Subjects Flashcards
Teach myself about subjects
What is a subject?
The subject of a sentence is the person, place, thing, or idea that is doing or being something.
You can find the subject of a sentence if you can find the what?
The verb.
Ask the question, “Who or what ‘verbs’ or ‘verbed’?” and the answer to that question is the subject. For instance, in the sentence “The computers in the Learning Center must be replaced.” the verb is “must be replaced”. What must be replaced? The computers. So the subject is “computers”.
What is a simple subject?
A simple subject is the subject of a sentence stripped of modifiers.
The simple subject of the following sentence is issue: “The really important issue of the conference, stripped of all other considerations, is the morality of the nation.”
Can a simple subject be more than one word?
Yes, it can even be an entire clause.
“What he had already forgotten about computer repair could fill whole volumes.”
Ask what it is that could fill whole volumes. Your answer should be that the entire italicized clause is the simple subject.
In English, the subject of a command, order, or suggestion – you, the person being directed – is usually what?
Left out of the sentence, it is said to be the understood subject:
“[You] Step lively there or I’ll leave you behind.”
“Before assembling the swingset, [you] read these instructions carefully.”
For purposes of sentence analysis, the do-er or the initiator of the action in a sentence is referred to as the what of the sentence?
The agent of the sentence.
In an active sentence, the agent is the what?
The subject of the sentence.
“The jury returned a verdict of manslaughter.”
In a passive sentence, the agent is not what?
The agent is not the subject.
“The dean’s report was reviewed by the faculty senate.”
Sometimes a passive sentence won’t have a what?
A passive sentence sometimes lacks an agent.
“Three cities in the country’s interior were bombed.”
The normal English order for a subject is what?
Subject-verb-completer
What are the 8 situations in which the subject will come after the verb? Part 1 of 2
- In questions (routinely) “Have you eaten breakfast yet?
- In expletive constructions: “There were four basic causes of the Civil War.”
- In attributing speech (occasionally, but optionally): “Help me! cried Farmer Brown.”
- 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.”
What are the 8 situations in which the subject will come after the verb? Part 2 of 2
- 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.”
- In negative constructions: “I don’t believe a word she says, nor does my brother. Come to think of it, neither does her father.”
- After so: “I believe her; so does my
brother.” - For emphasis and literary effect: “Into the jaws of Death/ Into the mouth of Hell/ Rode the six hundred.”
