As you all know, the
smallest sentence in English contains at least a subject and a predicate.The
predicate is always a verb but the subject can be a noun or a pronoun of
differen types.
The position of the subject:
Many students do not
know where to put the subject.Normally , we start the sentence with the
subject:
Mary is eating an
apple.
The adverbs of
frequency normally come after the subject:
Mary always eats an
apple in the evening.
and not:
*Always Mary eats an
apple in the evening.
You can never start
the sentence with: always,never,often,rarely:
*Never he comes to
visit me.
However,we ca use them
at the beginning if we use the imperative:
Never touch that!
Always listen to your
parents!
Adverbs such as:
sometimes,usually,regularly,generally , can be used before or after the
subject.
I sometimes want to
learn Chinese.
Sometimes I want to
learn Chinese.
Adverbs such as
however,nevertheless,though,although, are always placed at the beginning of the
sentence.
Nevertheless,I want to
have a chat with him.
Although he is a nice
person,he sometimes tends to lie.
I created a list of
all the possible nouns one can use in English:
Types of subjects:
Common nouns of any
type:
Cats are nice
Women are beautiful.
The book is cheap
Proper names (which go
in capital letter):
Argentina is a
beautiful country.
Maria is a doctor.
Pronouns
Personal pronouns:
I am a teacher.
You are a student.
The it pronoun is a
special case because it is used :
-in impersonal
expressions such as:
It is a pity that you
cannot come.
It is better to call
your friends from time to time.
-impersonal verbs such
as : rain,snow
It is raining
It is snowing
-weather expressions:
It is windy.
It is hot
It is warm
-it replacing a noun
we already used:
-Did you eat the
chocolate cake?
-Yes,it was really
good.
Indefinite pronouns:
Somebody gave me once
a very wise book.
Anyone can learn
English
Nobody helps me clean
the house.
Gerunds
(verbs ending in -ing):
Learning English is
easy.
Cooking is my hobby.
For the more advanced
students the following strucutures might also represent
a cause of doubts and
mistakes.
I refer to the
subordinate clauses such as :
I want to tell you
that my sister loves English
The 'that' sentence
contains a subject (my sister) and a predicate (loves) just like any normal
sentence.
Many students forget
to put the subject in such constructions and the result is something like:
*I want to tell you
that loves English
The rule is that any
type of sentence needs a subject (of any type just like the ones above)
Other examples:
I am sure that dancing
is fun.
My mom told me that
someone will become my husband one day.
Doctors say that anyone can
become fat with an unbalanced diet.
You must always
remember that nobody is imortal.
-Do you like my new
car?
I have to admit that
it is gorgeous.
Relative clauses:
In this case pronouns
such as who or which are subjects in the sentence they introduce:
I am talking to the
girl who won the prize. (who= she won the prize)
That girl,who wears a
blue dress, is my friend. (who=that girl wears a blue dress)
I love the movies
which make me feel happy.(which=the movies make me happy)
The clothes which make
me look good are expensive. (which=the clothes make me look good)
I want to know what
you did with my book. -in this case what is not the subject ;The subject is you
You are great. Thank you.
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