Question

Separate the subject and predicate in the following sentence-
The singing of the birds delights us.

Answer 1

Hint: Read the given sentence and understand what it means. Now point out ‘what’ the sentence is talking about and the ‘information’ it is given about that particular thing. This will give you an idea of the subject and predicate of the sentence respectively.

Complete answer: The given sentence conveys that when the birds sing, it is delightful to them. We have to find out/separate the subject and predicate of the given sentence. A subject is a noun or pronoun-based part of a sentence, and a predicate is a verb-based part that the subject performs. Here, we can clearly see that the sentence is talking about the ‘birds’, and what they do is ‘sing’. And the other part of the sentence tells us that the ‘singing’ is ‘delightful’.
Now, let us examine all the given options to find out the correct answer :
Option ‘a' – it cannot be the correct answer as the subject cannot be ‘singing’. The sentence is not talking about ‘singing’, it is talking about the ‘birds’.
Option ‘b’ – it is an incorrect option as ‘the singing' should be in the part of the sentence in which ‘birds’ is. They both cannot be in two different parts of the sentence as both of them complement each other.
Option ‘c’ – it is the correct option as the topic of discussion is the singing of the birds which takes part in the act of delighting us, i.e., it actually does something. Therefore, the singing of the birds is the subject, the rest, the predicate.
Option ‘d’ – it is also an incorrect option as ‘delights’ is not the main object of the sentence.
Hence, option ‘c' is the correct option.

Note: Remember the following rules for the predicate:
(i)It must agree in number with the subject.
(ii)It should use the appropriate tense.
(iii)Be in the proper voice (active or passive).