C
Checklist: subject and predicate
The student should now be able to:
• explain the term subject
• explain the term predicate
• correctly divide sentences into subject and predicate
• parse single sentences unaided
• recognise omitted subjects, understood as in commands – (You) go
to bed. Don’t (you) forget your lunch
Abbreviations
If the students are showing confidence in diagramming sentences
and recognising the parts of speech, it is now appropriate for them
to start using abbreviations, in order to save time and space. At
this point too, articles may be included with their nouns unless
otherwise requested.
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s u b j e c t A n d p r e d i c At e
Tomorrow you must wash the car.
The following abbreviations are commonly used in dictionaries,
but need to be used accurately to avoid confusion. Lower case is
used.
Word Abbreviated Word Abbreviated
noun n preposition prep
verb vb conjunction conj
pronoun pron interjection interj
adjective adj exclamation excl
adverb adv subject subj
article art predicate pred
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G r A M M A r f o r e V e rY o n e
Objects – direct and indirect

My sister cooked pancakes.
Therefore, pancakes is the object of the verb ‘cooked’ in this
sentence.
A noun or pronoun following a preposition is called its object.
For example:
It flew through the air.
The air is the object of the preposition ‘through’.
15.1 Activities: direct objects
1. Students take turns asking what? questions. They could randomly
call on another student to answer, for example:
First student: What did you have for breakfast?
2nd person: Baked beans.
The answer is the direct object. One or two of these could be entered
into students’ grammar exercise books.
A
2. Sentences can be provided for students to complete by adding a
direct object, for example:
The Prime Minister gave [what?] – [a speech]
a. We all had . . . . . . . . . . (lunch)
b. John’s father drives . . . . . . . . . . (a truck)
c. I bought . . . . . . . . . . (a dog-collar)
d. My brother plays . . . . . . . . . . (a clarinet)
e. Dad grew . . . . . . . . . . (big onions)
f. Don’t forget to take . . . . . . . . . . (an umbrella)
g. Just fill in . . . . . . . . . . (this form)
h. Let’s book . . . . . . . . . . (seats)
i. They forgot their . . . . . . . . . . (togs)
3. Students underline the subject and circle the object in these
sentences.
a. Please will