Today we’ll be talking about the two major roles nouns play in English. They can be used as the subject or as the object. Actually, there is one more possibility – they may be used in predicates, but I’m going to write a separate article about the so-called predicate nouns. Today let’s focus on nouns as subjects and objects.
Let’s start with nouns as subjects.
Table of Contents
Subject
The subject is the doer of the action expressed by the verb, so the person, animal, thing or abstract idea who or which does something.
The children are sitting by the fire.
The fire is burning.
The weather is fine.
The air around the fire got hot.
Their happiness fills the air.
Object
Nouns are not always the doers of the action expressed by the verb. Then they are objects. There are three major types of object: direct object, indirect object and object of a preposition.
Direct Object
A direct object is the noun that receives the action of the verb.
The woman sells fish.
The girl wants to buy some eels.
She put her basket on the table.
The girl likes the woman.
The woman doesn’t know the girl.
Indirect Object
An indirect object is the noun that receives the direct object of the verb.
The woman shows the girl some fish.
The girl passes the woman her basket.
The woman tells the child a story.
Then she sells the girl the fish.
Finally, the girl gives the woman some money.
Object of a Preposition
Nouns are often used after prepositions. Then they form prepositional phrases. A noun in a prepositional phrase is referred to as the object of the preposition.
The people in the street don’t care about the transaction between the girl and the woman.
Some of them are waiting for the bus.
The basket shouldn’t stand on the table.
The girl is going to put the fish into the basket.
Credits
