Ways of expressing the subject.

The subject can be expressed by a single word or a group of words. Thus it can be expressed by:

1. A noun in the common case.

The sulky waiterbrought my tea.(Du Maurier)

Marcellusslowly turned his head.(Douglas)

Note. — Occasionally a noun in the possessive case is used as the subject of the sentence.

Mrs. Gummidge'swas a fretful disposition.(Dickens)

Oh, my dear Richard,Ada'sis a noble heart.(Dickens)

2. A pronoun (займенник)—personal, demonstrative, defining, indefinite, negative, possessive, interrogative.

Allwere clad in the same soft, and yet strong silky material.(Wells)

Everyonewas silent for a minute.(Wells)

Nothingwas said on either side for a minute or two afterwards.

Theirsis not a very comfortable lodging ...(Dickens)

Whotore this book?(Twain)

The subject is often expressed by the indefinite pronoun oneor the personal pronouns they, you, we,which refer not to any partic­ular person or persons but to people in general.

Yes, muttered Jon, life's beastly short. Onewants to live forever. (Galsworthy)

Да, пробормотал Джон, жизнь чертовски коротка. Хочется жить вечно.

Theysay he's clever — theyall think they're clever. (Galsworthy) Говорят, что он умный, — все думают, что они умные.

Note. — They is used when the speaker is excluded, one when the speaker is included.

There are some things youcan't talk to anyone about. (Voynich)

Есть вещи, о которых никому не расскажешь.

3. A substantivized adjective or participle. прикметник або дієприкметник.

The Privilegedhave seen that charming and instructive sight.

The woundedwere taken good care of.

4. A numeral (cardinal or ordinal).

Of course, the twowere quite unable to do anything.(Wells)

The firstand fourthstood beside him in the water.(Wells)

An infinitive, an infinitive phrase or construction.

To liveis to work. To be a rich man,Lieutenant, is not always roses and beauty.

For him to cemewas impossible.

A gerund, a gerundial phrase or construction.

Lyingdoesn't go well with me.(Heym)

Winning the waris what counts.(Heym)

Annette's being Frenchmight upset him a little.(Galsworthy)

7. Any part of speech used as a quotation.

«On» is a preposition. «No» is his usual reply to any request.

8. A group of words which is one part of the sentence.

Yet at this very time their friend and defenderis darkly grop­ing towards the solution.(Fox)

Here the subject represents one person. The needle and threadis lost.

There are other kinds of syntactic units.

There were a number of carved high back chairs.(Dreiser)

There'sa lot of truthin that, of course.(London)

A quotation group.

"I shan't be able to give you very much," he had said. "Perhaps this what's-his-namewill provide the cocoa."(Galsworthy)

42. Formal and informal subject “it”.

When the pronoun itis used as the subject of a sentence it may represent a living being or a thing: then it is a notional subject.

Sometimes, however, it does not represent any living being or thing and performs a purely grammatical function: then it is a formal subject.

A. When it is a notional subject the pronoun it has the follow­ing meanings:

1. It stands for a definite thing or some abstract idea —the personal it.

The door opened. It was opened by a young girl of thirteen or fourteen. (Dickens)

If this is a liberty, it isn't going to mean a thing. (Heym)

2. It points out some person or thing expressed by a predica­tive noun, or it refers to the thought contained in a preceding state­ment, thus having a demonstrative meaning —the demonstra­tive it. Людина або річ, виражені предикатом іменника. Або це відноситься до думки, що міститься в попередній заяві.

It is John. It was a large room with a great window. (Dickens)

Dick came home late, itprovoked his father.(Lindsay)

In the last two cases it is close to this and is usually translat­ed into Russian by это.

B. Sometimes the pronoun it is a formal subject, i. e. it does not represent any person or thing.

Here we must distinguish:

(1) the impersonal it;

(2) the introductory or anticipatory it;

(3) the emphatic it.

1. The impersonalIt is used:

(a) to denote natural phenomena or that which characterizes the environment. In such sentences the predicate is either a simple one, expressed by a verb denoting the state of the weather, or a compound nominal one, with an adjective as predicative.

It often rains in autumn.

It is cold in winter.

It is stuffy in here.

It is delightfully quiet in the night.

Note.— The state of the weather can also be expressed by sentences in which the subject denoting the state of things is introduced by the construc­tion there is.In such sentences the noun introduced by the construc­tion there isis the subject.

There was a heavy frostlast night.

There was a fine rainfalling over the trees, the flowers, and the people sitting on the benches in the garden.

(b) to denote time and distance.

Itis five minutes past six.

Itis morning already.

How far is itfrom your office to the bank?(Galsworthy)

Itis a long way to the station.

N о t e. — Sentences with the impersonal it as subject very often correspond to Russian impersonal one-member sentences.

It is late. Поздно.

It is freezing. Морозит.

It is cold. Холодно.

It is hot. Жарко.

The following sentences, however, correspond Jo Russian two-member personal sentences:

It is raining. Идет довдь.

It is snowing. Идет снег.

It is hailing. Идет град.

2. The introductory or anticipatory (попереджуючий) it introduces the real sub­ject.

It'sno use disguising facts.

Itwas curious to observe that child.

3. The emphatic it is used for emphasis. Рішуче "це" використовується для акценту.

Itwas Winifred who went up to him.(Galsworthy)

Itwas he who had brought back George to Amelia.(Thackeray)

43. Formal subject “it” and “there”.

Sometimes the pronoun it is a formal subject, i. e. it does not represent any person or thing.

Here we must distinguish:

(1) the impersonal it; (2) the introductory or anticipatory it; (3) the emphatic it.

1. The impersonalIt is used:

(a) to denote natural phenomena or that which characterizes the environment. In such sentences the predicate is either a simple one, expressed by a verb denoting the state of the weather, or a compound nominal one, with an adjective as predicative.

It often rains in autumn. It is cold in winter.

It is stuffy in here. It is delightfully quiet in the night.

Note.— The state of the weather can also be expressed by sentences in which the subject denoting the state of things is introduced by the construc­tion there is.In such sentences the noun introduced by the construc­tion there is is the subject.

There was a heavy frostlast night.

There was a fine rainfalling over the trees, the flowers, and the people sitting on the benches in the garden.

(b) to denote time and distance.

Itis five minutes past six. Itis morning already. How far is itfrom your office to the bank? Itis a long way to the station.

N о t e. — Sentences with the impersonal it as subject very often correspond to Russian impersonal one-member sentences.

It is late. Поздно. It is freezing. Морозит. It is cold. Холодно. It is hot. Жарко.

The following sentences, however, correspond Jo Russian two-member personal sentences:

It is raining. Идет довдь. It is snowing. Идет снег. It is hailing. Идет град.

2. The introductory or anticipatory (попереджуючий) it introduces the real sub­ject.

It'sno use disguising facts. Itwas curious to observe that child.

3. The emphatic it is used for emphasis. Рішуче "це" використовується для акценту.

Itwas Winifred who went up to him.(Galsworthy)

Itwas he who had brought back George to Amelia.(Thackeray)

There introduces the notional subject expressed by:

a) noun: There was silence for a moment. There is a time for all things.

b) pronouns (some, any, somebody, no one, anything): There was nobody in the room. There isnothingnew under the sun.

c) gerund, gerundial phrase: There is no smoking here.

d) clause: First, there is what we might call a pattern.

Note:

1) There is used with the verb to be to talk about something that exists. It also precedes the following group of verbs: to remain, to exist, to live, to come, to go, to appear,etc.

2) There can be found in the following idiomatic expressions:

There’s no point / There’s no sense +in + Gerund/ Gerundial Complex:

There's no sense in your doing this.

There’s no need + Infinitive/ For-to-Infinitive Construction:

There is no need to phone him.

Anumber of common expressions include It is no... or There is no....

There is no alternative but to ask her to leave.

There is no denying that he is a a very good footballer.

There is no hope of getting money for the research.

There is no need to explain how it works.

There is no point in buying an expensive computer.

There is no question of agreeing to his demands.

There is no reason to be pessimistic.

There is no chance of meeting him

44. The Grammatical classification of the subject.

From the point of view of its grammatical value the subject may be either notional or formal.

The notional subject denotes or (if expressed by a pronoun) points out a person or a non-person. Умовний підмет позначає або (якщо виражено займенником) вказує на людину або не-людину.

The formal subject neither denotes nor points out any person or non-person and is only a structural element of the sentence filling the position of the subject. Thus a formal subject functions only as a position-filler. Формальний підмет ні позначає, ні вказує на будь-яка особа або не-особу і є тільки структурним елементом речення, що заповнює положення підмета. In English there are two such position-fillers: it and there.

The notional subject

The notional subject denotes or points out a person or non-person, that is, various kinds of concrete things, substances, abstract notions or happening.

Persons:

The policeman stepped back.

The audience cheered wildly.

I know all about it.

Whoever said that was wrong.

Non-persons, including animals, whose name may be substituted by ifor they.

A house was ready there for the new doctor. It stood on a hill.

These beasts are found only on four southern islets.

Building houses becomes more difficult.

To be a friend takes time.

Whatever he said is of no importance.

Look at the cat. It is very small.

The formal subject

The formal subject it