Sentences (Subject and Object) 01

Sentences - Enjoyable Quiz to Help You Revise KS3 English

All sentences contain a subject and a verb; some sentences contain objects, too. In the sentence, "The driver drove the bus", the subject is "the driver" and the object is "the bus". The subject and the verb go together: "the driver drove". The bus, being the object, is not driving, but being driven.In simple sentences it is very easy to tell which is the subject and which is the object, even though both are nouns. For instance, in the sentence "I ate ice cream", "I" am the subject doing the verb (ate) and "ice cream" is the object, being eaten.

What about this sentence: "The organisation gave the award to the best dancer"? Who is giving? The "organisation", so this is the subject. But which is the object, the "award" or the "best dancer"? The answer is both! The "award" is the direct object because the organisation is acting upon it directly by giving it. The "best dancer" is the indirect object, being the person the award is given to. You can often tell a direct object because of the need for an intervening word like "to" or "with".

If we swapped words around, we could make the dancer the subject: "The best dancer received an award from the organisation". This is known as a passive construction because the subject is not active, but receiving the action of another. Try the quiz on Verbs (Active and Passive Voice) for more practice with this.

See if you can spot which is which in this quiz on the subject...and object!