How to Identify the Parts of a Sentence

If you want to become a better writer by learning about grammar, the first thing you have to do is learn how to identify the parts of a sentence. That will form the foundation for any further studying you might do.

When I was in high school, we talked about literature in our English classes, not about grammar. Whatever I learned about grammar beyond the elementary school level, I taught myself.

So I know that it is possible to teach yourself, and I encourage you to do so. It is worth the effort if you want to become a better writer. It will help you greatly in editing your own work.

You might also might be surprised to find that you enjoy studying grammar now, even if you have memories of it being dry and boring when you were a child. The subject is often more interesting when you approach it as an adult.

What follows may be a refresher for some, and an introduction for others.

I use nonsense words both to make it more interesting and to emphasize that you already have such a good intuitive grasp of English grammar that you can spot the structure in a sentence even if the individual words themselves are meaningless and don't give you any clues.

1. The subject of a sentence

In every sentence, somebody or something is doing something. Ask yourself, "Who or what is doing something in this sentence?" The answer will be the subject.

Example: Ziggywiggy tortles the fillyfolly.

Here, Ziggywiggy is doing something. The subject of the sentence is Ziggywiggy.

2. The predicate of a sentence

The predicate is the rest of the sentence, the part that is not the subject. Since Ziggywiggy is the sentence's subject, the predicate is tortles the fillyfolly.

The predicate can be subdivided into two parts, the verb and the object.

3. The verb

The verb tells what the action is. In our sentence, the verb is tortles.

4. The object

While the subject tells who is doing the action, the object tells who is receiving the action. Ask yourself, "Who or what is being tortled?" The answer is the fillyfolly. So the object of the verb tortles is the fillyfolly.

That is all you need to know to have a basic understanding of the structure of English sentences. Everything else is a variation.

Let's look at a few variations, and along the way, pick up some more terminology.

-- Compound subjects

You can have two or more subjects for a single verb.

Example: Ziggywiggy and Oogleboogle tortle the fillyfolly.

-- Compound verbs

You can have multiple verbs for a single subject.

Example: Ziggywiggy tortles and frumungles the fillyfolly.

-- Direct object

A direct object receives the action of a verb, as in our original example, Ziggywiggy tortles the fillyfolly, where fillyfolly is the direct object of tortles.

-- Indirect object

An indirect object never appears on its own. It always accompanies a direct object. The indirect object shows who or what gets the direct object. I know, that's confusing, so let's look at an example.

Ziggywiggy sent Oogleboogle a fillyfolly.

Ziggywiggy is the subject. Sent is the verb. Fillyfolly is the direct object. And Oogleboogle is the indirect object.

In this brief introduction to sentence structure, you have learned enough basic terminology and concepts to provide a foundation for continuing to teach yourself about grammar. You can pick up a used college or high school composition text at any used bookstore or online at Amazon, often for just a few dollars or even less than a dollar in some cases. If you spend a month or two working with such a book, and doing the exercises, you will find that you will reap great dividends in your writing for the rest of your life.