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Primary English · Year 5Chapter 6 · Active and passive voice, subject and object
Year 5 English · Active and passive voice, subject and object · Lesson 6.1

Year 5 English: The subject and the object of a verb

Part of the Year 5 English active and passive voice, subject and object chapter. Chapter overview · whole chapter on one page

6.1

The subject and the object of a verb

Year 5
Identify the subject and object of a verb (G5-6)
Story. Nia is writing a report about a school play. She writes, The teacher painted the scenery. She asks, who did the painting, and what was painted? The answers tell her the subject and the object.

Key pattern

The subject is the person or thing that does the action: The teacher painted.

The object is the person or thing that has the action done to it: the scenery.

To find the object, ask who? or what? after the verb.

Key ideas

  • The subject does the verb; the object receives the verb.
  • Ask who or what does the verb to find the subject.
  • Ask who or what is affected by the verb to find the object.
  • Not every verb has an object: The dog slept has no object.
Worked example 6.1.1
Find the subject in The dog chased the cat.

Method. Ask who does the chasing.

  1. Find the verb. The verb is chased.
    chased
  2. Ask who or what chased. The dog did the chasing.
    The dog
  3. Write the answer.
    The dog

Check. The dog is the subject. ✓

Worked example 6.1.2
Find the object in The dog chased the cat.

Method. Ask what was chased.

  1. Find the verb. The verb is chased.
    chased
  2. Ask what was chased. The cat was chased.
    the cat
  3. Write the answer.
    the cat

Check. The cat is the object. ✓

Worked example 6.1.3
Does The bird sang. have an object? Write Yes or No.

Method. Ask what the bird sang.

  1. Find the verb. The verb is sang.
    sang
  2. Ask what is affected. Nothing is received; there is no object.
    no object
  3. Write the answer.
    No

Check. No. ✓

Exercise 6A  Practice: subject and object

1
FFind the subject in Ravi carried the bag.
2
FFind the object in Ravi carried the bag.
3
FFind the subject in The children painted the fence.
4
FFind the object in The children painted the fence.
5
FFind the subject in A strong wind bent the tree.
6
FFind the object in A strong wind bent the tree.
7
PSDoes The baby laughed. have an object? Write Yes or No.
8
PSWrite the object in Mum wrote a letter to her sister.
9
PSWhich word is the subject in Every morning, the farmer feeds the hens.?
10
PSFind the object in Every morning, the farmer feeds the hens.
11
RWrite a sentence with a subject and an object, and label each one.
12
RExplain how you know that the cake is the object in Sam baked the cake.

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