Lecture 4: Grammar - Focus on Subjects, Predicates & Complements

Outline

• Review Subjects and Predicates
• Activity
• Review Complements
• Activity
• Review Adjectives and Adverbs
• Newspaper Activity
• Homework

Subject

• The subject part of a sentence names whom or what the sentence is about. 
• It is the part of the sentence about which something is being said.

The children are learning
Who is learning? The children?
The subject = the children.

Predicate

• The predicate part of the sentence tells what the subject does or has. 
• It can also describe what the subject is or is like.

The children are learning.
What are the children doing? Learning.
The predicate = learning


This might seem silly, but this video is an excellent reminder of subjects and predicates. After watching this, you will have absolutely no trouble differentiating between a subject and a predicate:

Indirect Objects

• Indirect: a word(s) denoting the person or thing indirectly affected by the action.
• It is the person to whom or thing to which something is done.
• A sentence cannot contain an indirect object without also containing a direct object.
• An indirect object is really a prepositional phrase in which the preposition to or for is not stated but understood.
• The indirect object always comes between the verb and the direct object.
• The indirect object always modifies the verb.

Direct Objects

• Direct object = noun that completes the verb and receives the action

“He hit the ball.”
Direct object = ball (what was hit?)

• We can usually identify the direct object by asking who or what was affected by the subject.

We bought a new computer
Q. What did we buy?
A. A new computer ( = the direct object)

• The direct object generally comes after the verb, just as the subject generally comes before it. So in a declarative sentence, the usual pattern is:

Subject - Verb - Direct Object

Complements

• Objective complement
• a noun or an adjective that completes the action expressed in the verb
• refers to the direct object
• A complement is any word or phrase that completes the sense of a subject, an object or a verb.
• Note: the terminology describing predicates and complements can overlap and be a bit confusing.
• An objective complement follows and modifies or refers to a direct object.
• It can be a noun or adjective or any word acting as a noun or adjective.

Comparatives and Superlatives

Listen to Grammar Girl's podcast: http://digitalmarketer.quickanddirtytips.com/comparatives-versus-superlatives.aspx

"Comparatives vs. Superlatives

When you’re comparing items, you need to notice if you’re comparing two things or more than two things.

When you compare two items, you’re using what’s called a comparative, so you use “more” before the adjective or the suffix “-er” on the end of it. You can remember that comparatives are for two thing because “comparative” has the sound “pair” in it and a pair is always two things. It's not spelled like “pair” but it sounds like pair.

When you compare three or more items, you’re using a superlative, so you use “most” or the suffix “-est.” You can remember that superlatives are for more than two things because “superlative” has the word “super” in it and when you want a whole bunch of something, you supersize it.

So to think about it loosely, use a comparative when you have a pair of things and a superlative when you have a supersized group (at least more than two)."

*****HOMEWORK*****

Remember, no class next week: THANKSGIVING

Read: Chapter 5 and Chapter 7 in Correct Writing.

Read “Thx for the Iview! I Wud (heart) 2 Work 4 U!! ;) in Exploring Language.

Post your ransom letter to the blog as an image. As a reminder, here are the assignment guidelines:

Create a ransom note
Decide to whom you’ll send it and what you’ll hold for ransom
Include three examples of:

• Direct and indirect objects (highlight direct objects in green, indirect objects in yellow)
• Comparatives and superlatives (comparatives should be underlined with a wavy line, superlatives with a double wavy line)
• Complements, object and verb (object complements should be circled, verb complements have a rectangle)
• Subjects and predicates (underline subjects once, underline predicates twice)