Exercise 1
1. My neighbor is uncommonly thrifty.
My neighbor - subject
is - present tense of the verb to be
uncommonly - adverbial
thrifty - subject complement (adjective)
2. The Oldsmobile was on its last legs
The Oldsmobile - subject
was - past tense of the verb to be
on its last legs - adverbial
3. Celia is the CEO of a large multinational corporation.
Celia - subject
is - present tense of the verb to be
the CEO of a large multinational corporation - subject complement (noun phrase)
4. The last performance of Death of a Salesman was on Friday.
The last performance of Death of a Salesman - subject
was - past tense of the verb to be
on Friday - adverbial
5. The plumber will be here soon.
The plumber - subject
will be - future tense of the verb to be
here - adverbial
soon - adverbial
Exercise 2
1. The taxi driver seemed like a nice man.
The taxi driver - subject
seemed - linking verb (past tense)
like a nice man - subject complement (noun phrase)
2. The inside of the bakery smells delicious.
The inside of the bakery - subject
smells - linking verb (present tense)
delicious - subject complement (adjective)
3. On that day, Francis became a criminal.
On that day - adverbial
Francis - subject
became - linking verb (past tense)
a criminal - subject complement (noun phrase)
4. It sounds like a good idea!
It - subject
sounds - linking verb (present tense)
like a good idea - subject complement (noun phrase)
5. Ms. Yeziersky became a schoolteacher.
Ms. Yeziersky - subject
became - linking verb (past tense)
a schoolteacher - subject complement (noun phrase)
In all examples, we have an equation:
subject = noun phrase (what?)
adjective (how?)
adverbial (when? where? how? etc.)
To define if a subject complement is a noun phrase or an adjective, we always think of the main word:
like a nice man (noun phrase because everything modifies the noun MAN)
uncommonly thrifty (uncommonly modifies thrifty so it is an adjective).
