Explanation of pages in STAR Steps to Academic Reading English Level 3 Identifying Subjects, Verbs, and Complements

A sentence is like a string of pearls… The string makes the pearls into a necklace. The connections between the words give the sentence meaning.

Sentences in English must have 2 parts –a subject and a verb. Subject - The subject usually comes first and answers the questions “Who did the activity?” or “ What did the activity?” הנושא בדרך כלל מופיע ראשון ונותן מענה לשאלות " מי עשה את הפעולה ?" או " מה עשה את הפעולה ?" Verb – The verb expresses an action or a general situation (verbs like is, become, etc) הפועל מבטא פעולה או מצב לכל משפט באנגלית יש נושא ופועל

Besides the subject, and the verb, most sentences have a complement which completes the idea. Subject The teacher Asking the question Verb wrote was Complement the question on the board. impossible because of the noise.

The subject of the sentence answers the questions “Who?” or “What”? I heard that Eli is moving to Tel Aviv Tomer likes cats and kittens. Walking to work is healthy. When the weather will turn hot cannot be predicted. Knitting a sweater takes a long time. Talking on a cellular phone while driving is a dangerous habit. Who heard? Who likes cats and kittens? What is healthy? What cannot be predicted? What takes a long time? What is a dangerous habit?

Find examples of tricky subjects in the sentences below. Find the main verb of each sentence. Tricky Subjects 1. משתמשים במילה בצורת פועל + ing כשם עצם והיא יכולה לשמש כנושא משפט. היא פועל רק אם תופיע אחרי פועל עזר כגון am, is, are, was, were, will be 2. צרוף בצורת to + verb לא יכול לשמש כפועל אך יכול לשמש כנושא משפט 3. אם יופיעו נושא ופועל לאחר המילה “that” הם לא הנושא והפועל העיקרי של המשפט Tricky Subjects 1. משתמשים במילה בצורת פועל + ing כשם עצם והיא יכולה לשמש כנושא משפט. היא פועל רק אם תופיע אחרי פועל עזר כגון am, is, are, was, were, will be 2. צרוף בצורת to + verb לא יכול לשמש כפועל אך יכול לשמש כנושא משפט 3. אם יופיעו נושא ופועל לאחר המילה “that” הם לא הנושא והפועל העיקרי של המשפט Subjects I heard that Eli is moving to Tel Aviv. Tomer likes cats and kittens. Walking to work is healthy. When the weather will turn hot cannot be predicted. Knitting a sweater takes a long time. To talk on a cellular phone while driving is a dangerous habit.

Answers: I heard that Eli is moving to Tel Aviv. Tomer likes cats and kittens. Walking to work is healthy. When the weather will turn hot cannot be predicted. Knitting a sweater takes a long time. To talk on a cellular phone while driving is a dangerous habit. I heard that Eli is moving to Tel Aviv. Tomer likes cats and kittens. Walking to work is healthy. When the weather will turn hot cannot be predicted. Knitting a sweater takes a long time. To talk on a cellular phone while driving is a dangerous habit. Tricky Subjects “Walking to work” is the subject of the sentence, and the verb is “is”. “To talk on a cellular phone while driving” is the subject of the sentence. In sentence 1. “I” is the main subject, not Eli, and “heard” is the main verb, not “is moving” because of the word “that” The main verb follows each subject. In the examples above, the main verb is underlined.

The Main Verb The main verb comes after the subject. The main verb may be more than one word The verb tells what the subject does or what the subject is

am is are was were will be has, have, had A verb may contain a helping verb ( פועל עזר ) can, may, might, should, could, would, must A verb may contain a modal ( מילה שמשנה את פרוש הפועל הראשי ) We are studying English He has traveled in Turkey before. The children might forget to call us. Buying the food must be done before six o’clock when the store closes.

Find the main verbs 1. Shira’s friends had already seen the movie that she had chosen. 2. Making spaghetti sauce takes at least an hour. 3. Talia’s mother reminded her to take an umbrella since rain was predicted.

Find the main verbs 1. Shira’s friends had already seen the movie that she had chosen. 2. Making spaghetti sauce takes at least an hour. 3. Talia's mother reminded her to take an umbrella since rain was predicted. Answers

Find the main subjects and the main verbs Personal computers are becoming quite common among university students. A successful student must learn to complete the projects that the teacher assigns for each course. Napping in the middle of the day was a common custom in Israel until recently. The damaged cars had been taken away before the accident was reported on the radio. Why the price for fixing a printer is often more than the price for buying a new one is a question I cannot answer.

Main subjects and main verbs Personal computers are becoming quite common among university students. A successful student must learn to complete the projects that the teacher assigns for each course. Napping in the middle of the day was a common custom in Israel until recently. The damaged cars had been taken away before the accident was reported on the radio. Why the price for fixing a printer is often more than the price for buying a new one is a question I cannot answer. Answers