40. The Subject. Ways of expressing the Subject.

The subject is the principal (main) part of a two-member sentence which is grammatically independent of the other parts of the sentence and on which the second principal part – the predicate – is grammatically dependent (in most cases it agrees with the subject in number and person). The subject can denote a living being, a lifeless thing or an idea. Ways of expressing the subject.

1. A noun in the common case. The sulky waiter brought my tea. Marcellus slowly turned his head.(Douglas) Note. — Occasionally a noun in the possessive case is used as the subject of the sentence.		2. A pronoun (займенник)—personal, demonstrative, defining, indefinite, negative, possessive, interrogative. All were clad in the same soft, and yet strong silky material. Everyone was silent for a minute. Nothing was said on either side for a minute or two afterwards. Theirs is not a very comfortable lodging ... Who tore this book? The subject is often expressed by the indefinite pronoun one or the personal pronouns they, you, we, which refer not to any partic­ular person or persons but to people in general.				3. A substantivized adjective or participle. прикметник або дієприкметник. The Privileged have seen that charming and instructive sight. The wounded were taken good care of.
4. A numeral (cardinal or ordinal). Of course, the two were quite unable to do anything.(Wells)  The first and fourth stood beside him in the water.(Wells)			5. An infinitive, an infinitive phrase or construction. To live is to work. To be a rich man, Lieutenant, is not always roses and beauty. For him to ceme was impossible.	6. A gerund, a gerundial phrase or construction. Lying doesn't go well with me.(Heym) Winning the war is what counts.(Heym) Annette's being French might upset him a little.(Galsworthy)
7. Any part of speech used as a quotation. «On» is a preposition. «No» is his usual reply to any request.	8. A group of words which is one part of the sentence. Yet at this very time their friend and defender is darkly grop­ing towards the solution.(Fox) Here the subject represents one person. The needle and thread is lost. There are other kinds of syntactic units. There were a number of carved high back chairs.There'sa lot of truth in that, of course.				9. A quotation group. "I shan't be able to give you very much," he had said. "Perhaps this what's-his-name will provide the cocoa."(Galsworthy)

40. Formal and informal subject “it”.

When the pronoun it is used as the subject it may represent a living being or a thing: then it is a notional subject. Sometimes, however, it does not represent any living being or thing and performs a purely grammatical function: then it is a formal subject.

A. When it is a notional subject the pronoun it has the follow­ing meanings:

1. It stands for a definite thing or some abstract idea —the personal it. The door opened. It was opened by a young girl of thirteen or fourteen. (Dickens) If this is a liberty, it isn't going to mean a thing. (Heym)

2. It points out some person or thing expressed by a predica­tive noun, or it refers to the thought contained in a preceding state­ment, thus having a demonstrative meaning —the demonstra­tive it. It is John. It was a large room with a great window. 

In the last two cases it is close to this and is usually translat­ed into Russian by это.

B. Sometimes the pronoun it is a formal subject, i. e. it does not represent any person or thing.

Here we must distinguish:

(1) the impersonal it;  (2) the introductory or anticipatory it;  (3) the emphatic it.

1. The impersonal It is used:

(a) to denote natural phenomena or that which characterizes the environment. In such sentences the predicate is either a simple one, expressed by a verb denoting the state of the weather, or a compound nominal one, with an adjective as predicative.

It often rains in autumn. It is cold in winter. It is stuffy in here. It is delightfully quiet in the night.

Note.— The state of the weather can also be expressed by sentences in which the subject denoting the state of things is introduced by the construc­tion there is. In such sentences the noun introduced by the construc­tion there is is the subject. There was a heavy frost last night. There was a fine rain falling over the trees, the flowers, and the people sitting on the benches in the garden.

(b) to denote time and distance.

It is five minutes past six. It is morning already. How far is it from your office to the bank? It is a long way to the station.

N о t e. — Sentences with the impersonal it as subject very often correspond to Russian impersonal one-member sentences. It is late. Поздно. It is freezing. Морозит.It is cold. Холодно. The following sentences, however, correspond Jo Russian two-member personal sentences: It is raining. Идет довдь. It is snowing. Идет снег.

2. The introductory or anticipatory (попереджуючий) it introduces the real sub­ject.

It's no use disguising facts. It was curious to observe that child.

3. The emphatic it is used for emphasis. Рішуче "це" використовується для акценту.

It was Winifred who went up to him.(Galsworthy) It was he who had brought back George to Amelia.(Thackeray)