What you learned
The telling part tells what happens. Older students call it the predicate.
It starts at the word that tells what happens and runs to the end of the sentence.
Three things to keep straight
| What people think | What is true |
|---|---|
| The telling part is one word. | It is usually more. In “Six ducks swim in the pond.” it is “swim in the pond”. |
| The telling part must be an action. | It can tell what something is like. In “The pot is hot.” it is “is hot”. |
| Adding any words makes a sentence. | Only a telling part does. “My little sister with red hair” is still not one. |
The two halves
Put the two skills together and you can take any sentence apart.
“Two apples fell out of the tree.”
Who or what is it about? “Two apples”. What happens? They “fell out of the tree”. Two parts, nothing left over.
Quick warm-up before the check
Give the telling part of each sentence.
- “The kite flies high.”
- “My hands are cold.”
- “Leo washed the cup.”
Answers
- “flies high”
- “are cold”
- “washed the cup”
Now take the final check below.
Where to go next
- Fixing Sentence Fragments: repair groups of words that are missing a part
- What Is a Verb? Action Words: the word at the heart of the telling part
- Using Am, Is, and Are: the quiet words that carry a telling part
- Telling Sentences and Periods: statements and how to punctuate them