O subject it is someone or something who or what is talked about. It is easily identified in the prayer using the question method, for example:
The shop assistant ran the vehicle a lot.
When answering the question “who ran the vehicle a lot?”, you will identify the subject of the prayer, which, in this case, is “the shop assistant”.
subject classification
Subjects are classified into:
- Subjectdetermined - when the subject is identified in the prayer. In this case, the subject can be simple, compound or hidden.
- Subjectindeterminate - when the subject is not identified in the sentence.
- non-existent subject - when sentences are constructed with impersonal verbs, which do not admit agents of action.
types of subject
simple subject
The simple subject is formed by acore, that is, a main term, for example:
- The employee of the house sold his car. (core: employee)
- They are always withholding the truth. (core: They)
- The leaf has fallen. (core: sheet)
Learn more at: simple subject
compound subject
O compound subject is the one formed by twoormorecores, for example:
- Ana Maria and Joaquim ended their relationship. (nuclei: Ana Maria, Joaquim)
- Me, you and our dog are lost once again. (cores: Me, you, dog)
- Books and cinema are my favorite pastime. (cores: Books, cinema)
Hidden subject
O hidden subject, also called elliptic, deinential or implicit, is the one that noit isdeclaredatprayer.
Despite this, it is classified as determined because it can be identified by the context and by the verbal conjugation present in the sentence, for example:
- On the way home, I passed the city park. (Note that by the verbal conjugation “passei” we can identify the first person singular “I”. Soon, "On the way home, (I) passed the city park.")
- We like to skip Carnival. (Through verbal conjugation, we identify the hidden subject of the prayer: “(We) We like to skip Carnival.”)
- Armando left school very early. In the afternoon he took everything home. (Here we have the subject “Armando” in the first sentence and in the second, the action subject that was mentioned earlier is “he”: In the afternoon (he) took everything home.)
Indeterminate subject
O indeterminate subject is the one that nowe canidentifyOagentgivesaction, neither by the context nor by the verbal ending of the utterance.
Despite the subject being an essential term in the prayer, the non-existent subject can manifest itself by the lack of knowledge or disinterest of the agent who performs the action.
Furthermore, it also happens when the verb does not refer to a particular person. There are three ways to identify it:
1) with a verb in the 3rd person plural that does not refer to any noun mentioned earlier in the sentence, for example:
- They said he was elected.
- They captured the fugitive.
- They spoke badly all the time.
2) with pronoun "if" and intransitive, indirect transitive or connecting verb in the 3rd person singular (so that it is not possible to identify who practices the action), for example:
- You wake up happy (VI).
- Young people (VTI) are needed.
- It is not always fair in this world (VL).
3) with verb in the personal infinitive, for example:
- It's hard to please everyone.
- It would be good to research more on the subject.
- It was good to travel around the world!
non-existent subject
In the subjectless prayers, the subject is non-existent since they are constituted by impersonal verbs, that is, that do not admit agents of the action, as is the case of:
- the verbs that indicate natural phenomena: dawn, dusk, rained, snowed, winded, thundered, etc.
- the verb to exist when used with the meaning of existing, happening and indicating past tense.
- the verbs to be, to do, to have, to be, to go and to pass indicating time or distance.
Examples:
- It thundered through the night.
- There are good lectures at the congress.
- It's break time.
subject's core
O subject's core represents the most important term. When the subject is followed by articles, for example, the head is just the noun that comes after it.
Thus, although the article and the noun are the subject, its core is what semantically matters most, for example:
1) The girls sang beautifully.
subject: The girls
subject's core: girls
2) Grandparents, parents and their children lived on the farm.
subject: Grandparents, parents and their children
subject's core: grandparents, parents, children
Subject and Predicate
The subject and the predicate are the essential terms of prayer. This means that they are essential in the construction of a clause, even if there are clauses in which the subject does not exist. Remember that the predicate is what is said about the subject.
Example: Students recorded a video about the class.
Subject: the students
Predicate: recorded a video about the class.
Read too:
- Predicate
- Subject Predicative
- Subject and Predicate
- passive voice
- Active voice
- reflective voice
Subject exercises
Identify and classify the subjects below:
People live very well in this little town.
Indeterminate subject.
Glasses, wig and a fake mustache are my Carnival props.
Compound subject: Glasses, wig and a mustache.
Do we have to get up early tomorrow?
Hidden Subject: (Us).
In that bar, you can hear a little bit of everything.
Indeterminate subject
You live tired.
Indeterminate subject
Suddenly, the doorbell rang.
Simple subject: the bell.
They speak very poor English.
Indeterminate subject
It rained a lot that night.
Non-existent subject.
It's one PM.
Non-existent subject.
Books and good wine will be my company tonight.
Compound subject: Books and good wine.
To learn more, see also:
- types of subject
- Exercises on types of subject with feedback
- Subject and predicate exercises with commented template
