Idealy yes, that's true, and it will be true for smaller stuff like essays. But most writers will still adjust a longer story like a novel when it comes to them, instead of forcing out a first draft they're unhappy with.
Answer:
1) A can of lima beans sits on the shelf
Here can is the subject
Sits is the verb
2) the women who went to meetingwere bored
Here women is the subject
And were is the verb
Without missing an important deatail