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GCSE English Language · key term
The person, thing or idea that a clause is about and with which its verb agrees.
Used by AQA, Edexcel and Eduqas
Paper 1, Paper 2
The person, thing or idea that a clause is about, which normally controls the form of its verb.
Revise: Standard English and grammarThe subject is the person, thing or idea a clause is about. The verb expresses an action, event or state. Subject–verb agreement means matching the verb to that subject.
Paper 1, Paper 2
Find the subject before checking the verb: a nearby plural noun may not be the word controlling agreement.
Find the subject of each verb before checking agreement; ignore distracting nouns between them.
Find the actual subject before checking its verb: words between the subject and verb can distract you.
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The person, thing or group that a clause says something about, usually performing the action or experiencing the state expressed by its verb.
The subject is the person, thing or group a clause says something about. The verb must match that subject. Compare ‘The pupil writes’ with ‘The pupils write’, or ‘She was waiting’ with ‘They were waiting’.
Component 1, Component 2
Revise: Standard English and grammarThe subject is the person, thing or idea a clause is about. The verb must match it: 'The runner is ready' but 'The runners are ready'; 'She waits' but 'They wait'. This is subject–verb agreement.
