Final answer:
The correct pairing for the subject and verb in the sentence 'Mike brought the fishing poles.' is a) Mike - brought, where 'Mike' is the subject who performs the action and 'brought' is the verb representing the action.
Step-by-step explanation:
The subject in the sentence "Mike brought the fishing poles." is Mike, and the verb is "brought". Therefore, the correct combination of subject and verb for this sentence is a) Mike - brought. The subject of a sentence is the person, place, thing, or idea that is doing or being something, while the verb expresses the action, occurrence, or state of being related to the subject.
When identifying the subject and verb in a sentence, it's important to look for the noun that directly connects to the action being performed. In our example, "Mike" is the one who performs the action, so "Mike" is the subject. "Brought" is the action that the subject is performing, so it is the verb. The subject and verb must agree in number and tense, ensuring clarity and grammatical correctness in the sentence.