Systematic and Explicit Instruction on Recognizing the Subject and Predicate in Complete Sentences

What are the subject and predicate of a sentence?

Subject and predicate are two vocabulary words we can use to talk about sentences. Younger students do not need to know this vocabulary, but older students may find it helpful as they are learning about different ways to compose a sentence. The subject of a sentence is the noun or pronoun doing the action, as well as any supporting words such as articles or adjectives. The predicate of a sentence is the verb or action of the sentence and any supporting words, such as adverbs or prepositions. All complete sentences have both a subject and a predicate.

Here is a video to help your students understand subject and predicate.

Example Sentences

After introducing subject and predicate to your students, you will want to show them examples. When looking at example sentences, point out the capitalized first letter, spacing between words, and ending punctuation. Speaking of ending punctuation. I recommend sticking with periods until you can give a lesson on the other types of ending punctuation.

This should be a quick part of the lesson. You can ask students what they notice but quickly point out the important parts of the sentence. In these sentences, you want students to notice that the subject comes before the predicate in the sentences. Also, nouns can be in the predicate as well as the subject. The subject is the noun or pronoun doing the action in the sentence. If you are working with students who have already learned about independent and dependent clauses, you will want to share that each clause will have a subject and predicate.

Subject and Predicate Pictures

You can show these five pictures to your students to help them brainstorm subordinating conjunction sentences. Give students about thirty seconds to think about each picture. Then, have them share with a partner. Finally, collect three to five ideas per picture to record in a class anchor chart.

Printable Resources

These ideas will get you started teaching your subject and predicate lessons, but we have printable resources that will make a huge difference. Luckily, my team at For the Love has you covered! You can get all of these resources to make planning and teaching a breeze!

Word List: A list of words for the lesson for when your mind goes blank while brainstorming.

Word Chart: A tool for students to organize words they will use to write sentences. Students record words from brainstorming on their word charts, so when they write sentences, they can focus their attention on the mechanics and syntax of the sentence instead of coming up with new ideas. Word charts are the perfect place to integrate social studies and science lessons into writing.

Example Sentences: A list of example sentences that fit the purpose of the lesson. You can use these to build anchor charts, differentiate instruction or practice for students, or clarify your own understanding of the topic.

Sentence Practice: Students will use the words from their word charts to write complete sentences. The sentence practice pages have more suggestion words as well as reminders about the mechanics of a complete sentence. Students who do not need the support of the handwriting lines can write on a piece of notebook paper, or you can give them the alternate writing paper. It does not have the specific lesson information on it.

You can get the lesson on nouns at Teachers Pay Teachers.

How to Teach Writing Complete Sentences