HiSET Writing Practice Test

The idea being tested is what makes up the complete subject in a sentence. The complete subject is the noun phrase that tells who or what the sentence is about, including all words that describe or limit that noun—articles, determiners, adjectives, and other modifiers. It stays apart from the predicate, which contains the verb and everything that tells what the subject does or is. For example, in a sentence like “The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog,” the complete subject is “The quick brown fox” (the simple subject is just “fox”). That shows why the correct description is the subject plus any words related to it—the full noun phrase with its modifiers. The other options point to the verb, the whole predicate, or just the bare noun phrase, which don’t capture the full subject.