The subject

The subject of a sentence is the person or thing that ‘does’, or ‘is’ something. The easiest way to find the subject of a sentence is to first find the verb.

The battleship turned quickly to avoid the torpedoes.

There are actually two verbs in this sentence - ‘turned’ and ‘to avoid’. For each verb, you’ve got to ask yourself who or what is carrying out the verb’s action?

Q: Who or what is turning?

A: The battleship is turning.

Q: Who or what is doing the avoiding?

A: The battleship is doing the avoiding.

So the subject of the sentence is clearly the ‘battleship’.

Click here to move on to the next topic: Simple subjects