Lesson video

Hi, I'm Mr. Buckingham and I'm really glad to be here with you for today's lesson.

What we'll learn today I'm hoping might be completely new to you, which means it's extra exciting for me, but also I'm hoping you'll leave the lesson with some interesting new knowledge you can share with other people.

Let's make a step.

Today's lesson is called Subject and Object, and it comes from the unit called using five sentence types.

By the end of today's lesson, we'll be able to identify the subject and object in main clauses.

Now the skill we're learning today is a useful one because if we use it correctly, it can really help us to avoid writing sentences that don't make sense in our writing.

But it's also a fun piece of grammar knowledge that really helps us to understand a bit more about the language we speak.

So let's get to work.

Here are the keywords for today's lesson.

My turn, your turn.

Clause.

Verb.

Subject.

And object.

Well done.

Now you might already know that a clause is a group of words that contains a verb and that a verb is a being, a doing or a having word.

Here are new pieces of vocabulary for this lesson.

A subject is the noun or noun phrase that does or is the main verb in a clause.

It can be replaced by a pronoun.

Those are words like he, she and it.

And an object is the noun or noun phrase that receives the action of the main verb in a clause.

And again, it can be replaced by a pronoun.

Now don't worry, we'll delve much deeper into all those terms as we go through the lesson.

Here's our lesson outline for today.

We're going to start by looking at subjects and objects in a simple sentence and then we'll move on to looking at them in compound sentences.

Now, as I'm sure many of you will know, a clause is a group of words that contains a verb.

Here's some examples of clauses.

The moon rose.

What's a mess we are in.

Which failed miserably.

When we looked up.

And we can see the verbs in purple here, Rose, are, failed and looked are all verbs because they're being, doing or having words.

And these groups of words are all clauses because they all contain a verb.

Now, sometimes an auxiliary verb, a helping verb, helps to change the tense of a main verb in a clause.

So if you look at this clause, before Alex had noticed, we've got the main thing Alex is doing, which is noticed, but before that we've got had, which is an auxiliary verb.

It's changing the tense of the main verb noticed.

But these are both verbs, had and noticed are both verbs in this clause.

Now we've just seen that all of these are clauses because they contain verbs.

We're going to talk now about one of the main pieces of vocabulary for our lesson, which is the subject.

So the personal thing, the noun or the noun phrase that does the verb in a clause is called the subject.

And the subject is who or what is doing that verb.

So if you look at our first example, the moon rose, we've got the verb rose.

So who or what is doing that verb? It's the moon.

So the moon is the subject of the verb rose.

In the second example we've got the verb was walking.

And who's doing that? It's Izzy.

So Izzy is the subject of that verb.

In the third one we've got had noticed as our verbs, Alex is doing those.

So he's the subject of that clause.

And in the last example we've got was listening.

Who's doing that verb? It's the whole school.

So this is a noun phrase.

It's several words, but it's still the subject of that verb was listening.

So I wonder if you can find the subject that's doing the verb in each clause and what verb is it doing? Pause the video and have a think.

Okay, let's take a look in A, we've got many people as the subject doing the verb believe.

In B, we've got the queue as the subject doing the verbs was growing.

In C, we've got our neighbour as the subject doing the verb has left.

And in D, we've got the symbol as the subject doing the verb is here.

Now notice how verbs can be a couple of words and the subject can be a noun phrase, more than one word.

So watch out for that.

Really well done if you've got those.

Now sometimes we have to look a little bit carefully to see which noun is doing the verb in the clause.

So if you look at this clause, it says Jun has given his letter to the secretary.

We've got the verb here has given, but we've got three different nouns.

Jun, the letter and the secretary.

So we have to think which noun is actually doing the verb has given 'cause that is the one that's the subject.

And in this case it's Jun.

Jun is the subject doing that verb has given.

So usually the subject like in this sent-, this clause comes just before the verb that it's doing.

So a simple sentence you might already know is a sentence formed of just one clause.

So here's some examples.

This year, Jacob has achieved a lot.

What a nuisance Laura is! So a simple sentence usually contains a subject and a verb, and the subject usually comes just before the verb.

So here we can see Jacob as the subject of the verb has achieved, Laura as the subject of that being verb is.

So the subject has come just before the verb it's doing, but in questions the subject can sometimes be missing completely.

So we might see where is my hat? Who took this? Here we've got a verb is and a verb took, but it's not clear who is the subject of that because we're asking a question.

And in the same way, sometimes the subject in a question comes between the auxiliary verb and the main verb.

Let me show you what I mean.

We could have, which has Alex got? So we've got has got as a verb, but then we've got the subject, Alex, in between those two.

And then here we've got where has dad put it? Has and put are my verbs.

And dad, the subject is in between the two.

In both those sentences has is the auxiliary verb and then got and put are the main verbs.

I wonder if you can find the subject and verb in each of these simple sentences.

Pause the video and have a try.

Okay, let's share our ideas.

In A, we've got Sam as the subject doing the verb will go.

In B, we've got the temperature, a noun phrase as the subject doing the verb is rising.

In C, we've got did and leave as our verb there being done by the subject Mr. Martinez.

And then in D we've got Jacob as the subject doing the verb sang.

Really well done if you spotted those.

So the subject is the noun that does the verb in a clause as we've just seen.

But sometimes that verb is done to another noun.

So for instance, after the match, Andy washed his boots thoroughly.

Here we can see we've got the verb, what's being done, which is washed.

Then we've got Andeep, the subject, he's the noun that's doing that verb washed.

But then here we've got his boots, which is a noun or noun phrase in this case a noun phrase that the verb is being done to.

So we call this the object of the clause.

And this is the thing, the noun that receives the action of the verb.

So the noun that the action is happening to or that the action is affecting.

So the boots are being washed by Andeep.

So washed is being done to the boots.

Because it's being done to them, we call the boots the object.

So Andeep is the subject doing the verb washed to the object, his boots.

So I wonder if you can match each of these words now to its definition.

We have the subject, the verb and the object.

What's the definition of each? Let's try and match them up.

Pause, video, and have a go.

Okay, let's see what you got.

For A, the action that's being done in the clause is the verb.

For B, the noun that the action is being done to or is affecting is the object.

So the boots in that sentence we just saw.

And for C, the noun that's doing the action is the subject that was Andeep in our sentence that we just saw really well done with matching those up.

Okay, let's have a look at some examples of simple sentences that contain a subject, a verb and an object.

Here's one.

Last night, the lightning struck the tree at its base.

Let's try and identify the subject, the verb and the object.

And from now on I'm always going to start with the verb, the thing that's being done.

So what's the verb being done in this simple sentence? It would be struck and then the subject is the noun that does it.

That would be the lightning.

And then the object is the noun the verb is being done to.

So what noun is struck being done to? Well that would be the tree.

So we've got the subject, the verb and the object.

Let's look at another one.

Soon, my speech was persuading everyone in the room.

Let's start by finding that verb.

It would be was persuading.

Who's doing that? The subject that does that verb is my speech.

And then who's the object? What's that persuading being done to? And that would be everyone in the room.

Then in this (indistinct) one.

Let's take a look.

A complete outsider had won the competition already.

So what's the verb? It would be had won.

Who's doing that? It's a complete outsider.

That's the subject.

And then what would be the object? It would be the competition.

That's who the winning has been done to or what the winning has been done to.

Now notice that sometimes words come after the object and before the subject.

So if you look at the first example we've got last night as a fronted adverbial phrase in front of the subject, and we've got at its base a preposition phrase after the object.

That's okay.

That's why we focus in on the verb.

We're thinking who's doing that verb to what.

So we've said that subjects are nouns that do verbs and objects are nouns that receive the action of the verb.

But pronouns can also be subjects and objects.

And these are words like he, she, him, us, they and them that replace nouns in sentences.

So if we look at this simple sentence, we have Lucas recognised Ms. O'Neill instantly.

So recognised as the verb, that's what's being done.

Who's doing it? Is Lucas the subject.

To whom? that would be to Ms. O'Neill, the object.

That sentence has nouns in Lucas and Ms. O'Neill, but we could change those into pronouns.

We could write "He, for Lucas, recognised her, for Ms. O'Neill, instantly." So again, we've got recognised is still the verb.

He is now the subject and her is now the object.

So we've got pronouns as our subject and object.

And in these types of sentences, that object must be a noun and noun phrase or a pronoun that immediately follows the verb.

So here can you see how the word her or Ms. O'Neill comes directly after that verb? We don't have, for instance, a preposition phrase before that noun.

So I wonder if you can find the subject, the verb, and the object in these simple sentences.

Pause the video and have a try.

Okay, let's take a look.

For a, we've got the verb recognised being done by the subject she to me the object.

In B, we've got the verb gathered being done by the subject, the committee to the object, the community.

In C, we've got the verb appreciated being done by the subject Sam to the object, the presents.

Really well done if you've managed to label those up correctly.

Now, not all simple sentences do have an object.

Here's a simple sentence which doesn't have an object.

My heart pounded.

So here we have the subject, my heart doing the verb pounded.

It's not being done to anything.

So objects that always nouns, noun phrases or pronouns which are immediately after the verb.

I'm going to show you a couple more simple sentences which don't have an object and we'll explain why.

If you look at this one, we've written my heart pounded earlier.

Now, earlier has come right after that verb pounded.

But this is not a noun or a noun phrase or a pronoun, it's an adverb.

So that cannot be an object.

Now let's look at another one.

We've got my heart pounded in my chest.

Now my chest is a noun phrase, but look how in front of it we've got that preposition in.

Now because we have that preposition, we won't call my chest an object here.

So it's a preposition phrase.

It doesn't start with that noun chest.

And we couldn't say that, could we? We couldn't say my heart pounded chest.

So we can't use chest as the object here.

Here's one that does have an object.

My heart pounded a rapid rhythm in my chest.

Can you see the difference here? Pounded is being done directly to that noun phrase, a rapid rhythm.

That's what's receiving the action of pounding.

So here this is a noun phrase and it is an object and it has come directly after that verb.

We don't have a word like in, a preposition, in between the verb and the noun phrase.

So we can call this an object.

So which of these simple sentences does have an object? You're going to have to look at that verb and look after it to see if you think we have a noun, a noun phrase or a pronoun which is receiving the action of that verb.

Pause the video and have a go.

Okay, let's take a look, in A, we've got the government changed.

There's nothing after the verb there so there can't be an object.

Changed is the verb.

In B, we've got the government changed the law, so change is the verb and then the law is the object.

Well done if you got that one.

In C, we've got opened as the verb and then its doors.

Its doors is a noun phrase.

So that one works well.

That is an object.

In D, we've got the leisure centre opened today.

Now today is not a noun phrase, it's an adverb.

So this one is not an object in this case.

Really well done if you've managed to work that out.

So the subject and an object in a clause are often pronouns, words like he, she they, me and us that replace nouns.

For example, they pushed us.

We've got the subject they doing the verb pushed to us.

the object.

Here we've got earlier, she was interrupting me.

I've got the verb was interrupting being done by she, the subject to me the object.

But we can change a sentence by changing these subject and objects.

So let's take this sentence and change it by changing the subject and the object.

For instance, I could say earlier Sophia, a new subject was interrupting Ms. O'Neill, a new object rudely.

And I've added an adverb at the end there after the object.

I could say earlier, Laura and Sam, a new subject there of two people, were interrupting the class, a new object.

Earlier, a very disrespectful child, that's a long noun phrase, was interrupting the church service.

So the church service is the object there.

This boy was interrupting everyone all day.

So this boy is there.

The subject then we got was interrupting as the verb and everyone is the object.

So we've used new subjects and new objects to change the meaning of the sentence.

So how can we change the meaning of this sentence by choosing different subjects and objects? We've got they as a subject, pushed as a verb and us as an object.

Pause the video and see if you can play with some different subjects and objects to write a new sentence based around that verb pushed, have a go.

Okay, let's see what we came up with.

Now yours will of course be different to mine, hopefully more imaginative, but let's see what we've got.

I came up with, they pushed Jun and me.

Sam and Sophia pushed us.

These children pushed Jun, Alex and me.

A few unpleasant bullies pushed Alex and me roughly, adverb at the end there.

And some very rough girls pushed Alex and me over, another adverb at the end.

So here I've got some different subjects and I've got some different objects which I've used to change the meaning of that basic sentence.

Hopefully you came up with something similar.

Okay, let's take a look at our first task for this lesson.

I'm need to show you some simple sentences and each one I want you to label the subject S, the object O and the verb V.

So here are your sentences, pause the video and see if you can label them up correctly.

Okay, let's take a look in A, we've got the verb watched with the subject that our parents and the object, the incredible performance.

In B, we've got the verb has being done by our local school, the subject and the object is a carol concept.

In C, we've got the verb has visited being done by the subject, my family and I.

And too, the object, the tower of London.

We've got the verb bought done by the subject, my mum, to a brand new lawnmower as the object.

We've got the verb will perform done by the subject, the boys, and the object, their amazing new dance.

And in the last one we've got the verb prepared done by the subject, the chef to the object, a delicious meal.

Really well done if you've managed to get this.

Okay, we've already had a look at subject and object in simple sentences.

Now let's move on to looking at them in compound sentences.

Now as we said in the first part of the lesson, a simple sentence is composed of one main clause, which usually contains at least a subject and a verb.

For instance, she drank and we could run.

So we've got here the subject, she doing the verb drank and the subject we doing the verb could run, but a compound sentence is composed for at least two main clauses joined by a coordinated conjunction and, but, or or.

For instance, she drank, but she didn't eat.

We could run or we could walk.

And here each main clause has its own subject and verb.

So for instance, she and drank and then she and didn't eat.

We've repeated that subject she in the second main clause she didn't eat.

In the second example we've got we doing the verb could run and the subject, we again doing the verb could walk.

So we've repeated the subject after that coordinating conjunction.

So I wonder if you can identify the subject and the verb in each main clause of these compound sentences.

Pause the video and have a go.

Okay, let's have a look.

So in A, we've got two main clauses: the soldier watched and he waited.

So the first one has the subject, the soldier doing the verb watched and then the subject he doing the verb waited.

So we do have the same subject here, even though we've used the pronoun he in the second main clause.

In B, we've got the subject I doing the verb listened and then the subject I doing the verb couldn't hear.

Now C is slightly different because in the first main clause we've got the subject I doing the verb will help.

And in the second main clause, a different subject, you, doing the verb will fail.

But we have to have another subject in that second main clause in a compound sentence.

It doesn't have to be the same one as the first main clause, but we have to have a second subject.

So sometimes the main clause in a compound sentence will contain objects as well, just like we saw with simple sentences.

For example, she drank the water but she didn't eat the food.

So we can see here the verb drank being done by the subject, she, the object of that verb is the water, the thing the drinking is being done to.

And then the second main clause we've got the verb didn't eat being done by the subject, she again to the object, the food.

Okay, here's another example.

Ms. O'Neill gave an explanation and everyone understood it.

I can see our two main clauses there joined by that coordinating conjunction, and.

So in the first main clause I have the verb gave being done by the subject Ms. O'Neill to the object, an explanation.

And in the second main clause I have the verb understood being done by the subject, everyone, to the object it which refers back to the explanation.

So true or false in a compound sentence, there will always be two objects, pause the video and have a think.

Okay, you're right, that is false.

Now I wonder if you can give the right explanation, pause the video and think which of the explanations explains why that is false to say.

Well done.

The correct answer is B, a compound sentence doesn't need to contain any objects at all.

You could just have a subject and a verb in each main clause.

If it does have objects, then it could have different objects in each of those two main clauses.

Really well done if you thought hard about that one.

So here are some more compound sentences which contain objects.

We've got, I saw the symbols and I decoded them.

Lightning struck the tree, but it didn't burn it.

We could run there or we could walk.

So let's look at that first one first of all.

We've got some verbs.

We've got saw and decoded, then we've got the subjects doing them, we've got I and I and then we've got the objects.

What are they being done to? So saw is being done to the symbols and decoded is being done to them, which is a pronoun replacing that noun, the symbols.

In the second one, we've got the verbs struck and didn't burn the subjects, lightning and it and the objects, the tree and it again.

In the last one, we've got the verbs could run and could walk being done by the subjects we and we again, but notice how here we've only got an object in the first one.

We don't have an object in the second main clause and that is fine.

So I wonder if you can find all the subjects, verbs and objects in these two compound sentences.

Pause the video and have a go.

Okay, let's take a look.

So in the first one we've got the verb was rising done by the subject, the temperature.

And then in the second main clause, we've got wore is the verb being done by the subject, we, to the object, our coats.

In the second compound sentence, let's look at the first main clause first.

We've got the verb took being done by Mr. Martinez to the object, the register.

And we've gotten the second main clause, the verb handed out being done by the subject, Ms. O'Neill to the object stickers.

Really well done if you managed to work this out.

Okay, let's make this a little bit harder.

I've highlighted some words within these compound sentences.

I wonder if you can decide if the highlighted words are subjects, verbs or objects.

Pause the video and have a try.

Okay, great effort, let's take a look.

In the first one, Alex is the subject.

He's doing the verb made.

And then the second word them is an object.

Because if we look at that second main clause, it says he handed them out.

So handed is the verb being done by he to the object them in the second one we've got, you can make a suggestion.

So we've got that verb make being done by you to the object, a suggestion.

And in the second main clause, we've got that verb will decide there.

So that is a verb being done by the subject, I.

Really well done if you work those four out.

So let's do our final task for this lesson.

I'm going to show you some compound sentences and I'm going to have some words highlighted like we just saw.

I want to decide whether the highlighted words and groups of words are subjects, verbs, or objects.

Here are your sentences with the words highlighted, and I want you to just focus in on those words and decide are they subjects, verbs, or objects.

And what you might want to do is try in each main clause to identify the verb and then see if your word is doing that verb, having that verb done to it or maybe your word is the verb itself.

So pause the video and let's label these sentences up.

Okay, fantastic, well done.

Let's see if we can label them together.

So in the first one, she is a subject and embarrassed is a verb.

In B, my arm is an object of that verb bruised and I is a subject doing that verb cried.

In C, can listen is a verb, and you is a subject because it's doing that verb can face.

In D, Izzy is a subject doing that verb bought and them is an object because it's having that verb iced done to it.

And then E, has locked as a verb and then away is an object because we've got the subject, we doing the verb found to the object away.

In F, we've got the vegetables as an object of that verb peel, and then we've got can cook as our verb.

Really, really well done if you've managed to label those up.

Okay, let's summarise our learning for this lesson.

We learned that a clause is a group of words that contains a verb and a verb is done by a subject and can be done to an object.

A simple sentence usually contains a subject doing a verb, and it can also contain an object that the verb is done to.

A compound sentence contains at least two main clauses.

Each one has a subject and a verb, and may also have an object.

Really, really well done for getting to the end of this lesson.

You've done a fantastic job and I really hope to see you again in a future one.

Goodbye.