47a. Subjects
The subject of a sentence names whom or what the sentence is about. The simple subject is always a noun or pronoun; the complete subject consists of the simple subject and any words or word groups modifying the simple subject.
The complete subject
To find the complete subject, ask Who? or What?, insert the verb, and finish the question. The answer is the complete subject.
Who or what can last for many years? The devastating effects of famine.
Who or what are often made into movies? Adventure novels that contain multiple subplots.
Who or what works full-time for ten months? Student teachers. Notice that In our program, student teachers is not a sensible answer to the question. (It is not safe to assume that the subject must always appear first in a sentence.)
The simple subject
To find the simple subject, strip away all modifiers in the complete subject. This includes single-word modifiers such as the and devastating, phrases such as of famine, and subordinate clauses such as that contain multiple subplots.
A sentence may have a compound subject containing two or more simple subjects joined with a coordinating conjunction such as and, but, or or.
Understood subjects
In imperative sentences, which give advice or issue commands, the subject is understood but not actually present in the sentence. The subject of an imperative sentence is understood to be you.
[You] Put your hands on the steering wheel.
Subject after the verb
Although the subject ordinarily comes before the verb (The planes took off), occasionally it does not. When a sentence begins with There is or There are (or There was or There were), the subject follows the verb. In such inverted constructions, the word There is an expletive, an empty word serving merely to get the sentence started.
Occasionally a writer will invert a sentence for effect.
Joyful is an adjective, so it cannot be the subject. Turn this sentence around and its structure becomes obvious.
The child whose school closes for snow is joyful.
In questions, the subject frequently appears between the helping verb and the main verb.
tip: The ability to recognize the subject of a sentence will help you edit for fragments (19), subject-verb agreement (21), pronouns such as I and me (24), missing subjects (30b), and repeated subjects (30c).