Questions tagged [subjects]
Questions about determining the subject of a sentence or clause
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What is the function of the word "boats" in this sentence? [migrated]
For instance, they can learn that boats float and can practice ways to make boats move across water.
Is it a subject or an object (the bolded word)?
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Do I need to repeat the subject after a semicolon splitting two sentences that have the same subject in formal written English?
Do I need to repeat the subject after a semicolon splitting two sentences that have the same subject in formal written English?
For example:
He talked to the owners, which was understandable; paid ...
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2
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Subject identification in the sentence "All he does is invite random strangers on the internet to play games with him."
What is the subject of the following sentence?
All he does is invite random strangers on the internet to play games with him.
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What Is 'Given' Information according to the 'Given-before-New' Principle?
In Steven Pinker's book The Sense of Style, he talks about the 'given-before-new' principle (most notably on pages 131–138). He states, '... people learn by integrating new information into their ...
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What is the subject and predicate in the sentence "What time is the meeting?" [migrated]
What is the subject and predicate in the sentence "What time is the meeting?"
I think subject here is "the meeting" and predicate "what time is". Is that correct?
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Can I front an adverbial phrase like "high among the clouds"?
While writing a fantasy narration I created this sentence:
High among the clouds a castle floated.
My American friend tells me it sounds bad to a native ear. I think he sees a problem with the ...
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Subjective and objective case? [duplicate]
Is it correct to say
I am faster than him at swimming
Or
I am faster than he at swimming
I've heard that the first sentence is wrong because you can't compare the subjective case with the ...
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2
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Why is this that-clause unnatural as the subject in this sentence?
(1)After the surprising Algiers Agreement between Iran and Iraq is reached, the United States stops its support for the Kurdish rebels, which causes the fragmentation of the opposition and an ...
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Participial phrase with a subject unomitted [duplicate]
I wonder this sentence is both grammatically and idiomatically correct.
"That movie having a pretty big budget, filmmakers did not need to have one in order to succeed."
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Figuring out the subject in a sentence with two verbs
Maybe this question is too simple but I just can't figure it out. In these sentences which part is the subject?
Did you think I would be sad if you left?
or
I believe you're making a gross and ...
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Can there be a subject in a sentence without a verb?
Can there be a subject in a sentence without a verb, e.g. in sentences with an attributive adjective such as the following: "All these poor tragic people", "A sad day" or "...
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Omitting the Subject from the first clause, mentioning it in the second
I am working on teaching an English grammar point to a group of students in an ESL course.
However, I am not aware of the grammar points that structure and allow this particular usage.
In the example ...
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3
answers
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What is the subject of the verb following the comma?
This quote is from Gone with the Wind, where Scarlett met Rhett Butler at a function to collect for the Confederacy:
Hot words bubbled to her lips and it was with difficulty that she checked them. ...
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Can preposterousness stifle giggles? Is "preposterousness" part of an adjunct?
The preposterousness of the situation was simply too strange, too unreal, too funny to stifle the uncontrollable giggles.
This sentence is from a book by a New York Times and USA Today bestselling ...
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What’s the need for the comma
I’m puzzling over this comma at the beginning of the quote below. Is it another way to make it clear that the author is speaking about two different people - SOME musician and SOME OTHER artist? Doesn’...
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1
answer
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Was/were when listing individually [closed]
I recently wrote something saying:
Present at the meeting was the mayor, the chief of police, and city council members.
My coworker flagged this, as moving the clause to the end of the sentence ...
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1
answer
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How to use a past event as the subject of a sentence?
I am not a native speaker. My question in the title arise from an actual sentence I wanted to write. "Phone rang interrupted."
Imagine this timeline for context:
Employee was talking to ...
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4
answers
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Does this sentence have a subject?
The following is a paragraph from an online article:
I don’t know whether Closca will succeed in this: although its foldable bike helmet is available in some outlets in New York, including the Museum ...
anon
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votes
1
answer
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“a small number of” as an adjective
The official Australian government page https://www.nationalsecurity.gov.au/national-threat-level/current-national-terrorism-threat-level features the following quote.
This is because there are a ...
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1
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Why can't "any" be used as subject in negative sentences, while "no" can?
Why is it that any cannot be used as subject in negative sentences, while no can?
An example pair of sentences might be:
No children came.
Any children didn't come.
Please note that the following ...
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What is the grammar term for "John" in "I John want to eat." [duplicate]
Take this sentence, where John is clarifying himself.
I John do hereby declare that I am hungry.
I is the subject.
What is John?
John takes the place of an intensive reflexive pronoun, if the ...
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Can an imperative sentence have a subject?
Can an imperative sentence have a subject?
This is a followup to this comment.
User Schmuddi asserted that:
English imperative sentences are subjectless.
but did not cite any source or authority.
I ...
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Subject followed by infinitive — what is the grammatical name for this structure?
Example sentence:
"Germany to raise prices ...", which usually can be used as "Germany (is) set to raise prices ..." but the first example is also correct. Can you help me with ...
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Subject-modifier-verb agreement [duplicate]
In the following sentence, is the verb 'have' appropriate? Is it not supposed to be 'has' ?
The British council, in partnership with Microsoft philanthropies, have designed a course for young ...
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Passive voice with ditransitive verb, which is the patient?
If I were to make the following constructions, how would I label the parts of the sentence using passive voice terminology? Alice seems to be the agent in both these constructions, but which is the ...
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Is this sentence wrong: "write a letter for me to teach in the university" and if so, why? [closed]
Suppose I'm applying for a teaching position and asking someone for a reference letter. Then is it correct to say:
Can you write a reference letter for me to teach in the university?
to mean "...
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What is the subject in this quoted sentence?
"But perhaps most importantly, UF simply should not be looking to Governor DeSantis to decide which speech activities it will permit its employees and students to engage in,” the ACLU’s Daniel ...
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Help Fixing Yoda-like Sentence Structure? [closed]
I'm a native American English speaker and have noticed something in my speech/writing that I don't really understand. I've noticed my speech sounds "Yoda-ish" and have been trying to figure ...
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What is the proper way to say "14 Registered Students"? [closed]
Which should it be?
"14 Registered Students"
or
"14 Students Registered"
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What is subject of the second sentence joined by "and"? [duplicate]
In some logical reasoning questions, I get stuck in the following type of sentences.
Car A is parked somewhere in the left of Car B and is parked somewhere in the right of Car C.
Jack is at the ...
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Use of pronoun for objects in the preceding sentence [duplicate]
I am having some doubts regarding the use of pronouns.
Please have a look at the following sentences.
I picked a pen from the dustbin yesterday.
It writes very smoothly.
I picked a pen from the ...
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"Enough" can't appear in the subject of a negative sentence
Don't use enough (with or without a noun) as the subject of a
negative sentence, ✳‘Enough people didn’t come', but ‘Not
enough did’.
https://www.wordreference.com/EnglishUsage/enough
Why is it so?
...
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How does "_ and I"/"_ and me" rule change when inside brackets?
This question was specifically motivated by the Youtube video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iitXhgif_lo which has the title "How one little boat (and me) held up miles of London traffic".
...
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What is the grammatical explanation for an 'It looks like ...' clause? (dummy subjects)
Recently, I have been trying to understand the nuances of language to turn myself into a better writer. This has led me to the 'dummy subject' or 'dummy pronoun.' I am clear on the function of 'there,'...
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cotton-top tamarins also spend most of their lives in the trees. My question is about why not most of their live ? why lives? [duplicate]
I don't understand (most of their lives) is singular or plural ? what make this sentence singular for what reason ?
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Can 'nowhere' be used as a subject?
I am utterly confused... The thing is I was helping a friend do an exercise in which she needed to put some words in the correct order to form a grammatical English sentence. The words in question ...
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What is the subjective of this sentence? [closed]
Dong,2019 said that
A firm that colludes with other firms in a foreign product market is
subject to that country’s antitrustlaws. Foreign leniency law passage
is thus likely to affect firms that operate ...
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These children's favorite indoor game is chess- what is the subject here
Identify the subject and predicate in the sentence
These children's favorite indoor game is chess
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Grammar rule: ONE sentence; ONE subject, ONE predicate. Is it?
I just watched a video on grammar (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Drv6jD8xWdw) that states that English sentences can only have one subject. At first, I thought it was obvious, but then I thought of ...
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Can you omit the "it"
Can the "it" be omitted in this sentence?
It looks like quite the mess.
Looks like quite the mess.
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Should a prepositional phrase beginning with “of” that follows a plural noun be singular or plural?
Which of these is correct? “Types of citrus fruit” or “types of citrus fruits”? I suspect it is the first example, but I would really like to know what the grammar rule governing these situations ...
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Do 'it' and 'there' refer to the correct parts of this sentence?
In the following sentence, the 'it' in the bold part should refer to Acid Grassland and the 'there' should refer to the 'roughs' (rough areas on a golf course).
"Frighteningly, some of the ...
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What are the subjects, objects, complements and gerunds in this sentence?
As with most great avant artists, it’s easier to describe how Arca makes you feel than what it is, exactly, she makes.
Just wanted clarification on a few things. What is the first part of the ...
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Identification of the simple subject in a sentence
I am having trouble identifying the simple subject in this sentence:
One of the problems facing journalism today is false news and disinformation
I believe it is one. A friend of mine, however, is of ...
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What is it here in this paragraph?
The virus is mutations constantly, and each time, there's a new lottery ticket. And once in a while, it really, whatever number appears they get the winning ticket placed randomly found the right set ...
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Topic/ subject + controlling idea [closed]
Can someone help me identify the subject + the controlling idea of this sentence.
If you’ve ever dreamed of exploring Andalucia, Catalonia, or Mallorca, we invite you to explore Spain on a bike tour ...
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Compound Predicate with two Prepositional Phrases / Preposition Deletion
My intention is to say that:
(A) I will be traveling on Mon & Tue. I will be eating on Mon & Tue.
Is this a correct paraphrase -?->
(B) I will be traveling and eating on Mon and Tue.
Or ...
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Verb agreement with relative pronoun "what" as subject [duplicate]
The following construction can be found in one of the post in the ELU.
remembering that the heart fibrils are what vibrate abnormally to cause a heart attack
The verb "to vibrate" is in ...
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What does "they" refer to in this sentence?
I don't understand the pronoun "they" and the subject of "are" in the following sentence.
Silver prices yesterday jumped 13% to an eight-year high after some online investors ...
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More sophisticated case of "me and I"!
Which of the following is correct?
"I agree that it will be just me and you managing the projects."
or
"I agree that it will be just I and you managing the projects."
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