Parts of a Sentence: Subject, Verb, Object and Adverbial Made Easy

In short: how do you find the parts of a sentence?

• Start with the verb: what does someone do? what is happening? It is the word that shows tense (plays, played, is playing).
• Then find the subject: who? or what? does the action. In a statement it usually comes just before the verb.
• Modifier describes a noun: what kind? which? whose? how many?
• Object completes the verb: what? or whom? (direct object: She reads a book), to whom? or for whom? (indirect object: She reads her brother a story), about what? or for what? after verbs such as think about and wait for (prepositional object).
• Adverbial adds information to the verb: where? where to? when? how? why? what for?
• Ask from the head word: from the verb to the object and the adverbial, from the noun to its modifier.

What are the parts of a sentence?

The parts of a sentence are the jobs that words do in a sentence: subject, verb, object, adverbial and modifier (a word that describes a noun inside a noun phrase). A word class tells you what a word is, for example a noun. A sentence part tells you what that word does in this particular sentence.

The same noun can do different jobs:

• “The cat is sleeping.” – who is sleeping? the cat – subject.
• “I can see the cat.” – what can I see? the cat – object.
• “I’m sitting next to the cat.” – where am I sitting? next to the cat – adverbial.

If your child still mixes up nouns and adjectives, start with our guide word classes – how to identify them without guessing.

How do you find the subject and the verb?

The verb tells you what the subject does, what happens to it or what state it is in. Most often it is a verb that changes with tense and person: “Jack reads”. It can also be a linking verb such as be, become or seem, followed by a complement that describes the subject: “Jack is a pupil”, “The soup was hot”.

The subject answers the question “who?” or “what?” and usually does the action. In English it is nearly always written, but sometimes you cannot see it. In the command “Read the book!” the subject is the understood “you”. How a verb changes to match its subject and tense (I read, she reads, she read) is explained in our guide English verbs – tenses, regular and irregular forms.

The subject and the verb form the core of the sentence. All the other parts add information to that core.

Parts of a sentence – how do you tell a modifier, an object and an adverbial apart?

First work out which word the one you are checking describes. If it describes a noun, it is a modifier. If it goes with the verb, it is an object or an adverbial, and the question decides which.

A modifier does not have to be an adjective. It can be a possessive noun (“Jack’s bike”), a number (“three cats”) or a possessive word such as our (“our dog”).

Object or adverbial when there is a preposition?

A phrase that begins with a preposition (at, for, about, to, in) can be an object or an adverbial. The question that fits naturally decides. If “where?”, “when?”, “how?”, “why?” or “what for?” fits, it is an adverbial. If only a question that repeats the verb and its preposition fits, such as “waiting for what?”, “thinking about what?” or “talking to whom?”, it is an object: the preposition belongs to the verb (wait for, think about, talk to), and grammar books call this a prepositional object.

Analysing a sentence step by step

Take the sentence: “Yesterday the little girl read Grandpa an exciting story.”

1. Verb: read (what did she do?).
2. Subject: girl (who read?).
3. Modifier of the subject: little (what kind of girl?).
4. Objects: Grandpa (to whom did she read?) and story (what did she read?).
5. Modifier of the object: exciting (what kind of story?).
6. Adverbial: yesterday (when did she read?).

A sentence diagram in an exercise book works the same way. At the top, write the core: girl – read. From “girl”, draw a line to “little” and add the question “what kind?”. From “read”, draw lines to “Grandpa”, “story” and “yesterday”, each with its question. From “story”, draw a line to “exciting”.

Exercise: find the parts of the sentence

Task 1. Name all the parts of the sentence: “Our dog happily greets the postman.”

Task 2. Name all the parts of the sentence: “On Saturday Olivia baked Grandma a delicious cake.”

Task 3. Name the adverbials and write their questions: “Tom stayed at home because of a cold.” and “Zoe went to the shop for some bread.”

Task 4. Object or adverbial? a) I’m talking to Mum. b) We live by the sea. c) I’m dreaming about a puppy. d) I get home after school.

Answers:

1. Verb: greets. Subject: dog. Modifier: our (whose dog?). Adverbial: happily (how does it greet?). Object: the postman (whom does it greet?).
2. Verb: baked. Subject: Olivia. Adverbial: on Saturday (when?). Objects: Grandma (for whom?), cake (what?). Modifier: delicious (what kind of cake?).
3. At home (where did he stay?), because of a cold (why did he stay?), to the shop (where did she go?), for some bread (what did she go for?).
4. a) object (to whom?), b) adverbial (where?), c) object (about what?), d) adverbial (when?).

How can you practise the parts of a sentence at home?

Building up sentences works best. Start with a subject and a verb, for example “The dog eats”. Your child adds one word or phrase at a time, asks the question and names the sentence part:

1. “The little dog eats.” – what kind of dog? little – modifier.
2. “The little dog eats a bone.” – what does it eat? a bone – object.
3. “The little dog quickly eats a bone.” – how does it eat? quickly – adverbial.
4. “The little dog quickly eats a bone in the garden.” – where does it eat? in the garden – adverbial.

Just 10 minutes, three times a week, is enough – with a new starting sentence each time.

Longer sentences with more detail are useful in descriptions and stories. How to turn this skill into better writing is explained in our guide how to teach a child to write essays independently. Grammar and punctuation practice for 10–11-year-olds is collected in our section Year 5 English.

Which mistakes should you avoid?

• Asking from the wrong word. Look for a modifier from the noun, and for the object and the adverbial from the verb.
• Calling every “what?” word the subject. In “I can see a house”, the question “what can I see?” comes after the verb, so “house” is the object.
• Treating every phrase with a preposition as an adverbial. “About the holidays” in “I’m thinking about the holidays” is an object.
• Looking for modifiers only among adjectives. Possessive nouns, numbers and words such as our can be modifiers too.
• Forgetting the understood subject. In “Read the book!” the subject is there – it is the understood “you”.

Sources

• Zintegrowana Platforma Edukacyjna — Podstawa programowa: język polski, szkoła podstawowa IV–VIII (the Polish national curriculum for Polish as a school subject: in grades 4–6 pupils name the parts of a sentence and recognise their functions – subject, predicate, object, attribute and adverbial, as Polish grammar calls them; version for the 2025/2026 school year).
• Zintegrowana Platforma Edukacyjna — O innych częściach zdania – dopełnienie, okolicznik, przydawka (a Polish-language lesson on Poland’s Integrated Education Platform: definitions of the object, the adverbial and the attribute in Polish grammar and the questions each one answers).
• Słownik języka polskiego PWN — hasło „dopełnienie” (Polish dictionary definition: the part of a sentence naming what the action expressed by the verb is aimed at).
• Słownik języka polskiego PWN — hasło „okolicznik” (Polish dictionary definition: the part of a sentence that modifies the verb).