Subject, Predicate, and Object 

A sentence is a combination of words that gives a complete meaning or thought. A sentence has the following three parts. 

          1. Subject 

          2. Predicate 

          3. Object 

1. Subject 

The subject is a noun or a pronoun used in a sentence. It is an agent in the sentence which does some action in the sentence. Read the following examples. 

■ He is writing a poem. 

■ She is laughing. 

■ They are playing football. 

■ David works in a factory. 

It can be seen in the following examples. that the subjects (he. she. they. David) are performing a certain action. 

In some sentences, the subject may not necessarily perform some task. Hence, the subject can also be defined as the noun or pronoun used in a sentence about which something is being told in the sentence. This definition of subject applies to sentence having static verbs. Read the following examples. 

■ He is very happy. 

■ David seems to be angry. 

■ She looks very beautiful. 

2. Predicate 

The predicate is the part of a sentence that says something about the subject of the sentence. The predicate is usually a large part of the sentence. The part of the sentence, other than the subject, is called the predicate of the sentence. The underlined part in the following examples is the predicate of each sentence. 

■ He is writing a poem. 

■ She is laughing. 

■ They are playing football. 

■ David works in a factory. 

It can be seen in the above examples. that the underlined part of each sentence is the predicate part of the same sentence as it is telling something about the subject. 

3. Object 

Unlike the subject who acts. an object is a noun or a pronoun in a sentence that is acted upon. The subject is the actor of the sentence who acts upon the object. The object is a noun or a pronoun that is acted upon by the subject. 

Example. 

■ He is eating an apple. 

The noun 'apple in the above sentence is the object of the sentence because it is being acted upon by the subject 'He'. The subject 'He' is acting (eating) and the object 'apple is being acted upon (is being eaten) by the subject. 

Examples. 

■ She is singing a song. 

■ He is writing a letter. 

■ She is repairing her laptop. 

Note. All sentences do not have an object. Some verbs do not require an object. which are known as intransitive verbs. Hence, sentences having intransitive verbs may not have an object. Read the following examples. 

■ He is laughing. 

■ She is sleeping. 

■ They are running.