The subject of a sentence is the person, place, thing, or idea that the sentence is about and that usually performs the action of the verb.

Quick Scoop: Core Idea

  • In most sentences, the subject answers the question “Who or what is doing something?”.
  • It is almost always a noun, pronoun, or a noun phrase.
  • Every complete sentence must have a subject and a predicate (the part with the verb that tells what the subject does or is).

Example:

  • The dog barked. → “The dog” is the subject (who barked?).
  • My paycheck was deposited last Friday. → “My paycheck” is the subject, even though the action is done to it.

Simple vs. Complete Subject

  • Simple subject : just the main word (or core noun) the sentence is about.
    • The quick brownfox jumps over the lazy dog → simple subject: fox.
  • Complete subject : the main word plus all its modifiers.
    • Thequick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog → complete subject: “The quick brown fox”.

How to Find the Subject

  1. Find the verb (the action or state of being).
  1. Ask: “Who or what is doing this action?” or “Who or what is being described?”.
  1. The answer is your subject.

Example:

  • We studied for the midterm exam together.
    • Verb: “studied”; Who studied? → “We” is the subject.

Subjects in Different Sentence Types

  • Active voice : subject performs the action.
    • Martha loves Sheila. → “Martha” is the subject (she does the loving).
  • Passive voice : subject receives the action.
    • My paycheck was deposited last Friday. → “My paycheck” is the subject, but the depositing is done to it.

Even when the subject is not doing anything, it can still be the focus of the sentence:

  • The painting was technically brilliant but not very imaginative. → “The painting” is the subject because that’s what the sentence is about.

TL;DR: The subject of a sentence is the noun, pronoun, or noun phrase that the sentence is about—usually who or what performs the verb, or who/what is being described or acted upon.

Information gathered from public forums or data available on the internet and portrayed here.