Deciding on a subject and why is it what the sentence is about?

Question

Hi guys, this is my first post.I'm actually a native English speaker but I just need some verifiction.If I was to say "the coat is hanging on the door," I'd know that coat is the subject because it comes first in the sentence order. But I wouldn't know why I chose it as the subject, I'd just say it like that subconsciously. What process is involved in choosing a subject?I often hear people saying it is roughly what the sentence is about but I don't know how this would be so, seeing as I also described the door as existing. I understand it's probably an indirect object, but... I'm confused. Isn't the whole thing what the sentence is about?Can anybody help?Thanks,

BarbaraPA · Accepted Answer

Yes, the idea of "what the sentence is about" is more important than what comes first.

The main "actor" in the sentence (we won't talk about passive right now) is the coat. What is it doing? Hanging on the door.

If you want the door to play a bigger role in the sentence, to make it the subject, you'd have to say what was happening to it. The door is what the coat is hanging on. (It would be a bit weird, but grammatically it works.)

Is there a reason you've suddenly developed an interest in naming things in a sentence. (If so, then "door" is actually the object of the preposition "on.")

Philip · Answer

If you can match a word up with the verb, that's a good sign.

Anonymous · Answer

Hi Grammar Geek, thanks a lot for the response.

Ah hah, so there is a sort of hierachy of focus in grammar. The subject has more focus than the object etc..

One thing that confuses me about this is, say if we took the sentence of: "I hit him." The subject here is "I" but maybe the focus would not necessarily be on it. It would depend on what (silent/) question is being asked, ie. 'who hit him,' 'what did you do to him,' 'who did you hit.' etc..

Speaking of passive, why would not use it in this instance, especially if the focus is on him?

The reason why I'm interested in this is because I'm actually studying Japanese right now but I'm struggling to find consistancy in every sentence. I've deduced that fundamentally every clause is to indicate whether something exists or not with extra details if required, but now the other elements are throwing me a bit seeing as how they can 'exist' as well.

I try and stay away from the idea presenting verbs as 'actions' as they can represents states as well. In fact, I see the verb 'to stamp' as meaning existence > active state > pushing something down.

BarbaraPA · Answer

Ah, I see. Nothing like learning a new language to make you focus more on your own.

Okay, well, some verbs are transitive, which means the thought is not complete unless you say what something was done TO.

I stamped, I kicked, I stroked, I opened... all of those need an object to be complete. So the thought is not complete unless you say "I stamped the form, I kicked the ball, I stroked the cat, I opened the refrigerator.

You can say that in these sentences the object is as important as the subject because without them, the sentence is not complete.

If you need to show what's really important you can do that by rearranging the order of the sentence and using the "It is" structure. It was the cat that I stroked and it was the ball that I kicked - not the other way around!"

Anonymous · Answer

Thanks for the responses.

> Philip

Right, but I'm wondering when to decide on what should match a verb or not.

> Grammar Geek

"You can say that in these sentences the object is as important as the subject because without them, the sentence is not complete."

This is something that confuses me, the fact that more than one component can have equal focus on. If we were to take the sentence "he mailed the cheque to the office," what we have here is really just one simple image but the restrictions of language mean we have to state more than one thing (or at least, that's how I see it). We have three different nouns 'he,' 'cheque' and 'office,' all presumably in a state (ie. having some sort of corresponding verb), yet why is it that 'he' was the one that was described with a verb?

If we play the scene of this sentence in our minds and want to then portray this information to someone else, what gets the verb and why?

Anonymous · Answer

Also, if we were to take the sentences "the man is wearing a hat," and "the hat is being worn by a man," despite the rule of subject having the most focus we are given the exact same image either way.

When should it be decided what the subject is and why?

Perhaps we could choose one depending on the context of a present discussion but what about an opening sentence? What is the point in 'focus' when the same image can be presented no matter what the focus is placed on?

BarbaraPA · Answer

AnonymousAlso, if we were to take the sentences "the man is wearing a hat," and "the hat is being worn by a man," despite the rule of subject having the most focus we are given the exact same image either way.

When should it be decided what the subject is and why?

Perhaps we could choose one depending on the context of a present discussion but what about an opening sentence? What is the point in 'focus' when the same image can be presented no matter what the focus is placed on?

This is the passive.

You take a transitive verb: To wear. The man is wearing a hat.

You then take what [whatever] is happening to, in this case, the hat, and make that the subject of the sentence.

I kicked the ball. The ball was kicked. I stamped the form. The form was stamped.

The grammatical subject doesn't always mean it's the most important part. It's just what the verb has to agree with.

Anonymous · Answer

Thanks again for the response.

I understand the passive but... ****, I can't explain this properly.

If someone was to say "the hat is on the shelf," would the listener be informed about bother the hat and the shelf or just the hat?

I'm sorry for all these questions. It's like trying to iron out a crease I can't find.

Deciding on a subject and why is it what the sentence is about?

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