mchel210 Posted October 4, 2011 Share Posted October 4, 2011 Ok...My dd has a grammar assignment. It is find the complete subject. I used my Easy Grammar with her and she crosses out all prepositional phrases first then finds the subject. 1. The baskets made in the field are nice. I have complete subject as Baskets Prepositional phrase: in the field, The teacher corrected this to be ... complete subject is ... baskets made in the field I cant remember the other sentence...but it was on a test and brought her grade down since the teacher marked the prepositional phase as part of the subject. Does it ever become part of the subject? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LinRTX Posted October 4, 2011 Share Posted October 4, 2011 The simple subject is baskets. The complete subject is the simple subject AND anything that modifies it. "Made in the field" tells which baskets and so modifies the simple subject baskets and is part of the complete subject. Does that make sense? Linda Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
boscopup Posted October 4, 2011 Share Posted October 4, 2011 You would only cross out the propositional phrase if you're looking for the simple subject, which is baskets. The test asked for the complete subject, so you divide the sentence into two parts - subject and predicate. Within those two parts, you can find the simple subject and simple predicate (basket, are). Hopefully that makes sense. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zoo_keeper Posted October 4, 2011 Share Posted October 4, 2011 I am not a grammarian, but I agree with the teacher (although I would have also included "the"). The prepositional phrase modifies the subject, just like the word "straw" would if the sentence began "The straw baskets..." Straw would belong in the complete subject, so I think the same could be said for "made in the field". Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mchel210 Posted October 4, 2011 Author Share Posted October 4, 2011 :) Thanks! :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
In the Rain Posted October 4, 2011 Share Posted October 4, 2011 We recently covered this in MCT Grammar Island. I am learning it along with dd. :tongue_smilie: When dd asks me for help with one of her practice sentences, she invariably offers to go get the teacher's manual so I can look up the answer. :lol::blushing: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Snickerdoodle Posted October 4, 2011 Share Posted October 4, 2011 Isn't made in the fields a participial phrase acting like an adj. to the word baskets? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
8filltheheart Posted October 4, 2011 Share Posted October 4, 2011 (edited) Ok...My dd has a grammar assignment. It is find the complete subject. I used my Easy Grammar with her and she crosses out all prepositional phrases first then finds the subject. 1. The baskets made in the field are nice. I have complete subject as Baskets Prepositional phrase: in the field, The teacher corrected this to be ... complete subject is ... baskets made in the field I cant remember the other sentence...but it was on a test and brought her grade down since the teacher marked the prepositional phase as part of the subject. Does it ever become part of the subject? I rarely teach my kids complete subject and complete predicate b/c they are rather useless skills, but the teacher is correct. In the sentence The baskets made in the field are nice. the complete subject is in red and the complete predicate is in blue. The reason that sentence is particularly annoying to me is b/c the complete subject is the subject and all of its modifiers EXCEPT when you have a linking verb followed by a subjective complement (or predicate adj.) and then the modifiers belong to the complete predicate. :tongue_smilie: Basically, just learn to split the sentence before the verb or any adverbs between the suubject and verb and typically the answer will be correct. Grammatically, baskets= subject, made in the field= past participle phrase modifying basket (the prep phrase is actually adv modifying made), are=linking verb, nice= subjective complement or predicate adj modifying baskets. For example: The smelly black dog covered with clumps of mud deliberately rubbed against my white pants. would split between mud and deliberately b/c the participle phrase (and its prep phrase) modify the subject and the deliberately modifies rubbed. Edited October 4, 2011 by 8FillTheHeart Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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