subject

  • The subject usually has a ‘doer’ role (agentive role) with transitive or intransitive verbs. “I drove the car.”
  • The subject has the ‘identified or characterized’ role before copular verbs like forms of ‘BE‘.  “It is old.”
  • In the above examples, you can see the subject of the sentence normally comes before the verb in statements.  But this order is often inverted in various structures such as questions.
  • The subject ‘you’ is omitted with imperatives.
  • The subject and verb need to agree in number and person.

if + necessary | any | anything | in doubt (subject and verb ellipsis)

B2, CLAUSES, conditional, ellipsis, GSE, subject, VERBS

Here are EXPERT EXAMPLES of subject and verb ellipsis after ‘if’: When you speak your character’s words, you can hear whether they sound natural, and fix them if necessary. TED *If necessary = if it is necessary. Unlike the billions of people who have few options, if any, due to war, poverty, or illness, you have plentiful opportunities to live decisively. TED *if any = if there are any.     Planet Radio If in doubt, don’t drive. *if in doubt = in you are in

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WHO | THAT subject pronouns in defining relative clauses

A2, CLAUSES, complements, complex, defining, NOUNS, phrases, PRONOUNS, relative, subject

Defining relative clauses, also known as restrictive relative clauses, provide essential information about the noun they refer to. This information is crucial for defining or restricting the meaning of the noun.

When the noun refers to a person, ‘who’ is often used as the subject of a defining relative clause. For example, in the sentence “The woman who lives next door is a doctor,” ‘who’ is the subject of the clause and refers back to ‘the woman’. The clause “who lives next door” provides essential information about which woman is being referred to.

On the other hand, ‘that’ can also be used as a subject in defining relative clauses when referring to both people and things. For instance, in the sentence “He’s the man that saw me yesterday,” ‘that’ refers to ‘the man’, and the clause “that saw me yesterday” tells us which man is being referred to.

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WHICH relative subject pronoun

A2, B2, CLAUSES, defining, modify, non-defining, NOUNS, phrases, post-modify, relative, subject

A comprehensive overview of how the relative pronoun “which” is used in English grammar.

The examples clearly illustrate the difference between defining and non-defining relative clauses. In defining relative clauses, “which” provides essential information about the noun, as in “The book which lies on the table is mine.” In non-defining relative clauses, “which” provides additional information that doesn’t change the basic meaning of the noun, as in “I visited Paris, which is known for its beautiful architecture.”

The examples from the iWeb search also demonstrate how “which” can be used to connect discourse and introduce a clause that explains a result, inference, or consequence of a situation or fact. For instance, “Our team has won every match this season, which brings us to the top of the league.”

The AI-generated sentences using the corpus data are also very helpful in understanding how “which” can be used in various contexts. For example, “We’ve developed a system which allows users to easily track their progress.”

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SOMETHING | NOBODY + singular verb

B1, indefinite, PRONOUNS, range, singular, subject, VERBS

Here’s an example of indefinite pronouns as subjects in two clauses with singular verbs: Nobody wants to help when something goes wrong. Point 39 in the category of PRONOUNS/indefinite is defined as: increasing range of indefinite pronouns (‘something’, ‘nobody’) as subjects, with a singular verb. *Remember the inflectional -s at the end of a verb indicates that the verb is the

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yours (subject)

B1, possessive, PRONOUNS, subject

Point 57 in the category of PRONOUNS/possessive is defined as: yours with singular reference in subject position. FOR EXAMPLE: The world needs every voice and perspective, and yours is included. A search in iWeb for: yours _VV 1 YOURS LOOKS 1874 2 YOURS LOOK 1099 3 YOURS SOUNDS 428 4 YOURS SEEMS 380 5 YOURS TURNED 346 6 YOURS STAND 340 7 YOURS CAME

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BOTH | A FEW

B1, object, PRONOUNS, subject

Point 61 in the category of PRONOUNS/quantity is defined as: ‘BOTH’, ‘A FEW’, ‘ANOTHER’ as subject and object pronouns. *We have covered the use of ‘another’ here. A search in iWeb corpus for: . both _V 1 . BOTH ARE 48684 2 . BOTH HAVE 15241 3 . BOTH WERE 15188 4 . BOTH WILL

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THE ONE(S) THAT + clause (focus)

C2, CLAUSES, FOCUS, PRONOUNS, subject, substitution

Here are two examples of ‘focus’ in English grammar, using ‘the one that + clause’ in the subject position: The one that comes in the box,  his colleague told him,  was notorious for making users’ faces itchy and red.   The Wall Street Journal The ones that make you look older,  or even the ones where you turn into a hot dog  are still really engaging.    Mobile Marketing Magazine In the English Grammar Profile, C2 point 114 in the category of PRONOUNS/substitution is defined

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present simple passive affirmative (range)

A2, affirmative, B1, NOUNS, PASSIVES, PRESENT, PRONOUNS, range, simple, subject

Here are two grammar points from the English Grammar Profile. A2 point 3 in the category of PASSIVES: present simple passive affirmative with a singular subject. B1 point 13 in the category of PASSIVES is defined as: PRESENT SIMPLE, AFFIRMATIVE with a range of pronoun and noun subjects. For example: The proposed mission is called the Uranus Orbiter and Probe and would shed some light on the mostly unexplored ice giant.

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