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.

basic pronouns in English

We love the English Grammar Profile, however, there are often times when many grammar points should be one grammar point.  For example, there are many points dealing with basic pronouns at the A1 level. 1 ‘I’, ‘you’, ‘he’, ‘she’, ‘it’, ‘we’ and ‘they’ in the subject position before a verb in statements. I like it here, but I don’t like the name. …

basic pronouns in English Read More »

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

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 …

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

A LOT | MUCH (subject pronouns)

In the English Grammar Profile, C2 point 110 in the category of PRONOUNS/quantity is defined: ‘A LOT’ AND ‘MUCH’ as subject pronouns for focus In the English Vocabulary Profile, ‘much’ or ‘much OF-phrase’ in the subject position is listed at C1.  For example: Much of their stored carbon makes its way back to the atmosphere. TED A search in iWeb corpus for: …

A LOT | MUCH (subject pronouns) Read More »

noun phrase + relative clause

Here are two student examples of complex noun phrases using relative clauses as complements: In addition, the people who lived in Korea 100 years ago didn’t have enough transportation. PELIC Arabic male level 5 writing class   Here are some of the things which I got. TLC speaking test female Kannada B2 A2 point 34 in CLAUSES is defined: a defining relative clause with ‘who‘ as the subject A2 point 20 in …

noun phrase + relative clause Read More »

SOMETHING | NOBODY + singular verb

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 …

SOMETHING | NOBODY + singular verb Read More »

yours (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 …

yours (subject) Read More »

BOTH | A FEW

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 …

BOTH | A FEW Read More »

THE ONE(S) THAT + clause (focus)

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 …

THE ONE(S) THAT + clause (focus) Read More »

present simple passive affirmative (range)

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. …

present simple passive affirmative (range) Read More »