Page 31 - Grammar_Programme

Target 5: Verbs and the Three Persons!

All complete sentences have a verb – the word that tells you what is happening in
the sentence. The ‘who’ or the ‘what’ that is doing the action is the ‘SUBJECT’ of
the sentence.

The verb is ‘looked’.

Sue looked at the picture.

Who has looked? Sue has looked - so

Sue is the SUBJECT of the sentence.

So ask: What is happening? THE VERB

Who or what is doing it? THE SUBJECT

In grammar, there are three types of subject – called the three persons. Let’s
have a look at these in turn:

The First Person – this is the person or persons who are speaking. It is ‘I’
(singular) and ‘we’ (plural). Look at these examples:-

I am writing a story. We were going to the cinema.

Note that ‘I’ is always written as a capital letter.

The Second Person – this is the person or persons being spoken to. It is ‘you’
(singular) and ‘you’ (plural).

SINGULAR PLURAL

Greg, you should visit London. Sara and Lisa, you are my best friends.

The Third Person – this is the person, persons, thing or things being spoken

about. It is ‘he’, ‘she’ or ‘it’ (singular) and ‘they’ (plural).

She ran away. It was broken. Bill is tired. They are sitting down.

Remember: Singular means one person or thing.

Plural means more than one person or thing.

27
© SSER Ltd