Problems with subject of a sentence in an adverbial phrase???

Question

Consider this sentences:In the house were a teapot and platter that had once belonged to Danielle's grandfather, which he brought when he emigrated.                              Can anyone tell me why "in the house" isn't the subject of the sentence and why "a teapot and platter" is? I know that "in the house" is an adverbial phrase but does that mean that adverbial phrases can't be the subject of a sentence?                                                   And i guess the object of the sentence must be "Danielle's grandfather".As the prime interest rate offered by various banks rises, the housing market suffers, despite some of the lowest prices for homes in years.                              For the above sentence, which is the subject of the sentence and why from "As the prime...rises"?

Dave Phillips · Accepted Answer

Teapot and Platter are the subject as they are the things being described.

Philip · Answer

TrunksConsider this sentences:

In the house were a teapot and platter that had once belonged to Danielle's grandfather, which he brought when he emigrated.

Can anyone tell me why "in the house" isn't the subject of the sentence and why "a teapot and platter" is? I know that "in the house" is an adverbial phrase but does that mean that adverbial phrases can't be the subject of a sentence?
And i guess the object of the sentence must be "Danielle's grandfather".

As the prime interest rate offered by various banks rises, the housing market suffers, despite some of the lowest prices for homes in years.

For the above sentence, which is the subject of the sentence and why from "As the prime...rises"?

market is the simple subject of the sentence; its verb is suffers.

CalifJim · Answer

TrunksCan anyone tell me why "in the house" isn't the subject of the sentence and why "a teapot and platter" is?

"in the house" is not the subject because it's not what the sentence is about. The speaker is not talking about "in the house". "in the house" is a comment about something else.

In fact, although you can talk about "the house" or "a house", you can't actually talk about "in the house". "the house" is a word group that refers to something that exists in the real world. "in the house" (as a whole) does not refer to anything; if I ask you to point to an "in the house", you won't be able to; there aren't any "in the house"s in the world. "house"s, yes, but not "in the house"s.

"in the house" only shows the relationship that something else has to the house. That "something else" is the teapot and platter, which is the subject, the thing that the speaker is talking about. And what he's saying about the teapot and platter is that they are in the house.

CJ

Trunks · Answer

Okay so if i put it in order: First, "the house" can be the subject but not "in the house"; Secondly, a preposition followed by any information relating to it can't ever be the subject (or can it be); Third, Philip can you tell me (for the 2nd sentence) which subject is referred for the verb "rises"? ....thnx for helping and thnx a load CJ...........

CalifJim · Answer

Trunks"the house" can be the subject but not "in the house"

"the house" can be the subject of some other sentence. It can't be the subject of this sentence (your example sentence).

Trunksa preposition followed by any information relating to it can't ever be the subject

That's right. A prepositional phrase (e.g., "in the house") can't ever be the subject of a sentence.*

CJ

(*I am not talking about sentences in which "in the house" is quoted, and therefore nominalized:

"in the house" is a prepositional phrase.

Here, the quoted phrase is the subject, that is, it is what the sentence is about, but that doesn't count as a prepositional phrase as subject because you can put any group of words in quotes and make it the subject of a sentence.)

Trunks · Answer

Thnx CJ...Could u also help me with the other question? That is, the 2nd sentence about which I already mentioned everything in the posts in between...

CalifJim · Answer

TrunksAs the prime interest rate offered by various banks rises, the housing market suffers, despite some of the lowest prices for homes in years.

as is a subordinating conjunction, making the material up to the comma a dependent clause. The main clause comes after the comma. Each clause has a subject. The subject of the first clause is rate. The subject of the second clause is market.

The rate rises. The market suffers.

The market suffers when the rate rises.
When the rate rises, the market suffers.
As the rate rises, the market suffers.

CJ

Trunks · Answer

Okay that makes it a lot more easier to understand....btw Can the words "as" and "when" be used interchangeably?

Philip · Answer

TrunksOkay that makes it a lot more easier to understand..btw Can the words "as" and "when" be used interchangeably?

In some cases, as in this one, yes.

Inchoateknowledge · Answer

Although 'In the house' fills the pre-verbal subject slot, it does not follow that the obligatory predicate adjunct (in the house) functions as the subject in the sentence.

There exist so-called distributional (syntactic) tests we can resort to to elicit the subject. Let us focus on two of them:

1. It is the subject that the verb agrees with in number.
2. The proform in tags are coreferential with the subject.

1. In the house [were] [a teapot and platter that had once belonged to Danielle's grandfather], which he brought when he emigrated.

Only NPs have number-assigning properties, as far as I know.

2. In the house were [a teapot and platter that had once belonged to Danielle's grandfather], which he brought when he emigrated, were they?

SVC --> CVS

Giving heightened prominence to location is achieved by exchange of slots involving S(ubject) and C(omplement).

Problems with subject of a sentence in an adverbial phrase???

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