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These cards will help you learn the constituents of a sentence.
| subject | the person or thing that does the action of the verb (usually a noun or nominal) |
| verb | the main word of the predicate; usually describes an action or condition; must agree with subject |
| subject complement | an adjective or noun in the predicate (after the verb) that renames or describes the subject |
| object complement | an adjective or noun in the predicate that follows the direct object and renames or describes it |
| direct object | a noun or noun-substitute in the predicate (after the verb) that receives the action of the verb (answers "what" after the verb)(can become the subject of a passive sentence) |
| indirect object | the person or thing to or for whom (can be rephrased as the object of to or for) (can become the subject of a passive sentence) |
| predicate | the main verb phrase plus any direct object, indirect object, subject complement, or object complement that may be present, plus all modifiers of these structures |
| simple subject | the head of the subject noun phrase; the word with which the verb must agree |
| prepositional phrase | preposition, its object, and any modifiers of the object (may serve as an adjective, an adverb, or, occasionally, a noun) |
| complete subject | the simple subject and all its modifiers (and their modifiers, etc.) |
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