3.8.1

Subject of a Sentence

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Identifying the Subject

The subject of a sentence is the noun that is carrying out the main action or the noun that is being affected by the main verb.

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Spotting the subject

  • The subject is usually the first noun in a sentence.
    • But the subject is NOT always the first noun in the sentence.
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Subject of a sentence example 1

  • ‘Peter ran to the shop.’
    • 'Peter' is the subject of the sentence because 'Peter' is the noun doing the running.
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Subject of a sentence example 2

  • ‘After we ate the food, Peter ran to the shop.’
    • You may think ‘we’ is the subject as it is the first noun.
    • ‘After we ate the food’ is a subordinate clause, not the main clause.
    • 'Peter' is still the subject because 'Peter' is the main noun doing the main action in the entire sentence.
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The subject as a pronoun

  • The subject of a sentence can be a pronoun.
    • E.g. ‘He is going to the shop’ - 'he' is the subject of the sentence.
    • E.g. ‘That is a great bag’ - 'that' is the subject of the sentence.
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The subject in questions

  • If you ask a question, the subject can be found after the (auxiliary) verb:
    • E.g. ‘Where are you going?’ - 'you' is the subject.
    • E.g. ‘What fish is that? - 'that' is the subject.

Jump to other topics

1Spelling

2Punctuation

3Grammar

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