Курсовая работа: Subject: ways of expressing the sentence

‘A carpenter fixed the bed so that it would be on a level with the window.’ [21, 8] where ‘carpenter’ carries the agentive function and meanwhile has a simple structure.

‘Man made the truths himself and each truth was a composite of a great many vague thoughts.’ [23, 12] where ‘man’ represents the simple and agentive Subject whereas ‘truth’ performs the affected function in a simple structure.

‘The matchmaker appeared one night out of the dark fourth-floor hallway of the gray stone rooming house…’ [24, 380] where ‘the matchmaker’ represents a simple Subject carrying the agentive function.

‘Della finished her cry and attended to her cheeks with the powder rag.’ [23,12] where ‘Della’ is a simple Subject with an agentive function.

‘The magi brought valuable gifts, but that was not among them.’ [23,18] where ‘the magi’ is again a simple Subject with an agentive function.

Still, another types of the Subject are also distinguished.

‘Jim stopped inside the door, as immovable as a setter at the scent of quail.’ [23,17] where the simple Subject ‘Jim’ carries the affected function.

‘John’s eyes were open wide.’ [22, 100] where the simple Subject ‘John’s eyes’ carry the affected function.

‘The thing to get at is what the writer or the young thing within the writer, was thinking about.’ [21, 10] where the construction in the role of the Subject ‘the thing to get at’ is complex in its structure.

‘Her face deeply moved him.’ [24, 404] where the simple Subject ‘her face’ performs the instrumental function.

‘An odor of frying fish made Leo weak to the knees.’ [24, 408] where the simple Subject ‘odor’ displays again the instrumental function.

‘The idea alternately nauseated and exalted him.’ [24, 412] where the simple Subject ‘the idea’ performs the instrumental function.

‘But, surprisingly, Salzman’s face lit in a smile.’ [24, 390] where the simple Subject ‘Salzman’s face’ carries the affected function.

‘Suddenly she whirled from the window and stood before the glass.’ [23, 12] where the simple Subject ‘she’ displays the affected function.

The only peculiarity of American fiction in comparison with the British one in the Subject investigation is that the instrumental function of the Subject appears on the pages of the examined stories.

The ways of expressing the Subject also maintain similar features of being presented by a noun or pronoun (esp. personal) in nominal case in the examined stories of American fiction.

‘She stood by the window and looked out dully at a gray cat walking a gray fence in a gray backyard.’ [23, 12] where she is personal pronoun in the Subject role.

‘After the doctor had gone Sue went into the workroom and cried a Japanese napkin to a pulp.’ [22, 100] where ‘the doctor’ and ‘Sue’ represent Subjects expressed by a common and a denominative nouns in nominal case.

‘The old man listed hundreds of the truths in his book.’ [21, 12] where ‘the man’ is the Subject expressed by a common noun in nominal case.

‘By remembering it I have been able to understand many people and things that I was never able to understand before.’ [21, 12] where the Subject is expressed by the personal pronoun ‘I’.

Still, some cases where the subject is expressed by numerals, interrogative and demonstrative pronouns are also noticed.

‘Who can love from a picture?’ mocked the marriage broker.’ [24, 414] where the Subject ‘who’ is expressed by the interrogative pronoun.

‘This is my baby, my Stella, she should burn in hell.’ [24, 412] where the Subject ‘this’ is expressed by a demonstrative pronoun.

‘Hundreds and hundreds were the truths and they were all beautiful.’ [21,12] where the Subject is expressed by cardinal numerals.

The Subject is undoubtedly maintained in American fiction as well.

The notional ‘it’ is noticed much oftener in comparison with the formal ‘it’ as it is witnessed in British fiction as well.

‘Well, it is the weakness, then,’ said the doctor. [22, 100] where the subject ‘it’ is notional and denotes a thing expressed by a predicative noun.

‘It reached below her knee and made itself almost a garment for her.’ [23, 12] where the Subject ‘it’ is notional and denotes a definite object mentioned before.

‘No, it wasn’t a youth, it was a woman, young, and wearing a coat of mail like a knight.’ [21, 10] where the Subject ‘it’ is again notional and denotes a thing expressed by predicative noun.