The concepts of subject and predicate are among the most basic in the Russian language. It is with them that the acquaintance of children with syntax begins. It is very important that the student understand this section and fix it in memory, since all subsequent rules of punctuation, complex sentences and many other sections will be inextricably linked with the subject and predicate. These two concepts make up the grammatical basis, so it will also be discussed in this article. Refresh your memory and help your child learn new knowledge.
What is the subject
To begin with, consider the rule of the Russian language:
- The subject is one of the main members of the sentence. It can denote both an object and an action or a sign of a predicate. Answers the question "Who?" and "What?".
As a rule, this member of the sentence is expressed by a noun or a pronoun. It is emphasized with one line.
- For example, in the sentence “Grandma went to the market”, the subject will be the noun “Grandma”, since in this sentence the grandmother is the main character.
- If we take the sentence “He likes ice cream”, then the pronoun “He” will be the subject in it.
However, there are other interesting cases in which absolutely any part of speech acts as a subject, if it can be defined as a noun. For example:
- Five go to the right. In this sentence, the subject will be the word "Five", although in its usual form it is a numeral. Here it replaces the noun, acting as the main member of the sentence.
- Miser pays twice. In this case, the subject will also be the word "Miserly", which is a noun, and outside the sentence - an adjective.
The verb also often acts as the subject if it is in the indefinite form:
- Going to the store is his main goal. This is a complex sentence, in one of the parts of which the subject is the infinitive.
And finally, even a whole phrase can become the subject. It can be indivisible names, full name of a person.
- Anna Sergeevna hurried home. In this sentence, the subject is Anna Sergeevna.
After a while, the child will be able to determine the subject intuitively, without reciting the rules by heart.
What is a predicate
The predicate must be underlined with two parallel horizontal lines, answers the question “What is it?” and “What does it do?”, and also denotes an action or some sign of the subject.
The predicate has several types:
- verb.
- Composite noun.
- Compound verb.
Each type of predicate is best analyzed separately. The simplest of them is the verb.
- The verb predicate is usually expressed by the verb in certain moods: indicative, imperative, and also conditional. To determine the predicate correctly, you need to refresh your memory and remember what moods are.
- Perhaps a predicate in the form of a stable phrase.
- Phraseologisms also belong to the verbal predicate.
The compound verb predicate is easy to notice:
- In this case, two verbs answer the main question of the predicate. For example: "He still continued to eat." The predicate will be "continued to eat."
- Or "The cat needs a lot of sleep." Now the predicate - "need to sleep."
A compound nominal predicate is so called because it contains a linking verb and a nominal part: a noun or pronoun, adverbs, participles.
- She was a beauty. In this sentence, the predicate is “she was a beauty”, since the word “was” often acts as a linking verb, and “beauty” is a nominal part.
It may not be possible to remember everything the first time, but after solving the tasks you will succeed.
What is a grammatical basis
The grammatical basic is the main members of the sentence, namely: the subject and the predicate. They are connected in meaning and are distinguished by horizontal lines.
The stem itself, as a rule, is highlighted in square brackets in the sentence.
41. The main members of the sentence: subject! predicate.
The grammatical basis (predicative core) of the sentence is the glorious members of the sentence: the subject and the predicate.
The subject is the main member of the sentence, which indicates what the information contained in the predicate refers to, and answers the questions who? what?
The most common subjects are nouns (The boy goes to school) and pronouns (No one knew the answer). Also, the subject can be any part of speech used in the meaning of a noun (A well-fed hungry one does not understand), or a numeral (Twenty-two is an even number), or an infinitive (Smoking is harmful to health).
The predicate is the main member of the sentence, which indicates the sign of the subject and answers the questions what does the subject do? what is he? etc.
Types of predicates:
Note. The composition of the predicate may include a phraseological phrase or the phraseological phrase itself may act as a predicate. For example, Saying this, he touched her to the quick; He agreed to receive me tomorrow.
The type of connection between the subject and the predicate-composition (this is the type of connection that unites syntactically equal, independent units of the language).
Tasks and tests on the topic "The main members of the sentence: subject! predicate."
- The main members of the proposal - Basic concepts of syntax and punctuation Grade 5
Lessons: 2 Assignments: 7 Tests: 3
- Main and secondary members of the sentence - Sentence. Phrase 4th grade
Lessons: 1 Assignments: 9 Tests: 1
- Memo "How to parse a proposal by members?" - Text. Sentence. Phrase grade 3
What questions does the subject answer? You will receive the answer to the question posed in the presented article. In addition, we will tell you about what parts of speech this member of the sentence can be expressed.
General information
Before talking about what questions the subject answers, you should understand what it is. The subject (in syntax) is called the main member of the sentence. Such a word is grammatically independent. It denotes an object whose action is reflected in the predicate. As a rule, the subject names what or who the sentence is talking about.
What questions does the subject answer?
Sometimes for the correct and competent writing of the text it is very important to determine. In order to do this, you should know a few rules of the Russian language.
So, the subject answers the questions "Who?" or "What?" It should also be noted that for this member is underlined by only one line. The subject, as well as all the secondary members of the sentence that refer to it, form the composition of the subject.
Expression by different parts of speech
As we found out, the subject answers the questions “Who?” or "What?" However, this does not mean that the presented member of the sentence can only act as a noun in the nominative case.
The subject is often expressed by other parts of speech that have different forms and categories.
Pronouns
The subject of a sentence can be:
- personal pronoun: She looked right and then left.
- Indefinite pronoun: There lived someone lonely and rootless.
- Interrogative pronoun: Who did not have time, he was late.
- Relative pronoun: He keeps his eyes on the path that goes through the forest..
- Negative pronoun: Nobody needs to know.
Other parts of speech
Having determined what questions the subject answers, it can be quite easily found in the sentence. But for this you should know that such a member is often expressed as follows:
As you can see, it’s not enough to know that the subject answers the questions “What?” or who?". Indeed, in order to correctly determine this member of the sentence, it is necessary to know the features of all parts of speech.
Subject as a phrase
In some sentences, the subject may be expressed syntactically or lexically using indecomposable phrases. Such members usually belong to different parts of speech. Consider the cases in which these phrases occur most often:
Other forms
To determine the main member of the sentence, ask questions to the subject. After all, only in this case you can determine it.
So what other combinations of parts of speech are possible that appear in a sentence as a subject? Examples are given below:
Plan for parsing the main member of the proposal (subject)
To determine the subject in a sentence, you first need to specify its way of expression. As we found out above, it can be:
- Any single word that belongs to one of the following parts of speech: an adjective, an indefinite form of a verb, a numeral, a pronoun, a participle, a noun in the nominative case, an adverb, or another invariable form used in the text in the meaning of a noun.
- Syntactically indivisible phrase. In this case, the form and meaning of the main word should be indicated.
Sentence parsing example
To determine the main member of the sentence, you should ask a question to the subject. Here are some examples:
Subject- this is the main member of the sentence, which denotes the subject of speech and answers the question of the nominative case (who? what?).
Pay attention to the meaning (a) and the form of the expression (b) of the subject:
a) the subject is what is being said in a sentence (subject of speech);
b) the main form of expression of the subject - Nominative case(question who? what?).
Note!
To the question what? answers not only the nominative, but also the accusative case of the noun; nominative and accusative forms can also coincide. To distinguish between these cases, you can substitute a noun of the 1st declension (for example - book): Nominative case - book; accusative - book.
Wed: On the table lies pencil (book) - nominative case; I see a pencil(book) - accusative case.
Let's compare two sentences:
1. I did not sleep; 2. I didn't sleep.
They mean roughly the same thing in meaning. However, in the first sentence I did not sleep) has a subject, because there is a pronoun in the nominative case ( I), in the second sentence ( I couldn't sleep) there is no subject, because there is no pronoun in the nominative case ( to me- dative).
Ways of expressing the subject
A) Subject - one word:
| The form | Examples |
|---|---|
| 1. Name | |
| 1.1. Noun | eldest son(who?) left for the capital. |
| 1.2. Pronoun | He(who?) left for the capital. |
| 1.3. Adjective | Older(who?) left for the capital. |
| 1.4. Participle | Raised(who?) the sword will die by the sword. |
| 1.5. Numeral | Two(who?) left for the capital. |
| 2. Infinitive (indefinite form of the verb) | Be in love(what?) - this is wonderful. Live(what?) - serve the motherland. |
| 3. Invariable (significant or service) part of speech in the meaning of a noun | |
| 3.1. Adverb | It has come and the fateful day after tomorrow(what?). |
| 3.2. Pretext | "AT"(what?) is a suggestion. |
| 3.3. Union | "BUT"(what?) - antagonistic union. |
| 3.4. Particle | "Not"(what?) verbs are written separately. |
| 3.5. Interjection | Rushed from all sides "ay"(what?). |
| 4. Indirect form of a name, conjugated form of a verb, sentence in the meaning of a noun | "Brother"(what?) - dative form of a noun. "Reading"(what?) - 1st person form of the present tense verb. "Do not forget yourself, do not worry, work moderately" (what?) - was his motto. |
B) The subject is an integral, that is, syntactically indivisible phrase (main + dependent word):
| The form | Meaning | Examples |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Name in the nominative case (adverb) + name in the genitive case | quantitative value | Five chairs stood against the wall. Some chairs stood against the wall. Some of the chairs stood against the wall. There were many chairs against the wall. |
| 2. Name in the nominative case + name in the genitive case with a preposition from | Selective meaning | Two of us will go to the capital. Each of us will go to the capital. Many of us will go to the capital. |
| 3. Name in the nominative case + name in the instrumental case with the preposition c (only with the predicate - in the plural!) | Consistency value | Wed: Mother and son are going(plural) rest. Mother and son are going(units) rest. |
| 4. Nouns beginning, middle, end+ noun in genitive case | Phase value | It was the end of September. |
| 5. Noun + agreed name (phraseologism, terminological combination and phrase with metaphorical meaning) | The members of the phrase only in the aggregate express a single or inseparable concept in this context | The Milky Way spread across the sky. white flies(snowflakes) circled in the sky. A cap of blond curls swayed on his head. |
| 6. Indefinite pronoun (from the basics who, what) + agreed name | undefined value | something unpleasant was in all its forms. |
Note!
1) You can always ask questions to the subject who? what? , even if it does not change case by case.
2) Nominative case- the only case with which the subject can be expressed.
Note. The subject can be expressed in the indirect case if it indicates the approximate number of someone or something. Wed: thirty ships went out to sea. About thirty ships went out to sea. Over thirty ships went out to sea.
Subject Parsing Plan
Specify how the subject is expressed:
- Single word: noun, adjective, pronoun, numeral, participle in the nominative case; adverb or other invariable form in the meaning of a noun; infinitive.
- Syntactically indivisible phrase (indicate the meaning and form of the main word).
Sample parsing
The lake seemed to be covered with ice(Prishvin).
Subject lake expressed by a noun in the nominative case.
Around noon, a lot of round high clouds usually appear.(Turgenev).
Subject many clouds expressed by a syntactically indivisible (whole) phrase with a quantitative meaning; main word (noun) lots of) is in the nominative case.
In the dark, the bearded man stumbled on something(Sholokhov).
Subject bearded expressed by an adjective in the meaning of a noun in the nominative case.
But to pay for something, even the most necessary, suddenly two hundred, three hundred, five hundred rubles seemed to them almost suicide.(Goncharov).
Subject pay expressed in the infinitive.
It's been about an hour(Paustovsky).
Subject about an hour expressed by the indirect case of the noun hour with the preposition near and indicates the approximate amount of time.
