To define: a simple subject is a subject without modifiers whereas the complete subject is the subject with modifiers included. A subject is the focus of the sentence and what the sentence is about. Subjects are nouns which are people, places or things. A simple subject has only one noun that is focused on which is the noun that connects to the verb in the sentence meaning that it does not have modifiers included in it. A complete subject is the same as the simple subject but with all the words and modifiers that explain what the subject is as well. Asking yourself who or what completes the action is a good way to identify the complete subject in a sentence. A sentence that can be used as an example is “The tall tree fell over.” In this sentence the simple subject would be “tree” because it is the focus of the sentence and connects to the verb. The complete subject in this sentence would be “the tall tree” because it is the simple subject with modifiers included. A predicate is the verb of the sentence that tells the action of the subject. The explanation of simple and complete predicates would be that the simple predicate would be the main verb that is connected to the subject, and the complete predicate would be the simple predicate with all the words that explain what happened in the sentence included. Every word in a sentence is either part of the complete predicate or the complete subject. An example sentence for finding the predicates is “The waves crashed loudly.” In this example, the simple predicate would be “crashed” because it is the verb that tells us the actions of the subject. The complete predicate would be “crashed loudly” because it is the simple predicate with a description of how it was done. 

Test questions: 

1. What is the simple and complete subject in the following sentence? 

The big dog ran back to the house. 

       2. What is the simple and complete predicate in the following sentence? 

The cat jumped gracefully onto the couch. 

       3. What are the simple and complete subjects and predicates in the following sentence? 

The old man walked slowly down the street. 

       4. What is the simple and complete subject in the following sentence? 

The apple fell from the tree. 

Answer key: 

1. Simple subject: “Dog”, complete subject: “The big dog”
2. Simple predicate: “jumped”, complete predicate: “jumped gracefully onto the couch”
3. Simple subject: “man”, complete subject: “The old man”, simple predicate: “walked”, complete predicate: “walked slowly down the street”
4. Simple subject: “apple”, complete subject: “apple”