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Liceria & Co.

A subject
What is subject in grammar

Presented By:Diana Gabdulsalim Presented To: Gulshat Altynbekovna


The role of
subject
A subject is one of the five major elements of clause
structure. The other four are: verb, object, complement
and adjunct. Subjects are essential in declarative,
negative and interrogative clauses.
The subject acts as the ‘doer’ or agent of an
action. Subjects are typically noun phrases
(e.g. a noun or pronoun and any dependent
words before or after it):

The teacher told the class to sit down. (determiner + noun)


Doesn’t he eat meat? (pronoun)
Spring is like a breath of fresh air after a winter indoors. (noun)
Callum is so good at sport. (proper noun)
They don’t open the shop on Sundays. (pronoun)
Surfing is becoming more and more popular. (-ingform as a noun)
Subject position
In statements (declarative clauses), the subject comes before the
verb:
[eating out means eating in a restaurant]

THEY love eating out.

SOME PEOPLE prefer to go on holiday to the same place every year.

THE COURSE FEE doesn’t include materials.


In questions (interrogative clauses), the subject comes
after the auxiliary or modal verb and before the main
verb:
Has SHONA been to the house before? (auxiliary + subject + verb + other elements)

Do YOU want a cup of tea? (auxiliary + subject + verb + other elements)

In exclamations, the subject comes after How or Whatand before the verb:

What a fantastic cook SHE is!


How easily he’d tricked HER!
Liceria & Co.

Dummy subjects
The subject is an essential part of a clause. Sometimes we
need to use a ‘dummy’ subject where there is no other
subject to put in the subject position. We use it or there as
subjects:

It’s not raining, is IT?


IT’S strange the way the weather changes so quickly.
THERE are lots of things to do here in the city centre.
Liceria & Co.

No subject
Spoken English:

In very informal speaking we can leave out the pronoun in declarative clauses
(statements), particularly I with verbs like hope and know:

Hope you have a great time. (I hope you have …)

A: Do we have to do the second exercise as well?

B: Don’t think so. (I don’t think so.)


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Thank you for


attention

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