Ways of expressing the subject

The subject can be expressed by a single word or a group of words. Thus it can be expressed by:

1. A noun in the common case.

The sulky waiter brought my tea. (Du Maurier)

Marcellus slowly turned his head. (Douglas)

N o t e. — Occasionally a noun in the possessive case is used as the subject of

the sentence.

Mrs. Gummidge’s was a fretful disposition. (Dickens)

Oh, my dear Richard, Ada’s is a noble heart. (Dickens)

2. A pronoun — personal, demonstrative, defining, indefinite, negative, possessive, interrogative.

After about an hour I heard Montgomery shouting my name. That set me

thinking of my plan of action. (Wells)

All were clad in the same soft, and yet strong silky material. (Wells)

Everyone was silent for a minute. (Wells)

Nothing was said on either side for a minute or two afterwards. (Dickens)

Theirs is not a very comfortable lodging... (Dickens)

Who tore this book? (Twain)

The subject is often expressed by the indefinite pronoun one or the personal pronouns they, you, we, which refer not to any particular person or persons but to people in general.

These sentences generally correspond to the same kind of sentences in Russian, but sometimes they are rendered by impersonal sentences, as will be seen in the examples given below.

Yes, muttered Jon, life’s beastly short. One wants to live forever.

(Galsworthy)

Да, пробормотал Джон, жизнь чертовски коротка. Хочется жить вечно.

A day is like a page in a book, one cannot read it without commas and

periods. (Heym)

День напоминает страницу книги, ее нельзя читать без запятых и точек.

They say he’s clever — they all think they’re clever. (Galsworthy)

Говорят, что он умный — все думают, что они умные.

Howard, you introduce every statement with “they say”. I want to know who

is “they”. (Gow and D’Usseau)

Говард, ты каждое предложение начинаешь с «говорят». Я хочу знать,

кто говорит.

N o t e. — They is used when the speaker is excluded, one when the speaker is

included.

There are some things you can’t talk to anyone about. (Voynich)

Есть вещи, о которых никому не расскажешь.

It was good to be alive. Say what you like you couldn’t beat it. (Galsworthy)

Хорошо жить на свете. Что ни говори, а этого нельзя отрицать.

Every pleasure is transitory. We can’t eat long. If we indulge in harmless

fluids we get the dropsy, if in exciting liquids we get drunk. When I say “ we ”,

my dear, I mean mankind in general. (Dickens)

Всякое удовольствие преходяще. Нельзя есть долго. Если мы

злоупотребляем безвредными напитками, мы заболеваем водянкой, если

мы злоупотребляем спиртными напитками, мы пьянеем. Когда я говорю

«мы», мой дорогой, я имею в виду человечество в целом.

3. A substantivized adjective or participle.

The Privileged have seen that charming and instructive sight. (Galsworthy)

The wounded were taken good care of.

4. A numeral (cardinal or ordinal).

Of course, the two were quite unable to do anything. (Wells)

The first and fourth stood beside him in the water. (Wells)

5. An infinitive, an infinitive phrase or construction.

To live is to work.

To be a rich man,Lieutenant, is not always roses and beauty. (Heym)

For him to come was impossible.

6. A gerund, a gerundial phrase or construction.

Lying doesn’t go well with me. (Heym)

Winning the war is what counts. (Heym)

Annette’s being French might upset him a little. (Galsworthy)

7. Any part of speech used as a quotation.

On is a preposition.

No is his usual reply to any request.

8. A group of words which is one part of the sentence, i. e. a syntactically indivisible group.

Yet at this very time their friend and defender is darkly groping towards the

solution. (Fox)

Here the subject represents one person.

The needle and thread is lost.

Here the needle and the thread are treated as one thing.

This is not to be confused with homogeneous subjects where two persons or things are meant and consequently the predicate is in the plural.

Mr. Pickwick alone was silent and reserved. Doubt and distrust were

exhibited in his countenance. (Dickens)

There are other kinds of syntactic units.

There were a number of carved high back chairs. (Dreiser)

There’s a lot of truth in that, of course. (London)

9. A quotation group.

“I shan’t be able to give you very much,” he had said. “Perhaps this what’s-his-name will provide the cocoa.” (Galsworthy)

N o t e. — There are sentences where the subject is. introduced by the

construction there is, e. g. There is nothing on the table. In this case nothing is

the subject and there is part of the predicate.

§ 7. It as the subject of the sentence.

When the pronoun it is used as the subject of a sentence it may represent a living being or a thing: then it is a notional subject. Sometimes, however, it does not represent any living being or thing and performs a purely grammatical function: then it is a formal subject.

A. When it is a notional subject the pronoun it has the following meanings:

1. It stands for a definite thing or some abstract idea — the personal it.

The door opened. It was opened by a young girl of thirteen or fourteen.

(Dickens)

If this is a liberty, it isn’t going to mean a thing. (Heym)

2. It points out some person or thing expressed by a predicative noun, or it refers to the thought contained in a preceding statement, thus having a demonstrative meaning — the demonstrative it.

It is John.

It was a large room with a great window. (Dickens)

Dick came home late, it provoked his father. (Lindsay)

In the last two cases it is close to this and is usually translated into Russian by это.

B. Sometimes the pronoun it is a formal subject, i, e. it does not represent any person or thing.

Here we must distinguish:

(1) the impersonal it; (2) the introductory or anticipatory it; (3) the emphatic it.

1. The impersonal it is used:

(a) to denote natural phenomena (such as the state of the weather, etc.) or that which characterizes the environment. In such sentences the predicate is either a simple one, expressed by a verb denoting the state, of the weather, or a compound nominal one, with an adjective as predicative.

It often rains in autumn.

It is cold in winter.

It is stuffy in here.

It is delightfully quiet in the night.

N o t e. — The state of the weather can also be expressed by sentences in

which the subject denoting the state of things is introduced by the construction

there is. In such sentences the noun introduced by the construction there is is

the subject.

There was a heavy frost last night.

There was a fine rain falling over the trees, the flowers, and the people sitting on the benches in the garden.

(b) to denote time and distance.

It is five minutes past six.

It is morning already.

How far is it from your office to the bank? (Galsworthy)

It is a long way to the station.

N o t e. — Sentences with the impersonal it as subject very often correspond

to Russian impersonal one-member sentences.

It is late.	Поздно.
It is freezing.	Морозит.
It is cold.	Холодно.
It is hot.	Жарко.

The following sentences, however, correspond to Russian two-member personal sentences:

It is raining.	Идет дождь.
It is snowing.	Идет снег.
It is hailing.	Идет град.

2. The introductory or anticipatory it introduces the real subject.

It’s no use disguising facts.

It was curious to observe that child.

N o t e. — Some grammarians treat this it as the real subject and the rest of

the sentence as the predicate.

3. The emphatic it is used for emphasis.

It was Winifred who went up to him. (Galsworthy)

It was he who had brought back George to Amelia. (Thackeray)

THE PREDICATE

§ 8. The predicate is the second principal part of the sentence which expresses an action, state, or quality of the person or thing¹ denoted by the subject. It is grammatically dependent upon the subject.

¹ The word thing is used in a broad sense.

N o t e. — This definition does not cover sentences with the formal it as

subject. In these sentences the predicate expresses the state of weather, time,

or distance, and the subject only makes the sentence structurally complete.

As a rule the predicate contains a finite verb which may express tense, mood, voice, aspect, and sometimes person and number. According to the structure and the meaning of the predicate we distinguish two main types: the simple predicate arid the compound predicate.