1. Simple Subjects: Men, melons. Predicate: are. Complete Subject: Men and melons. Complete Predicate: are hard to know.
2. Simple Subjects: magistrate, people. Predicates: should obey (for both). Complete Subjects: The magistrate, The people. Complete Predicates: should obey the laws, should obey the magistrate.
3. Simple Subjects: Fish, visitors. Predicate: stink. Complete Subject: Fish and visitors. Complete Predicate: stink in three days.
The subject is who or what the sentence is about. The simple subject does not contain any modifiers, like adjectives or articles. The complete subject contains any of the modifiers that modify the subject. The simple predicate is the verb or verb phrase in the sentence. It does not included any of the words that modify the verb - only verbs.
4. shop, you
5. memories
A direct object receives the action of the verb. In sentence 4a, the shop is being kept by you. In sentence 4b, the shop is keeping you. In sentence 5, the memories are being had. Direct objects are ONLY in action sentences. They do not follow linking verbs.
6. age as in the present age
7. sermon
8. glorious, laborious.
The subject complement follows the linking verb in a sentence. The linking verbs link the subject to a description. That description is the subject complement. The subject complement is either a noun that renames the subject, or an adjective that describes the subject. In sentence 6, the present age is describing the Golden Age. In sentence 7, example is renamed as sermon. In sentence 8, the words glorious and laborious describe the man.
9. pie (DO), Richard (IO)
10. news (DO), me (IO)
11. star (DO), herself (IO)
12. car (DO), Uncle Mike (IO)
13. hamburger (DO), Timothy (IO)
The direct object receives the action of the subject and the indirect object receives the direct object. Sometimes I think about what you would do first if you were to act out the sentence. In sentence 9, first (or directly) is baking the pie so the pie is the direct object. Then (or indirectly), Richard gets the pie so Richard is the indirect object. I'm not actually baking him.
14. prepare and serve (compound predicate)
15. Sue and her (compound subject), papered and painted (compound predicate)
16. Hunting and trapping (compound subject)
17. snow and sleet (compound subject)
Compound subjects and compound predicates are two or more subjects or predicates joined together with a coordinating conjunction (usually and). The subjects and predicates have equal weight with each other in the sentence.
