Ways of Expressing Subject in British Fiction

‘The greatest English playwright, novelist and short story writer, considered one of the most popular writers of his era, and reputedly, the highest paid author during the 1930s’ [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/W. Somerset Maugham], William Somerset Maugham gives preference mainly to the personal pronouns in the role of the subject. All the examined works of the writer within the project keep the tendency of the presenting the personal pronouns as the subject.

‘We draw our conclusions from the shape of the jaw, the look in the eyes, the contour of the mouth.’ [26, 355]

‘When you made him that offer of a job, did you know he’d be drowned?’ [26, 360]

‘Well, I hadn’t got a vacancy in my office at the moment.’ [26, 360]

‘She gave him a long searching look.’ [25, 501]

‘In your place I should never have been able to resist the temptation to take my eight cops and have a whack at the blighters myself.’ [25, 503]

‘She is waiting at the prison door.’ [27, 229]

The second preferable part of speech in the subject role is a noun in the nominal case.

‘Women thought a lot of him.’ [26, 357]

‘The blood spurted from the cut vein and dyed his shirt.’ [27, 230]

‘This scar spoke of a terrible wound and I wondered whether it had been caused by a sabre or by a fragment of shell.’ [27, 228]

‘But Alban had already a London look.’ [25, 495]

‘Anne quickly made friends with the shy, pretty native woman and soon was playing happily with the children.’ [25, 496]

Other parts of speech in the Subject position are surely kept but in much less frequent periodicity.

‘That was how you thought a poet should look.’ [25, 515] where ‘that’ is a demonstrative pronoun in the Subject role.

‘Two or three shouted back in answer.’ [25, 525] where ‘two’ and ‘three’ are cardinal numerals occupying Subject position in the sentence.

‘The worst of it was that Anne knew how low an opinion Alban had of the Governor’s parts.’ [25, 514] where ‘the worst of it’ is construction carrying Subject function in the sentence.

‘How can anyone be so shameless?’ [25, 532] where ‘anyone’ is indefinite pronoun in the Subject role.

‘Nothing that concerns me was at stake.’ [25, 530] where ‘nothing’ is a negative pronoun carrying the Subject function.

‘All that was far away in the future.’ [25, 527] where indefinite pronoun ‘all’ is in the Subject role.

The Subject it is surely also presented in the works of W. S. Maugham. In consequence of its research we can state that the frequency of the usage of notional ‘it’ is much higher in comparison with the formal ‘it’ in the works of W. S. Maugham.

‘It’s only an hour’s journey,’ said Anne. [25, 495] where ‘it’ is formal denoting time aspect.

‘It was a room with twin beds and a bathroom.’ [25, 502] where ‘it’ is notional pointing out a thing expressed by a predicative noun.

‘It was a change, but Anne was always glad to get home.’ [25, 511] where the notional ‘it’ is the Subject pointing out a thing expressed by a predicative noun.

‘It was on account of the scar that I first noticed him, for it ran, broad and red from his temple to his chin.’ [27, 228] where both ‘it’s are notional subjects but first ‘it’ points out a thing expressed by a predicative noun whereas the second ‘it’ stands for a definite thing mentioned before.

‘It happened so quickly that many didn’t know what had occurred, but the others gave a cry of horror;’ [27, 231] where the notional subject ‘it’ again denotes a thing expressed by a predicative noun.

‘It was a busy, exhilarating scene, and yet, I know not why, restful to the spirit.’ [26, 357] where ‘it’ is notional carrying the Subject role in the sentence.

The introductory ‘there’ also is maintained in the work but as it is mentioned above in Chapter One, the particle ‘there’ carries just the introductory function, but doesn’t represent the Subject of the sentence.

‘There was a group of natives’ [25, 517]

‘There was a little stir at the gateway.’ [26, 229]

Subject features corresponding to their characteristics in Classifications One and Two can be commented on the following points.

Proceeding from the structural point of view (Classification 1) simple and complex subjects are predominantly met.

‘Though his offices were in Kobe, Burton often came down to Yokohama.’ [26, 356] where ‘Burton’ represents the simple Subject.

‘Those sort of fellows always do.’ [26, 358] where ‘sort’ presents the simple Subject.

‘I couldn’t help laughing.’ [26, 358] where I in combination with the gerund ‘laughing’ represents the complex Subject.

‘They laid the girl on the ground and stood round watching her.’ [27,230] where ‘they’ in combination with the gerund ‘watching’ represents again the complex Subject.

‘The rebel advanced a step or two to meet her.’ [27, 231] where ‘the rebel’ in combination with the infinitive ‘to meet’ represents the complex Subject.

‘Alban, as was his way, tipped the porter generously and then went to the bookstall and bought papers.’ [25, 495] where ‘Alban’ represents the simple Subject.

Concerning Classification 2 agentive and affected Subjects are essentially identified.

‘Burton came into the lounge presently and caught sight of me.’ [26, 357] where ‘Burton’ in relation with the predicate ‘came’ represents the affected Subjects and in combination with the predicate ‘caught’ – the agentive Subject.

‘A sort of sigh passed through those men crowded together..’ [27, 231] where ‘ a sort’ represents the instrumental Subject.

‘She stared into his blue eyes as if they were open windows.’ [25, 527] where ‘she’ carries the agentive function of the Subject.

‘The tears streamed from Anne’s eyes, she rushed to the door and ran out.’ [25, 533] where ‘tears’ and ‘she’ represent in both cases the agentive Subject.

‘We shook hands.’ [26, 359] where ‘we’ represents the affected Subject.

‘He gave a little mild chuckle and he looked at me with those kind and candid blue eyes of his.’ [26, 360] where ‘he’ represents the agentive Subject in both cases.

Thus, the cases of the agentive and affected Subjects, classified from the functional point of view, and the simple Subjects, classified from the structural point of view, constitute substantially 99% of the Subject, distinguished in fiction of W.S. Maugham.