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Subject vs Verb - What's the difference?

subject | verb |

In grammar terms the difference between subject and verb

is that subject is in a clause: the word or word group (usually a noun phrase) that is dealt with. In active clauses with verbs denoting an action, the subject and the actor are usually the same while verb is a word that indicates an action, event, or state.

As an adjective subject

is likely to be affected by or to experience something.

subject

English

Adjective

(en adjective)
  • Likely to be affected by or to experience something.
  • a country subject to extreme heat
  • * Dryden
  • All human things are subject to decay.
  • * {{quote-magazine, date=2013-06-22, volume=407, issue=8841, page=68, magazine=(The Economist)
  • , title= T time , passage=The ability to shift profits to low-tax countries by locating intellectual property in them
  • Conditional upon.
  • Placed or situated under; lying below, or in a lower situation.
  • (Spenser)
  • Placed under the power of another; owing allegiance to a particular sovereign or state.
  • * John Locke
  • Esau was never subject to Jacob.

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • (label) In a clause: the word or word group (usually a noun phrase) that is dealt with. In active clauses with verbs denoting an action, the subject and the actor are usually the same.
  • The main topic of a paper, work of art, discussion, field of study, etc.
  • * (John Milton) (1608-1674)
  • the subject for heroic song
  • * (John Dryden) (1631-1700)
  • Make choice of a subject , beautiful and noble, which shall afford an ample field of matter wherein to expatiate.
  • * (William Shakespeare) (1564-1616)
  • the unhappy subject of these quarrels
  • * {{quote-book, year=1905, author=
  • , title= , chapter=5 citation , passage=Then I had a good think on the subject of the hocussing of Cigarette, and I was reluctantly bound to admit that once again the man in the corner had found the only possible solution to the mystery.}}
  • *{{quote-book, year=1922, author=(Ben Travers)
  • , chapter=5, title= A Cuckoo in the Nest , passage=The departure was not unduly prolonged.
  • A particular area of study.
  • *{{quote-magazine, date=2014-06-14, volume=411, issue=8891, magazine=(The Economist)
  • , title= It's a gas , passage=One of the hidden glories of Victorian engineering is proper drains.
  • A citizen in a monarchy.
  • A person ruled over by another, especially a monarch or state authority.
  • (label) The main theme or melody, especially in a fugue.
  • * (1823-1895)
  • The earliest known form of subject is the ecclesiastical cantus firmus , or plain song.
  • A human, animal or an inanimate object that is being examined, treated, analysed, etc.
  • * (Conyers Middleton) (1683-1750)
  • Writers of particular livesare apt to be prejudiced in favour of their subject .
  • * {{quote-magazine, year=2013, month=July-August, author= Catherine Clabby
  • , magazine=(American Scientist), title= Focus on Everything , passage=Not long ago, it was difficult to produce photographs of tiny creatures with every part in focus. That’s because the lenses that are excellent at magnifying tiny subjects produce a narrow depth of field.}}

    Synonyms

    * (discussion) matter, topic

    Derived terms

    * subject title

    See also

    * object * predicate

    Verb

    (en verb)
  • To cause (someone or something) to undergo a particular experience, especially one that is unpleasant or unwanted.
  • Synonyms

    *

    Statistics

    *

    verb

    English

    (wikipedia verb)

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • (grammar) A word that indicates an action, event, or state.
  • The word “speak” is an English verb .
  • (obsolete) Any word; a vocable.
  • (South)

    Usage notes

    Verbs compose a fundamental category of words in most languages. In an English clause, a verb forms the head of the predicate of the clause. In many languages, verbs uniquely conjugate for tense and aspect.

    Quotations

    * 2001 — , Artemis Fowl , p 221 *: Then you could say that the doorway exploded. But the particular verb doesn't do the action justice. Rather, it shattered into infinitesimal pieces.

    Hyponyms

    * See also

    Derived terms

    * adverb * anomalous verb * auxiliary verb * boot verb * copular verb * coverb * defective verb * ditransitive verb * dynamic verb * full verb * helping verb * impersonal verb * intransitive verb * irregular verb * linking verb * modal verb * passive verb * phrasal verb * preverb * reflexive verb * regular verb * serial verb * stative verb * subject-verb agreement * transitive verb * verb inflection * verb phrase * verb tense * verbal * verbal complement * verbal noun * verbal regency * verbless clause

    Verb

    (en verb)
  • (transitive, nonstandard, colloquial) To use any word that is not a verb (especially a noun) as if it were a verb.
  • * a. 1981 Feb 22, unknown Guardian editor as quoted by William Safire, On Language'', in ''New York Times , pSM3
  • Haig, in congressional hearings before his confirmatory, paradoxed his auditioners by abnormalling his responds so that verbs were nouned, nouns verbed and adjectives adverbised. He techniqued a new way to vocabulary his thoughts so as to informationally uncertain anybody listening about what he had actually implicationed... .
  • * 1997 , David. F. Griffiths, Desmond J. Higham, learning LATEX , p8
  • Nouns should never be verbed .
  • * 2005 Oct 5, Jeffrey Mattison, Letters'', in ''The Christian Science Monitor , p8
  • In English, verbing nouns is okay
  • To perform any action that is normally expressed by a verb.
  • * 1946 : Rand Corporation, The Rand Paper Series
  • For example, one-part versions of the proposition "The doctor pursued the lawyer" were "The doctor verbed the object," ...
  • * 1964 : Journal of Mathematical Psychology
  • Each sentence had the same basic structure: ''The subject transitive verbed''' the object who intransitive '''verbed in the location''.
  • * 1998 : Marilyn A. Walker, Aravind Krishna Joshi, Centering Theory in Discourse
  • The sentence frame was ''Dan verbed Ben approaching the store''. This sentence frame was followed in all cases by ''He went inside''.

    See also

    * * copula * auxiliary verb * main verb English autological terms ----