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Finding Subjects, Finite Verbs, and Complements
Practice Exercise # 7

Directions: 
1. First place parentheses ( ) around every prepositional phrase.
2. Underline every subject once, every finite verb twice, and label complements (PA,PN, IO or DO). [Reminder: A predicate adjective describes the subject; a predicate noun "equals" the subject; an indirect object is someone or thing "to" or "for" whom (or what) the action of the verb is performed. Any other complement has to be a direct object.]
 

The text is:
      Angie and her four-year old brother, Joel, were sitting together in church. Joel giggled, sang and talked out loud. Finally, his big sister had had enough. "You're not supposed to talk out loud in church." "Why? Who's going to stop me?" Joel asked. Angie pointed to the back of the church and said, "See those two men standing by the door? They're hushers."
 
Note: In creating these pages, I cannot create a double underline. I will therefore underline both subjects and finite verbs once, but subjects will be in green; finite verbs in blue.

The First Sentence

Work your way through the text one sentence at a time.  The first sentence is: [Review prepositional phrases.]
      Angie and her four-year old brother, Joel, were sitting together (in church).
Having found the prepositional phrase, we need to  identify a finite verb or verb phrase, which we find in "were sitting."
      Angie and her four-year old brother, Joel, were sitting together (in church).
 To find the subject of "were sitting," ask "Who or what were siting?" In this sentence, there are two answers to that question, "Angie" and "brother." [Some students will think that the two subjects are "Angie" and "Joel," but "Joel" simply names the already stated "brother." Thus "brother" functions as the subject, and "Joel" is an appositive.]
      Angie and her four-year old brother, Joel, were sitting together (in church).
To find the complement of "were sitting," ask "were sitting whom or what?"  Nothing in the sentence answers that question, so there is no complement.
     We need to check for another finite verb, but there are none so we are finished with this sentence.

The Second Sentence

The next sentence is:  [Review prepositional phrases.]
Joel giggled, sang and talked out loud.
There are no prepositional phrases in it, so we look for a finite verb or verb phrase. In this case, we find three verbs that are all part of the same pattern:
Joel giggled, sang and talked out loud.
To find the subject of "giggled, sang and talked," we ask "Who or what giggled, sang and talked?" In this sentence, the answer is "Joel," so "Joel" is the subject of "giggled, sang and talked."
Joelgiggled, sang and talked out loud.
To find the complement of "giggled, sang and talked," we ask "whom or what?" after each of the verbs, but nothing answers any of the questions, so there are no complements. [Note that "out loud" describes how Joel talked, but does not answer the question "talked what?"]
     We need to check for another finite verb, but there are none so we are finished with this sentence.

The Third Sentence

The third sentence is:  [Review prepositional phrases.]
Finally, his big sister had had enough.
Again there are no prepositional phrases, so we look for a finite verb or verb phrase, which we find in "had had."
Finally, his big sister had had enough.
To find the subject of "had had," we ask "Who or what had had?" The answer is "sister."
Finally, his big sisterhad had enough.
To find the complement of "had had," We ask "The sister had had whom or  what?" The answer here is "enough." To determine the type of the complement:
1. Is it a predicate adjective? "Enough" does not describe the subject ("sister"), so it cannot be a predicate adjective.
2. Is it a predicate noun? "Enough" and the subject ("sister") do not refer to the same thing, they are not "equal," so the complement cannot be a predicate noun.
3. Is it an indirect object? The sentence does not mean had had "to" or "for" enough, so it cannot be an indirect object.
4. Thus this complement has to be a direct object, the only option left.
Finally, his big sisterhad hadenough(DO).
Next we need to check for another finite verb, but there are none so we are finished with this sentence.

The Fourth Sentence

The fourth sentence is:  [Review prepositional phrases.]
"You're not supposed to talk out loud (in church)."
Having identified the prepositional phrases, we look for a finite verb or verb phrase, which we find in "'re supposed," which means "are supposed." ["Not" is always an adverb.]
"You're not supposed to talk out loud (in church)."
To find the subject of "are supposed," we ask "Who or what are supposed?" The answer here is "You."
"You're not supposed to talk out loud (in church)."
To find the complement of "are supposed," We ask "You're not supposed whom or  what?" The answer here is "to talk." To determine the type of the complement:
1. Is it a predicate adjective? "To talk" does not describe the subject ("You"), so it cannot be a predicate adjective.
2. Is it a predicate noun? "To talk" and the subject ("You") do not refer to the same thing, they are not "equal," so the complement cannot be a predicate noun.
3. Is it an indirect object? The sentence does not mean You are not supposed "to" or "for" to talk, so it cannot be an indirect object.
4. Thus this complement has to be a direct object, the only option left.

[Technically, this is a retained direct object after the passive verb "are supposed," but since we do not study passive verbs, I'll expect you to tell me that complements like this one are direct objects.]
"You're not supposedto talk(DO) out loud (in church)."
We need to check for another finite verb, but there are none so we are finished with this sentence.

The Fifth Sentence

The fifth sentence is:  [Review prepositional phrases.]
"Why? Who's going to stop me?" Joel asked.
Again there are no prepositional phrases, so we look for a finite verb or verb phrase, which we find in "'s going.to stop": [Note]
"Why? Who's going to stop me?" Joel asked.
To find the subject of "is going to stop," we ask "Who or what is going to stop?" The answer in this sentence is "Who."
"Why? Who's going to stop me?" Joel asked.
To find the complement of "is going to stop," We ask "Who's going to stop whom or  what?" The answer here is "me." To determine the type of the complement:
1. Is it a predicate adjective? "Me" does not describe the subject ("Who"), so it cannot be a predicate adjective.
2. Is it a predicate noun? "Me" and the subject ("Who") do not refer to the same thing, they are not "equal," so the complement cannot be a predicate noun.
3. Is it an indirect object? The sentence does not mean "Who's going to stop 'to' or 'for' me?" so it cannot be an indirect object.
4. Thus this complement has to be a direct object, the only option left.
"Why? Who's going to stopme(DO)?" Joel asked.
We need to check for another finite verb, which we find in "asked."
"Why? Who's going to stopme(DO)?" Joel asked.
To find the subject of "asked," we ask "Who or what asked?" The answer here is "Joel."
"Why? Who's going to stopme(DO)?" Joelasked.
To find the complement of "asked," We ask "Joel asked whom or  what?" The answer here is the entire "Why? Who's going to stop me?" That is a clause, and you may not be expected to know that yet. You can, however, determine the type of the complement:
1. Is it a predicate adjective?"Why? Who's going to stop me?" does not describe the subject ("Joel"), so it cannot be a predicate adjective.
2. Is it a predicate noun? "Why? Who's going to stop me?" and the subject ("Joel") do not refer to the same thing, they are not "equal," so the complement cannot be a predicate noun.
3. Is it an indirect object? The sentence does not mean that Joel asked "to" or "for" "Why? Who's going to stop me?" so it cannot be an indirect object.
4. Thus this complement has to be a direct object, the only option left.

[If you have been doing these exercises in order, you have already see four examples of clauses as complements in Exercise #6.]

We need to check for another finite verb, but there are none so we are finished with this sentence.

The Sixth Sentence?

The sixth and last sentence is:  [Review prepositional phrases.]
Angie pointed (to the back) (of the church) and said, "See those two men standing (by the door)? They're hushers."
Having identified the prepositional phrases, we look for a finite verb or verb phrase, which we find in "'pointed."
Angie pointed (to the back) (of the church) and said, "See those two men standing (by the door)? They're hushers."
To find the subject of "pointed," we ask "Who or what pointed?" The answer here is "Angie."
Angiepointed (to the back) (of the church) and said, "See those two men standing (by the door)? They're hushers."
To find the complement of "pointed," We ask "Angie pointed whom or  what?" Nothing in the sentence answers that question, so there is no complement.
     We need to check for another finite verb or verb phrase, and we find one in "said."
Angiepointed (to the back) (of the church) and said, "See those two men standing (by the door)? They're hushers."
To find the subject of "said," we ask "Who or what said?" The answer here is "Angie." [Note that because "pointed" and "said" share the same subject, we are dealing with only one S/V/C pattern.]
     To find the complement of "said," we ask "Angie said whom or  what?" The answer here is all the words in quotation marks. They involve clauses, so you may not be expected to know that yet. You can, however, determine the type of the complement:
1. Is it a predicate adjective? The words in quotation marks do not describe the subject ("Angie"), so they cannot be a predicate adjective.
2. Is it a predicate noun? The words in quotation marks and the subject ("Angie") do not refer to the same thing, they are not "equal," so the complement cannot be a predicate noun.
3. Is it an indirect object? The sentence does not mean that Angie said something "to" or "for" the words in quotation marks so they cannot be an indirect object.
4. Thus this complement has to be a direct object, the only option left.
[You've seen this before, haven't you?]
Having dealt with the complement of "said, we need to check for another finite verb or verb phrase, which we find in "See."
Angiepointed (to the back) (of the church) and said, "See those two men standing (by the door)? They're hushers."
To find the subject of "See," we ask "Who or what sees?" The answer here is an implied "You."
     To find the complement of "See," we ask "See whom or  what?" The answer here is "men." To determine the type of the complement:
1. Is it a predicate adjective? "Men" does not describe the subject ("You"), so it cannot be a predicate adjective.
2. Is it a predicate noun? "Men" and the subject ("You") do not refer to the same thing, they are not "equal," so the complement cannot be a predicate noun.
3. Is it an indirect object? The sentence does not mean "See 'to' or 'for' those two men, so "men" cannot be an indirect object.
4. Thus this complement has to be a direct object, the only option left.
Angiepointed (to the back) (of the church) and said, "See those two men(DO) standing (by the door)? They're hushers."
     We need to check for another finite verb or verb phrase, and I expect you to have a problem here. "Standing" is a verb, so you may be tempted to underline it twice. It is not, however, a finite verb; it is a verbal. (Click here for a simple test which will help you learn to identify verbals, and thus not underline them as finite verbs.) There is, however, another finite verb in the sentence -- the "are" ("'re").
Angiepointed (to the back) (of the church) and said, "See those two men(DO) standing (by the door)? They're hushers."
To find the subject of "are," we ask "Who or what are?" The answer here is "They."
Angiepointed (to the back) (of the church) and said, "See those two men(DO) standing (by the door)? They're hushers."
     To find the complement of "are," we ask "They are  who or  what?" The answer here is "hushers." To determine the type of the complement:
1. Is it a predicate adjective? "Hushers" is a noun, and it  does not describe the subject ("They"), so it cannot be a predicate adjective.
2. Is it a predicate noun? "Hushers" and the subject ("They") do refer to the same thing, they are "equal" to the "hushers," so "hushers" is a predicate noun.
Angiepointed(to the back) (of the church) and said, "See those two men(DO) standing (by the door)? They'rehushers(PN)."
We need to check for another finite verb, but there are none so we are finished with this sentence.
Go to Finding Clauses.

Note: I will accept "is going" as the finite verb, and "to stop" as an infinitive functioning as its direct object. Although I personally see "is going to" as meaning "will" ("Who will stop me?"), I can't see any reason for arguing with students who prefer to see "to stop" as an infinitive. If grammarians can disagree with each other, students should have some room to disagree with their teachers, especially on minor points such as this.