Ways of Expressing Subject

As it is stated above, the Subject is the main part of a two-member sentence which is grammatically independent of the other parts of the sentence and on which the predicate is grammatically dependent. [7, 67]

The subject can be expressed by different parts of speech and by different constructions:

1. The noun in the common (or occasionally possessive) case;

The sulky waiter brought my tea. (Du Maurier)

Marcellus slowly turned his head. (Douglas) [13, 226]

The address must be written in the center of the envelope.

Jonathan Swift is the father of irony. (E.B. Browning, Aurora Leigh) [9, 185]

Occasionally a noun in the possessive case is used as the subject of the sentence.

Mrs. Gummidge’s was in a fretful disposition. (Dickens)

Oh, my dear Richard, Ada’s is a noble heart. (Dickens)

2. A pronoun (personal, demonstrative, defining, indefinite, negative, possessive, interrogative);

After about an hour I heard Montgomery shouting my name. That set me thinking of my plan of action. (Wells)

All were clad in the same soft, and yet strong silky material. (Wells)

All were happy.

Everyone was silent for a minute. (Wells)

Nothing was said on either side for a minute or two afterwards. (Dickens)

Theirs is not a very comfortable lodging … (Dickens)

Who tore this book? (Twain) [13, 226]

The pronouns ‘one, we, you are much used with the same general or indefinite force:

 ‘As long as one is young, one easily acquires new friends.’

 ‘We don’t like to be flatly contradicted.’

 ‘You don’t like to be snubbed.’ [12, 149]

3. A substantivized adjective or participle;

The Privileged have seen that charming and instructive sight. (Galsworthy)

The wounded were taken good care of.

4. A numeral (cardinal or ordinal);

Of course, the two were quite unable to do anything. (Wells)

The first and fourth stood beside him in the water. (Wells)

Two were indeed young, about eleven and ten. (Galsworthy)

The first was a tall lady with dark hair … (Bronte) [11, 335]

5. An infinitive, an infinitive phrase or construction;

To see is to believe.

To live uprightly, then, is sure the best. (John Dryden) [9, 185]

To prolong doubt was to prolong hope. (Bronte)

For him to come was impossible.

To be a rich man, Lieutenant, is not always roses and beauty. (Heym) [13, 226]

To walk is useful. Walking is useful. [17, 38]

6. A gerund, a gerundial phrase or construction;

Lying doesn’t go well with me.

Winning the war is what counts. [7, 67]

Walking is a healthy exercise.

Watching and ministering Kit was her best care. (Galsworthy) [11, 335]

Teaching others teaches yourself. [9, 185]

7. Any part of speech used as a quotation;

On is a preposition.

A is the first letter of the English alphabet.

And is a conjunction.

No is his usual reply to any request. [13, 227]

^ is the sign of perpendicular. [16, 50]

8. A group of words which is one part of the sentence, i.e. a syntactically indivisible group.

The needle and thread is lost. (here the subject represents one person).

Their friend and defender is darkly groping towards the solution. [7, 67]

Twice two is four.

How to do this is a difficult question. [11, 335]

9. It as the subject of the sentence.

In English the pronoun it is sometimes used as the subject of a sentence.

Table

The construction there is

When the subject of the sentence is indefinite (a book, books, some books), it is often placed after the predicate verb and the sentence begins with the introductory particle there. The word there has no stress and is usually pronounced with the neutral vowel /ðƏ/ instead of /ðέƏ/. It has lost its local meaning, which is shown by the possibility of combining it in the sentence with the adverbs of place here and there:

there was a gate just there, opening into the meadow… (Bronte)

‘There’s a good spot over there.’ (Cusack) [11, 341]

Things are specifically different in cases when it and there are used in subject positions as representatives of words or longer units which embody the real content of the subject but are postponed.

It is most pleasant that she has already come.

It was easy to do so.

There are a few mistakes in your paper.

There were no seats at all.

It and there in such syntactic structures are generally called anticipatory or introductory subjects.

There in such patterns is often referred to as a function word, and this is not devoid of some logical foundation [15, 94] Sentences with the introductory there may serve to assert or deny the existence of something. In sentences with the introductory there the predicate verb is usually the verb to be; occasionally some other verbs are found, such as to live, to occur, to come, etc., which, similarly to the verb to be, indicate to exist or have the meaning of to come into the existence:

There was a little pause. (Voynich)

(there – an introductory particle; was – a simple verbal predicate; a pause – the subject; little – an attribute)

…there is the rustle of branches in the morning breeze;

…there is the music of a sunny shower against the window; (Gissing)

There came a laugh, high, gay sweet. (Galsworthy) r

…there came a scent of lime-blossom. (Galsworthy)

There soon appeared, pausing in the dark doorway as he entered, a hale, grey-haired old man. (Dickens) [11, 341]