The subject of a sentence is the person, place, or thing, or idea that a sentence is about. The subject of a sentence can be a noun or a pronoun. For a list of common pronouns, see “Pronouns” in Chapter 16.
To find the subject, ask yourself, Whom or what is the sentence about?
PERSON AS SUBJECT |
Isaac arrived last night. [Whom is the sentence about? Isaac] |
THING AS SUBJECT |
The restaurant has closed. [What is the sentence about? The restaurant] |
A compound subject consists of two or more subjects joined by and, or, or nor.
TWO SUBJECTS | Kelli and Kate love animals of all kinds. |
SEVERAL SUBJECTS | The baby, the cats, and the dog play well together. |
The subject of a sentence is never in a prepositional phrase, a word group that begins with a preposition and ends with a noun or pronoun, called the object of a preposition.
PREPOSITION | OBJECT | PREPOSITIONAL PHRASE |
---|---|---|
from | the bakery | from the bakery |
to | the next corner | to the next corner |
under | the table | under the table |
Common Prepositions
about | after | among | because of | below |
above | against | around | before | beneath |
across | along | at | behind | beside |
between | in | of | past | until |
by | inside | off | since | up |
down | into | on | through | upon |
during | like | out | to | with |
except | near | outside | toward | within |
for | next to | over | under | without |
from |
See if you can identify the subject of the following sentence.
One of my best friends races cars.
Although you might think that the word friends is the subject, it isn’t. One is the subject. The word friends cannot be the subject because it is in the prepositional phrase of my best friends. When you are looking for the subject of a sentence, cross out the prepositional phrase.
PREPOSITIONAL PHRASE CROSSED OUT
One of the students won the science prize.
The rules about the dress code are very specific.