Parts of a Sentence

1. Intransitive Verb (IV)

1.1. DOES NOT perform action on a noun in the sentence

1.2. Any form of "to be" (am, is, was, were, are, etc.) is ALWAYS intransitive.

2. Predicate Nominative (PN)

2.1. After an intransitive verb, the PN is a noun or pronoun that renames or identifies the subject.

3. Predicate Adjective (PA)

3.1. After an intransitive verb, the PA is an adjective that describes the subject.

4. Prepositional Phrases

4.1. Prepositional phrases consist of a preposition and a noun or pronoun related to it (AT my house, IN the car, THROUGHOUT the year, DURING school, FOR his birthday, ABOVE the ceiling).

4.2. Nouns or pronouns contained in prepositional phrases are called objects of the preposition (OP), and they cannot serve any other function in the sentence.

4.3. The type of verb does not affect whether there will be any prepositional phrases in a sentence.

5. Subject (S)

5.1. Look at the verb and ask "who or what is doing this?"

5.2. Look at the verb and ask "who is this talking about?"

6. Transitive Verb (TV)

6.1. Performs action on a noun or pronoun in the sentence, which you will label the Direct Object

6.2. Identify the verb, and say "can I _______ something?" Is something or someone in this sentence being ___________? The answer must be YES to both if the verb is transitive.

7. Indirect Object (IO)

7.1. Is located between the transitive verb and the direct object

7.2. Look at the verb, and ask "to whom?" or "for whom?" OR "to what?" or "for what?"is something being ____________?"

7.3. Sentences with transitive verbs do not necessarily have indirect object. Follow these rules, and look closely.

8. Direct Object (DO)

8.1. Transitive verbs MUST have a direct object.

8.2. Look at the verb, and ask "who or what is being __________?"