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1. The Subject
- Hong Kong University Press, HKU
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Grammatical Properties Let’s consider these two sentences: 1. Singapore is the smallest republic in the world. 2. The smallest republic in the world is Singapore. QUESTION 1 The two sentences (1–2) are made up of exactly the same words, and they seem to be saying the same thing. But what is the subject of each of these sentences? Sentence 1: Sentence 2: 1 The Subject 8 Understanding English Grammar To put it simply, the subject is what the rest of the sentence is about. So, sentence 1 is about ‘Singapore’, and sentence 2 is about ‘the smallest republic in the world’. The subject is one of the most important parts of a sentence in English — more so than in Chinese. To see how important it is, let’s find out what sort of grammatical properties it has — that is, how does it behave in relation to the other parts of the sentence? QUESTION 2 In the following sentences, the subjects are underlined for you. What regular pattern can you see in the position of the subject in the sentence? 3. China has the largest population in the world. 4. The concert by the youth orchestra is completely sold out. 5. The handsome frog turned into an ugly prince. Answer: So you have worked out a simple ‘hypothesis’ about the position of the subject. But now consider the following sentences, where the subjects are again underlined. 6. As everyone knows, China has the largest population in the world. 7. To my disappointment, the concert by the youth orchestra is completely sold out. 8. Suddenly the handsome frog turned into an ugly prince. [54.224.52.210] Project MUSE (2024-03-19 10:57 GMT) The Subject 9 QUESTION 3 Do sentences 6–8 cause you to change the answer you gave to Question 2 above? If so, how? Answer: So you’ve noticed that the subject has a ‘typical’ position, namely at the beginning of the sentence and immediately before the verb. It is true that this is not the only possible position, as sentences 6–8 show. But you will note that if something else comes before the subject, it is normally not an essential part of the sentence: for example, if you delete everything before the subject in sentences 6–8, you are still left with a complete and grammatical sentence — i.e. sentences 3–5. Let’s look at some other properties of the subject besides its position. Consider sentences 9–12 below, and answer Questions 4 and 5: 9. The little girl has a big appetite. 10. The little girls have a big appetite. 11. A tall building attracts lightning. 12. Tall buildings attract lightning. QUESTION 4 Sentences 9–12 show an important grammatical property of the subject in English. What is that property? (Pay particular attention to the form of the verb that follows the subject.) Answer: 10 Understanding English Grammar QUESTION 5 What other grammatical property do you notice about the subject in the sentences below? [NB: Words like be, have and can are ‘auxiliary verbs’. We’ll explore them later.] 13. English has become a world language. 14. Has English become a world language? 15. Property prices are rising. 16. Are property prices rising? 17. Peter can eat 10 hamburgers in 1 minute. 18. Can Peter eat 10 hamburgers in 1 minute? Answer: To summarize the grammatical properties that you have discovered thus far about the subject in English: (1) The subject usually occurs at the beginning of a sentence and before the verb; (2) The subject controls the form of the verb in the present tense (singular/plural); (3) The subject changes positions with the auxiliary verb in a question. Except for (1), these properties of the subject are very different from Chinese. What Does the Subject Actually ‘Do’? The above exercises have shown that the subject has certain grammatical properties — e.g. its position and relation to the verb, and so on. You will have noticed that it behaves differently from the subject in Chinese, e.g., in Chinese, the subject does not ‘control’ the form of the verb as it does in English (as in sentences 9–12), nor does it change positions with the auxiliary verb when asking a question (as in 13–18). In learning English, it is important to know these differences. A different question about the subject is this: what does it actually ‘do’ in a sentence? Why do we need a subject at all...