How do I find the subject of a sentence?

Look for the argument that the verb agrees with, that can be the target of subject-oriented operations, and that typically precedes the verb in languages like English. In 'The dogs were chasing the cat', 'the dogs' triggers plural agreement and is the subject.

Can a sentence have a subject that is not the agent?

Yes. In passives and with verbs like 'seem', the subject is not the agent. 'The cake was eaten' has 'the cake', the patient, as grammatical subject, showing that subjecthood is grammatical, not semantic.

Subject and Object

Subject and object are the core grammatical relations of the clause; identifying them and defining them across languages is a central problem of syntactic theory.

Definition

The subject and object are grammatical relations defined by clusters of syntactic behaviours, such as agreement triggering, control of reflexives, and access to relativisation, rather than by meaning alone.

Scope

This topic covers the grammatical relations of subject and (direct and indirect) object: the syntactic, morphological, and behavioural properties that identify them, the question of whether they are universal primitives, and their relation to topic and to thematic roles. It does not cover the morphological systems of case and agreement, the inventory of thematic roles, or alignment, which are treated in sibling topics.

Core questions

What properties identify the subject and object of a clause?
Are subject and object universal across languages?
How do grammatical relations differ from thematic roles and from topic?
Why do some constructions promote or demote arguments between relations?

Key concepts

grammatical relation
subject properties
direct and indirect object
relation-changing operations
subject versus topic
behavioural diagnostics

Key theories

Subject as a cluster of properties: Keenan's proposal that 'subject' is defined by a battery of coding and behavioural properties, with the best subjects displaying the full cluster and others displaying it partially.
Relations as primitives: The Relational Grammar view of Perlmutter and Postal that subject, direct object, and indirect object are primitive terms of grammar over which rules and laws are stated, including relation-changing operations.

History

The status of subject and object was a major theme of 1970s syntax. Keenan (1976) sought a universal but property-based definition of subject, and Relational Grammar (Perlmutter and Postal 1983) treated grammatical relations as primitives governing operations such as passive and raising. Generative phrase-structure theories instead derived subject and object from structural positions, a difference that persists across frameworks.

Debates

Primitive relations versus structural positions: Whether subject and object are basic primitives, as in Relational and Lexical-Functional Grammar, or are read off configurational positions such as specifier of the clause and complement of the verb.

Key figures

Edward Keenan
David Perlmutter
Paul Postal
Andrew Carnie

Seminal works

keenan1976
perlmutterpostal1983
carnie2013

Frequently asked questions

How do I find the subject of a sentence?: Look for the argument that the verb agrees with, that can be the target of subject-oriented operations, and that typically precedes the verb in languages like English. In 'The dogs were chasing the cat', 'the dogs' triggers plural agreement and is the subject.
Can a sentence have a subject that is not the agent?: Yes. In passives and with verbs like 'seem', the subject is not the agent. 'The cake was eaten' has 'the cake', the patient, as grammatical subject, showing that subjecthood is grammatical, not semantic.