Subjects

A subject is one of the five major elements of clause structure. The other four are: verb, object, complement and
adjunct. Subjects are essential in declarative, negative and interrogative clauses.

The subject acts as the ‘doer’ or agent of an action. Subjects are typically noun phrases (e.g. a noun or pronoun and any
dependent words before or after it):

The teacher told the class to sit down. (determiner + noun)

Doesn’t he eat meat? (pronoun)

Spring is like a breath of fresh air after a winter indoors. (noun)

Callum is so good at sport. (proper noun)

They don’t open the shop on Sundays. (pronoun)

Surfing is becoming more and more popular. (-ing form as a noun)

Examples of the work of the four artists will be in an exhibition at the Tate Gallery from Nov 4–29. (noun + prepositional
phrase)

Subject position

In statements (declarative clauses), the subject comes before the verb:

[eating out means eating in a restaurant]

They love eating out.

Some people prefer to go on holiday to the same place every year.

The course fee doesn’t include materials.

In questions (interrogative clauses), the subject comes after the auxiliary or modal verb and before the main verb:

Has Shona been to the house before? (auxiliary + subject + verb + other elements)

Do you want a cup of tea? (auxiliary + subject + verb + other elements)

In exclamations, the subject comes after How or What and before the verb:

What a fantastic cook she is!

How easily he’d tricked her!

Dummy subjects

The subject is an essential part of a clause. Sometimes we need to use a ‘dummy’ subject where there is no other
subject to put in the subject position. We use it or there as subjects:

It’s not raining, is it?

It’s strange the way the weather changes so quickly.

There are lots of things to do here in the city centre.

No subject

Spoken English:

In very informal speaking we can leave out the pronoun in declarative clauses (statements), particularly I with verbs
like hope and know:

Hope you have a great time. (I hope you have …)

A:

Do we have to do the second exercise as well?

B:

Don’t think so. (I don’t think so.)

In imperative clauses (orders, instructions, requests) we don’t include the subject:

Close the door after you.

Turn left at the end of the road.

Subjects: typical errors

 We don’t omit the subject in declarative and interrogative clauses:

A:

Do you know Susie?

B:

Yes, I do. She’s really nice.

Not: Is really nice.

It’s strange that we don’t see them any more.

Not: Is strange that …

Are there two phone boxes at the end of this road?

Not: Are two phone boxes at the end of this road?

Objects
An object is one of the five major elements of clause structure. The other four are subject, verb, adjunct and
complement.

Objects are typically noun phrases (a noun or pronoun and any dependent words before or after it). Objects normally
follow the verb in a clause:
Everyone likes her. She knows everyone.

They didn’t take their mountain bikes with them.

A:

Have you seen the car keys?

B:

Yes I had them earlier.

There are direct objects and indirect objects. A direct object (in bold) is the thing or person that is affected by the action
of the verb. An indirect object (underlined) is usually a person (or animal) who receives a direct object:

They gave her a present when she left.

Can you get me some butter?

Direct objects

A direct object shows who or what the action of the verb affects:

That computer hasn’t got a mouse.

Nobody writes letters these days.

Does she play tennis?

Indirect objects

An indirect object is usually a person or an animal. The indirect object (underlined) receives or is affected by the direct
object (in bold). An indirect object always needs a direct object with it and always comes before the direct object:

She gave the dog its dinner.

Do I owe you some money?

We can often rephrase such sentences with a prepositional phrase using to or for + the recipient. In this case, the direct
object usually comes first.

Compare
 indirect + direct object direct object + prepositional phrase with to/for

He always gives the class too much homework. He always gives too much homework to the class.

I never buy her flowers. She’s allergic to them. I never buy flowers for her. She’s allergic to them.

Here are some verbs that often take an indirect object + direct object or a prepositional phrase with to:

bring lend owe show tell

give offer promise teach write

Here are some verbs that often take an indirect object + direct object or a prepositional phrase with for:

buy find get

make order save

Verbs and objects

Some verbs (often called transitive verbs) need an object to complete their meaning. Some verbs (often called
intransitive verbs) do not take an object. Some verbs need both a direct object and an indirect object. Some verbs can
take a wh-clause or a that-clause as an object.

Some examples of verbs and objects:

verb + object We really enjoyed the evening. Thanks.

verb + no object Paula smiled and left.

verb + two objects They gave us coffee.

verb + wh-clause I can’t believe what he told me.

verb + that-clause I know (that) you’re telling the truth.

Many phrasal verbs (underlined below) take an object:

We won’t give out your email address to other companies.

They’ve put the price of fuel up again.

All prepositional verbs (underlined below) take an object after the preposition:

I don’t listen to the radio much.

It depends on the weather.

No objects with linking verbs

We don’t use objects with linking verbs (appear, be, become, look, seem, etc.). We use adjective phrases, noun phrases,
adverb phrases or prepositional phrases as subject complements (underlined below), to give more information about
the subject:

This is Lucy. She’s my sister-in-law.

I felt really tired.

I was in the garden when you rang.