Completers and Modifiers: Recognizing the Difference Between Completers and Subjects

Application 3

Instructions All the verbs in the following paragraph (broken in three parts to avoid scrolling) are numbered and in bold. In the text areas below the paragraph, type in the subjects and completers that go with each verb. If a sentence has no completer, type in "X." Clicking on "answer" will reveal the correct responses.

Until fairly recently, few societies 1. used paper as money. Coins 2. were sturdier for circulation in a busy market. More important, they 3. contained precious metals; the coins 4. had value and people 5. trusted them.

#	Subjects	Verbs	Completers	Answers
1.		used
2.		were
3.		contained
4.		had
5.		trusted

Paper 6. was another story. It 7. was fragile, it 8. was vulnerable to fire and flood, and it 9. was only a symbol of something valuable.

#	Subjects	Verbs	Completers	Answers
6.		was
7.		was
8.		was
9.		was

Each bill 10. represented a promise of a certain amount of silver or gold, and people 11 have been suspicious of promises throughout human history. However, in the eighteenth century, the French government 12. issued paper currency in large quantities, and the French people 13. accepted it. Other countries 14. adopted the custom, and paper money 15. spread rapidly. Now people all around the world 16. pass it back and forth every day.

#	Subjects	Verbs	Completers	Answers
10.		represented
11.		have been
12.		issued
13.		accepted
14.		adopted
15.		spread
16.		pass

CONTENTS MAIN PAGE 4.1 Writing 4.2 "(Subject + Verb) Whom or What?" 4.3 Words That Act as Completers 4.4 Recognizing the Difference 4.5 How Modifiers Work 4.6 Single Word Modifiers 4.7 Prepositional Phrase Modifiers 4.8 Combining Sentences 4.9 Review and Practice 4.10 Fun With Grammar 4.11 Return to Your Writing 4.12 Mastery Test