Simple and Complete Subject

Read the following sentences: 

1. The man holding a bag is walking up the staircase. 
2. A kid is walking with her parents holding their hands.    
3. A lady holding two handbags is walking through the aisle.  

Subject in each of the above sentences varies. you might have noticed that some sentences have subject that are quite long, whereas the remaining ones have subjects that are very short. 

Have you ever thought why? 

This is because there is a tiny classification within the subject part that a sentence carries. 

We have studied about subjects and predicates. This session will solely focus on the classification of subject. 

Simple and Complete subject: 

Read the following sentences: 

Sentence 1: Cars are very expensive. 

Sentence 2: The red Audi car is very expensive. 

We know that a subject typically refers to a person or thing that is being talked about. 

Now obviously, the subject in sentence 1 is cars. Here we have the subject simply as it is. It neither has any word that modifies it, nor does it have any other word that follows it or describes it.  

But in sentence 2, we have a subject that goes the Audi red car. Here, the adjectives and the other words that modify the noun car are considered seriously. 

Now, subjects like the ones given above have to be called by some names, right? 

Let us start with the subject given in sentence 2. 

In sentence 2, the subject is the red Audi car. Here, like mentioned above, we have the subject represented with all its modifiers, also known as adjectives.  Since all the modifiers of the subject are taken into serious consideration, we call it the complete subject. 

Now, let’s define what a complete subject is: 

A complete subject is the one that includes all of the subject’s modifiers or adjectives. For instance, in the sentence; the teacher who teaches us English retired last week; the complete subject is the teacher who teaches us English. 

More examples: 

• The old man trudged down the street. 
• My friend who lives in Chicago is relocating to New York. 
• My favorite movie is playing on TV. 

Now, let’s go back to sentence 1 given earlier, i.e., cars are expensive. 

Since in such instances the subject is represented simply as it is without any modifiers, we call it the simple subject. 

Now, let’s define what a simple subject is: 

The simple subject is a single word that represents the subject alone, without any modifiers or adjectives. For instance, in the sentence; the teacher who teaches us English retired last week; the simple subject is teacher.  

And why is that? 

Because here, the modifiers that describe the subject in its entirety are not considered. 

More examples: 

• The old man trudged down the street. 
• My friend who lives in Chicago is relocating to New York. 
• My favorite movie is playing on TV.