A sentence must have a subject and a predicate. The subject is usually a noun or a pronoun. The predicate must contain a verb.
When the subject is a proper noun or a pronoun, it may consist of just one word.
Study the examples given below.
- Alice smiled.
- He knows the answer.
- They ran after the thief.
- It broke.
If the subject is a singular countable noun, it will usually have an article or another determiner with it.
Study the examples given below.
- The lion roared. (NOT Lion roared.)
- Any child can answer this question. (NOT Child can answer this question.)
- My boy is brilliant. (NOT Boy is brilliant.)
Determiners are words like some, any, both, few, my, this, your, that etc. They modify nouns and serve more or less the same purpose as articles.
An article or a determiner does not have to be the only word used to modify the subject. We can also use adjectives. Study the examples given below.
- Their beloved leader has passed away.
In this sentence, the subject leader is modified by the adjective ‘beloved’ and the determiner ‘their’.
More examples are given below.
- A large house collapsed.
- My elder brother is an engineer.
- Some mischievous boys broke the window.
- The full moon shone brightly.
Note that the subject may also include an adjectival phrase. Just like an adjective, an adjectival phrase modifies the noun. It usually goes after the noun.
- The young man standing in that corner is my brother.
Here the adjectival phrase ‘standing in that corner’ modifies the noun ‘man’.