Any English experts?

[zoemurr]

OK.. I know we should know this.. but we need help.

We need the simple subject. That is only one word right?

Here are the sentences that we aren't sure about:

The speech he gave was brilliant
It made me tingle with pride.
My parents are getting us a puppy.
Brian and Jane, my siblings, are hoping for a bull dog, but I want a Yorkie.
I hope it gets to sleep in my room.

My DD's teacher is very strict, so these need to be perfect and we're stressing. Thanks!

 

[QVCshopper]

The speech he gave was brilliant
It made me tingle with pride.
My parents are getting us a puppy.
Brian and Jane, my siblings, are hoping for a bull dog, but I want a Yorkie.
I hope it gets to sleep in my room.

I was an English major and am a professional writer, so I think these are right... The Brian/Jane one is tricky, but I think "I" is right b/c "are hoping" is passive. That says, it's been years since grade school...

From yahoo.com
you find the simple subject in each sentence by asking who? or what? before the verb. the following is an example:

I will do my homework. so how would you find the simple subject? find the verb first--will do is the verb. so who? or what? will do? I will do, right? so I is the subject.

 

[NJ2Boardwalk]

From what I know, I believe the simple subject is the one "doing" the verb, with out any of the added adjectives. So in your examples:

The speech he gave was brilliant. Gave is the verb so he is the SS.
It made me tingle with pride. Tingle is the verb so me is the SS.
My parents are getting us a puppy. Getting is the verb so parents is the SS.
Brian and Jane, my siblings, are hoping for a bull dog, but I want a Yorkie. Hoping is the verb so siblings is the SS.
I hope it gets to sleep in my room. Hope is the verb so I is the SS.

I think that is right, it would be my best guess.

 

[amamax2]

The simple subject is not necessarily only one word - it is the who or what (noun or pronoun) doing the action, minus any descriptive words (determiners, articles, adjectives).

So in the sentences you posted, based on that definition:

The speech he gave was brilliant (speech)
It made me tingle with pride. (It)
My parents are getting us a puppy. (parents)
Brian and Jane, my siblings, are hoping for a bull dog, but I want a Yorkie. (Brian, Jane)
I hope it gets to sleep in my room. (I)

HTH!

 

[holden]

English teacher here - I agree w/#4.

 

[mybabesuz]

English teacher here - I agree w/#4.

 

[disneyba]

Another English teacher here...

amamax2 has the correct answers.

If you want to know why, let me know, and I will post an explanation for each sentence.

 

[pixiemagic30]

I agree with post #4, except for the first sentence.

The speech he gave was brilliant. He gave the speech, not the speech giving...

 

[starbox]

Brian and Jane, my siblings, are hoping for a bull dog, but I want a Yorkie.

This is not a simple sentence. It has two clauses - each with a subject and predicate.

I'd actually argue that siblings is the simple subject of the first clause, with Brian and Jane as the appositive phrase - but if this is a worksheet - it probably just follows a pattern and they want Brain/Jane since that comes first.

I is the subject in the second clause.

 

[palavra]

Another English teacher here...

amamax2 has the correct answers.

If you want to know why, let me know, and I will post an explanation for each sentence.

Another English teacher here, and these are absolutely the correct answers.

 

[amamax2]

I agree with post #4, except for the first sentence.

The speech he gave was brilliant. He gave the speech, not the speech giving...

Hmm...sorry, but I believe speech is the subject, was is the verb (speech was brilliant).

 

[dis-happy]

oops, what I wrote makes no sense, so ignore me!

 

[disneyba]

Okay, here is a breakdown of sentence #1...

The sentence reads... The speech he gave was brilliant.

It is a complex sentence, containing one principal clause and one subordinate clause.

The principal clause is "The speech was brilliant." The simple subject is "speech."

The subordinate clause is "he gave." This is an elliptical adjective clause, meaning its first word is missing. In its full form, the sentence would read...The speech that he gave was brilliant. The missing word is the relative pronoun "that."

No part of this subordinate clause can qualify as the simple subject of the sentence. If you want to get more detailed, "he" is the simple subject of the subordinate clause, but not of the entire sentence.

So, amamax2 is quite correct: the simple subject of the sentence is "speech."

 

["Cinder" Ella's Mom]

Hmm...sorry, but I believe speech is the subject, was is the verb (speech was brilliant).

High school English teacher w/ Master's in English here. You are right. Speech is the subject.

 

[zoemurr]

My DD is a very smart kid. She has skipped a grade, and her IQ is off the chart. This has never been an issue before. She has always done well and has been treated like everyone else.

This year her ELA teacher sent me a horrific e-mail. She told me that while my DD is pulling a solid "A" she is not being "brilliant" like she was told that she is. (??) If my DD gets a question correct, but forgets the period she is losing credit for the entire question. She is clearly being held to a different standard than the other children. I suppose that is an entirely different post, but we really felt that the homework has to be "brilliant" and it was too hard for me and DH.

I'm sure we'll be back..

 

[crysplefty]

The speech he gave was brilliant
It made me tingle with pride.
My parents are getting us a puppy.
Brian and Jane, my siblings, are hoping for a bull dog, but I want a Yorkie.
I hope it gets to sleep in my room.