SOME IMPORTANT NOTES ABOUT SUBJECTS AND VERBS:
1. The subject of a sentence is either a NOUN or a PRONOUN. It is helpful to think of a PRONOUN as a
word that represents a thing (or a person) without naming it.
A noun is a word used to represent a thing (or person) by naming it: John, physics, girl, hobo,
New York.
A pronoun is a word used to represent a thing (or person) without naming it: I, we, you, he, she, it,
they.
2. The SUBJECT or the VERB of a sentence may be COMPOUND, or BOTH THE SUBJECT AND THE
VERB MAY BE COMPOUND. That is, there may be two or more subjects, and two or more verbs.
Steve and Mary painted the house. (compound subject)
Steve painted the house and planted trees. (compound verb)
Steve and Mary painted the house and planted trees. (compound subject and verb)
3. Many VERBS consist of more than one word, depending on the time of the action, which relates to the
TENSE of the verb. Below, for example, are some of the many forms of the verb talk:
talk were talking will be talking
talks have talked must talk
does talk has talked would talk
is talking had talked can talk
are talking had been talking should have talked
The following sentences contain verbs which are formed by using more than one word:
Diane is not working overtime this week.
Another book has been written about the Kennedy assassination.
The game has just been canceled.
PLEASE NOTE: Words like NOT, JUST, NEVER, ONLY, and ALWAYS are not part of the verb
although they may appear within the verb.
4. Some VERBS require a DIRECT OBJECT to complete their meaning. For example, it does not make
sense to say just. . . "Bert likes." Bert likes what? DIRECT OBJECTS answer the question "WHAT?"
after a verb. Jazz is the answer and also the DIRECT OBJECT of this sentence -- Bert likes jazz.
5. It is important to distinguish SUBJECTS from PREPOSITIONAL PHRASES. The subject of a