What is Subject?

Subject is a word or group of words which tells who/what the sentence is about or what/who does the action. The subject could be considered as simple, compound, or complete subject:

Simple subjects
The simple subject is the main word or words in the complete subject; for examples,
  •  A lovely boy is playing with his mother.
  •  A new generation tablet was launched yesterday.

Compound subjects
A compound subject contains two or more subjects that have the same verb. The simple subjects in a compound subject are usually joined by 'and' or 'or'; for examples,
  •  A lovely boy and his mother are in the house.
  •  A new generation tablet or computer was launched yesterday.

Complete subjects
The complete subject  includes all the words that tell who or what the sentence is about; for examples,
  •  A lovely boy is playing with his mother.
  •  A new generation tablet was launched yesterday.

  •  A lovely boy and his mother are in the house.
  •  A new generation tablet or computer was launched yesterday.



WHAT CAN BE A SUBJECT?

A subject can be noun, pronoun, noun phrase, noun clause, gerund, gerund phrase, infinitive, or infinitive phrase.

A noun:
  •  Samnang likes music.
  •  People are greedy.

A pronoun:
  •  She is so intelligent.
  •  Everyone enjoys the party.

A noun phrase:
  •  Lazy student always have excuses.
  •  Our future plan is to expand our business nationwide.


A noun clause:
  •  Where he lives is not known.
  •  That you like her is a secret.

A gerund:
  •  Swimming is my favorite sport.
  •  Reading helps to improve my English.

A gerund phrase:
  •  Visiting a remote village will excite you.
  •  Making mistakes is not worse, but not accepting mistakes is.
 
An infinitive:
  •  To listen is quite important in communication.
  •  To act speaks louder than to speak.
 
An infinitive phrase:
  •  To improve my English is my new year's plan.
  •  To win support from staff is what the leader should do.