Questions about determining the subject of a sentence or clause
10
votes
3answers
2k views
Why is there omission of subject in sentences like “Thought you'd never ask.”
Another example is "Hope this helps."
"Thought you'd never ask." is the omission of "I thought you'd never ask."
"Hope this helps." is the omission of "I hope this helps."
In English grammar, ...
-3
votes
2answers
361 views
Subject-auxiliary inversions not associated with questions [duplicate]
Possible Duplicate:
Inversion in “only [adverb] have they”
Is there some rule governing the following, or similar, subject-auxiliary inversions (*"Rarely they do see the light of day", ...
3
votes
5answers
1k views
Is it acceptable to begin a declarative sentence with “Am”?
I want to know firstly if it's grammatically correct to start a declarative sentence with "Am". For example:
Am excited about the game today.
Secondly, if it is grammatically incorrect, then I ...
9
votes
1answer
999 views
How do I determine subject and subject complement in “A side-effect is the spread of commercialese to other domains.”?
Consider this example:
Commercialese is an instrument of art,
designed to enrich and invigorate our
language—surely you will all agree
with this—, and we should encourage newcomers to learn ...
4
votes
2answers
299 views
Does modifying a collective noun with a number make the subject plural?
The word dozen is a collective noun, i.e., singular when we think of them as groups and plural when we think of the individuals acting within the whole. So we might say:
Talking about eggs: "A ...
17
votes
5answers
3k views
Did English ever have a “you” plural?
Outside of the dialectical form used in the Southern US, "y'all," has English ever had a plural "you"? If not, how does English get around using this form?
3
votes
3answers
393 views
“Me” versus “I”
He was almost as bad at English as me.
He was almost as bad at English as I.
The first one sounds better as-is, but not when you change the second one to He was almost as bad at English as I was.
...
6
votes
3answers
3k views
“like I” or “like me”?
In high school we learned to say "than I" and "as I" because you could potentially add an "am" to the end of the sentence. Examples:
"She is smarter than I." (Think: "...than I am.")
"He is as tall ...
4
votes
1answer
149 views
Is it acceptable to omit “I” when it's the subject? [duplicate]
Possible Duplicate:
Is it acceptable to begin a declarative sentence with “Am”?
Is it correct English to omit I from the beginning of a sentence when it's clearly implied?
For example...
...
1
vote
2answers
878 views
“There always come/comes a point”
Which is correct?
There always come a point...
There always comes a point...
Would there be better ways to write this?
10
votes
1answer
8k views
Which is correct: “you and I” or “you and me”?
I was told the correct usage is for example:
"My wife and me" but I hear often "I and my wife" or "my wife and I".
Google gives 34M results for "My wife and I" and 909K results for "My wife and me"
...
10
votes
7answers
6k views
Which is correct: “If it were I” or “If it were me”?
I'm fairly sure it's the former, but it sounds even more stilted than the usual cases in which "I" is less common, but more correct.
2
votes
2answers
330 views
Subject and object while using passive voice [closed]
My English teacher and an overwhelming majority of my English class insists that in the following sentences the bolded words are subjects and the italicized words are objects.
I ate the cake.
...
2
votes
5answers
2k views
What is the grammatical difference behind “is interesting” and “is interested”?
I am a native English speaker, yet I cannot explain to a non-native speaker why I say:
I am interested in history.
as well as
History is interesting to me.
Why is it "is interesting" when ...
