subject

Examples of subject in the following topics:

• Declining Pronouns: Subjects and Objects

• Subject-Verb Agreement

  • "Person" is a way of saying who the subject is.
  • Subject-verb agreement can become a little more complicated when the subject is very long and complex.
  • Compound subjects (two subjects joined by a conjunction) take plural verbs if they are joined by "and."
  • When a positive subject and a negative subject are compounded and have different numbers, the verb should agree with the positive subject.
  • [The subject bags is a plural noun, so the verb were is also plural to agree with the subject.]

• Making Subject and Verbs Agree

  • It is important to make sure that verbs agree with their subjects in person and number.
  • Subject-verb agreement assures that verbs match their subjects in case and number.
  • To assure this, writers need to consider whether the subject of her sentence is singular or plural, and whether the subject is first-person, second-person, or third-person.
  • If a sentence has a compound subject, you should use a plural verb even if all the components of the subject are singular nouns.
  • Recognize subject-verb agreement by paying careful attention to the number and case of the sentence subject.

• Nouns as Subjects and Objects

  • In a sentence, the subject completes the action.
  • The subjects are italicized in the examples below:
  • If the noun precedes the verb, it is the subject.
  • (“The sandwich” is the subject and “Mathilda” is the object.)
  • (“The spaceship” is the subject and “the alien” is the object.)

• Pronouns as Subjects and Objects

  • Pronouns can be the subject or the object of a sentence.
  • Pronouns can act as both subjects and objects.
  • Personal subject pronouns refer to the one or ones completing an action.
  • Personal subject pronouns are I, he, she, it, we, you, they.
  • Reflexive pronouns refer back to, or "reflect" (hence the name), the subject.

• Components of a Sentence

  • It has an "action" (tasting delicious) but no subject.
  • See the italicized subjects in the examples below:
  • In example 2, the subject is a pronoun.
  • In example 3, the subject is a noun (no article).
  • The simple predicate refers to just the verb or verb phrase, linked to the subject, which tells what action is being performed by that subject.

• Active Voice vs. Passive Voice

  • Active voice emphasizes the subject as the one performing the action.
  • In contrast, passive voice deemphasizes the subject as performer and instead frames the subject as receiving the action.
  • These sentences will generally follow the pattern of subject–verb–object (or simply subject–verb, for intransitive verbs—i.e., for verbs that don't need an object):
  • Instead, passive voice frames the subject as receiving the action.
  • Passive voice is the opposite of active voice, so sentences in passive voice tend to follow the reverse pattern of object–verb–subject, and the word "by" often shows up between the verb and the subject:

• Introduction to Pronouns

  • Reflexive pronouns "reflect" back to the subject.
  • The main relative pronouns dealing with people are "who" (used to relate to people or creatures as subjects), "whom" (used to relate to people or creatures as subjects), and "whose" (used to relate to a possession of a person or creature).
  • "That" is used to relate to things (as both subjects and objects) when there is more than one thing you could be referring to:
  • Subordinate clauses are phrases within a sentence that modify the subject of the sentence.
  • Person or being (as subject): Who wants to go to the movies with me?

• Conducting Research

  • Basic research is meant to increase your general knowledge about a subject.
  • Given its subject matter, it can be more subjective and open-ended than other types of research.
  • The better you understand your subject matter and the goal of your paper, the more equipped you will be to begin researching using one of the above listed methodologies.

• Using the First Person in Academic Writing

  • While this is not an absolute rule, it is important to understand why you have been told to avoid using subjective language, such as "I", "me", or "my".
  • The primary reason that subjective language should be avoided is to improve how a reader perceives the argument you are presenting.
  • Frequently, this use of subjective language can imbue the writing with an affective quality that many feel should be absent from argumentative papers.
  • Therefore, using subjective language is redundant and distracts from your argument and conclusion.
  • Avoiding subjective language does not mean you have escaped your subjective position, only that you are trying to demonstrate to readers how to get to the particularity of that position through a series of claims.