4 English Grammar Demystifi ed
Subject and Verb
Although it would not be very interesting, the simplest English sentence might be
composed of two words and still be correct:
I voted.To m d r ove.Trees fell.The point, of course, is that a complete English sentence is composed of a subject
(I,Tom,Trees) and a verb, or action (voted,drove,fell).
See if you can identify the subjects (person or thing) and verbs (actions) in the
following sentences:
- The senator won.
- Tom crashed the car.
- His wife screamed.
- Arctic air froze New England.
5. We huddled together.
You probably chose the following: senator/won,Tom /crashed, wife/screamed,air/
froze,We/huddled. In each case, someone or something performed an action.
Now read the following examples, and as you do, ask yourself what’s missing:
what else do you need to know to get real meaning from the incomplete
sentence?
- A wandering child.
- Driving too slowly and stopping frequently.
3. Stormy, then clear.
Undoubtedly, in the fi rst example, you wanted to know what happened to the child.
What did he or she do? In the second example, who was driving and stopping? In
the third example, what was stormy, then clear? Clearly, something is missing in
each example. You weren’t satisfi ed when you read the examples because they are