Harvey's Elementary Grammar and Composition · Lesson 11 · Part 1: Part I: The elementary course

9. Subject, predicate and copula

Goal: Your child can find the subject, the predicate and the joining word (copula) in short sentences like "Ice is cold."

⏱ About 20 minutes · 7 steps

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You'll need

  • The book, open to this lesson
  • Paper and a pencil (or a slate)

What's in the book

Lesson 11 uses "Ice is cold" to define the subject, predicate and copula, then gives nine short sentences to take apart.

The lesson, step by step

  1. Review

    Ask your child to contract "I am" and "they are", and to say what the apostrophe shows.

  2. Look at a sentence

    Write: Ice is cold.

    Ask: What are we talking about? (ice) What do we say about it? (cold) What word joins them? (is)

  3. The book's words

    Read the three definitions:

    The Subject of a proposition is that of which something is affirmed.

    The Predicate of a proposition is that which is affirmed of the subject.

    The Copula is a word, or group of words, used to join a predicate to a subject, and to make an assertion.

    SayAffirmed just means said or claimed.

  4. Oral practice

    Make up sentences together: Grass is green. Soup is hot. For each, your child names the subject, predicate and copula.

  5. The book's exercise

    Point out the three parts in each sentence on the page:

    Air is transparent.

    Jane has been studious.

    George should have been industrious.

    The copula can be more than one word, like "has been" or "should have been".

  6. Check together

    Go through the answers. Underline the subject once and the predicate twice, and circle the copula, if that helps.

  7. Use it today

    Find a short sentence with is, are, was or were in today's reading. Name its subject, predicate and copula.

Answers to the book's problems

Subject / copula / predicate: 1 Air / is / transparent. 2 Iron / is / heavy. 3 Nero / was / cruel. 4 Jane / has been / studious. 5 Walter / will be / tardy. 6 Mary / should be / kind. 7 Ellen / is / unhappy. 8 Martha / was / cheerful. 9 George / should have been / industrious.

Worked out for this site from the scan. If a number in your copy differs, trust the book.

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