Subjects of sentences - corrected

Question

Let's try this again. I wrote the first one wrong.

Please help me answer this question for a student:

"A cup of water and two eggs are added to the mix."

Cup of water and Eggs are the subjects of this sentence.

Why is "cup of water" a subject and not just "water"?

Isn't "cup" an amount like "two"?

My personal response to this would be that "water" is a uncountable noun. How else would you explain? Thanks!

RandomGuy · Accepted Answer

ku1980roseWhy is "cup of water" a subject and not just "water"?

Cup of water is the first subject; water is the object of the preposition of. Some might call cup the simple subject and cup of water the complete subject.

Ku1980rose · Answer

Thank you. That makes sense. I think I just confused myself by thinking about it too hard! :-)

DMW · Answer

The subject of this sentence is "a cup of water and two eggs". Sometimes, the subject of a sentence is a single noun or pronoun. Sometimes it's a whole phrase, like it is here. If it's a phrase, you can analyse it down further, into its components. Whole books have been written on this.

The fact that "water" is uncountable isn't really relevant. It could equally well have been "a cup of chopped walnuts and two eggs are added to the mix."

RandomGuy · Answer

DMWSometimes it's a whole phrase, like it is here.

In this case, we have two subjects, i.e., a compound subject.

Ku1980rose · Answer

Yes, I understand it's a compound subject. So, the subjects are "cup of water" (a phrase) and "eggs". Or can we just say the subjects are "water" and "eggs"?

"cup of" tells how much water.

Subjects of sentences - corrected

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