The normal English order of subject-verb-completer is disturbed only occasionally but under several circumstances. Three cities in the country's interior were bombed.The dean's report was reviewed by the faculty senate.In fact, sometimes a passive sentence will not contain an agent.

In a passive sentence, the agent is not the subject. The jury returned a verdict of manslaughter.The Johnsons added a double garage to their house.In an active sentence, the subject is the agent: Before assembling the swingset, read these instructions carefully.įor purposes of sentence analysis, the do-er or the initiator of action in a sentence is referred to as the agent of the sentence.Step lively there or I'll leave you behind!.In English, the subject of a command, order, or suggestion you, the person being directed is usually left out of the sentence and is said to be the understood subject: the simple subject is not 'computer repair,' nor is it 'what he had forgotten,' nor is it 'he.' Ask what it is that ' could fill whole volumes.' Your answer should be that the entire underlined clause is the simple subject. What he had already forgotten about computer repair could fill whole volumes, Sometimes, though, a simple subject can be more than one word, even an entire clause. The really important issue of the conference, stripped of all other considerations, is the morality of the nation.

The simple subject of the following sentence is issue: So the subject is 'computers.' A simple subject is the subject of a sentence stripped of modifiers. For instance, in the sentence 'The computers in the Learning Center must be replaced,' the verb is 'must be replaced.' What must be replaced? The computers. Ask the question, 'Who or what 'verbs' or 'verbed'?' and the answer to that question is the subject. You can find the subject of a sentence if you can find the verb. The subject of a sentence is the person, place, thing, or idea that is doing or being something.

What is the subject of a sentence