The Simple Sentence

A simple sentence contains but one subject and one predicate.

The subject of a sentence is the word or words that name the thing about which an assertion is made.

The predicate of a sentence is the word or words that assert something about the subject.

1. Boys play.

2. What has happened?

3. Who knows?

4. Trees grow.

5. They came.

6. He speaks.

The simple sentence, when both the subject and predicate are unmodified, consists of a noun or its equivalent, and a finite verb.

A feeble old man, struggling along in his efforts to reach his distant home, was hobbling over the icy sidewalk, at one time almost falling to the ground, at another gaining decidedly in his progress.

This sentence shows that both subject and predicate may be modified to almost any extent and the sentence still remain simple.