Core Grammar For College - Basic Sentences

Lesson A.1.
Basic Sentences
Welcome to Lesson 1 (Basic Sentences) of Section A (Sentences).
A good sentence is a building block of good writing. A sentence is a group of words that
can stand on its own as a complete thought. A sentence, at its most basic, usually contains a
subject and a verb:
Students sing. 
In the above sentence, the subject is “students” and the verb is “sing.” That’s it. Just these
two words make a complete sentence. Other words (for example, a word serving as a direct
object or as an indirect object) can be added to make the sentence more interesting and
more informative.
This Lesson will review some basic information about sentences. You probably know much
of this information already, but it is often helpful to refresh what you have learned in the
past. In this Lesson, we will use some “grammar vocabulary,” 1 but don’t let that intimidate
you or put you to sleep. Once you learn these basic terms and sentence building blocks, you
can begin to write amazing sentences without punctuation errors or other grammar mistakes
in them. In this Lesson, you will learn the following things:
(a) how to identify the subject 2 of a sentence; 3
1FYI Grammar Glossary: Throughout all Lessons in Core Grammar for College (CGC),
grammar vocabulary terms are hyperlinked to definitions in the CGC Glossary. If you are
unfamiliar with a term that we use in a Lesson, click on the hyperlink for a quick definition.
You can also go to the Glossary link at the top of every Lesson page for a longer
explanation or to look up a term on your own.
2 Subject: The subject is a grammar term that refers to the person, place, or thing that
performs the action of the verb. The subject of a sentence can be a noun, pronoun, or noun
phrase. Usually, the subject of the sentence is the actor or doer of the sentence (except in
the case of a sentence that uses a passive verb form). Example: “The boy ran off to the
circus.” Do not confuse the grammar term “subject” to mean the topic of the sentence
(what the sentence is about).
© 2013 All Rights Reserved - Carolina Academic Press 1

(b) how to identify the verb 4 of a sentence;
(c) how to identify the direct object 5 of a sentence; and
(d) how to identify the indirect object 6 of a sentence.
In later Lessons in this Section, you will learn about more complex sentences and about
sentences that are exceptions to the general rule that a sentence usually contains a subject
and a verb.
(a) A Sentence’s Subject
As you just learned, a sentence usually contains a subject and a verb:
Students sing. 
In the above sentence, the subject is 7 “students,” and the verb is “sing.” The subject of a
3 Sentence: A sentence contains, at minimum, a subject, a verb, and a complete thought that
can stand on its own. At minimum, then, a sentence contains at least one independent (or
“main”) clause. It can also include other words (such as adjectives and adverbs), phrases
(such as prepositional phrases or participial phrases), and clauses (such as additional
independent clauses or dependent clauses). The subject of a sentence can sometimes be an
implied subject when the sentence is an imperative (or “command”) sentence.
4Verb: A verb is a part of speech that tells something about the subject of a sentence,
usually indicating an action or a state of being (in the case of the verb “to be”). Examples:
“Margaret is happy.” “Franklin passed the exam.” The verb is located in the predicate of a
sentence (or clause).
5Direct Object: The direct object of a sentence is the person or thing that the verb acts
upon. For example: You should open the door. Compare with “indirect object.”
6 Indirect Object: The indirect object is the noun (or pronoun) that is the recipient of the
direct object. An indirect object, like a direct object, helps complete the action of the
sentence. However, you can only have an indirect object if you also have a direct object, and
an indirect object does not begin with a preposition. For example: “Please sing the baby a
song.” In this sentence, “the baby” is the indirect object, and “a song” is the direct object
(the person or thing that the verb acts upon). Compare “Please sing a song to the baby.” In
this second sentence, “baby” is the object of the preposition “to”; it is not an indirect object.
7 FYI The Subject of a Sentence: Beginning students sometimes mistakenly think that the

sentence is the actor or doer of the sentence, and it usually comes early in the sentence. The
subject is a noun 8 or pronoun. 9
Writers often add an article 10 before a noun:
The students sing. 
In the above sentence, “students” is still the subject. “Sing” is still the verb. “The” is an
article that was added to the sentence.
You can think of the subject of a sentence as the person, place, or thing that makes the
action of the sentence happen.
Here is another sample sentence:
The students sing the anthem. 
In the sentence above, there are two nouns: “students” and “anthem.” The noun that is
making the action happen is “students.” The students “sing.” The “anthem” is the song
being sung. The anthem is obviously not doing the singing, so “anthem” is not the subject
of the sentence.
“subject” of the sentence is the “topic” of the sentence (what the sentence is about). When
dealing with grammar issues, the “subject” of the sentence is the person or thing doing the
action introduced by the verb.
8Noun: A noun is a word that refers to a person, place, or thing. A noun that refers to a
specific person (“Peter”), place (“Paris”), or thing (“McDonald’s”) is called a “proper noun.”
A proper noun should be capitalized. Nouns can be modified by adjectives and other
modifiers.
9Pronoun: A pronoun is a word that refers to, and functions in the place of, a noun. There
are many different types of pronouns, including subject pronouns, object pronouns, and
possessive pronouns. A subject pronoun functions as the subject of a sentence (e.g., “She”
or “We”); an object pronoun functions as the object of a verb or preposition (e.g., “Her” or
“Us”); a possessive pronoun signals possession or ownership (e.g., “His” or “Ours”).
10Article: Articles in English are the words “a,” “an,” and “the”; these words are used to
introduce nouns. “A” and “an” are “indefinite articles,” which means that the things the
nouns refer to are nonspecific or have not been discussed before. “The” is a “definite article,”
which means that the noun the article is introducing refers to a specific thing or a thing that
has been discussed before. Compare: “I want to own a house some day.” vs. “That is the
house I rented in college.”

(You will learn later in this Lesson what function “anthem” serves in this sentence. It is a
direct object, 11 but do not worry about that just yet.)
As you have just learned, the subject of a sentence is often a noun. But, sometimes, the
subject of a sentence is a pronoun, 12 as in the sentence below:
They sing. 
“They” is a pronoun that refers to a group of people. It serves as the subject of the sentence
above.
Here is another sample sentence with a pronoun for a subject:
He exercises. 
“He” is a pronoun that refers to the person who exercises, and it serves as the subject of the
sentence above.
(b) A Sentence’s Verb
The main verb of a sentence describes the action or state of being that the subject performs.
Here is a sample sentence:
The students sing the anthem. 
In the above sentence, the main verb of the sentence is “sing.” Singing is the action that the
students are performing.
Here is another sample sentence, with a new subject and a new verb:
The team listens to the singing students. 
12FYI More About Pronouns: Section D (Pronouns and Possessives) will teach you more
about pronouns. You can also click the Glossary link in the menu above to read the
definition of “Pronoun” there. Lastly, you can click the link to the Rules Index and navigate
to Parts of Speech>Pronouns to read even more.

In the sentence above, the subject is “team,” and the verb is “listens.” Listening is the action
that the team is performing.
Identifying the main verb 13 of a sentence can help you identify the subject of a sentence.
To find the subject of the sentence, ask yourself, “Who is carrying out the action of the
verb?” Ask yourself this question as you reread the sentence below:
The team listens to the singing students. 
For the above sentence, your question would be: “Who is listening?” The team is listening,
so you know that the “team” is the subject of the sentence.
The “students” would not be the subject of the sentence because they (the students) are not
carrying out the action of the sentence.
(Later in Core Grammar for College, you will learn what role the phrase “to the singing
students” and the noun “students” play in this sentence, but you do not need to worry about
those roles yet.)
Here is another sample sentence with a subject and a verb:
The glee club won an award. 
“Won” is the verb of the sentence above. To find the subject, ask yourself, “Who won?” The
“glee club” did the winning, so “glee club” is the subject of the sentence.
Sometimes the verb does not seem to introduce an action or create much activity, as in the
sentence below:
I am happy. 
In the sentence above, “I” is the subject and “am” is the verb. The verb “am” describes a
state of being, 14 rather than an action, so it is a little different from most verbs.
13FYI Sentences With Multiple Verbs: Sentences often contain multiple verbs in order to
express more complex ideas. Usually, however, only one verb is the main verb of the
sentence. As you learn more about sentences in CGC, you will learn more about the other
verbs that might appear in sentences.
14FYI More on The Verb “To Be”: You will learn all about the verb “to be” in Lesson 2
(Advanced Sentences) of this Section.

However, “am” is still a verb. It is a form of the verb “to be.” 15
To have a complete sentence, you need a subject and a verb. But your subject and verb also
need to form a complete thought. For example, the following is a complete sentence,
because it has a subject, a verb, and a complete thought:
Joe kicked. 
To many readers, however, the above sentence would seem incomplete because the sentence
does not tell you what Joe kicked; does this sentence have a complete thought? It does. But it
might help to see a sentence that does not have a complete thought, like this one:
Joe kicked the. 
The sentence above has a subject and a verb, but the thought is not complete: what does
“the” refer to? Here is a revision of the above sentence that does present a complete
thought:
Joe kicked the ball. 
Now we know what Joe kicked: the ball. “The ball” is the direct object of the verb, as you
will learn next.
(c) A Sentence’s Direct Object
Let us look more closely at the sentence below:
The subject of the above sentence is “glee club,” but there is another noun 16 in the sentence:
15To Be: The verb “to be” is an irregular verb. Furthermore, while most verbs express an
action (e.g., “I run”), “to be” expresses a state of being (“I am happy”), making it a very
“non-verby” verb. When you conjugate “to be,” the verb forms do not resemble the base
verb “be” at all. In the present tense, here is how “to be” looks: “I am,” “you are,”
“he/she/it is,” “we are,” “you (plural) are,” “they are.” Often, we use a form of “to be” as a
helping verb (or “auxiliary verb”) when conjugating other verbs, like this: “It is raining” or “I
was playing piano.” Writers also use “to be” to create the passive form of a verb, like this: “I
was robbed.”

“award.” What role does the noun “award” play?
In the above sentence, “award” is a direct object. 17 The direct object of a sentence is the
noun or pronoun that the verb 18 acts upon. For example, in the sentence above, “won” acts
upon the noun “award.” You can think of a direct object as the noun (or pronoun) that
completes the action put in motion by the verb.
You can figure out whether a word is the direct object of a verb by asking a question that
begins with “what” about the verb. Just turn the sentence into a question (beginning with
“what”), leaving off the final noun that you suspect is a direct object. If the answer to the
question is the final noun (but with no prepositions 19), then you have a direct object.
What did the glee club win? An award. 
Here is another sample sentence:
The sisters sing the anthem. 
Let us ask the “what” question again:
What do the sisters sing? The anthem. 
Thus, “anthem” is the direct object of the sentence.
One note: when identifying the direct object of a sentence, remember that the object is just
the noun itself, such as “anthem,” and not articles (such as “a” or “the”), possessive
modifiers.
19Preposition: A preposition is a part of speech that (usually) begins a prepositional phrase.

A prepositional phrase is a group of words that functions as a modifier, telling the reader
more about another word or phrase in a sentence. Prepositions include “in,” “to,” “for,”
“from,” and many others. A preposition often indicates time (“after the trial” or “before my
next class”) or space (“on the table” or “under the bed”). The noun that follows the
preposition is the prepositional object (or object of the preposition).

pronouns 20 (such as “my” or “her”) or any other modifying words 21 (such as adjectives 22).
Here are more sample sentences with direct objects:
The treasurer keeps the budget. 

What does the treasurer keep? The budget. 
“Budget” is the direct object of the sentence above.
My professor gave an exam. 

What did the professor give? An exam. 
“Exam” is the direct object of the sentence above.
My roommate shares her yogurt. 

What does my roommate share? Her yogurt. 
“Yogurt” is the direct object of the sentence above.
If you have to add a preposition after the verb in order to make sense out of the “what”
question, you do not have a direct object.
In the sentence below, the “bus” is the subject of the sentence, and “pulls” is the verb. It
looks at first as if we might also have a direct object in the sentence, but we do not:
20Possessive Pronoun: A possessive pronoun is a pronoun that denotes ownership of

something. The possessive pronouns include “my,” “mine,” “your,” “yours,” “his,” “her,”
“hers,” “its,” “our,” “ours,” “their,” and “theirs.” A common error to avoid is adding an
apostrophe to the possessive form of “its” (erroneously writing “it’s,” which is the
contraction for “it is”). Note that grammar experts sometimes refer to certain possessive
pronouns that can modify other words (words such as “my” and “your,” e.g., “my apple” or
“your apple”) as “possessive determiners.” However, these words are also widely referred to
as possessive pronouns.
21Modifier: A modifier is a word or phrase that affects the meaning of another word or
phrase. Modifiers can be words (such as adjectives and adverbs) or groups of words (such as
prepositional phrases). When it is not clear which word or phrase a modifier is supposed to
modify, then that modifier is a “misplaced modifier.”
22Adjective: An adjective is a word that describes or otherwise modifies a noun. Adjectives

may, in turn, be modified by adverbs. When multiple adjectives precede a noun, they should
be separated from each other by commas. An adjective is a type of modifier.

The bus pulls into the parking lot.
Try the “what” question:
What does the bus pull? 
Does the bus “pull” the parking lot?
The “what” question only works with this sample sentence if you add “into” (a preposition)
after the verb:
What does the bus pull into? The parking lot.
The “what” question makes no sense in the above example unless “into” (a preposition) is
added after the verb. Thus, the answer to the question—”parking lot”— cannot be a direct
object.
Indeed, any noun that follows a preposition must be a prepositional object 23 (or “object of
a preposition”—that means the same thing). Do not be fooled into thinking the object of a
preposition is a direct object. Remember: a direct object completes the action of a sentence’s
verb. It cannot be introduced by a preposition.
Here is another example of a sentence that does not have a direct object. You will be able to
tell that there is no direct object because the “what” question only makes sense if you add a
preposition after the verb:
Jonah slipped on the banana peel.

What did Jonah slip on? The banana peel.
In this example, the “what” question only makes sense if you add “on” (a preposition) after
the verb (slipped). Thus, “banana peel” cannot be a direct object.
People can also be direct objects. If you think the direct object is a person, ask the test
question with “whom” instead of “what,” like this:
Jane called Michael. 

Whom did Jane call? Michael. 
The father hugged his son. 

Whom did the father hug? His son. 
23Prepositional Object: The prepositional object (or object of the preposition) is the noun
that follows the preposition in a prepositional phrase, like this: “on the table.” In this
example phrase, the preposition is “on,” and the object is “table.”

Katrina photographed her roommate. 
Whom did Katrina photograph? Her roommate. 
(d) A Sentence’s Indirect Object
An indirect object, 24 like a direct object, 25 helps complete the action of the sentence.
However, you can only have an indirect object if you also have a direct object. The indirect
object is the noun (or pronoun) that is the recipient of the direct object. This explanation
makes more sense with a sample sentence:
My professor gave me an exam. 
In the sentence above, “exam” is the direct object of the sentence. It tells the reader what
the professor gave, as we can see if we turn the sentence into a question:
What did the professor give me? An exam. 
“Me” is the indirect object. It is the recipient of the direct object, “exam.” Put another way,
“me” tells the reader whom the exam was given to.
Let us ask the “what” test question about the direct object again:

What did the professor give me? An exam. 
Now, just as we can use a “what” (or “whom”) question to identify a direct object in a
sentence, we can use a slightly different test question to identify an indirect object. When
testing for an indirect object, ask “to whom,” “for whom,” “to what,” or “for what”:

To whom did the professor give the exam? Me. 
“Me” is the indirect object of the above sentence. “Me” is the person to whom the
professor gave the exam.
When you test for an indirect object by asking a question, you have to insert a “to” or “for”
at the beginning of the question:
To whom did the professor give the exam? Me. 
Remember: a sentence with an indirect object must also have a direct object. Take a look at
the sample sentences below:
John gives me the bagel. 
• Direct object = bagel.

• Indirect object = me.
The father baked his daughter some brownies. 
• Direct object = brownies.

• Indirect object = daughter.
Let us look at these sample sentences again, this time asking the test questions. For each
sentence, let us first ask a question about the direct object. Then, let us ask a question about
the indirect object:

What does John give? The bagel. [direct object] 
To whom does John give the bagel? Me. [indirect object] 
Here is the other sample sentence with the test questions:

What did the father bake? Some brownies. [direct object] 
For whom did the father bake the brownies? His daughter. [indirect object]

When identifying the indirect object of a sentence, remember that the object is just the noun
itself, such as “daughter.” The object does not include articles (such as “a” or “the”),
possessive pronouns (such as “my” or “her”) or any other modifying words (such as
adjectives).

Here is one last sample sentence with questions:
Jamie loaned Molly her shoes. 

What did Jamie loan? Her shoes. [direct object] 
To whom did Jamie loan her shoes? Molly. [indirect object] 
One last note about indirect objects. Do not confuse indirect objects with prepositional
objects. 26 Prepositional objects follow prepositions, such as “to,” “from,” and “for.”
Here is an example of a sentence that correctly uses a prepositional phrase:
Jamie loaned her shoes to Molly. 
The sentence above does not have an indirect object. It has a direct object, “shoes,” and a
prepositional phrase, “to Molly.”
Remember, no direct or indirect object is preceded by a preposition. You can think of this as
the “no-preposition” rule.
This distinction is a fine and nitpicky one, and one that does not really change the meaning
of the sentence.
Whether “Molly” is an indirect object, like this:
Jamie loaned Molly her shoes. 
or a prepositional object like this:
makes little difference to the meaning of the sentence. Just keep in mind the “no-preposition”
rule described above, and you will be in the clear.
Let’s Review
Congratulations. You have completed Lesson 1 (Basic Sentences) in Section A (Sentences).
Before you try your hand at some exercises, let’s review what you learned in this Lesson.

1. The subject 27 of a sentence is the actor or doer of the sentence, and it usually comes
early in the sentence. The subject is a noun 28 or pronoun. 29
In the sentence below, the subject is a noun, “students”:
Students sing. 
In the sentence below, the subject is a pronoun, “he”:
He exercises. 
2. The main verb 30 of a sentence is the action that the subject performs. Below, the verb is
“sing”:
The students sing. 
Sometimes a verb doesn’t show “action” at all but rather shows a state of being. Any form
of the verb “to be” 31 can serve as the verb in a sentence, as in the sentence below:
27 Subject: The subject is a grammar term that refers to the person, place, or thing that
performs the action of the verb. The subject of a sentence can be a noun, pronoun, or noun
phrase. Usually, the subject of the sentence is the actor or doer of the sentence (except in
the case of a sentence that uses a passive verb form). Example: “The boy ran off to the
circus.” Do not confuse the grammar term “subject” to mean the topic of the sentence
(what the sentence is about).
modifiers.
29Pronoun: A pronoun is a word that refers to, and functions in the place of, a noun. There
are many different types of pronouns, including subject pronouns, object pronouns, and
possessive pronouns. A subject pronoun functions as the subject of a sentence (e.g., “She”
or “We”); an object pronoun functions as the object of a verb or preposition (e.g., “Her” or
“Us”); a possessive pronoun signals possession or ownership (e.g., “His” or “Ours”).
31 To Be: The verb “to be” is an irregular verb. Furthermore, while most verbs express an

I am happy. 
3. A direct object 32 is the noun that the verb acts upon. For example, in the sentence below,
“won” acts upon the noun “award.” You can think of a direct object as the noun (or
pronoun) that completes the action put in motion by the verb.
The father hugged his son. 
You can figure out whether a word is the direct object of a verb by asking a question that
begins with “what” or “whom” about the verb. Just turn the sentence into a question
(beginning with “what” or “whom”), leaving off the final noun that you suspect is a direct
object. If the answer to the question is the final noun (but with no prepositions 33), then you
have a direct object.
What did the glee club win? An award. 
Whom did the father hug? His son. 
But remember, a direct object can never be introduced by a preposition.
For example, in the sentence below, “ parking lot” is not a direct object. The “what”
question only works with this sentence if you add a preposition to the question (“What does
the bus pull into?”), so you know “parking lot” is not a direct object of the sentence.
action (e.g., “I run”), “to be” expresses a state of being (“I am happy”), making it a very
“non-verby” verb. When you conjugate “to be,” the verb forms do not resemble the base
verb “be” at all. In the present tense, here is how “to be” looks: “I am,” “you are,”
“he/she/it is,” “we are,” “you (plural) are,” “they are.” Often, we use a form of “to be” as a
helping verb (or “auxiliary verb”) when conjugating other verbs, like this: “It is raining” or “I
was playing piano.” Writers also use “to be” to create the passive form of a verb, like this: “I
was robbed.”


The bus pulls into the parking lot. 
What does the bus pull into? 
4. An indirect object, 34 which can only appear in a sentence that also has a direct object, is a
noun (or pronoun) that is the recipient of the direct object, like this:
Now, just as we can use a “what” question to identify a direct object in a sentence, we can
use a slightly different test question to identify an indirect object.
When testing for an indirect object, turn your sentence into a question, leaving off the noun
or pronoun that you suspect is the indirect object. Begin the question with “to whom,” “for
whom,” “to what,” or “for what.”
If the answer to your question is your suspected indirect object—and the object was not
introduced with a preposition in the original sentence—then you have an indirect object.

What does John give me? The bagel. [direct object] 
To whom does John give the bagel? Me. [indirect object] 
And remember to keep in mind the “no-preposition” rule: no direct or indirect object is ever
preceded by a preposition 35 (such as “to,” “from,” or “for”). Nouns preceded by


prepositions are prepositional objects. 36
Thus, the following sentence does not have an indirect object (but it is written correctly):
“Molly” is the object of the preposition “to.”

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Lesson A.1.

(a) how to identify the subject 2 of a sentence; 3

© 2013 All Rights Reserved - Carolina Academic Press 1

(c) how to identify the direct object 5 of a sentence; and

(d) how to identify the indirect object 6 of a sentence.

(a) A Sentence’s Subject

As you just learned, a sentence usually contains a subject and a verb:

© 2013 All Rights Reserved - Carolina Academic Press 2

Writers often add an article 10 before a noun:

The students sing. 

Here is another sample sentence:

The students sing the anthem. 

© 2013 All Rights Reserved - Carolina Academic Press 3

Here is another sample sentence with a pronoun for a subject:

(b) A Sentence’s Verb

Here is a sample sentence:

The students sing the anthem. 

The team listens to the singing students. 

© 2013 All Rights Reserved - Carolina Academic Press 4

The team listens to the singing students. 

Here is another sample sentence with a subject and a verb:

The glee club won an award. 

© 2013 All Rights Reserved - Carolina Academic Press 5

Joe kicked the. 

Joe kicked the ball. 

(c) A Sentence’s Direct Object

Let us look more closely at the sentence below:

The glee club won an award. 

© 2013 All Rights Reserved - Carolina Academic Press 6

What did the glee club win? An award. 

Here is another sample sentence:

The sisters sing the anthem. 

Let us ask the “what” question again:

What do the sisters sing? The anthem. 

Thus, “anthem” is the direct object of the sentence.

19Preposition: A preposition is a part of speech that (usually) begins a prepositional phrase.

© 2013 All Rights Reserved - Carolina Academic Press 7

Here are more sample sentences with direct objects:

The treasurer keeps the budget. 

“Budget” is the direct object of the sentence above.

My professor gave an exam. 

“Exam” is the direct object of the sentence above.

My roommate shares her yogurt. 

“Yogurt” is the direct object of the sentence above.

20Possessive Pronoun: A possessive pronoun is a pronoun that denotes ownership of

22Adjective: An adjective is a word that describes or otherwise modifies a noun. Adjectives

© 2013 All Rights Reserved - Carolina Academic Press 8

Try the “what” question:

What does the bus pull? 

Does the bus “pull” the parking lot?

What does the bus pull into? The parking lot.

Jonah slipped on the banana peel.

Jane called Michael. 

The father hugged his son. 

© 2013 All Rights Reserved - Carolina Academic Press 9

(d) A Sentence’s Indirect Object

My professor gave me an exam. 

What did the professor give me? An exam. 

My professor gave me an exam. 

My professor gave me an exam. 

© 2013 All Rights Reserved - Carolina Academic Press 10

To whom did the professor give the exam? Me. 

John gives me the bagel. 