject but that is on the predicate side of the sentence; follows a linking verb --- My dog's name is Rex.
Antecedent - the noun that is replaced by the pronoun. "Antecedent" is not a part of speech; it is the noun that gets replaced. --- Jim gave me a pretzel then he bought one for himself. ("Jim" is replaced later on by the pronoun "he", and "pretzel" is replaced later on by "one")