Simple Subject: What It Is and How To Use It

Do you know what a simple subject is? This article will provide you with all of the information you need on simple subjects, including its definition, usage, example sentences, and more!

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What is a simple subject?

According to Writing Explained, a simple subject is the main word or words that refer to what or whom a sentence discusses, not including any modifiers. This can be a single word or a group of words. This is always a noun or pronoun, but can be a concrete noun, abstract noun, proper noun, common noun, or compound noun/compound subject. A complete subject refers to all of the words in a noun phrase or noun clause that tell what or whom a sentence discusses, including any modifiers like adjectives. Make sure that your subject-verb agreement stays intact if you have a simple predicate or compound predicate in your complete sentence. A single noun or singular simple subject needs a single verb, and a plural noun needs a plural verb to receive the action of the verb. The simple subject will not be part of a prepositional phrase, but can come in any word order or types of sentences. Make sure you are clear on the meaning of the sentence, and add appositives in brackets or additional information after a hyphen if it is unclear.

In traditional grammar, make sure that every sentence is a complete thought and that you do not write fragments. Avoid passive voice, and ensure that the rest of the sentence after an independent clause is connected with a proper linking verb. Use descriptive words to add color to a sentence, and make sure that you form a complete idea using your main noun and verb phrases.

Many different languages also contain words that mean subject. You may notice that some of these translations of subject look and sound similar to one another. These are called cognates, which are words and phrases in different languages that likely have the same root or language of origin, causing them to sound the same. The below list of translations of subject is provided by Word Sense

  •  Thai: ประธาน‎
  •  Swedish: subjekt‎ (neut.)
  •  Bulgarian: подло́г‎ (masc.)
  •  Telugu: కర్త‎
  •  Czech: podmět‎ (masc.)
  •  Estonian: alus‎
  •  Russian: подлежа́щее‎ (neut.), субъе́кт‎ (masc.)
  •  Vietnamese: chủ ngữ‎
  •  Icelandic: frumlag‎ (neut.)
  •  Irish: ainmní‎ (masc.)
  •  Romanian: subiect‎ (neut.)
  •  Belarusian: дзе́йнік‎ (masc.)
  •  Zulu: inhloko‎ 
  •  Mandarin: 主語‎, 主语‎ (zhǔyǔ)
  •  Slovene: osebek‎ (masc.)
  •  Esperanto: subjekto‎
  •  French: sujet‎ (masc.)
  •  Indonesian: subyek‎
  •  Dutch: onderwerp‎ (neut.)
  •  Buryat: нэрлүүлэгшэ‎
  •  Italian: soggetto‎ (masc.)
  •  Ukrainian: пі́дмет‎ (masc.)
  •  Japanese: 主語‎ (しゅご, shugo)
  •  Finnish: subjekti‎
  •  Cyrillic: су̀бјект‎ (masc.), по́дмет‎ (masc.)
  •  Kalmyk: нерлгч‎
  •  Armenian: ենթակա‎
  •  Korean: 주어‎
  •  Scottish Gaelic: cùisear‎ (masc.)
  •  Galician: suxeito‎ (masc.)
  •  Hebrew: נוֹשֵׂא‎ (nosé)
  •  Southern Altai: баштаачы‎ (baştaaçı)
  •  Mongolian: өгүүлэгдэхүүн‎
  •  Slovak: podmet‎ (masc.)
  •  Polish: podmiot‎ (m-in)
  •  Maori: tāhuhu‎, tāhū‎
  •  Asturian: suxetu‎ (masc.)
  •  Catalan: subjecte‎ (masc.)
  •  Greek: υποκείμενο‎ (neut.)
  •  Arabic: فَاعِل‎ (masc.), مُبْتَدَأ‎ (masc.)
  •  Khmer: ប្រធាន‎
  •  Danish: grundled‎ (neut.), subjekt‎ (neut.)
  •  Roman: sùbjekt‎ (masc.), pódmet‎ (masc.)
  •  German: Satzgegenstand‎ (masc.), Subjekt‎ (neut.)
  •  Norman: sujet‎ (masc.)
  •  Tagalog: simuno‎
  •  Portuguese: sujeito‎ (masc.)
  •  Volapük: subyet‎
  •  Macedonian: по́дмет‎ (masc.)
  •  Hungarian: alany‎
  •  Spanish: sujeto‎ (masc.)
  •  Turkish: özne‎

What are examples of simple subjects?

A simple subject can be used in many different contexts in the English language. Trying to use a word or literary technique in a sentence is one of the best ways to memorize what it is, but you can also try making flashcards or quizzes that test your knowledge. Try using this term of the day in a sentence today! Below are a couple of examples of simple subject that can help get you started incorporating this tool into your everyday use.  Take a look at the following examples of simple subject examplesand see how many you can identify the simple subject of a sentence in!

  •  The movie was riveting.
  •  My favorite dessert is ice cream.
  •  The pie was cooling on the counter.
  •  The light bulb in the main street lamp was out.
  •  The hungry fox came out in springtime.
  •  Thomas Edison was an inventor.
  •  The dishes were dirty.
  •  The worksheets are difficult,
  •  My water bottle is empty.
  •  Katherina te the popcorn.
  •  We read Maya Angelou’s I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings.
  •  Christmas is our favorite holiday because we love to build a snowman.
  •  The sidewalk in England was full of cracks.
  •  The novels Kevin read over break had impeccable English grammar. 
  •  The main parts of the coins were made of metals.

What are other grammatical terms?

There are many different literary and grammatical techniques and devices that you might see when you are reading prose or poetry. It is important to recognize these terms because they are always used for some purpose. Knowing these devices can help readers understand the author’s deeper meaning and why they are using such a device. Take a look at the below list of grammatical devices from OED and see how many you know! Then try researching ones that are unfamiliar to you. 

  • demonstrative
  •  possessive pronouns | proper name
  •  anticipatory
  •  progressive
  •  base form
  •  intensifier
  •  number
  •  protasis
  •  optative
  •  agree | agreement
  •  adverbial | adverbially
  •  zero
  •  objective
  •  person
  •  collective noun
  •  interrogative
  •  positive
  •  prefix
  •  suffix
  •  relative
  •   subjunctive
  •  superlative
  •  instrumental
  •  nominative
  •  pronoun (pron.)
  •  combination
  •  noun phrase
  •  indirect passive
  •  concrete
  •  vocative
  •  quasi-
  •  prepositional passive
  •  main verb
  •  participle | past participle | present participle
  •  combining form (comb. form)
  •  to-infinitive
  •  construction
  •  similative
  •  impersonal (impers.)
  •  preposition (prep.)
  •  adverb (adv.)
  •  interjection
  •  pleonasm | pleonastic
  •  subjective
  •  past participle
  •  third-person
  •  cognate object
  •  subordinate clause
  •  possessive adjective
  •  special use
  •  anaphoric
  •  indirect question
  •  active
  •  determiner
  •  non-finite
  •  plural
  •  sentence adverb |sentence adverbial
  •  case
  •  direct question
  •  nominal relative | nominal relative clause
  •  perfect
  •  complement
  •  construed (const., constr.)
  •  predicative
  •  indirect object
  •  direct speech
  •  present participle
  •  parenthetical | parenthetically
  •  modal verb | modal auxiliary verb | modal auxiliary
  •  locative
  •  possessive pronoun
  •  participial adjective
  •  inflection | inflected | inflectional
  •  non-referential
  •  absolute (absol.)
  •  complementary
  •  bare infinitive
  •  first person
  •  dual
  •  feminine
  •  appositive
  •  that-clause
  •  passive
  •  filler
  •  finite
  •  personal pronoun
  •  genitive
  •  mass noun
  •  tense
  •  passive infinitive
  •  clause
  •  phrase (phr.)
  •  second person
  •  main clause
  •  infinitive
  •  definite article
  •  comparative
  •  premodify | premodifier
  •  simple
  •  neuter
  •  count noun
  •  abstract
  •  possessive
  •  conjunction (conj.)
  •  apposition
  •  indicative
  •  auxiliary verb | auxiliary
  •  morpheme
  •  collocation | collocate
  •  postmodify | postmodifier
  •  subject
  •  ellipsis | elliptical
  •  accusative
  •  declarative
  •  verbal noun
  •  antecedent
  •  parasynthetic
  •  common noun
  •  noun (n.)
  •  agent noun
  •  verb (v.)
  •  modify | modifier
  •  article
  •  phrasal verb
  •  direct object
  •  periphrasis | periphrastic
  •  reflexive
  •  dative
  •  masculine
  •  attributive
  •  unmarked genitive
  •  cataphoric
  •  prepositional phrase
  •  stem
  •  intransitive
  •  imperative (imper.)
  •  gender
  •  head
  •  singular
  •  transitive
  •  indirect speech
  •  apodosis and protasis
  •  mood
  •  element
  •  prepositional object
  •  adjective
  •  copular verb | copula
  •  causative
  •  pro-form
  •  indefinite
  •  compound | compounding
  •  present tense
  •  conditional
  •  object | direct object | indirect object
  •  double object
  •  part of speech
  •  past tense

Overall, a simple subject is the main word or words that refer to what or whom a sentence discusses.

Sources:

  1. Glossary of grammatical terms | OED 
  2. What are Simple, Complete Subjects? Definition and Examples of English Subjects | Writing Explained 
  3. subject: meaning, origin, translation | Word Sense