Subject, Verb, Complement and Modifier

SUBJECT

Definition:

The part of a sentence or clause that commonly indicates (a) what it is about, or (b) who or what performs the action (that is, the agent).

The subject is typically a noun, noun phrase, or pronoun. In a declarative sentence, the subject usually appears before the verb ("Gus never smiles"). In an interrogative sentence, the subject usually follows the first part of a verb ("Does Gus ever smile?").

Examples :

·         "My master made me this collar. He is a good and smart master, and he made me this collar so that I may speak."
(Dug in Up, 2009)

·         "Baseball is dull only to dull minds."
(Red Barber)

·         "Fettucini alfredo is macaroni and cheese for adults."
(Mitch Hedberg)

·         "You can't try to do things; you simply must do them."
(Ray Bradbury)

·         "Great spirits have always encountered violent opposition from mediocre minds."
(Albert Einstein)

·         "This is not a book that should be tossed lightly aside. It should be hurled with great force.
(Dorothy Parker)

VERB

Definition:

The part of speech (or word class) that describes an action or occurrence or indicates a state of being. There are two main classes of verbs: (1) the large open class of lexical verbs (also known as main verbs or full verbs--that is, verbs that aren't dependent on other verbs); and (2) the small closed class of auxiliary verbs (also called helping verbs). The two subtypes of auxiliaries are the primary auxiliaries (be, have, and do), which can also act as lexical verbs, and the modal auxiliaries (can, could, may, might, must, ought, shall, should, will, and would).

Verbs and verb phrases usually function as predicates. They can display differences in tense, mood, aspect, number, person, and voice.

Examples:

·         "Do what you can, with what you have, where you are."
(Theodore Roosevelt)

·         "In the whole vast configuration of things, I'd say you were nothing but a scurvy little spider."
(Jimmy Stewart, It's a Wonderful Life, 1946)

·         "Automobiles, skirting a village green, are like flies that have gained the inner ear--theybuzz, cease, pause, start, shift, stop, halt, brake, and the whole effect is a nervous polytone curiously disturbing."
(E.B. White, "Walden")

·         "Behind the phony tinsel of Hollywood lies the real tinsel."
(Oscar Levant)

·         "He slipped through the door and oozed out, and I was alone."
(P.G. Wodehouse, Thank You, Jeeves, 1934)

·         "Some people say that I must be a terrible person, but it is not true. I have the heart of a young boy in a jar on my desk."
(Stephen King)

·         "There are so many ways for speakers to see the world. We can glimpse, glance, visualize, view, look, spy, or ogle. Stare, gawk, or gape. Peek, watch, or scrutinize. Each word suggestssome subtly different quality . . .."
(Joshua Foer, "Utopian for Beginners." The New Yorker, December 24 & 31, 2012)

COMPLEMENT

Definition:

In grammar, a word or word group that completes the predicate in a sentence.

In contrast to modifiers, which are optional, complements are required to complete the meaning of a sentence or a part of a sentence.

Examples :

·         My uniform is torn and dirty.

·         My uniform is a T-shirt and jeans.

·         "Imagination is the one weapon in the war against reality."
(Jules de Gaultier)

·         "Love is an exploding cigar we willingly smoke."
(Lynda Barry)

·         "Libel actions, when we look at them in perspective, are an ornament of a civilized society."
(Henry Anatole Grunwald)

MODIFIER

Definition:

A word, phrase, or clause that functions as an adjective or adverb to limit or qualify the meaning of another word or word group (called the head).

Modifiers in English include adjectives, adverbs, demonstratives, possessive determiners, prepositional phrases, degree modifiers, and intensifiers. See Examples and Observations, below.

Modifiers that appear before the head are called premodifiers. Modifiers that appear after the head are called postmodifiers.

Examples :

·         "Louis, I think this is the beginning of a beautifulfriendship."
(Humphrey Bogart as Rick in Casablanca, 1942)

·         "As the leader of all illegal activities in Casablanca, I am an influential and respected man."
(Sydney Greenstreet as Senor Ferrari in Casablanca)

·         "You can tell me now. I'm reasonably sober."
(Rick in Casablanca)

·         Major Strasser: What is your nationality?
Rick: I'm a drunkard.
Captain Renault: That makes Rick a citizen of the world.
(Casablanca)

·         "I'm an excellent housekeeper. Every time I get a divorce, I keep the house."
(Zsa Zsa Gabor)

·         "I met a girl who sang the blues
and I asked her for some happy news,
but she just smiled and turned away.
And the three men I admire most,
The Father, Son, and the Holy Ghost,
They caught the last train to the coast
The day the music died."
(Don McLean, "American Pie")

"Sometimes when we are generous in small, barely detectable ways it can change someone else's life forever."
(Margaret Cho)

SUMBER :

http://grammar.about.com/od/rs/g/subject.htm

http://grammar.about.com/od/tz/g/verbterm.htm

http://grammar.about.com/od/c/g/complterm.htm

http://grammar.about.com/od/mo/g/modterm.htm