Language Focus: Exercise 1

PART 1: Sentence Skills
INTRODUCTORY ACTIVITY
Understanding subjects and verbs is a major step toward mastering many sentence skills.

Finding Subjects and Verbs

A. In each of the following sentences, draw one line under the subject and two lines under the verb.

1. Rachel poured extra-virgin olive oil into the skillet.
2. The company offered a fifty-dollar rebate on every energy-efficient refrigerator bought during the month of June.
3. The talk show host introduced ten-year-old Drake as a feature American Idol star.
4. Taryn adjusted the volume on her iPod as she entered the library.
5. The discarded cigarette butt burned a hole in the upholstery.
6. The bathroom upstairs is infested with cockroaches.
7. Royden tripped over the tangled cables behind my office desk.
8. The sports drink quenched my thirst.
9. The lawn trimmer tossed small rocks and other debris into the air.
10. Volunteers collected canned meats, beans, and peanut butter for the food bank.



B. Decide if the sentence is correct and incorrect. Underline which one is subject and which one is verb. Give your reason if the sentences below are incorrect and revise them into good sentences.

1.    My sisters always helpful with problems.	Correct	Incorrect
2.    the course schedule has changed since last week.
3.    Accidentally dropped the plate on the floor.
4.    The customer paying the cashier for the stationary .
5.    The lecturer handed the syllabus to the students.
6.    Each day practiced the guitar for hours.
7.    The basketball player tossed the ball into the hoop.
8.    The new male student in the class very talk active and friendly.
9.    Walking with the children to school.
10.  The whales headed south for the winter