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The Subject | <b>The Subject</b> <br> | ||
<b>Tests for identifying subjects in English:</b><br> | |||
Agreement: In a finite sentence, the main verb agrees with the subject. | <ul> | ||
Pat writes/*write letters to his friends. | <li><b>Agreement:</b><br> | ||
Tag question: The pronoun that occurs in a tag question refers to the subject. | In a finite sentence, the main verb agrees with the subject.<br> | ||
John wrote a letter to his sister, didn't he/ *she/ *they? | <code>Pat writes/*write letters to his friends.</code><br> | ||
Subject-auxiliary inverions: In forming a yes/no question, an auxiliary is placed directly before the subject. | </li> | ||
Will Pat write a letter? | <li><b>Tag question:</b><br> | ||
Categories and structural position | The pronoun that occurs in a tag question refers to the subject.<br> | ||
Only an | <code>John wrote a letter to his sister, didn't he/ *she/ *they?</code> | ||
The subject of a clause S is the | </li> | ||
<li><b>Subject-auxiliary inverions:</b><br> | |||
In forming a yes/no question, an auxiliary is placed directly before the subject.<br> | |||
<code>Will Pat write a letter?</code> | |||
</li> | |||
</ul> | |||
<b>Categories and structural position</b><br> | |||
<ul> | |||
<li>Only an <b>N(P)</b> or an <b>S'</b> can be the subject of a clause.</li><br> | |||
<li>The subject of a clause S is the N(P) or S' that is immediately dominated by that S node and that precedes the VP (or AuxP) of the clause.</li> | |||
</ul> | |||
Example: | Example: | ||
_S__ | _S__ | ||
Latest revision as of 15:57, 17 May 2019
The Subject
Tests for identifying subjects in English:
- Agreement:
In a finite sentence, the main verb agrees with the subject.
Pat writes/*write letters to his friends.
- Tag question:
The pronoun that occurs in a tag question refers to the subject.
John wrote a letter to his sister, didn't he/ *she/ *they? - Subject-auxiliary inverions:
In forming a yes/no question, an auxiliary is placed directly before the subject.
Will Pat write a letter?
Categories and structural position
- Only an N(P) or an S' can be the subject of a clause.
- The subject of a clause S is the N(P) or S' that is immediately dominated by that S node and that precedes the VP (or AuxP) of the clause.
Example:
_S__
/ \
subj \
/ \
NP ______AuxP________
/__\ /__________________\
Pat will write a letter.
Read further on other grammatical functions: