Subjects
The subject of a sentence is the person, place, thing, or idea that is doing or being something. It’s WHO or WHAT the sentence is about. The subject is a noun or pronoun.
A simple subject is the subject of a sentence stripped of modifiers (like adjectives or adverbs).
The simple subject of the following sentence is issue:
-1.Ex: The really important issue of the conference is the morality of the nation.
-1.
-1.Sometimes a simple subject can be more than one word, even an entire clause, like in the following sentence:
Ex:What he had already forgotten about computer repair could fill whole volumes.
—the simple subject is not "computer repair,"
nor is it "what he had forgotten,"
nor is it "he."
Ask what it is that "could fill whole volumes." The answer is the entire underlined clause.
A compound subject is when two or more subjects are joined by a conjunction.
The compound subjectsin the following sentence areDasher, Dancer, Prancer, Vixen, Comet, Cupid, Donder, Blitzen:
-1.Ex:Dasher, Dancer, Prancer, Vixen, Comet, Cupid, Donder, and Blitzen are Santa’s favorite reindeer.
Look for the Verb First
One way to find the subject is to find the verb(s) first. After you have found the verbs, ask “Who?” or “What?” before it and the answer will be the subject.
Examples:
1. Tall, grey stone walls towered in front of us.
Verb = towered … Who or what towered? Walls
The subject = walls
2. Around the bend roared the train.
Verb = ______… Who or what roared? ______
The subject = ______
Sentences that are Questions
You can find the subject by turning the question into a statement and then use the above method of finding the verb and the subject.
Examples:
1. Was the window open?
Change to: The window was open.
Verb = was
The subject = window
2. Did he buy the car?
Change to: ______
Verbs = ______
The subject = ______
Sentences beginning with "There"
“There” can be used to start a sentence when the subject comes after the verb. Be careful not to choose “there” as the subject. To find the subject in such a sentence, omit “there” and then use the above method of finding the verb and the subject.
Examples:
1. There are apples in the box.
Change to: Apples are in the box.
Verb = are
The subject = apples
2. There is someone at the door!
Change to: ______
Verb = ______
The subject = ______
The subject is never in a prepositional phrase.
A prepositional phrase begins with a preposition and ends with a noun or pronoun. Do not choose the object of the preposition as the subject of the sentence.
Examples:
1. That house near the park is my home.
That house [near the park] is my home.
Verb = is
The subject = house
2. In the middle of the fountain stands a golden statue.
Identify the prep. phrases
Verb = ______
The subject = ______
The Understood (or Implied) Subject
In a request or a command, the subject of a sentence is usually not stated. Instead, the person spoken to is understood to be the subject.
Examples:
1. Please clean the table.
Verb = clean
Implied subject = you
2. Do not walk on the grass.
Verbs = ______
Implied subject = ______
PRACTICE:Find the simple or compound subject in each sentence. Also underline the verb(s).
1. Put a little pep in your step and get to class!
2. Shouldn't Sherman's bus be arriving soon?
3. Blossom, Bubbles, and Buttercup are members of The Powerpuff Girls.
4. To err is human.
5. Wishing for better grades will not do you much good.
6. This story about the three witches is really scary.
7. Here, then, is the root of the matter.
8. What you told me about Albert will remain a secret between us.
9. My brother and three sisters live on a mountaintop in Tennessee.
10. There is a note in your locker.
11. The narrator of the fairy tales in these books of ancient stories is a woman.
12. Have you ever danced with the devil in the pale moonlight?
Look for the Verb First
2. Around the bend roared the train.
Verb = roared … Who or what roared? Train
The subject = train
Sentences that are Questions
2. Did he buy the car?
Change to: He did buy the car.
Verbs = did buy (HV + AV)
The subject = he
Sentences beginning with "There"
2. There is someone at the door!
Change to: Someone is at the door!
Verb = is
The subject = someone
The subject is never in a prepositional phrase.
2. In the middle of the fountain stands a golden statue.
[In the middle] [of the fountain] stands a golden statue.
Verb = stands
The subject = statue
The Understood (or Implied) Subject
2. Do not walk on the grass.
Verbs = do walk (HV + AV)
Implied subject = you
Find the simple or compound subject in each sentence. Also underline the verb(s).
Put a little pep in your step and get to class! (you)
Shouldn't Sherman's busbe arriving soon?
Blossom, Bubbles, and Buttercupare members of The Powerpuff Girls.
To erris human.
Wishing for better gradeswill not do you much good.
This story about the three witches is really scary.
Here, then, is the root of the matter.
What you told me about Albertwill remain a secret between us.
My brother and three sisterslive on a mountaintop in Tennessee.
There is a note in your locker.
The narrator of the fairy tales in these books of ancient stories is a woman.
Haveyou ever danced with the devil in the pale moonlight?
Subject-Verb Inversion
The normal English order of subject-verb-completer is disturbed only occasionally but under several circumstances. Burchfield* lists about ten situations in which the subject will come after the verb. The most important of these are as follows:
-1.In questions (routinely): "Have you eaten breakfast yet?" "Are you ready?"
-1.In expletive constructions: "There were four basic causes of the Civil War." "Here is the book."
-1.In attributing speech (occasionally, but optionally): "'Help me!' cried Farmer Brown."
-1.To give prominence or focus to a particular word or phrase by putting the predicate in the initial position: "Even more important is the chapter dealing with ordnance."
-1.When a sentence begins with an adverb or an adverbial phrase or clause: "Seldom has so much been owed by so many to so few."
-1.In negative constructions: "I don't believe a word she says, nor does my brother. Come to think of it, neither does her father."
-1.After so: "I believe her; so does my sister."
-1.For emphasis and literary effect: "Into the jaws of Death, / Into the mouth of Hell / Rode the six hundred."**
-1.
*The New Fowler's Modern English Usage edited by R.W. Burchfield. Clarendon Press: Oxford, England. 1996. Used with the permission of Oxford University Press.
**from Alfred Lord Tennyson's "Charge of the Light Brigade" (1854).