An object or A semantic subject?
I took a picture of a dog sleeping on the grass.
Here in the sentence, does ‘a dog’ function as an object and ‘sleeping on the grass’ modify ‘a dog’ and was ‘that was’ omitted like ‘a dog that was sleeping...’ or does ‘a dog’ function as a semantic subject like ‘me’ in ‘Do you mind me going?’?
Or can ‘a dog’ here function as an object or a semantic subject at the same time?
I think that ’a dog’ here should function as an object, considering meaning.
What do you native English speakers think? Thank you so much as usual.
Top answer
Hans51 I took a picture of a dog sleeping on the grass. I find your two analyses indistinguishable. 'a dog' is the object of the preposition 'of', but if you pad out the sentence with the implied words 'that was', 'dog' (actually in the form 'that') is a subject.
- Hans51 I took a picture of a dog sleeping on the grass.
- I find your two analyses indistinguishable.
- 'a dog' is the object of the preposition 'of', but if you pad out the sentence with the implied words 'that was', 'dog' (actually in the form 'that') is a subject.
- So your idea about "both at the same time" is also what I would say.
- CJ
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Hans51I took a picture of a dog sleeping on the grass.
I find your two analyses indistinguishable.
'a dog' is the object of the preposition 'of', but if you pad out the sentence with the implied words 'that was', 'dog' (actually in the form 'that') is a subject.
So your idea about "both at the same time" is also what I would say.
CJ
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