What Is a Complete Subject in English Grammar?

Definition:

In traditional grammar, a simple subject (usually a single noun or pronoun) plus any modifying words or phrases.

As Jack Umstatter has noted, "A complete subject contains all the words that help to identify the main person, place, thing, or idea of the sentence" (Got Grammar?).

See also:

• Subject
• Agent
• Basic Sentence Structures
• Compound Subject
• Exercises in Identifying Subjects and Verbs
• Subjects, Verbs, and Objects

• What Is the Subject of a Sentence?

 

Examples and Observations:

• "The complete subject is the person, place, or thing that the sentence is about, along with all the words that modify it (describe it or give more information about it). The complete predicate (verb) is what the person, place, or thing is doing, or what condition the person, place, or thing is in.

  The aged, white-haired gentleman walked slowly down the hall.

  The simple subject of a sentence is the fundamental part of the complete subject--the main noun(s) and pronoun(s) in the complete subject. In this example, the simple subject is gentleman."
  (Susan Thurman and Larry Shea, The Only Grammar Book You'll Ever Need. Adams Media, 2003)
• "Stuart was an early riser; he was almost always the first person up in the morning."
  (E.B. White, Stuart Little. Harper, 1945)
• "A few residents were early risers who would wander about, hungry and restless, and were usually encouraged by staff to return to bed."
  (Jitka M. Zgola, Care That Works. The Johns Hopkins University Press, 1999)

• "I looked down. The pile of magazines was still in my arms."
  (Sophie McKenzie, Six Steps to a Girl. Simon & Schuster, 2007)
• "Some idiot from the city had told him to move his car for the street cleaners."
  (Fern Michaels, The Scoop. Kensington, 2009)
• "The circus was in town. The lions, tigers, and bears were booked under the big top at Convention Hall."
  (Wayne Lynch, Season of the 76ers. Thomas Dunne, 2002)
• "Instantly every one of the people in the store moved to the side of the aisle and knelt down to let the dados by."
  (D.J. MacHale, The Quillan Games. Simon and Schuster, 2006)
• "She was about to open the front door, but she stopped short; a most frightening sound came from just outside the door."
  (Carlos Castaneda, The Second Ring of Power. Washington Square Press, 1977)
• "Everyone in Keith County and even folks from neighboring ones know that there's no real law in that part of the state."
  (Marcus Galloway, Ralph Compton: Rusted Tin. Signet, 2010)
• "Wharton's language in the book's final few paragraphs evokes a man finally allowing a mesmerizing film to end, so that he can get up and leave."
  (Phillip Barrish, White Liberal Identity, Literary Pedagogy, and Classic American Realism. Ohio State University Press, 2005)
• "A breeze moved through the laburnum trees, carrying a sheet of the Sunday paper into the rose border. Mrs. Giles's collie yapped on the other side of the hedge."
  (Adam Haslett, "Devotion." The Best American Short Stories 2003, ed. by Walter Mosley and Katrina Kenison. Houghton Mifflin, 2003)
• "Charlie, who in a way enjoyed homework, was ready to join in the angry moan of the others. Little hurt lines had leaped up between Miss Fritz's eyebrows and he felt sorry for her."
  (John Updike, "The Alligators." The Early Stories: 1953-1975. Random House, 2003)
• "But now, the sound of the carousel turning and the jingle of his keys in his pocket—keys to the apartment in which there is an empty top drawer awaiting the day when she will deposit the contents of her suitcases into it—are the most benign, comforting sounds in the world."
  (Meg Mullins, The Rug Merchant. Viking Penguin, 2006)