The subject is a grammatical part of a clause that has a particular relationship with its verb. In most ordinary English statements, it appears before the verb and often determines whether the verb takes a singular or plural form.
Consider:
The neighbours reported the broken streetlight.
The neighbours is the subject of reported. It also identifies the people who performed the action.
But a subject doesn’t always name someone doing something. It may identify something being described or affected by an action, and sometimes it doesn’t refer to any particular person or thing at all.
What matters is its role in the clause, not simply who performs the action.
Simple, Complete, and Compound Subjects
The terms simple subject, complete subject, and compound subject describe different features of a subject. The simple subject identifies its main word, the complete subject includes the full subject expression, and a compound subject contains coordinated elements.
These terms aren’t mutually exclusive. They describe different features of the same subject.
Simple Subject
When the subject is a noun phrase, the simple subject is its main noun or pronoun without the surrounding modifiers.
Several antique clocks in the hallway stopped during the power cut.
The simple subject is clocks.
The words several, antique, and in the hallway belong to the larger subject expression, but clocks is its central noun, also called the head.
Recognizing the head becomes particularly useful when other nouns appear nearby.
Complete Subject
The complete subject includes the main word and the words belonging to the full subject expression.
The photographs taken during the mountain expedition were displayed at the gallery.
The complete subject is the photographs taken during the mountain expedition, while the simple subject is photographs.
Taken during the mountain expedition describes which photographs were displayed. Although taken is a verb form, it belongs to a modifying construction within the subject.
The main finite verb phrase is were displayed.
A complete subject can therefore contain additional phrases or clauses without those elements becoming the main predicate.
Compound Subject
A compound subject contains two or more coordinated subject elements sharing a predicate.
The architect and the building inspector examined the damaged staircase.
The architect and the building inspector form the compound subject. Both are connected to the predicate examined the damaged staircase.
However, two nouns joined by and don’t necessarily form a compound subject.
The collection of letters and photographs belongs to the museum.
The complete subject is the collection of letters and photographs, but its head is collection.
Letters and photographs are coordinated within the prepositional phrase of letters and photographs, which modifies collection. They don’t form a compound subject of the main clause.
The important question is how the nouns are connected within the sentence, not simply whether and appears between them.
How to Find the Subject of a Sentence
A reliable way to identify the subject is to find the clause you’re examining, locate its main verb or verb phrase, and see which expression functions as its subject.
In straightforward statements, the subject usually comes before the verb. Questions and certain other constructions can place it elsewhere.
Begin with the Main Clause
Consider:
After several unsuccessful attempts, the mechanic restarted the engine.
The main verb is restarted, and its subject is the mechanic.
The opening expression after several unsuccessful attempts provides background information. It isn’t the subject of the main clause.
Now consider a less familiar arrangement:
At the back of the cupboard were three unopened jars.
The subject is three unopened jars, even though it appears after were.
At the back of the cupboard is a location phrase. Neither back nor cupboard is the subject.
Ordinary subject–verb order makes the relationship clearer:
Three unopened jars were at the back of the cupboard.
The plural verb were also supports the identification of three unopened jars as the subject.
Rearranging a sentence can sometimes help reveal its structure, although not every construction can be rearranged so directly.
Find the Head of the Complete Subject
When a subject contains several nouns, its head helps identify the main grammatical relationship.
Compare:
The owner of the two apartments lives abroad.
The two apartments owned by the same person need repairs.
In the first sentence, the complete subject is the owner of the two apartments. Its head is owner, which agrees with the singular verb lives.
In the second, the two apartments owned by the same person is the complete subject. Its head is apartments, which agrees with the plural verb need.
Both sentences mention apartments and ownership, but their subjects have different heads.
Agreement is a useful clue because a nearby noun doesn’t necessarily determine the verb form. It isn’t an infallible test, however, since some verb forms don’t visibly distinguish singular and plural subjects.
For more on agreement rules and special cases, see Subject–Verb Agreement.
The Subject Isn’t Always the Topic
A sentence may introduce a topic without making it the grammatical subject.
As for the wedding, we haven’t chosen a venue.
As for the wedding establishes what the conversation concerns, but we is the subject of haven’t chosen.
The same distinction applies to other introductory expressions. A phrase can set the scene or introduce a topic without being the subject of the main clause.
To identify the subject, examine its relationship with the verb rather than relying only on what the sentence discusses.
Understanding the distinction between the subject and the rest of the clause can also help. See Predicate in English Grammar for a closer explanation.
Subjects in Questions, Commands, and Passive Sentences
The usual subject-before-verb arrangement doesn’t apply to every construction. Questions, imperatives, and passive sentences show how the subject’s position or grammatical role can change.
Subjects in Questions
Many questions place an auxiliary verb before the subject.
Has the delivery driver collected the returned parcel?
The delivery driver is the subject. It appears between the auxiliary has and the main verb collected.
Questions beginning with who provide a useful contrast:
Who did the receptionist call?
Who called the receptionist?
In the first question, the receptionist is the subject. Who asks about the object of call.
In the second, who is the subject of called.
An ordinary past-tense subject question doesn’t need did in the way an object question commonly does.
Understood Subjects in Imperatives
Commands and instructions usually have an understood subject rather than one written before the verb.
Leave the signed forms at reception.
The instruction is addressed to the listener or reader, so the understood subject is you.
An imperative can also express the subject directly:
You stay here while I speak to the manager.
Here, you is stated for emphasis.
The absence of a visible subject doesn’t make an ordinary imperative incomplete.
Subjects in Passive Sentences
In a passive sentence, the subject commonly identifies the person or thing affected by the action rather than the person performing it.
The damaged painting was restored by a specialist.
The damaged painting is the grammatical subject. A specialist identifies who performed the restoration, but it isn’t the subject of this passive clause.
Compare the active construction:
A specialist restored the damaged painting.
Now a specialist is the subject, while the damaged painting is the direct object.
Both sentences describe the same restoration, but they assign different grammatical roles to the participants.
For a fuller explanation of this change, see Active Voice vs. Passive Voice.
Dummy Subjects: It and There
English sometimes uses it or there in subject positions without those words referring to an ordinary person, thing, or place. These uses are commonly called dummy subjects.
Dummy It
Weather and time expressions often use it without a specific referent.
It was raining heavily when the concert ended.
It occupies the subject position but doesn’t refer to something previously mentioned.
The same happens in:
It’s nearly midnight.
Dummy it can also introduce a construction where the idea being evaluated appears later.
It was difficult to explain the sudden change.
It occupies the grammatical subject position, while to explain the sudden change tells us what was difficult.
This differs from an ordinary referring pronoun:
I found my old notebook, but it was badly damaged.
Here, it refers to my old notebook.
Existential There
Consider:
There are several unanswered questions in the report.
Here, there introduces something that exists; it doesn’t tell us where something is.
It occupies the introductory grammatical subject position without referring to anything. The following noun phrase, several unanswered questions, names what exists and normally determines the verb’s number.
Because that noun phrase is plural, the verb is are.
Compare:
There is one unanswered question in the report.
The following noun phrase is singular, so the verb is is.
An ordinary location use is different:
The missing folder is there, beside the printer.
Here, the missing folder is the subject, while there indicates a location.
Clauses That Function as Subjects
An entire clause can also serve as the subject of a larger clause.
Consider:
Learning a new language takes patience.
Learning a new language is an -ing clause functioning as the subject of takes.
Although learning is a verb form within the subject clause, takes is the finite verb of the main clause.
A finite subordinate clause can also function as a subject:
What the witness remembered surprised everyone.
What the witness remembered functions as the subject of surprised.
Within that subject clause, the witness is the subject of remembered.
The subject of the main clause is the entire subordinate clause, not simply the witness.
Finding the Subject When a Sentence Contains Multiple Clauses
In longer sentences, one clause may appear inside another. Identifying the subject becomes easier when you separate the clauses and examine their individual grammatical relationships.
Consider:
The report that the committee submitted yesterday contains several errors.
The main clause’s complete subject is the report that the committee submitted yesterday.
Its head is report, and the main clause’s finite verb is contains.
Within the subject is a relative clause:
that the committee submitted yesterday
In this relative clause, the committee is the subject of submitted.
The relationships are:
| Clause | Subject | Finite verb |
|---|---|---|
| Main clause | The report that the committee submitted yesterday | contains |
| Relative clause | the committee | submitted |
The relative clause identifies the report, while the main clause states that the report contains errors.
The committee is the subject of submitted, but not of contains. The latter has the larger noun phrase headed by report as its subject.
Each subject belongs to its own clause, even when one clause appears inside the subject of another.
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