What is a sentence? part 1

Apart from exclamations, such as …

Help! Ouch! Drat! How wonderful!

questions such as …

Why? How much?

or commands such as …

Stand up! Watch out! Listen carefully! 

… the minimum requirement for is sentence is a subject and a verb. This is called a statement sentence.

1. The cat slept.
2. The fat cat slept peacefully on the sofa.

The verb (sometimes referred to as a doing word) in the above examples is "slept". 

To find the subject of a sentence you need to ask "who or what did the verb", that is "who slept?"  
Answer - the cat in 1, the fat cat in 2




The verb "to be" is harder to spot since it is not a doing word.
The boy is happy. 
The verb here is "is" and the subject is "the boy"

Other parts of the verb to be are:
am, are, is, was, were, will be, have/has/had been




Test yourself
What is the verb in the following sentences?

1. Mum and dad were on holiday last week.
2. The witness identified the suspect.
3. Petrol prices have risen again.
4. Everything must change.
5. I am in love with you.
6. I put a spell on you.
7. You made me so very happy.
8. Only the good die young. 
9. How long does a tear take to dry?
10. The blues are still blue.

(I resorted to looking in my playlist for inspiration here, in case you're wondering about the odd sentences)







Answers

1. Mum and dad were on holiday last week.
2. The witness identified the suspect.
3. Petrol prices have risen again.
4. Everything must change.
5. I am in love with you.
6. I put a spell on you.
7. You made me so very happy.
8. Only the good die young. 
9. How long does a tear take to dry?
10. The blues are still blue.

In 4 if you said must change that is OK

and in 9 if you included to dry that is OK too.

Now, identify the subject of the verb by asking who is doing the verb?

Answers

1. Mum and dad
2. The witnesses
3. Petrol prices 
4. Everything
5. I
6. I
7. You
8. the good
9. a tear
10. the blues

You'll notice that 
1  the subject can be one word or several words
2  the subject is most commonly before the verb in normal word order.  In questions the word order changes.