So where;s the subject in sentences like There is? :)

As I said above the subject is "king". To find the subject you ask: Who or what does/ is doing what? In sentence structures with copula-verbssuch as to be, you ask: Who or what is who/what.

So in the sentence I'm being punched by Bob, Bob is the subject right?

No, the subject is "I". It is a passive sentence and you ask who was punched? Answer:I. By whom? By Bob. The sentence part with by in a passive sentence is called "passive agent". It indicates by whom the action is done.

Hold on a mo, didn't you say To find the subject you ask: Who or what does/ is doing what? Are you sure you aren't confusing subject with thematic role?

How about It needs washing?

@Araucaria. Who or what (what thing) needs something? Answer: It. A question I am really interested in: How come you are so unsure as to sentence parts?

In this case a rug. Or alternatively this question needs investigating

Want to move to chat? :)

Well, I suppose the thing is from my point of view that there's the semantics, which relates to what people call thematic roles, and then there's the syntax. So in active sentences the subject is the 'agent', and in passive ones it's the 'patient'. There's all kinds of other thematic roles.

Hi, Araucaria. I have a lot of difficulties with handling technical things in this chat room.

D'you mean the technical machinations of the room?

Hi Roger btw!

Or am I jargonning again? (if so, sorry, bad habit stemming from insecurity ... will stop jargonning :( )

Active sentence: Picasso painted Guernica. Passive: Guernica was painted by Picasso. In an active sentence of the type subject verb object, the action is directed from sbj to obj. In a passive sentence the sbj receive s an action, performed by the passive agent.

IT takes me a lot of time to write a sentence here or to correct a typo. It's the first time I use a chat room here. Btw, are you a man or a woman, and how old are you, if my question is permitted.

I'm a bloke! I'm a language teacher and student too, in my 30's (for a little bit longer)

Takes me a bit of time too. I'm not worried about typo's etc Am more interested in finding out about ideas. Am just looking for a sentence that I think might be interesting for regarding subjects/passives etc. Hang on for a sec if you're not busy!

I suppose you are US-American . Are there no grammars which have a chapter on syntax (sentence structure)? To my astonishment I find that a lot of English-speaking people have difficulty with sentence parts and the proper terms for them.

Well actually I'm Scottish, but grew up in Cambridge England. I'm doing a PhD in grammar, so I've read a few of those :)

Actually I can't understand it, how can you teach English or grammar if you have so many doubts about sentence structures?

I don't have any doubts about it. When I said "Bob's the subject" I was trying to point out that the idea that the subject's the 'doer' only works for a particular kind of sentence construction. Sentences are kind of split up into a subject and a predicate, where the subject's often some kind of topic, but far more importantly the predicate - the info carried by the verb and it's complements - gives the asserted content of the sentence.

So there you have the two basic functions of an English sentence at the most fundamental level. The subject and the predicate. Out of these the predicate carries the assertive content. Then if you have a sentence where there is only one of those parts, like an existential sentence - you don't have your normal two parts here in the structure of the sentence - which part is the dummy and which part is the normal part of the sentence?

If the comment or assertion is carried in the predicate and the predicate is normally the verb phrase, then that seems to fit with is a God being the predicate in There is a God. So there would seem to be doing the job of the ("dummy") subject - Or that's part of the rationale anyway ...

But

But I'm open to persuasion ... Sorry, don't know if that's at all clear or not

btw I thought your lightning quick post was very informative and useful!