As writers, we should know our craft, and, unfortunately, part of that is grammar. I say “unfortunately” because English grammar is really hard to understand sometimes. Yet, the more you know the better off you will be when it comes time to write. With that in mind, the best place to start is always at the beginning. Of course, we can skip the letters and sounds that we learn when we are children, but we need to start at a foundational point. This point is known as “the simple sentence,” which is also known as a subject and a predicate. Creating simple sentences in writing can help create stronger writing.

What is a Subject?

To put it plainly, a simple sentence has a subject and a predicate. Both of these elements make up the simplest sentence type. But, what are the subject and predicate made up of as far as words?

A subject is what the sentence is about. What this means is that the subject is the noun or noun phrase (person, place, or thing) that appears in a sentence. They often appear at the beginning of a sentence.

Let’s take a look at this example:

Larry played his guitar.

In this sentence, Larry is the subject, because that is who or what the sentence is about. Additionally, Larry is a proper noun. Thus, it fulfills the requirements of being a subject.

Still confused? Work in reverse by asking yourself what the subject is doing.

So: who played the guitar? The answer is Larry.

In other words, who or what is performing the action of the sentence? In this case, who is playing the guitar.

Here’s another example:

The house was on fire.

In this sentence, the house is the subject because that’s what the sentence is about. It’s the noun.

Still confused? Work in reverse by asking yourself what the subject is doing.

So: what is on fire? The house is on fire. Here, the word “was”is acting as a verb, so that’s the action.

As such, the house, much like Larry, fulfills all the requirements of being a subject: it’s a noun and it’s doing something (an action).

What is a Predicate?

A predicate in simple terms is what the subject is doing, or, as some put it: the rest of the sentence. This is also the verb part of the sentence or the action.

Look at your subject like the VIP of the sentence: he/she/they/them. It is the most important part of the sentence, so we can move them off to the side. Now, we can identify the predicate. In this case, it is what the VIP is doing—the action they are performing—and it’s the rest of the sentence. This part we can think of as the fans of the VIP. They are just straggling along to follow the subject.

Consider the example “Larry played his guitar.” In this instance, “played his guitar” is the predicate.

For the second example, “The house was on fire,” “was on fire” is the predicate.

Conclusion

There are many rules and parts of speech to contend with. There are also a variety of sentence types. Yet, you really need to start at the beginning in order to understand how sentences are written. Identifying the subject and predicate helps you understand basic grammatical constructs. It also helps you identify the parts of a sentence that make it a sentence. Once you get that down, you are already on your way to mastering the craft.