2. How do you find the subject?  To find the subject of a sentence, find the VERB first.  The VERB is the action or state of being in a sentence  Then, ask Who? Or What? Committed the act. The subject will usually come before the verb.

3.  The park ranger’s car broke down on the side of the highway.  What is the verb in this sentence?  Who/what broke?  Subject = car  Verb = broke

4. Subjects, Verbs, and Prepositional Phrases  The subject and the verb of a sentence CAN NEVER be found in a prepositional phrase.

5.  In the dark of the night, we found a scared little cat.  In the corner, near the window, we found a little cat curled up under the table.

6. The understood subject  In a request or a command, the subject is usually not stated.  In such sentences, you is the understood subject

7. WHAT DOES THAT MEAN???  Please rake the yard.  What is the verb?  What is the subject?  Pick up your room.  What is the verb?  What is the subject?

8. Examples: Find the subject or subjects of these sentences.  Jessica and Rachel rode their bikes to the park on Thursday evening.  The entire class received high grades on their Tuesdays with Morrie test.  Despite being in a car accident, Joshua still arrived at school on time.  The path that the ship navigates may cover close to 3,000 miles.  Get your jersey ready for the game tomorrow.

9. Practice:  Turn to page 41 in your grammar book. Complete Exercise 3 - “Identifying Subjects and Verbs”  On page 42, complete Exercise 4 – “Identifying Subjects and Verbs”

10. What is a sentence?  A sentence is a word group that contains a subject and a verb and that expresses a complete thought.

11. But… What is a “subject”  A subject tells WHO or WHAT the sentence is about!!  The subject is the thing within the sentence that is doing the action.

12. Now that we know what a subject is… What is a complete thought?  A complete thought is a thought (group of words) that can stand alone.  A complete thought = an independent clause.  A complete thought makes sense when it stands by itself.

13. Now that we know what a sentence is…  What is a fragment?  A fragment is a word or word group that is capitalized and punctuated as a sentence but does NOT contain all of the essential elements: a subject, a verb and a complete thought.

14.  A fragment CANNOT stand alone. It would not make sense if you saw it all by itself.  A fragment leaves the reader wondering…. HUH??

15. Fragment examples:  Was chosen as the best essay from over 200 essays.  Is this a complete thought?  What is missing?  When the judges announced the winner.  Is this a complete thought?  What is missing?

16. Identify whether these word groups are a sentence or a fragment.  The man in the iron mask.  The dog always barked and wagged his tail.  Justin had a lot of hair.  After the basketball game.

17. Practice:  Turn to page 36 in your grammar book. Complete the exercise called “Oral Practice”  Determine whether each word group is a sentence or a fragment.  Do Numbers 1-10

18. Subordinating Conjunctions  When a subordinating conjunction appears at the beginning of a sentence, you will follow the subordinate clause with a comma.  When a subordinating conjunction appears after the independent clause, you will not use a comma to separate the independent and dependent clauses.  The subordinate clause will contain a subject and a verb, BUT it will not state a complete thought.

19. Examples  If I go to the prom with you, you must pay for everything.  You must pay for everything if I go to the prom with you.  When I was fourteen, we moved to Tennessee.  We moved to TN when I was twelve.

20. Conjunctive Adverbs  Use a conjunctive adverb to join two independent clauses that share the same ideas.  You may use a conjunctive adverb the following ways:  ; conjunctive adverb, , conjunctive adverb,

21. Examples  I will always love peanut butter; however, sunflower butter is much better for you.  Vocabulary seems monotonous, moreover, I only memorize the words; I do not learn them.

22. Add to your notes:  Turn to page 97 and write down the list of subordinating conjunctions.  Turn to page 91 and write down the list of conjunctive adverbs.