Subjects

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.

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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.