Subject & Predicate
Subject and Predicate are the two basic building blocks of any complete sentence; and a complete sentence is the first step in your child’s journey in Grammar!
Activity 1: Twinkle Trails Episode 13 — Subject and Predicate
On this episode of Twinkle Trails, Miss Twinkle and class go on board the Subject & Predicate train destined to Complete Sentences town!
Quick Recap:
A complete sentence has to be made of two parts: the subject and the predicate.
Subject: the person or the thing that the sentence is about
In this sentence: The brown fox jumps over the low fence.
‘Fox’ is the simple subject, and ‘brown fox’ is the complete subject.
Predicate: verb form that tells something about the subject
In this sentence: The brown fox jumps over the low fence.
‘Jumps’ is the simple predicate, and ‘jumps over the low fence’ is the complete predicate.
Mini Task:
Can you identify the subject and the predicate in the following sentence?
A very merry Ethan danced to upbeat music.
Answer:
Simple Subject: Ethan
Complete Subject: A very merry Ethan
Simple Predicate: danced
Complete Predicate: danced to upbeat music
Additional Resource:
For a musical recap on Subject and Predicate, watch Mr. Morton’s tale below!
Activity 2: Story Time!
Travel with your little one off to a far away land — on the Subject and Predicate Train! Pick one of your child’s favourite books and get him to identify the subjects and predicates in the sentences.
It also helps to give your child highlighters so they can get down and colourful with their grammar homework. Research has shown a high correlation between the presence of colours in learning, level of attention and subsequent memory retention.
Here's an example of something you can try:
Key:
Green highlighter: Simple Subject
Yellow highlighter: Simple Predicate
Red underline: Complete Subject
Blue underline: Complete Predicate
Activity 3: Hands-On
When you’re done with the fairy tales and highlighting, allow your child to indulge in some computer time with this flash game!
Now that your child has learned to identify the subject and predicate in a sentence, it’s time for him to form proper sentences of his own! Invest in a Magnetic Poetry kit for your refrigerator or any magnetic surface in your classroom or home. Or if you’re in the mood for some classic DIY, why not create your own magnetic words with a simple tutorial?
Ask the children questions and have them form the answers in complete sentences using the magnets. Or simply leave the children to their own devices! You’d be surprised with the creativity they display.
Activity 4: For Advanced Learners
This one’s for the advanced grammarians in your children. Once they have mastered the basics forming a simple sentence, take it further a notch by teaching them to form simple sentences with compound subject and compound predicate.
Mini Lesson:
Compound Subject: presence of more than one subject in a sentence
Example: Lisa and Ann like to go dancing.
‘Lisa’ and ‘Ann’ are two subjects present within one sentence.
Compound Predicate: presence of more than one predicate in a sentence
Example: Dolphins are swimming and splashing around in the nearby beach.
‘Swimming’ and ‘splashing’ are two predicates (verb forms) present within one sentence, where they both share the helping verb ‘are’.
You can even have multiple subjects and predicates within the same sentence!
Example: Lisa, Ann, and Judy love swimming and cycling.
‘Lisa’, ‘Ann’, and ‘Judy’ are the subjects.
‘Swimming’ and ‘cycling’ are the predicates, where they both share the helping verb ‘love’.
Notice that when there are multiple subjects or predicates within one sentence, the subjects or predicates are joined by a connector — ‘and’.
If you think your student is ready to take on more advanced stuff, visit IELTSPodcast for a more comprehensive introduction to grammar:
Reiterate all that the children have learned with a couple of online quizzes. Here are a few of our favourites:
Hope you learnt a thing or two about putting the FUN in fundamentals of English grammar!
...
If you're a content producer in the education industry, and you like our content, please reach out to us at storytellers@littlelives.com. We're looking for content partners and we're excited to get more eyes on educational articles!
