What is the subject of is?

Question

Employess are reminded to print only as much as is needed so as to  avoid wasting papaer.

Philip · Accepted Answer

I see 'as much as' to be the subject of 'is'.  If you substitute it with 'what' I think it will be able to understand this odd construction.

Anonymous · Answer

Employees are reminded to print only as much as is needed so as to avoid wasting paper.

I agree with Philip, though I'd include the adverb "only" in the subject (underlined).

JohnS

RandomGuy · Answer

The paraphrase “print only what is needed” is helpful here in understanding the meaning. But I see is needed as a reduced clause with no overt grammatical subject, functioning as complement to the preposition as. It can be reduced further to just the predicative complement: print only as much as needed. In this analysis only as much as is needed is a noun phrase, not a clause, functioning as direct object, which is what you’d expect.

Reduced clauses of this kind are often called ‘comparative clauses’. They occur as complement to the prepositions as and than. (In traditional grammar these words are treated as subordinating conjunctions within the comparative clause.)

What is the subject of is?

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