FINDING THE SUBJECT OF A SENTENCE
GRAMMAR REVOLUTION
Elizabeth O’Brien
December 9, 2021
Finding the subject of a sentence can sometimes be difficult, but there are two tricks that can help.
By the way, do you remember that subjects tell us whom or what a sentence is about? Good!
Let's get started by looking at two example sentences. Can you find the subjects of the following sentences?
1.The students from the classrooms at the end of the hall were very noisy.
2. Each of the students in my class studies diligently.
Before I tell you the right answers, I'm going to teach you the two tips and show you how they apply to these sentences. Here we go!
Tip #1 - The subject of a sentence will never be in a prepositional phrase.
Of course, this tip is only helpful if you know what prepositional phrases are! Prepositional phrases are groups of words that start with a preposition and end with a noun or pronoun.
- into the store (into = preposition, store = noun)
- around the red house (around = preposition, house = noun)
- up the tree (up = preposition, tree = noun)
Tip #2 - Cross out prepositional phrases before you look for a sentence's subject.
Let's get back to our example sentences.
- The students from the classrooms at the end of the hall were very noisy.
- The students from the classrooms at the end of the hall were very noisy.
Since prepositional phrases contain nouns and pronouns, when we cross them out, we eliminate many "potential subjects" because we're eliminating many nouns or pronouns.
- The students
from the classrooms at the end of thehallwere very noisy.
Now let's look at the next sentence.
- Each of the students in my class studies diligently.
- Each of the students in my class studies diligently.
Well, sort of. The subject of the sentence is actually each.
If you know your prepositions, you know that of the students is a prepositional phrase, and subjects will never be in prepositional phrases.
- Each
of the students in my classstudies diligently.
*Note that identifying the correct subject will help you choose the correct form of the verb. If the subject were students, the verb would be study.
Adapted from: https://www.english-grammar-revolution.com/subject-of-a-sentence.html. Accessed on December 10, 2021. Copyright © 2009 - 2021 Grammar Revolution. All Rights Reserved.
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