Final answer:
The simple subject in the sentence 'At age thirteen, Marshall Taylor won his first amateur bicycle race.' is 'Marshall Taylor'. It is the main noun without any modifiers, indicating who exactly performed the action of winning.
Step-by-step explanation:
The phrase 'At age thirteen, Marshall Taylor won his first amateur bicycle race.' contains a simple subject. The simple subject in a sentence is the main noun or pronoun that tells what the sentence is about, without including any modifiers. In this sentence, the simple subject is Marshall Taylor, as he is the main person performing the action of winning.
This simple subject is a proper noun, which specifically refers to an individual name. It’s important to distinguish this from the complete subject which might include other words that modify the simple subject but are not part of the core noun that carries the main meaning.
Understanding the simple subject is key to grasping basic sentence structure and ensuring proper subject/verb agreement. It is fundamental in English grammar to have the subject and verb agree in number, whether they are singular or plural. Identifying the simple subject helps in determining the correct form of the verb to be used. When other elements such as long phrases or clauses come before the verb, they do not change the agreement between the subject and the verb - the verb must agree with the main subject.