subject

Posted in My Past

ref –

  • https://www.grammar-monster.com/glossary/subject.htm
  • https://writingexplained.org/grammar-dictionary/subject
  • https://editorsmanual.com/articles/sentence-structure-subject

What Is the Subject of a Sentence?

The subject of a sentence is when the person/thing:

  • does an action
  • or being described

Does an action: Ricky eats the pie.
(Ricky is the subject of the sentence. Ricky is doing the action.)

Being described: He is angry.
(He is the subject of the sentence. He is being described.)

Keep in mind that

The subject of a sentence is a noun (or a pronoun) and all the modifiers that go with it.

note: pronoun is a word that replaces a noun or noun phrase. This replacement helps to avoid repetition and make sentences flow better. Pronouns are used to refer to people, places, things, and ideas.

Examples of Subjects

The chef cooks ten meals.

The dog is friendly.

All cats are shy.

Ricky jumps onto the ocean.

People love fried chicken.

We studied for the test together.

How are subjects used in sentences

  1. The subject performs an action:

    • My dog barks at the neighbor.
    • I devoured the meat.
    • We played well.
    • The turtle wins the race.
    • The rabbit jumps over the log.
    • She played the piano beautifully.
    • My friend caught more fishes.
    • Lisa’s mom makes the best barbecue.
  2. The subject is described (via linking verbs):

    • My dog is friendly.
    • Maya feels happy when it rains.
    • She looks beautiful tonight.
    • The fish smells rotten.
    • These songs are from my childhood.
    • The ocean spray feels refreshing.
    • The robbers were silent.
    • The vegetables smells funny.
  3. The subject is identified:

    • My dog is the one in the middle.
    • The brown liquid is Coke.
    • The red bumps are symptoms of acne.
    • Your grade is at the bottom.
    • These are worms.
    • That lady is a man!
    • That lion is a dog in disguise.
    • That guy with the glasses is Waldo.
  4. The subject has an action done to it:

    • My dog was taken to the vet.
    • The foot soldiers were gunned down.
    • I had my foot repaired.
    • The poor man was harassed.
    • My hand was thrown into the meat grinder.
    • Her ego was pounded into oblivion.
    • My confidence took a hard hit.
    • The car was smashed beyond recognition.

Additional Information

Types of subjects

Complete Subject

That boy puts a lot of garlic in his food.
(That boy is an example of a complete subject. It is the simple subject (in this case, boy) plus all modifiers.)

Let’s look at this example again:

The world’s youngest pope was 11 years old.

(The world’s youngest pope is the complete subject. Pope is the simple subject. The, world’s and youngest are modifiers.)

My new friend is an astronaut.

friend is the simple subject. ‘My’ and ‘new’ are modifiers.

Maya, who’s an astronaut, lives on Mars.

Maya is the simple subject. ‘who’s an astronaut’ is a clause that describes Maya.

Simple Subject

Pierre puts a lot of garlic in his food.
(Pierre is the subject. This is an example of a simple subject. A simple subject is just one word without any modifiers.)

Compound Subjects

Ricky and Joy put a lot of garlic in their food.

(Ricky and Joy is a compound subject. That just means it’s made up of more than one element.)

That new boy from Xinjiang and the tall girl with the long hair put a lot of spice in their food.

(This is a compound subject. You can think of it as two complete subjects, each of which contains a simple subject, boy and girl.)

Empty subject

The word it acts as an empty subject in references to time, weather, and distance. The empty it helps introduce a situation or a fact.

EXAMPLES

  • It’s raining again.
  • It’s 9 o’clock already!
  • It’s two miles to the hospital.

Why the Subject of a Sentence Is Important

“The dog is happy” vs “The dog are happy.”

(Changing a verb to match its subject is called verb conjugation.)

Even though verb conjugation is a simple idea, writers often incorrectly give a singular subject a plural verb or a plural subject a singular verb. When this happens, we say there is no subject-verb agreement. A subject and its verb must agree.

Supplemental

  • Noun phrase (Two or more words headed by a noun that includes modifiers)

    • My friend is a writer.
    • His buddies scare me.
    • My mother’s brother looks like me.

  • Gerund phrase

    • Seeing is believing.
    • Running is a great exercise.
    • Eating is a stress reliever.

  • Infinitive phrase

    • To err is human.
    • To make the team is a rite of passage.
    • To take on that challenge is suicide.

  • Noun clause (subj + verb)

    • What we need is a miracle.
    • What you see is what you get.
    • Whoever smelt it dealt it.
    • What you said has captivated me.
    • How the accident happened was a tragedy.

  • Prepositional phrase

    • At 5 p.m. is when the day begins.

  • Dummy subject

    • There is a unicorn in the garden.
    • There is crap everywhere!
    • It is my duty to protect and serve.