We have
already seen that a simple sentence has only one subject and one predicate. The
subject refers to the person or
thing about which something is said. The predicate
is that part of the sentence that says something about the subject.
Study the following examples:
Fire
burns. (Subject – fire, predicate – burns) The birds
sing. (Subject – the birds, predicate – sing) The
President visited Africa. (Subject – the president, predicate – visited Africa) Barking
dogs seldom bite. (Subject – barking dogs, predicate – seldom bite)
You can see that the subject may consist of one
word or several words, but it must always have a noun or pronoun in it. In the
same way, the predicate may consist of one word or several words, but it must
always have a verb in it.
The main word in the subject is called the
subject-word or simple subject.
Different kinds of subjects
The subject is always a noun or a word or phrase
that does the work of a noun.
Money is the root of all evil.
(Here the subject is the noun money.) They have admitted their fault. (Here the subject is the
pronoun they.) The disabled are God’s
special children. (Here the subject is an adjective used as a noun.) To err is human. (Here the subject
is a to-infinitive.) Slow and steady wins the
race. (Here the subject is the phrase ‘slow and steady’.)