how is the underlined word used? "Even though the darkening skies threatened rain, the BAND decided to play.

Question

A. subject
B. verb
C. direct object
D. object of a preposition

Answer 1

A. subject

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Focus on the clause containing the underlined (or in this case, capitalized word). That means, forget about everything before the comma, and focus on "The BAND decided to play". This won't work for all examples, but this one's pretty clear cut.

A. Subject: If you remove the supporting clause, what is the focus of the sentence? Who or what is doing the action? "The band decided to play". The band is the subject.
B. verb: What action is the band taking, or what action did they take? "The band decided to play". The verb here is "decided".
C. direct object - Going back to the big picture...There are no direct objects in this sentence. There's an indirect object, "rain". The skies aren't threatening the rain, they're threatening something else WITH the rain.
D. object of a preposition - Can't really explain this one. But it doesn't fit >_>