When we have a grammar completion sentence, it is helpful to start by asking ourself if the missing word or phrase is the subject, object, verb, complement, or another sentence part. This chart shows sentence parts and their functions.
In English, the subject of a sentence can be a noun, pronoun, gerund, or an infinitive.
SUBJECT: Place or thing that is doing or being something.
VERB: An action or state of being.
OBJECT: Person, place or thing that the verb is acting up.
COMPLEMENT: A word or phrase to the meaning of a sentence.
Remember what parts of speech can be the subject of a sentence. In English, the subject of a sentence can be a noun, pronoun, gerund, or an infinitive.
Personal pronouns replace proper or common nouns in a sentence. If a personal pronoun is used as a substitute for a noun that is the subject of a sentence.
-Understand how gerunds can be used as the subject of a sentence. A gerund is a noun form that is created by adding -ing to a verb. Talking, reading, and filing are all gerunds.
-Know the sentence construction in which infinitives can serve as the subject.
To ask, to e-mail, and to talk are all infinitives. While it is not common, the following sentence construction allows infinitives to be used as subjects:
infinitive + linking verb + complement.