Return to Writing Page Writing

Return to Home Page:   Geri Ashley's Home Page

To find the subject:

1. Read the sentence:  The big dog barked loudly at the bus.
2. To find the subject, ask the subject question "who" or "what" and read the "rest of the sentence."  (Ask the subject question "who" if the sentence is about people.  Ask the subject question "what" if the sentence is not about people.)  Label the subject with an "SN" abbreviation.   What barked loudly at the bus? Dog - SN ( say "subject noun" not "SN")

  To find the verb:

3. Make sure you have marked the subject with the "SN" abbreviation.
4. To find the verb, ask the verb question "what is being said about" and then say the subject.  Next say the subject and verb together to make sure they make sense together.  Label the verb with a "PV" abbreviation.

  What is being said about dog?  Dog barked - PV ( say "predicate verb" not "Verb")

To find the adverb:

5. An adverb modifies a verb, adjective, or another adverb.  Go to the verb first and ask an adverb question.
6. To find an adverb, say the verb and ask on of the adverb questions "how, when, or where."  Label the adverb with an "Adv" abbreviation.

Barked how?  Loudly - Adv (say "adverb" not Adv")

To find the preposition and the object of the preposition:

7. A preposition is a connecting word.  It connects a noun or pronoun to the rest of the sentence.
8. An object of the preposition is a noun or pronoun after the preposition in a sentence.
9. A preposition must always have a noun or pronoun ( an object of the preposition) after it.
10. To find a preposition, say the preposition word and ask the question what or whom to find the object of the preposition.  Label the preposition with a "P" abbreviation and label the object of the preposition with an "OP" abbreviation.

  At - P ( say "preposition" not "P")

  At  what? Bus - OP (say "object of the preposition" not "OP")

To find the article adjective:

11. There are three article adjectives: a, an, the.  Article adjectives are also called noun markers because they tell that a noun is close by.  Article adjectives must be memorized.
12. To find the article adjective, just memorize a, an, and the as article adjectives and say "article adjective" each time you see one of them in a sentence.  Label the article adjective with an "A" abbreviation.

  The - A (say "article adjective" not "A")

To find the adjective:

13. An adjective modifies a noun or a pronoun.  Go to a noun or pronoun and ask an adjective question.
14. To find an adjective, go to a noun and ask one of the adjective questions "what kind, which one, or how many."  Label the adjective with an "Adj" abbreviation.

What kind of dog?  Big - Adj (say "adjective" not "Adj")