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The Subject <br> | <b>The Subject</b> <br> | ||
<b>Tests for identifying subjects in English:</b><br> | <b>Tests for identifying subjects in English:</b><br> | ||
<ul> | <ul> | ||
| Line 7: | Line 7: | ||
</li> | </li> | ||
<li><b>Tag question:</b><br> | <li><b>Tag question:</b><br> | ||
The pronoun that occurs in a tag question refers to the subject. | The pronoun that occurs in a tag question refers to the subject.<br> | ||
<code>John wrote a letter to his sister, didn't he/ *she/ *they?</code> | <code>John wrote a letter to his sister, didn't he/ *she/ *they?</code> | ||
</li> | </li> | ||
| Line 15: | Line 15: | ||
</li> | </li> | ||
</ul> | </ul> | ||
<b>Categories and structural position</b> | <b>Categories and structural position</b><br> | ||
Only an | <ul> | ||
The subject of a clause S is the | <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: