Grammar and Punctuation: Lesson 2, Part 2

Subject to Your Consideration

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The subject is the part of the sentence that performs the action indicated by the verb. In the sentence "Pickles Explode." the noun pickles is the subject. The subject of any sentence is a noun. The complete subject, as opposed to the simple subject, is a noun together with its modifiers.

In the sentence "Pickles attached to detonators explode." the complete subject includes the noun, pickles, and the participle phrase, attached to detonators, which modifies the noun. (You can read more about participles and participle phrases in Lesson 4.) Note that the word detonators is also a noun, but it would be incorrect to say that detonators is the subject of the sentence. Detonators is part of the complete subject; pickles is the simple subject.

Then there are compound subjects, which include two or more nouns that function equally as parts of the complete subject. In the sentence "Pickles and potatoes explode." pickles and potatoes function equally as the simple subject. They are each part of the compound subject, pickles and potatoes.

To sum up the way nouns can occur in the subject of the sentence...

• A single noun can form the simple subject of a sentence.
• Two or more nouns can form the compound subject of a sentence.
• A noun can be part of a phrase that modifies the simple subject. Such a noun is part of the complete subject, but is not the (simple) subject.

Note: All sentences have subjects, of course, but not all sentences state their subjects. Sentences that are commands often have implied subjects, but are not stated. For example, the sentence "Wipe your feet!" has the implied subject you.

Object Lesson

Not all nouns appear as the subject or as part of the complete subject of a sentence. Just as a noun can also be part of a phrase that modifies the verb. But modifiers come later. Let's not get ahead of ourselves, shall we? So, for now, the most important kind of noun that doesn't serve as the subject of the sentence is the object. See how symmetrical grammar can be? Nouns can be subjects; nouns can be objects.

On the Receiving End

While the subject of a sentence performs the action indicated by the verb, the object of a sentence receives the action or is acted upon. In the sentence "I have the measles." I is the subject, and measles is the object. In the sentence "Did you make chicken soup?" you is the object, and chicken soup is the object.

All sentences have subjects, but not all sentences have objects. Whether or not a sentence has an object depends on if the verb calls for one. As you will read in Lesson 4, some verbs, called transitive verbs, raise burning questions like "Who?" or "What?" The object of the sentence provides the answer.

The verb may ask other questions instead of answering others, such as "How?", "When?" and "Why?" but the answer to these questions is not defined by the object. "How?", "When?" and "Why?" get answered by adverbs. In contrast, "Who?" and "What?" get answered by nouns. Objects are always nouns.

See if you can mentally pick out which of the following sentences have objects:

We all lost weight.
Time stood still.
Children usually imitate their parents.
Problems demand attention.
Flutterbawse hit a tree.

How'd you do? Weight, parents, attention, and tree answer the questions "What?", and thus are all objects that receive the action performed by the subjects. Still answers "When?", and this is an adverb that modifies the verb stood. They're not objects.

Note: As a speaker of English, consider yourself lucky that you don't have to worry about whether a book, a board, or a spoon is masculine or feminine. In Romance languages such as French, Italian, and Spanish, nouns are generally categorized by gender--masculine and feminine--to correspond with pronouns and articles that are also either masculine or feminine. Zee Romance grammar, she is a cruel mistress, no?

Do It to It

Ready to get fancy? Let's look at indirect objects. When something does something to something else, that "something else" is the indirect object. The indirect object comes after a transitive verb and before the direct object. Remember, the transitive verb raises the question "Who?" or "What?" and the direct object answers the question. The indirect object answers the questions, "To whom?", "For whom?", and "To what?"

In the sentence "Wendell gave me the rotten potato." rotten potato answers the question "What did Wendell give?" and so it is the object. Me answers the question "To whom?" and so it is the indirect object.

Notice the subtle difference between the questions "What?" and "To what?" But don't get fooled by the preposition to when it appears before a verb instead of before an indirect object. The following sentence has a to before a verb:

Wendell gave me something to think about.

Can you identify the object and the indirect object? Something is the direct object (answers "What?" after the verb). Me is the indirect object (answers "To whom?" after the verb).

Case Studies

Subject and object are known as case forms of nouns. The English language has three different case forms: subject, object, and possessive. The possessive case is used for nouns that own or exhibit a thing or quality. It's usually formed by adding 's to the end of the noun. Plural nouns ending in s become possessive simply by adding an apostrophe after the s.

The use of the possessive case for nouns is redundant (repetitious and wrong) after the words those of, these of, and that of, so don't you do it! It's incorrect to say, "Of all the big noses I've run into, that of Chetley's is the biggest." The correct phrase is "that of Chetley." Makes sense, right? That of indicates possession, so there's no need to indicate it a second time with a superfluous 's after the noun.

Here's something that makes less sense: the use of the possessive case for pronouns (as opposed to nouns) in similar situations is correct. Hence we would say "that of mine," not "that of me."

Getting Possessive

Notice the subtle, but semantically significant, grammatical difference between the following two sentences (both are grammatically correct, but they mean different things):

We counted all the salamander's toes.
We counted all the salamanders' toes.

In the first sentence, the singular noun, salamander's, takes the possessive case. It means we counted all the toes of a single salamander. In the second sentence, the plural noun, salamanders', takes the possessive case. It means we counted the toes of more than one salamander.

Note: Here's a cool way to use the possessive case that separates the grammatical elite from everyone else--before participles that pertain to the noun:
No one minded Bridget's going crazy at the game.

What's the Point?

Nouns get inflected (change form) when they take possessive case. Notice that nouns aren't inflected for the subject or object case. In other words, a noun takes the same form regardless of whether it's used as a subject or an object. Nevertheless, it's good to be able to recognize the difference between subjects and objects. Why? Pronouns, of course!

Pronouns take different subject and object case forms . You can find out all about this and other tantalizing features of pronouns simply by staying tuned for the next lesson!

The Least You Need to Know

• Nouns represent people, places, and things--stuff, too.
• Proper nouns represent proper, one-of-a-kind things and should always be capitalized. Common nouns aren't capitalized unless they start a sentence.
• Not all nouns form their plurals the same way, and no single rule can tell you how to form them due to their diversity.
• Subjects perform the action indicated by the verb. Objects receive the action.
• Nouns do not change form for subject or object case, but do change for possessive case, by adding 's.

That's it for lesson 2. Lesson 3, coming up! (Someday.) Hope this was helpful, and see you around!

~Flutterbawse