grammarGRAMMAR


The subject


What is a subject?

The subject is one of the main two parts of a sentence. According to traditional grammar, a sentence consists of two parts:

  • a subject,
  • a predicate which modifies the subject.

consider the following sentence:

  • Leila loves painting.

Leila is the subject and likes soccer acts as the predicate

The subject relates its constituent (a noun phrase) by means of the verb to any other elements present in the sentence (objects, complements and adverbials.)

Examples of subjects

  • Nurses are on strike. (subject with no determiners)
  • The big man hurt him. (a noun phrase introduced by a determiner)
  • Driving is what I like most. (Gerund)
  • To write poems is difficult. (Infinitive)
  • That he worked hard is a fact. (a clause)
  • I/you...like soccer. (subject pronouns)
  • It rains often here. (dummy subject)

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