Department of English: 2020-2021

B.Com. III/BBA, H, FB/ BCA I/B.Sc. (Bio) & (Ag) I / BA & B.Com. LLB I

Study Material: Subject-Predicate

Read the following sentences:
1. I will attend an online lecture. / 2. Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam is known as the missile man of India. /3. Is he doing his
work? / 4. Running is a good exercise.

Note: In sentence 1, ‘I’ is the doer of the action, and in sentence 2, something is being said about ‘Dr. APJ Abdul
Kalam.’ As the focus of the speaker will be on these words, they are referred to as subjects. Subjects are usually
placed just before verbs. The remaining part of the sentence that starts with the verb is called the predicate.

Sentence 1: subject is "I", predicate is "will attend an online lecture."

Sentences 2: subject is "Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam," the predicate is "is known as the missile man of India."
Sentences 3: subject is "he", predicate is "is doing his work."
Sentence 4: subject is "the Indian Army", the predicate is "Here comes the."
Sentence 5: subject is "running", the predicate is "is a good exercise."

What is a subject?
Subject of a sentence is the word or the phrase which is the doer of the action or about which something has
been said. It can be a noun, a pronoun or a noun phrase.
What is a predicate?
Predicate is that part of the sentence which tells something about the subject. It contains the verb of the
sentence.

The underlined words or phrases of the given sentences are the subjects and italicized parts are the
predicates:

Declarative sentence
Subject normally comes before the verb, but it may be used at other positions as well.
1. The train arrived on time.
2. Gold shines. 6. Here comes the chief guest.
3. The sun does not move around the earth. 7. Across the valley, there is a town.
4. The captain along with his crew marched on. 8. The idea was rejected by the members.
5. Playing soccer is my favourite pastime. 9.After reaching home, he slept.
.
Interrogative
Yes/no type: Auxiliary + subject …? / With question word: QW + auxiliary + subject …?

1. Are you hungry? 4. Why has the lecture been rescheduled?

2. Did Manish secure good grades in 12th class? 5. What do they think of space x company?
3. When will your brother go to Delhi?

Imperative
Usually the subject is not spoken, but it is there. The subject is implied and it is always ‘you’.

1. (You) Don't unmute your microphone while the 3. (I) Thank you.
teacher is speaking. 4. (You) Get out immediately.
2. (You) Kindly present your topic before the class.

Exclamatory
What + subject ….! / How + adjective + subject ….! / Interjection! + subject + verb ….

1. What a movie it is! 4. What a noise that was!

2. Oh! We lost the match.
3. How intelligent he was!
 Department of English:
2020-2021
B.Com. III/BBA, H, FB/ BCA I/B.Sc. (Bio) & (Ag) I / BA &
B.Com. LLB I