1. The subject and the predicate are the two principle parts of a two-member sentence. The subject is grammatically independent of any other part of the sentence. The 2nd principle part of the sentence - the predicate - agrees with the subject in person and number.
2. The subject is expressed by a noun-word denoting the thing (in the widest sense of the word)
characterized by the predicate as to its action, state or quality:
E.g. The train stopped. (Galsworthy) They walked on for some time. (Dickens) The snow turned into a cold rain. (London) The sky was starry. (Galsworthy)
Owing to the scantiness of inflexions for person and number in the verb, the subject is, as a rule expressed in the English language:
E.g. Shall you come to see me tomorrow? - Yes, I shall. Compare with corresponding sentences in Russian where the subject is often omitted:
E.g. Придете ко мне завтра? - Да,
Occasionally the subject may be omitted in colloquial English:
E.g. Pleasant youth, young Lennan, hope he won't bore us out there. (Galsworthy) Haven't seen you for ages. (Galsworthy)
3. The subject may be expressed by:
a) A noun in the common case:
E.g. A little lighthouse began to shine. (Gissing) ...the gardens glow with flowers. (Gissing)
b) A pronoun:
E.g. This is the valley of the Blythe. (Gissing) She remained silent for a time. (Conrad)
c) A numeral;
E.g. Two were indeed young, about eleven and ten. (Galsworthy) The first was a tall lady with dark hair.
d) A substantivized adjective or participle:
E.g. The grey of earth and sky had become deeper, more profound. (London) The wicked always think other people are as bad as themselves. (Scott) The besieged passed an anxious night. (Macaulay)
e) An infinitive:
E.g. To dress in the cold shanty and to wash in icy water was agony. (L.Sinclair) To prolong doubt was to prolong hope. (Bronte)
f ) A gerund:
E.g. Walking is a healthy exercise. Watching and ministering Kit was her best care. (Galsworthy)
g) Any other word when it is substantivized:
E.g. And is a conjunction. A is the first letter of the English alphabet.
h) A syntactical word-combination (неразложимое синтаксическое словосочетание)
E.g. Twice two is four. How to do this is a difficult question.
Here also belong such cases when a noun is connected with another noun by means of the preposition with which indicates that the predicate refers to both nouns jointly:
E.g. A young woman with two children is coming up the street. The house with its gardens occupies a whole block.
We may also consider that the subject is expressed by a whole group of words when a noun (usually of number, quantity or weight) is joined to another noun by means of the preposition of:
E.g. A number of books have been published this year. A lot of people were present. A quarter of an hour has passed. There was a great deal of shouting and laughing. (Maugham) The middle of the room was occupied by two square tables. (Joyce)
Also with pronouns and numerals:
E.g. "…none of you ever heard of him."(Joyce) The four of them had just finished their midday meal. (Maugham) Most of the morning was spent in the open air. (Murray)
Compare with the Russian: Несколько человек сидело за столом.
Один из всадников размахивал шапкой.
4. A complex subject: The subject of the sentence may be expressed by an infinitival, gerundial or participial complex. The infinitival or gerundial complex is often introduced by the anticipatory it:
E.g. Two months are supposed to have elapsed. (Henry) She seemed to be listening. (Galsworthy) It is out of the question for you to go again just now. (Voynich)
Personal and Impersonal Sentences
1. Depending on the character of the subject, sentences are classified into personal and impersonal
A personal sentence contains a subject which denotes a certain person or thing or some abstract notion:
E.g. I woke and looked at my watch. (Gissing) The mayflower, both pink and white, was in full bloom (Galsworthy) Life at the farm goes on as usual. (Galsworthy)
Personal sentences are divided into: a) definite-personal (определенно-личные) and b) indefinite-personal (неопределенно-личные)
2. The subject of a definite-personal sentence is a noun or a noun-equivalent which names some definite person or thing, some process or abstract notion:
E.g. Little Emily locked at me, and laughed and nodded: "Yes".(Dickens) At last they reached the outskirts of the forest. (Wilde) To tramp for three hours through fluffy snow exhausted him. (L.Sinclair)
3. An indefinite-personal sentence contains a subject of vague or general meaning. An indefinite group of people:
E.g. They say we shall have a warm spring this year. Any person, people in general:
E.g. One must do one's duty.
The indefinite subject is expressed in English by the following pronouns:
a) they - meaning an indefinite group of people.
E.g. They say that the hills on each side of the stream here once joined and formed a barrier. (Jerome)
b) we, you, one - meaning any person, people in general.
E.g. You learn more quickly under the guidance of experienced teachers. (Maugham) We learn to restrain ourselves as we get older. (Eliot) Here one could wander unseen. (Bronte)
Compare the corresponding Russian sentences:
We mustn't allow always to do what they please. - Мы не должны разрешать детям. . .
One is always pleased to meet old friends. - Всегда бываешь рад встретить старых друзей.
In some cases the passive form is used when the subject of the action is indefinite:
E.g. Children mustn't be allowed to do what they please.
4. An impersonal sentence is a sentence whose predicate doesn't refer to any person or thing.
In English the pronoun it is used as subject in impersonal sentences, but this it is practically meaningless, it doesn't indicate any person or thing and is a purely grammatical formal subject. In the sentence: “It is raining” we don't associate the process of raining with any actual agent, we think of it as going on by itself, as a spontaneous process. Verbs like to rain, to snow had originally no subject. But in the course of time the pronoun it was introduced as subject to make these sentences comply with the usual type of sentence in English.
The corresponding impersonal Russian constructions have no subject whatsoever:
E.g. It is early. - Рано). It was warm. - Было тепло. It is drizzling. – Моросит.
The impersonal it is used in sentences denoting:
a) natural phenomena:
E.g. It was a soft spring night dark and starlit. (Voynich) In among the apple trees it was still dark. (Galsworthy) It was glorious spring weather. (Gissing)
Sometimes an impersonal construction is used side by side with the construction there is:
E.g. It was still raining. (Gissing) There had been rain the night before. (Galsworthy)
Some impersonal sentences in English have no corresponding impersonal sentences in Russian. Compare the following:
E.g. It, was early spring.' - Была ранняя весна.
It was a warm summer evening. - Был теплый летний вечер.
These Russian sentences have a personal subject.
b) time: e.g. It was a little after nine o'clock. (Gissing) It was early in November. (Seton-Thompson)
c) distance; e.g. "How far is it to any town or village?"(Dickens) "It is a long way to Ireland, Janet. "(Bronte) "Is it far to Eagle Road?"I asked. (Braine)
d) state of things in general: e.g. "It's all over, Mrs Thingammy!" said the surgeon at last.(Dickens)
NOTE: In sentences denoting a state of things in general we often find the plurals: things, matters and occasionally affairs which are no more definite than the impersonal it. e.g. How stand matters between you and your brother?
E.g. In the days that followed things grew worse. (Gordon)
Sentences with the Anticipatory It
When the subject of a sentence is an infinitive, or a gerund (often forming complexes) or a whole clause, it is placed after the predicate and the sentence begins with the pronoun it which is called an anticipatory "it".
E.g. It was his delight to run into the garden and shake the rose-bush over him. (Mansfield)
It was a heavy disappointment to Maggie that she was not allowed to go with her father in a gig (Eliot). "It will be necessary for us all to meet together," he said.(Snow) "It had been just splendid meeting you here."(Galsworthy)
Into Russian those sentences are translated as follows:
E.g. It is difficult to translate this article. - Трудно перевести эту статью.
Sentences with the Demonstrative It
The pronoun it has a demonstrative force when it is used to point out a person or thing expressed in the sentence by a predicative noun:
E.g. It was his next-door neighbour Mr. Tandram. (Galsworthy) It was a prettily furnished room. (Dickens)
The Various Uses of the Pronoun It as Subject (Review)
Summarizing the different uses of the pronoun it as subject, we see that it may be used:
1. In its ordinary meaning of a personal pronoun serving to replace a noun of neuter gender.
E.g. I had a bock in my hand and began to read it by the firelight. (Gissing)
The room looks cheerful now. It was awful gloomy before. (Jerome)
2. As a formal subject in impersonal sentences.
E.g. It was midsummer, very stifling and warm. (Maurier) It was sundown. (Galsworthy)
3. With the function of an anticipatory it.
E.g. It was necessary to tap before one could enter. (Galsworthy)
4. With the meaning of a demonstrative it.
E.g. It was a little lattice window, about five feet and a half above the ground. (Dickens)
The Construction There is
When the subject of the sentence is indefinite (a book, books, some bocks), it is often placed after the predicate verb and the sentence begins with the introductory particle there. The word there (formerly the adverb of place there) has no stress and is usually pronounced with the neutral vowel [ðə] instead of [ðɛə] , It has lost its local meaning, which is shown by the possibility of combining it in the sentence with the adverbs of place here and there:
E.g. There was a gate just there, opening into the meadow. (Bronte)
Sentences with the introductory there may serve to assert or deny the existence of something. In sentences with the introductory there the predicate verb is usually the verb to be; occasionally some other verbs are found, such as to live, to occur, to come, etc., which, similarly to the verb to be, indicate to exist or have the meaning of to come into existence:
E.g. There was a little pause. (Voynich)(there - an introductory particle; was - a simple verbal predicate; pause - the subject; little - an attribute) There came a scent of lime-blossom. (Galsworthy)
