Subject and Object Worksheet: Year 6 SPaG

Year 6 SATs SPaG worksheet on subject and object: 20 questions in the style of the SATs, with answers. Free PDF.

3-page A4 PDF from the Tiger Shark Education question bank (Word classes): two pages of questions (circle or underline, tick one) and an answer page. Example questions: Underline the complete subject of the sentence. The explorer discovered a new cave. / Underline the complete subject of the sentence. My sister won the competition.

What are the subject and object? The subject of a sentence is the person or thing doing the verb: The dog chased the ball. The object is the person or thing the verb is done to: The dog chased the ball. Not every sentence has an object (The baby slept). Understanding subjects and objects helps children use pronouns correctly and understand active and passive sentences.

Common mistakes and tips: Children often assume the subject is always the first word or always a person. In ‘Yesterday, the storm damaged the roof’, yesterday is not the subject; the storm is. Asking ‘who or what is doing the verb?’ finds the subject, and ‘who or what is the verb being done to?’ finds the object. This is the foundation for the active and passive voice topic.

Questions on this topic appear often in the SATs. The skill also counts in teacher assessment of writing at the end of Year 6, so children benefit from both practice in test style and from using it in their own writing.

Ways to use this worksheet: as a lesson starter or plenary, as a quick assessment before teaching a topic, for intervention groups, or as SATs revision homework. The answer page lets children self-mark. After marking, ask pupils to write two of their own sentences using the skill, so they apply it rather than just recognise it.

Using the correct terminology: the SATs use the terms in the National Curriculum glossary, and children need to recognise them quickly. Display the key term for this topic with a clear definition and an example, and use it consistently in lessons and feedback. When children explain their answers, encourage them to use the term in a full sentence. Short, regular retrieval practice, such as a two-minute quiz on terms from previous weeks, keeps knowledge fresh across the year. Because grammar topics build on one another, gaps from earlier years cause difficulties later, so this sheet is also useful for checking that Year 6 pupils have secure foundations from Years 3 to 5.