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ความคิดเห็นที่ 12 |
I think you are studying "FunctionForm Relationships"
The topic you want is "Realisation of the Subject"
Here's an excerpt from one of my textbooks:
5.2 Realisations of the Subject
Recall that we can identify the Subject of a sentence by asking Who or what carried out the action denoted by the verb? and Who or what is this sentence about? So, in a simple sentence like Fred eats his breakfast in bed we can identify the expression Fred as the Subject, because this NP refers to the individual who is doing the eating, and because the sentence can be said to be about him. We saw in Chapter 2 that this semantic characterisation of the notion Subject was not enough, and we therefore also characterised Subjects in terms of the kinds of syntactic structures they occur in. In most cases, however, asking the two simple questions above leads to a
correct identification of the Subject. In this section we will concern ourselves with the following question:which are the particular forms that Subjects can assume? When we discussed Subjects in Chapter 2 we saw that they are typically Noun Phrases:
NPs functioning as Subject
(1) [NP The hedgehog] ate the cream cake.
(2) [NP A rat] bit my toe.
(3) [NP This shoe] hurts me.
(4) [NP Academics] never lie.
However, Subjects can also be realised by other phrase types. Take the set of sentences in (5)(8) where the Subjects are realised as Prepositional Phrases:
PPs functioning as Subject
(5) [PP Under the stairs] was a safe area to be during the war.
(6) [PP Outside the fridge] is not a good place to keep milk.
(7) [PP After Saturday] would be a good time to go away for a few days.
(8) [PP Between eleven and midnight] suits me alright.
There are some restrictions on PPs as Subjects in English. Firstly, they are usually phrases that specify a location, as in (5) and (6), or time interval, as in (7) and (8). Secondly, the main verb of the sentence is often, though not exclusively (cf. (8)), a form of the verb be.
AP functioning as Subject
(9) [AP Restless] is what I would call him.
AdvP functioning as Subject
(10) [AdvP Cautiously] is how I would suggest you do it.
More common than PPs, APs or AdvPs as Subjects are clausal Subjects. Here are some examples of sentences with finite clauses as Subject.
Finite clauses functioning as Subject
(11) [That he will go to New York soon] is obvious.
(12) [Because he is generous] doesnt mean that he is rich.
(13) [What the terrorists said ] puzzled the police.
(14) [Why she consented ] remains a mystery.
The bracketed Subject clauses in (11) and (12) are introduced by a conjunction, while those in (13)(14) are introduced by a Wh-word, i.e. a word that begins with the letters wh, e.g. who, what, where, why, etc. (see Section 4.3.2). These clauses are called Wh-clauses. The syntax of Wh-clauses needs special attention, and well therefore return to them in Chapter 9.
Nonfinite clauses too can perform the function of Subject. Recall from Chapter 4 that such clauses can be of five types: we have to-infinitive clauses, bare infinitive clauses, -ing participle clauses, -ed participle clauses and Small Clauses. Four of these types of clauses can perform the function of Subject: to-infinitive clauses ((15)(26)), bare infinitive clauses (27), -ing participle clauses ((28)(35)), and Small Clauses (36).
In (15)(18), the to-infinitive clauses take a Subject of their own. This Subject is always preceded by for. In (19)(22), the Subject clauses do not have their own Subject. To-infinitive clauses without Subject can be of two types: they are either not introduced at all, as in (19)(22), or they are introduced by a Wh-word, as in (23)(26), in the same way as in (13) and
(14), except that this time we are dealing with verbs that do not carry tense.
Nonfinite clauses functioning as Subject
To-infinitive clauses functioning as Subject with a Subject of their own:
(15) [For Judith to buy that house] would spell disaster.
(16) [For us to understand the issues] requires a major mental effort.
(17) [For Janet to go to College] would be a good idea.
(18) [For Karl to visit art galleries] would not be desirable.
without a Subject of their own:
(19) [To be a good teacher] is more difficult than people think.
(20) [To see her] is to love her.
(21) [To surrender our arms] will seem cowardly.
(22) [To break down this fence] could lead to a conflict with the neighbours.
without a Subject of their own, introduced by Wh-word:
(23) [What to read during the holidays] is the question all students are asking.
(24) [Who to ask for permission] seems quite clear.
(25) [Where to sleep in this town] will not be an easy problem to solve.
(26) [Whether to teach grammar or not to schoolchildren] is a hotly debated issue.
Notice that where the Subject clause has no Subject of its own, one is usually implied and can easily be inferred. For example, in (19) the implied Subject of the bracketed clause is someone: For someone to be a good teacher is more difficult than people think.
Sentence (27) below is an example of a sentence that contains a bare infinitive clause as Subject. These are quite rare, and used informally. (28)(35)instantiate Subject clauses in the form of -ing participle clauses, both with a Subject (in (28)(31)), and without a Subject (in (32)(35)):
Bare infinitive clauses functioning as Subject
(27) [Party the night away] is a nice thing to do.
-ing participle clauses functioning as Subject
with a Subject of their own:
(28) [Pete breaking the rules] is unacceptable.
(29) [Students walking on the roof ] poses a safety risk.
(30) [Damien fooling around] embarrasses his friends.
(31) [George buying all those books] will cost his father a fortune.
without a Subject of their own:
(32) [Going on holiday] always creates tensions.
(33) [Running a business] is hard work.
(34) [Swimming in this lake] will make you ill.
(35) [Refusing to help the needy] is selfish.
As with the to-infinitive clauses, if there is no Subject, it can be inferred from the context or from ones knowledge of the world.
We now turn to Small Clauses (SCs) functioning as Subject. You will remember from Chapter 4 that SCs are clauses without an overt verb, but in which the verb be is implied. SC Subject clauses are rare. They always have a Subject of their own, as the following example shows:
Small Clauses functioning as Subject
(36) [The kitchen free of cockroaches] is a welcome prospect.
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