Questions about determining the subject of a sentence or clause
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?
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, ...
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.
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 ...
8
votes
5answers
13k views
“I and someone”, “me and someone” or “I and someone we” [duplicate]
Possible Duplicate:
When do I use “I” instead of “me?”
A friend of mine asked me for advice about an e-mail he was writing. There was a sentence like this:
I and ...
7
votes
3answers
651 views
“A guy whose job is to” vs “a guy whose job it is to”?
I've been hearing the phrase "whose job it is to" quite often lately. Consider these two sentences:
We have a guy whose job is to clean windows.
We have a guy whose job it is to clean ...
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 ...
6
votes
2answers
865 views
“You” or “your” when using two subjects with a possession?
I came across your and Mr X's publication
or
I came across you and Mr X's publication
6
votes
2answers
100 views
Different subjects for the word “drive”
She drives well on a highway.
This sentence makes sense to me, but so does the next one:
This car drives well on a highway.
I'm not sure why. The car can't drive on its own but second ...
6
votes
3answers
2k views
“Are” vs. “is” with compound subjects
How are the wife and kid?
How is the wife and kid?
Which is more correct?
6
votes
3answers
481 views
What is a better way to write: only three people signed up: you, me and “thehulk66”
It is better to write this:
Only three people signed up: you, Jim,
and I.
than this:
Only three people signed up: you, me,
and Jim.
Because "I" is a subject and not an object.
But ...
5
votes
1answer
141 views
Object vs Subject?
Consider the following sentence:
"Even during the simple occurrence of him and me standing next to each other makes me notice that he's taller than me."
Is him and me correct? Should it be he ...
4
votes
7answers
491 views
What is the subject of the following sentence?
Food allergies are adverse reactions to an otherwise harmless food or food component that involves an abnormal response of the body's immune system to specific protein(s) in foods.
This is a ...
4
votes
3answers
9k views
What is the difference between nominative and accusative case? [closed]
Also in Linguistics what is a subject?
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 ...
4
votes
2answers
230 views
What is the simple subject in “Is that my bike”?
Is that my bike?
I'm not sure if the simple subject is that or bike.
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...
...
3
votes
4answers
744 views
Figuring the SVO of the sentence “I'm Tom.”
I was under the impression that every sentence has a subject–verb–object (SVO) where S and V are compulsory and O is optional.
So basically I was wondering in the sentence "I'm Tom." is the subject ...
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 ...
3
votes
2answers
631 views
Are you comfortable with who(m) he is?
Are you comfortable with him? (correct)
Are you comfortable with whom he is? (??)
You're comfortable with whom he is. (??)
Are you comfortable with who he is? (??)
You're comfortable ...
3
votes
2answers
464 views
Subject with multiple verbs
I wrote this sentence:
In both cases, execution is asynchronous, and results in the execution of the command or event handler on the program’s one thread at the next opportunity.
I was told that ...
3
votes
4answers
970 views
What's the best way to find the subject in a sentence?
What's the best way to find the subject in a sentence?
How do you define a subject?
I am especially curious about such cases, in which the subject seems to be represented by more than one word:
The ...
3
votes
3answers
394 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.
...
3
votes
1answer
594 views
Is “things such as this” singular or plural?
Which of the following is correct?
Things such as this make me happy.
Things such as this makes me happy.
Is the subject "things" or "this"?
3
votes
3answers
189 views
S-V agreement: It is not clear what is/are meant by A and B
In the following sentence, the verb “are” strikes me as odd.
In paragraph 6, it is not clear what are meant by “the front unit” and “the central element”.
It seems that “. . . it is not clear ...
3
votes
2answers
163 views
Pluralization: backward and backwards in context
Unless I'm using "backward" and "backwards" wrong, I can pluralize it when the subject is not plural and vice versa.
For example, correct me if I'm wrong:
One movie.
If you watch your ...
3
votes
1answer
146 views
Is “ … and was wondering …” correct? [duplicate]
Possible Duplicate:
I <verb> and am <rest of sentence>
Since I'm a native Spanish speaker I tend to suppress the subject a lot when speaking, since most of the time it's tacit ...
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 ...
2
votes
3answers
286 views
“Who” vs. “whom” in tricky sentence [duplicate]
Possible Duplicate:
What's the rule for using "who" or "whom"?
Which is correct?
A certificate is a statement that states who is entitled.
A certificate is ...
2
votes
2answers
100 views
On the structure of “search for weapons and bands of pro-Hussein fighters still holding out”
I came across the following expression:
The primary task of many American troops in Baghdad has been to search for weapons and bands of pro-Hussein fighters still holding out.
This is from a ...
2
votes
2answers
358 views
why differences in Object vs Subject
We have different pronouns to express objects vs subjects:
he vs him
who vs whom
etc.
What's the point? What extra information is communicated by expressing object vs subject?
Shouldn't it be ...
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
2answers
173 views
Term used for the number of items in a singular or plural noun or sentence
Can anyone confirm the name of the term used
for the number of items in the terms singular,
plural, etc.?
Does singular or plural indicate the cardinality
of a part of the sentence, or is there ...
2
votes
2answers
302 views
Meaning based on emphasis
Is there a term used to explain how some words change meaning based on the accent? For example, "convict" can be both a noun and a verb depending on which syllable is emphasized. The same is true for ...
2
votes
1answer
209 views
What is the proper (practical/efficient) way to analyze a sentence?
One is given the sample sentence:
The fat blind man ran from the dog.
What are the procedural steps to deduce the subject and predicate from the sentence? What are the general steps to ...
2
votes
1answer
88 views
When should the subject agree with the object of the preposition?
Quite often while I'm looking through research articles, I see sentences that start like this one:
The tensile strengths of the composites changed...
I generally change strengths to strength in ...
1
vote
2answers
434 views
Should I use “who” or “whom” as the only word in a sentence?
I understand that "who" is for the subject and "whom" is for the object. However, sometimes they are used as the only word in a sentence. For example:
Person 1: Yeah, he ate the entire cake.
...
1
vote
2answers
330 views
“A lot of people, especially this one psychoanalyst […], keeps asking”
In the last chapter of The Catcher in The Rye:
A lot of people, especially this one psychoanalyst guy they have here,
keeps asking me if I'm going apply myself when I go back to school
next ...
1
vote
1answer
593 views
“As is customary” vs. “as it is customary”
I more often see the first version being used, but to me, that doesn't sound right because I can't see the subject there. I would definitely use the second one.
What am I missing here?
Update: ...
1
vote
2answers
106 views
What’s the subject and verb?
During these sessions, the court could rule on major issues, this time around that includes the case about whether race should be a factor when colleges decide which students to accept.
For ‘this ...
1
vote
3answers
254 views
Is it grammatical to omit the subject from “I did my work”? [duplicate]
Possible Duplicate:
Is it acceptable to begin a declarative sentence with “Am”?
Is it correct to start a sentence with did.
Did my work.
instead of
I did my work.
...
1
vote
3answers
101 views
Who is pleased?
In the sentence, who is pleased, Malfoy or Crabbe and Goyle?
Malfoy went to join his friends Crabbe and Goyle, looking pleased with himself.
1
vote
2answers
883 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?
1
vote
1answer
4k views
How to use Have and Has in these two statements? [duplicate]
Possible Duplicate:
Is a company always plural, or are small companies singular?
I have two statements like this:
The committee has approved expenditure of hundred crores.
The committee ...
1
vote
1answer
104 views
Where did the person change?
"She realizes there is nothing to fear, not world travel alone to remote places, nor her own disease - and that letting go of identity is the only hurdle to leap before doing what you want."
I ...
1
vote
1answer
217 views
Is it “me” or “I” and why? [duplicate]
Possible Duplicate:
When do I use “I” instead of “me?”
John, Valencia, and I (or me)?
I found a photo of Sarah, Thomas, James and I?
OR
I found a photo of ...
1
vote
0answers
17 views
Is “Joe’s and my bicycles” correct? [duplicate]
Is this phrasing correct and acceptable?
Here are Joe’s and my bicycles
I am describing two bicycles, one owned by Joe and one owned by myself.
1
vote
1answer
128 views
Subject–verb agreement: “are” versus “is” [duplicate]
Possible Duplicate:
Singular or plural following a list
My apples and orange are wrong
What is correct?
Her ripples, her current, her momentum is the fountainhead of science.
Her ...
0
votes
3answers
308 views
Omission of agent in active voice
I love writing but grammar is seriously not my cup of tea so please forgive my ignorance.
The case in point is:
Henry’s eyes were gouged out by George.
Is it possible to write this in active ...
