What Is a Complete Subject and a Simple Subject?

The complete subject is the entire phrasal part of the sentence that describes the subject, while the simple subject is composed of the main noun and is usually just one word. For example, in the sentence “The boy in the brown hat went to the store,” “the boy in the brown hat” is the complete subject, and “boy” is the simple subject.

To identify the subject of a sentence, it is important to look for who or what is doing the action. The subject of a sentence will often be a noun, but there are exceptions, such as in the sentence “Jogging a mile is tough.”