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 Finding Subjects, Finite Verbs, and Complements
Practice Exercise # 3

Directions: 
1. First place parentheses ( ) around every prepositional phrase.
2. Underline every subject once, every finite verb twice, and label complements (PA,PN, IO or DO). [Reminder: A predicate adjective describes the subject; a predicate noun "equals" the subject; an indirect object is someone or thing "to" or "for" whom (or what) the action of the verb is performed. Any other complement has to be a direct object.]
 

The text is:
      A Sunday school class was studying the Ten Commandments. They were ready to discuss the last one. The teacher asked if anyone could tell her what it was. Susie raised her hand, stood tall, and quoted, "Thou shall not take the covers off the neighbor's wife."
 
Note: In creating these pages, I cannot create a double underline. I will therefore underline both subjects and finite verbs once, but subjects will be in green; finite verbs in blue.

Sentence # 1

Work your way through the text one sentence at a time.  The first sentence is:
      A Sunday school class was studying the Ten Commandments.
Since there are no prepositional phrases, identify a finite verb or verb phrase:
      A Sunday school class was studying the Ten Commandments.
Next find the subject of that verb by asking "Who or what was studying?" The answer is "class."
      A Sunday school classwas studying the Ten Commandments.
     Next find the complement of the verb by asking "The class was studying what?"  The answer is the "Ten Commandments." To determine the type of the complement:
1. Is it a predicate adjective? It is not an adjective.
2. Is it a predicate noun? The "Ten Commandments" and the subject ("class") are not the same thing.
3. Is it an indirect object? They were not studying "to" or "for" the Ten Commandments.
4. It must be a direct object. There is no other possibility.
      A Sunday school classwas studying the Ten Commandments (DO).
There are no other finite verbs, so we are finished with this sentence.

Sentence # 2

The second sentence is:
They were ready to discuss the last one.
There are no prepositional phrases in it, so we look for a finite verb or verb phrase:
They were ready to discuss the last one.
Find the subject of "were" by asking who or what "were ready"?
They were ready to discuss the last one.
Find the complement of "They were" by asking "They were whom or what?" The answer is the "ready." To determine the type of the complement:
1. Is it a predicate adjective? Yes. "Ready" is an adjective, and it describes the subject "they."
They wereready (PA) to discuss the last one.
With that S/V/C pattern finished, check to see if there is another finite verb. Note that although "discuss" is a verb, it is not finite because a finite verb cannot begin with "to." Since there are no others, we are finished with this sentence.

Sentence # 3

The third sentence is:
The teacher asked if anyone could tell her what it was.
There are no prepositional phrases, so we look for a finite verb or verb phrase.
The teacher asked if anyone could tell her what it was.
Find the subject of "asked" by asking "Who or what asked?" The answer is "teacher."
The teacherasked if anyone could tell her what it was.
Find the complement of "asked" by asking  "The teacher asked whom or what?" The meaningful answer to that question is the entire "if anyone could tell her what it was." That is a clause, but since you have not yet studied clauses, you are not expected to get that answer right. If you are not sure of what the answer is, continue to the next step. Check to see if there is another finite verb or verb phrase. There is:
The teacherasked if anyone could tell her what it was.
Find the subject of "could tell" by asking "Who or what could tell?" The answer is "anyone."
The teacherasked if anyonecould tell her what it was.
Find the complement of "could tell" by asking  "anyone could tell whom or what?" An answer is "her." To determine the type of the complement:
1. Is it a predicate adjective? Although "her" could be considered an adjective, it does not describe the subject ("anyone"). Therefore it cannot be a predicate adjective.
2. Is it a predicate noun? "Her" and the subject ("anyone") are not the same thing.
3. Is it an indirect object? The sentence does mean "Could anyone tell something to her." Thus, "her" is an indirect object.
The teacherasked if anyonecould tell her (IO) what it was.
When you find an indirect object, it is a good idea to check for a direct object by, in this case, asking the question  "anyone could tell her whom or what?" The meaningful answer to that question is "what it was." But once again, the answer is not a simple compement (It is another clause.), so at this point in your study, you are not  expected to get the answer right. If you are not sure, continue to the next step -- Is there another finite verb in the sentence? There is:
The teacherasked if anyonecould tell her (IO) what it was.
Find the subject of "was" by asking "Who or what was?" In this sentence, the answer is "it."
The teacherasked if anyonecould tell her (IO) what it was.
Check for a complement of "was" by asking "It was whom or what?" In this sentence, the answer is "what"? (This one is a bit tricky, and I will not expect you to get it until you have seen it a few times.) If you did identify "what" as the complement, you need to determine the type of the complement:
1. Is it a predicate adjective? Although "what" could be considered an adjective, it does not describe the subject ("it"). Therefore it cannot be a predicate adjective.
2. Is it a predicate noun? If we look at the meaning of this sentence (which we should always be doing, "what" and the subject ("it") are the same thing. This pattern asks "what was it?" In other words, it asks for an explanation or definition -- "What was the Tenth Commandment equal to?" This means that "what" here functions as a predicate noun.
The teacherasked if anyonecould tell her (IO)what (PN of "was") itwas.
Because there are no more finite verbs in this sentence, we are finished with it.

Sentence # 4

The fourth and last sentence is:
Susie raised her hand, stood tall, and quoted, "Thou shall not take the covers off the neighbor's wife."
 This sentence includes a prepositional phrase:
Susie raised her hand, stood tall, and quoted, "Thou shall not take the covers (off the neighbor's wife)."
Having found all the prepositional phrases, we need to find a finite verb or verb phrase:
Susie raised her hand, stood tall, and quoted, "Thou shall not take the covers (off the neighbor's wife)."
To find the subject of "raised," we need to ask "Who or what raised?" The asnwer is "Susie."
Susie raised her hand, stood tall, and quoted, "Thou shall not take the covers (off the neighbor's wife)."
To find the complement of "raised," we need to ask "Susie raised whom or what?" The answer, obviously, is "hand." To determine the type of the complement:
1. Is it a predicate adjective? "Hand" is not an adjective. (If you have trouble identifying adjectives, not that, in any case, "hand" does not describe the subject ("Susie"). Thus is cannot be a predicate adjective.
2. Is it a predicate noun? The "hand" and the subject ("Susie") are not the same thing.
3. Is it an indirect object? Susie did not raise "to" or "for" her hand.
4. It must be a direct object. There is no other possibility.
Susie raised her hand (DO), stood tall, and quoted, "Thou shall not take the covers (off the neighbor's wife)."
Check for another finite verb or verb phrase:
Susie raised her hand (DO), stood tall, and quoted, "Thou shall not take the covers (off the neighbor's wife)."
Find the subject of "stood" by asking "Who or what stood tall?"  The answer is, again, "Susie."
     Check for the complement of "stood."  Some students will see "tall" as answering the question "Susie stood whom or what?" They usually do so because they see "tall" as an adjective describing "Susie," and thus as a predicate adjective. Other students view "tall" as describing how she stood (and thus as adverbial to "stood"). Professional grammarians argue about this, so I will accept either answer. Personally, I sense it as going more with "stood," so I'll leave it unmarked.
     Having dealt with the complement of "stood," we need to check for another finite verb or verb phrase, which we find in "quoted."
Susie raised her hand (DO), stood tall, and quoted, "Thou shall not take the covers (off the neighbor's wife)."
As with "stood," the subject of "quoted is "Susie." [Note that because these three verbs all share the same subject, they are all part of the same pattern.] When we look for the complement of "quoted" (by asking "quoted whom or what?), the meaningful answer is everything inside the quotation marks. Because we have not yet studied clauses (which is what that is), you are not expected to get this answer. 
     We can't stop yet, however, for we need to check for another finite verb or verb phrase, which we find in "shall take."
Susie raised her hand (DO), stood tall, and quoted, "Thou shall not take the covers (off the neighbor's wife)."
To find the subject of "shall take," ask the question "Who or what shall take?" The answer is "Thou" (which is an old form of "you").
Susie raised her hand (DO), stood tall, and quoted, "Thoushall not take the covers (off the neighbor's wife)."
To find the complement of "shall take," ask "Thou shall (not) take whom or what?" The answer is "covers." To determine the type of the complement:
1. Is it a predicate adjective? "Covers" is not an adjective, nor does it describe the subject ("Thou"). Thus is cannot be a predicate adjective.
2. Is it a predicate noun? The "covers" and the subject ("Thou") are not the same thing. Thus it is not a predicate noun.
3. Is it an indirect object? It does not mean "Thou shall not take 'to' or 'for' the covers." Thus it is not an indirect object.
4. It must be a direct object. There is no other possibility.
Susie raised her hand (DO), stood tall, and quoted, "Thoushall not take the covers (DO)(off the neighbor's wife)."
Since there are no more finite verbs, we are finished with this sentence.

 
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