Help with 2 English Sentences!?

Question

I guess this is supposed to be simple!

Still I just don't seem to understand it

and it's homework.

HELP ME OUT IF YOU CAN!!! PLEASE!!!

this is it,

Sentence #1

The ball was thrown at Jessica.

1. What is the subject? the ball (right???)

2. What is the verb tense? past tense (yeah???)

3. Is the verb simple or compound?

4. What is the prepositional phrase?

oh, i don't understand 3 or 4.

sentence #2

Jessica threw the ball.

1. subject? Jessica (yeah???)

2. verb tense? past tense (right???)

3. Is the verb simple or compound?

4. What is the prepositional phrase?

can you tell me if i got 1 and 2 right?

and if you understand questions 3 and 4, please help me out.

Answer 1

Sentence #1:

1. is right

2. is right

3. is compound

4. is "at Jessica"

Sentence #2

1. is right

2. is right

3. is simple

4. there is none

Answer 2

Sentence 1.1: "the ball"

1.2: past (more correctly, past perfect

1.3: compound (There is more than one verb)

1.4 "at Jessica" is the prepositional phrase. "at" is the preposition  

2.1: "Jessica"

2.2 past (more correctly, simple past)

2.3 simple (only one verb)

2.4 There is no preposition

A simple verb has only one verb. A complex verb has more than one verb in the sentence.

A preposition links nouns or phrases to other parts of the sentence, and usually indicates time (during, after), space, (under, on) or logical relationship (but, except).

Answer 3

1.  Right.  "Ball" is the simple subject, "the ball" is the complete subject.

2.  Right.  Past tense.

3.  Simple.  A compound verb is when more than one verb goes with the same subject.  Like, "John was shaking, jumping and dancing all night long."  That's a compound verb made up of "was shaking", "was jumping" and "was dancing."  It's not a question of counting the number of words in the verb, but of counting the number of verbs that apply to the subject.

4.  "At Jessica".  A prepositional phrase starts with a preposition (of course) and the entire phrase modifies something in the sentence.  "At Jessica" tells us where or how the ball was thrown.

1.  Right.

2.  Right

3.  Still not compound, just one verb.

4.  I don't see one.  Noun, verb, article, noun.  No prepositions.

Answer 4

Hi,

I think it's like this:

1. The ball was thrown at Jessica.

       -Subject: the ball

       -verb tense: past

       -simple or compound: compound, was thrown

       -prepositional phrase: at

2. Jessica threw the ball.

       -subject: Jessica

       -verb: past tense

       -simple or compound: simple

       -prepositional phrase: idk

I don't know the last one, sorry, but I'm pretty sure the rest are right.