Object and subject

Question

A German friend asked for a simple way to explain this to her German class .
She needs to explain subject and object and the difference between the two. I seemed to anger her when describing these simple concepts. Any easier explanations especially for the object of a sentence. Danke Schon

MountainHiker · Accepted Answer

I'll try.

Subject....doer of the action.
Object....receiver of the action.

Mary hit the ball.

Mary is the subject. The ball is the object.

I program computers. I - subject; computers, object.

Here are more formal definitions from [url="http://www.usingenglish.com/glossary/"]UsingEnglish.com[/url].

Subject

The subject or of a sentence is the noun, pronoun or noun phrase that precedes and governs the main verb.

EG. He is a really nice guy. ('He' is the subject of the sentence, controlling the verb and the complement.

My dog attacked the burglar. ('My dog' is the subject, controlling the verb and the rest of the sentence.)

Object

The object of a verb is created, affected or altered by the action of a verb, or appreciated or sensed by the subject of the verb.

EG: He wrote the book. ('book' is the object, created by the action of writing)

EG: I saw the film. ('film' is the object, sensed by the subject seeing it)

Hope that helps.

Miriam · Answer

Hello, karin

Rmember also that the definitions posted are valid when we're dealing with sentences in the active voice only. In a sentence with a passive verb, the subject will be the "receiver" of the action:
"Research is being carried out in the field of linguistics."

Also, as happens with many other grammar points, there are exceptions here too. In sentences such as the following, the "subject" may be difficult to indentify even for students who have no problems with different types of sentences:
"It was Susan who brought me this present."
"There is someone at the door."

Identifying objects will be perhaps easier, but then it will probably depend on having successfully identified the subject first and also on having found out whether the sentence in question has an active or a passive verb.

Miriam

Elanguest · Answer

'I seemed to anger her' <img class='emoticon' style='Width:19px;Height:19px;' data-delaysrc='https://uat-englishforward-forums-backend.s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/Emoticons/2.gif' src='https://uat-englishforward-forums-backend.s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/Emoticons/2.gif' alt='Emotion: big smile'/> - simply and beautifully put!

CalifJim · Answer

karinShe needs to explain subject and object and the difference between the two.

Subjects and objects are both noun phrases. In 95% of cases or more, the subject is the first noun phrase in the sentence - the noun phrase just before the verb - and quite often all other noun phrases in the sentence are objects - either objects of the verb or objects of prepositions.

You must be able to identify verbs and noun phrases in sentences in order to identify subjects and objects, so be sure you know how to do this before trying to find subjects and objects in sentences.

Noun phrases are underlined below.

Tom is sleeping. (Tom - subject)
My mother wrote a letter. (My mother - subject; a letter - object of a verb)
The little boy threw the ball over the fence.
(The little boy - subject; the ball - object of a verb; the fence - object of a preposition)
________

And sometimes you have two (or more) subjects joined by "and". These, too, are almost always before the verb.

The youngest child and the oldest adult received prizes. (The youngest child - subject; the oldest adult - subject; prizes - object of a verb)
________

Some noun phrases are modifiers.

We changed that procedure last year. (We - subject; that procedure - object of a verb; last year - modifier)
Last Friday his nephew went to a concert. (Last Friday - modifier; his nephew - subject; a concert - object of a preposition)

If you master these cases, the cases that differ from them will be easier to recognize.

CJ

Object and subject

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