Subjects, Finite Verbs, and Complements -- Exercise #6

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Finding Subjects, Finite Verbs, and Complements
Practice Exercise # 6

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:

My grandson was visiting one day when he asked, "Grandma, do you know how you and God are alike?" I mentally polished my halo while I asked, "No, how are we alike?" "You're both old," he replied.

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.

The First Sentence

Work your way through the text one sentence at a time. The first sentence is:

My grandson was visiting one day when he asked, "Grandma, do you know how you and God are alike?"

Since there are no prepositional phrases, identify a finite verb or verb phrase:

My grandson was visiting one day when he asked, "Grandma, do you know how you and God are alike?"

To find the subject of "was visiting," ask "Who or what was visiting?" The answer in this sentence is "grandson."

My grandsonwas visiting one day when he asked, "Grandma, do you know how you and God are alike?"

To find the complement of "was visiting," ask 'The grandson was visiting whom or what?" Nothing in the sentence answers that question, so there is no complement.
We need to check for another finite verb, which we find in "asked."

My grandsonwas visiting one day when he asked, "Grandma, do you know how you and God are alike?"

To find the subject of "asked," we ask "Who or what asked?" In this sentence, the answer to that question is "he."

My grandsonwas visiting one day when heasked, "Grandma, do you know how you and God are alike?"

To find the complement of "asked," we ask "He asked whom or what?" The meaningful answer to that question is the entire quotation-- "Grandma, do you know how you and God are alike?" Until you are working with clauses (which is what that is), you are not expected to know what it is. You can, however, still determine the type of the complement:

1. Is it a predicate adjective? The quotation does not describe the subject ("he"), so it cannot be a predicate adjective.
2. Is it a predicate noun? The quotation and the subject ("he") do not refer to the same thing, so the quoted material cannot be a predicate noun.
3. Is it an indirect object? The sentence does not mean to ask something "to" or "for" the quoted material, so it cannot be an indirect object.
4. Thus the quoted material has to be a direct object, the only option left.

Having dealt with the complement of "asked," we need to check for still another finite verb or verb phrase, which we find in "do ... know."

My grandsonwas visiting one day when heasked, "Grandma, do you know how you and God are alike?"

To find the subject of "do know," we ask "Who or what does know?" In this case, the answer is "you."

My grandsonwas visiting one day when heasked, "Grandma, doyouknow how you and God are alike?"

To find the complement of "do know," we ask "You do know whom or what?" The meaningful answer to that question is the entire "how you and God are alike?" Once again we have a clause acting as a complement, so, at this point, you are not expected to know what it is. You can, however, still determine the type of the complement:

1. Is it a predicate adjective?"How you and God are alike" does not describe the subject ("you"), so it cannot be a predicate adjective.
2. Is it a predicate noun? "How you and God are alike" and the subject ("you") do not refer to the same thing, they are not "equal," so the complement cannot be a predicate noun.
3. Is it an indirect object? The sentence does not mean to know "to" or "for" "how you and God are alike," so it cannot be an indirect object.
4. Thus this complement has to be a direct object, the only option left.

Having dealt with the complement of "do know," we need to check for still another finite verb or verb phrase, which we find in "are."

My grandsonwas visiting one day when heasked, "Grandma, doyouknow how you and God are alike?"

To find the subject of "are," we ask "Who or what are?" In this case, we get two answers, "you" and "God."

My grandsonwas visiting one day when heasked, "Grandma, doyouknow how you and Godare alike?"

To find the complement of "are," we ask "You and God are what?" In this sentence, the only word that can answer that question is "alike," so "alike" must be the complement. To determine the type of the complement:

1. Is it a predicate adjective?"Alike" is an unusual adjective, but it can be seen as describing the subjects ("you" and "God"), so it functions as a predicate adjective.

My grandsonwas visiting one day when heasked, "Grandma, doyouknow how you and Godarealike(PA)?"

There are no more finite verbs in this sentence, so we are finished with it.

The Second Sentence

The next sentence is:

I mentally polished my halo while I asked, "No, how are we alike?"

There are no prepositional phrases in it, so we look for a finite verb or verb phrase, which we find in "polished."

I mentally polished my halo while I asked, "No, how are we alike?"

To find the subject of "polished," we ask "Who or what polished?" In this sentence, the answer is "I," so "I" is the subject of "polished.".

I mentally polished my halo while I asked, "No, how are we alike?"

To find the complement of "polished," we ask "I polished whom or what?" The answer to that question is "halo" To determine the type of the complement:

1. Is it a predicate adjective?"Halo" does not describe the subject ("I"), so it cannot be a predicate adjective.
2. Is it a predicate noun? "Halo" and the subject ("I") are not "equal," so "halo" cannot be a predicate noun.
3. Is it an indirect object? The sentence does not mean polished "to" or "for" the halo, so it cannot be an indirect object.
4. Thus this complement has to be a direct object, the only option left.

I mentally polished my halo (DO) while I asked, "No, how are we alike?"

We need to check for another finite verb or verb phrase, which we find in "asked."

I mentally polished my halo (DO) while I asked, "No, how are we alike?"

To find the subject of "asked," we ask "Who or what asked?" The answer is "I."

I mentally polished my halo (DO) while Iasked, "No, how are we alike?"

To find the complement of "asked," we ask "I asked whom or what?" The meaningful answer to that question is the entire "No, how are we alike?" Once again we have a clause acting as a complement, so, at this point, you are not expected to know what it is. You can, however, still determine the type of the complement:

1. Is it a predicate adjective?"No, how are we alike?" does not describe the subject ("I"), so it cannot be a predicate adjective.
2. Is it a predicate noun? "No, how are we alike?" and the subject ("we") do not refer to the same thing, they are not "equal," so the complement cannot be a predicate noun.
3. Is it an indirect object? The sentence does not mean asked "to" or "for" "No, how are we alike?" so it cannot be an indirect object.
4. Thus this complement has to be a direct object, the only option left.

Having dealt with the complement of "asked," we need to check for still another finite verb or verb phrase, which we find in "are."

I mentally polished my halo (DO) while Iasked, "No, how are we alike?"

To find the subject of "are," we ask "Who or what are?" The answer is "we."

I mentally polished my halo (DO) while Iasked, "No, how arewe alike?"

To find the complement of "are," we ask "We are what?" In this sentence, as in the preceding one, the only word that can answer that question is "alike," so "alike" must be the complement. To determine the type of the complement:

1. Is it a predicate adjective?"Alike" is an unusual adjective, but it can be seen as describing the subject ("we"), so it functions as a predicate adjective.

I mentally polished my halo (DO) while Iasked, "No, how arewealike (PA)?"

There are no more finite verbs in this sentence, so we are finished with it.

The Last Sentence

The last sentence is:

"You're both old," he replied.

Again there are no prepositional phrases, so we look for a finite verb or verb phrase, which we find in the "'re." ["You're" means "you are."]

"You're both old," he replied.

To find the subject of "are," we ask "Who or what are?" The answer is "You."

"You're both old," he replied.

To find the complement of "are," We ask "You are what?" The answer here is "old." To determine the type of the complement:

1. Is it a predicate adjective?"Old" is an adjective, and it describes the subject ("You"), so it functions as a predicate adjective.

"You're both old (PA)," he replied.

Next we need to check for another finite verb, which we find in "replied."

"You're both old (PA)," he replied.

To find the subject of "replied," we ask "Who or what replied?" The answer here is "he."

"You're both old (PA)," hereplied.

To find the complement of "replied," we ask "He replied whom or what?" The answer to that is a clause ("You're both old."), so at this point you are not expected to know what it is. You can, however, still determine the type of the complement:

1. Is it a predicate adjective?"You're both old" does not describe the subject ("he"), so it cannot be a predicate adjective.
2. Is it a predicate noun? "You're both old" and the subject ("he") do not refer to the same thing, they are not "equal," so the complement cannot be a predicate noun.
3. Is it an indirect object? The sentence does not mean he replied "to" or "for" you're both old, so it cannot be an indirect object.
4. Thus this complement has to be a direct object, the only option left.

Since there are no more finite verbs in this sentence, we are finished with it.

Go to Finding Clauses.