Topic Summaries

Subject and object

IGCSE > English Language > Pearson IGCSE > IGCSE English Language Topic Summaries > GRAMMAR > Subject and object
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VOCABULARY

  • The subject is the agent of the sentence (which is the person or thing doing the verb).
  • The object is the thing that the verb affects.
  • Sentences can either be active (subject-focused) or passive (object-focused). Both kinds of sentences are completely grammatical, but you may want to use one or the other depending on whether you want to focus on the subject or the object. For example:
    • Active: The author tells readers that tourism numbers will increase.
    • Passive: The readers are told by the author that tourism numbers will increase.
  • We can also write agentless passive sentences that omit the subject (e.g. ‘The readers are told that tourism numbers will increase.’). This can be useful to avoid repetition, but it is also something you can analyse as writers may use this deliberately in order to distract from who the subject is (e.g. ‘Speaking up in class is prohibited.’ → ‘The teacher is prohibiting speaking up in class!’)

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