The main members of the proposal.

The subject and predicate are structurally necessary members of a two-part sentence; predicativity is expressed through them - the most important grammatical feature communicative syntactic structure. Moreover verbal predicate is able to fully realize the meaning of modality, time and person (personality) through the corresponding morphological forms of method, time, person. The fact that in a pair of main members the subjects are given the leading role is dictated to a greater extent by tradition rather than by grammatical reality.

Subject- the main member of a two-part sentence to which the predicate refers. It is grammatically independent of other members of the sentence.

The main means of expressing the subject is a noun or a nominal pronoun (personal, interrogative, indefinite and others that answer the question who? What?) in the nominative case. But the subject can also be expressed by other independent or even auxiliary words, lexical and syntactic phrases, and entire sentences if they are used in the meaning of a noun in the nominative case.

Views of linguists on the definition of subject

In East Slavic linguistics, representatives of logistic grammar defined the subject as the object being judged. Over time, to determine the subject, information about the formal means of its expression began to be used. A. Potebnya and D. Ovsyanaya-ko-Kulikovsky interpreted the subject based on the concept of the predicate. Linguists generally defined the subject as the main member of the dominant composition.

The concept of subject in modern linguistics is of course derived from the concept of the structural diagram of a sentence and its semantic components. The subject is the first component of the structural diagram, is expressed in the common case and has the meaning of a semantic subject. Recognizing the subject as one of the main components of the sentence, its connection with the predicate as the second main member, scientists provide subjects with different statuses: an independent member (L. Bloomfield, I. Meshchaninov, etc.), dominant over the predicate (A. Shakhmatov, A. Peshkovsky, A. Siirnitsky and others), dependent on the predicate and the member conditioned by it (A. Potebnya, V. Almon, etc.). Modern linguists solve this problem based on the valency of the predicate verb. I. The student defines the positions of the subject and predicate in the formal syntactic plan as equal, interdependent, forming the elementary formal syntactic structure of a two-part sentence.

Modern Ukrainian linguists I. Vospitannik, A. Zagnitko, N. Ivanitskaya identify formal and semantic (qualifying) features of the subject:

Entry into the structural scheme of a sentence as its main member;

Designation of the carrier of the predicative feature;

In typical cases, correlation with the topic with the actual division of the sentence;

Correlativity from the subject position of the semantic-syntactic structure of the sentence;

The expression of the case form is the common case of a noun;

Staying in two-way (predicative) connection with the predicate:

Combination with the predicate method (form) of predicative connection - coordination;

Typical position before the predicate.

Taking into account the structure, subjects are classified into simple and compound.

Simple subject

Compiled subject

1. The combination of the actual cardinal number with a noun: three, four - in nominative case form plural, five and further - generic singular or plural.

2. The combination of an indefinite number, adverb or pronoun with a noun in the form genitive case plural.

3. The combination of a noun, has a quantitative meaning, with a noun in form genitive plural.

4. The combination of a noun or personal pronoun in the nominative case form with a noun or pronoun in the form instrumental case with the preposition s.

5. The combination of a numeral or pronoun with a noun or other part of speech in the meaning of a noun in the form of the genitive case with a preposition with (With).

6. A phrase that does not include a single word in the nominative case form.

7. Indivisible phrases.

8. Phrases: last name, first name, patronymic.

9. A whole sentence or group of sentences taken in the meaning of a noun. 10. Title of the work, quote.

Subject and ways of expressing it

The subject is the main member of a two-part sentence, connected by coordination with the predicate, denoting an object whose attribute is named in the predicate. The objective meaning of the subject is understood very broadly: it can denote a person, an animate and inanimate object, a phenomenon, an abstract concept that acts as a carrier of the attribute (action, state, quality) designated by the predicate. The subject can be expressed by any part of speech, as well as by a phrase.

The most common way to express the subject is in the nominative case:

1. Noun.

2. Personal pronoun. The personal pronoun is often used in combination with the words himself, all, which are part of the subject. Such combinations are not syntactically divided. In colloquial speech there are constructions with a “double” subject: a noun is duplicated by a pronoun; such constructions reflect the style of colloquial speech (there will always be complainers).

3. Indefinite pronoun. Indefinite pronouns someone, something, something, etc. are usually used in combination with a definition, forming a semantic unity with it, and are considered as one member of the sentence subject.

4. Negative pronoun.

5. Interrogative-relative pronoun.

6. Demonstrative pronoun.

7. Determinative pronoun.

8. Possessive pronoun.

9. Adjectives and participles in the meaning of a noun: New girl somehow irritated Anfisa (D. Bedny).

10. Quantitative, ordinal, collective numbers.

The subject can be expressed by an infinitive, denoting an independent action not related to the subject. The predicate with such a subject, usually a compound nominal, is usually placed after the subject. Nouns in the role of a predicate have a generalized abstract meaning (goal, task, purpose, duty, obligation, business, occupation, being, meaning, etc.) and therefore require mandatory distribution.

If one of the main members is expressed by an infinitive, and the other by a noun in the nominative case, then the definition of the subject depends on the meaning of the sentence: What a blessing it is to be a zemstvo doctor! (Chekhov).

When a predicate is expressed by a word of a state category, the subject usually comes first: It's sad to look at all this (M. Gorky). When the word order is reversed, a two-part sentence becomes one-part, impersonal.

The role of the subject can also be unchangeable parts of speech used in the meaning of a noun, adverbs, conjunctions, particles, interjections. Much less often, indirect forms of nouns and pronouns, substantivized verb forms, phrases and whole sentences are used as the subject. Such subjects usually have definitions with them: Prince Vasily immediately understood who this was“to no one” (L. Tolstoy).

The function of the subject is often performed by phrases that are lexically or syntactically indecomposable:

1. A combination of a noun or pronoun in the nominative case with a noun or pronoun in the instrumental case with the preposition s; the predicate with such a subject is always put in the plural (Boris and I).

2. The combination of a numeral in the nominative case with a noun in the genitive case (two fishermen).

3. A combination of a numeral or pronoun with an indefinite quantitative meaning and a noun in the genitive case. Instead of a numeral in such combinations, nouns with a quantitative meaning (half, ten, mass, lot, pair, part, majority, etc.) can be used, as well as nouns with the meaning of a group, a collection of objects.

4. A combination of a numeral or quantitative noun, a preposition (about, with, to) and a noun to indicate an approximate quantity.

5. A combination of a numeral or pronoun (who, no one, anyone), or an adjective (any, every, other, many) with a noun, adjective, numeral, pronoun in the genitive case with the preposition of; Such phrases serve to designate an object isolated from a set of similar ones:None of the localsdoesn’t suit him as a cook that’s how they set themselves up (Poor).

6. Indecomposable phraseological combinations of nominal type (railway, analytic geometry, Yasnaya Polyana): red fish last years It's a little bad on the hook (Peskov).

Any sentence, if it is not a set of words, contains at its core a grammatical core. It is represented by a predicate and a subject, or one of them. Regardless of which part of speech the subject belongs to and its methods of expression, it always has the form of the nominative case. This allows you to quickly determine whether this main member is present in the sentence or not.

Grammatical core

This concept includes the predicate and subject as the main part of the syntactic structure. They are the semantic core of the phrase, explaining what it is talking about, who or what is performing the action.

The predicate is represented by some form of the verb and can be either a simple verbal or a compound, as well as a compound nominal, for example:

• The forest stood like a dense wall, as if it didn’t want to let in uninvited guests. Subject “forest” (who? what?). Predicates: 1) “stood” - single, 2) “didn’t want to let in” - a compound construction consisting of two verb forms.
• He became a doctor by vocation. (A compound nominal predicate is represented by a linking verb and a nominal part of speech).

If the grammatical basis is represented by both main parts of the sentence, different ways of expressing the subject are possible: both as separate parts of speech and as whole phrases. To find out which word in a syntactic structure it is, you should ask the question “who?” What?".

Important: the accusative case also contains the question “what?”, so you need to remember that the main morphological ways of expressing the subject are represented by the nominative case. For example:

• The apple rolled right to my feet. (“Who? What?” apple is the subject in the nominative case).
• Picking up the apple that rolled right to my feet, I ate it. (“Who? What?” apple - accusative case).

In Russian, the subject can be represented by nominal or service units speech, infinitive or whole phrase.

Noun

This part of speech indicates the subject, revealing the meaning of what it is or who it is. The noun may refer to living or inanimate nature, denote abstract or material concepts, be collective, animate or inanimate, proper or common noun.

If we consider the subject and its methods of expression, then the noun is one of the most common techniques. As a rule, objectified words with both a concrete and abstract concept can act as the subject. Nouns that have an evaluative meaning, for example, hoarder, mischief maker, fool, dunce and others, act as subjects extremely rarely.

The way of expressing the subject of a sentence through a noun is one of the most common.

Pronoun

In second place in terms of frequency of use is the pronoun. It indicates objects, their characteristics or quantity, without naming them. The morphological indicators of pronouns are determined by what part of speech they replace in the text.

Which way of expressing the subject in sentences as a pronoun depends on its type:

• It can be presented in a personal form, for example: I missed Professor Ivantsov's lecture for the first time. (The subject can be expressed as singular personal pronoun and plural). For example: We (you, you, they, she, he) missed Professor Ivantsov’s lecture for the first time.
• Indefinite pronouns as a way of expressing the subject. Examples: Someone knocked on the door. Someone was calling on the phone and breathing into the receiver.
• Negative forms of pronouns: Nothing brings people closer together than a common mortal danger.
• The subject and its methods of expression in the form of interrogative-relative pronouns are less common. For example: Who doesn't like snow? New Year and Christmas?

The remaining categories of pronouns can act as subjects in a sentence only if they replace nouns, for example:

• It's good that the rain stopped falling. (Demonstrative pronoun “that”).
• It was so long ago. (Indicative "it").
• Everyone wants to gain recognition from others. ( Definitive pronoun"any").

Noun and pronoun are the main ways of expressing the subject. Other nominative parts of speech are less common.

Adjective

This part of speech conveys the characteristics of objects, answering the questions “whose?” and which?". An adjective can only be used as a subject if it replaces a noun in a sentence, for example:

Important: no matter what way of expressing the subject in a sentence, it always answers the questions “who?” what?”, except when using a noun in the oblique case with a preposition, indicating the approximate amount of something, for example: Over a dozen fishing boats went to sea. (Subject "over a dozen").

In some sentences it is difficult to determine the subject, since it is expressed by parts of speech that are rarely used as such.

Participle as subject

This independent part of speech conveys the attribute of an object by its action and answers the questions “which?”, “Which?”. Po combines the properties of a verb and an adjective.

The subject and its modes of expression through participles are possible only when they replace a noun. As a rule, this is the actual form (it denotes a sign of the action that the subject performs) of this part of speech.

For example:

• Anyone who has lost their passport must report this to the passport office employee. (The subject “lost” acts as a noun and answers the question “who?”).
• The speaker seemed to falter, and there was a pause.
• The runners stopped to catch their breath and drink water.

In all sentences, participles, both present and past tense, singular or plural, acted as a noun.

Numeral

This is an independent part of speech that indicates the number of objects. The following are used as subjects:

• Quantitative (answer the question “how much?”), for example: Three is a sacred number in many religions. One was different from her friends.
• Collective numbers indicate the presence of several objects combined together, for example: Two people entered a bar, and for a second the eyes of the customers turned to them. Both were worthy of winning, but only one will make it to the finals.
• Ordinal numbers indicate the place of an object when counting, for example: The first one has the hardest time, since the rest follow him. The second turned out to be tastier than lean soup.

In all the examples given, the numerals answered the question “who?” What?" and played the role of a noun.

Functional parts of speech as subject

Such as interjections, conjunctions, particles and adverbs rarely become subjects in sentences. As a rule, they also replace nouns, for example:

• Will there be a new tomorrow? (the adverb “tomorrow” answers the question “what?”).
• "And" is a connecting conjunction.
• “Let” is used when forming the imperative form of a verb.

Since these are not independent parts of speech, they are used as a subject mainly as explanations in the rules of the Russian language.

Phrases as subjects

Often, complete phrases are used as a way of expressing the subject. The table below shows in which cases they are used:

Important: the subjects are also stable phrases (terms, formulations, botanical, geographical or other names) or catchphrases. For example:

• Aesopian language means fable.
• Red currants were born this year.
• was on course.

These and similar ones are therefore a single whole as a subject.

Conclusion

To determine the subject, you should ask the question, “who?” or “what?” performs the action in this sentence. The above methods of expressing it will help with this.

Sentences in Russian have a certain structure. Popular in terms of frequency of use are syntactic statements containing grammatical...

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Sentences in Russian have a certain structure. Popular in terms of frequency of use are syntactic statements containing a grammatical basis consisting of a subject and a predicate. The subject and its modes of expression are separate category. Details in this article.

Main members of the proposal

This is a tandem of subject and predicate. Subject – the subject performing the action. The action itself is the predicate.

Important! The subject cannot be an object, since the latter is what the action is directed towards.

The grammatical basis, methods of expressing the subject and predicate become the cornerstone on which the entire speech utterance is built.

Semantic features of the subject

The subject and the ways of expressing it are a special subsection of morphology.

What is it?

The subject is the main member of the sentence, denoting the subject of the speech utterance and answering the questions: “who?” What?". These are questions related to the nominative case.

The meaning of the subject is very simple to determine - it is what the sentence says. Essentially, without a subject, the sentence is deprived of its semantic component. However, there are exceptions to the rules, for example, impersonal, definitely-personal or indefinitely-personal types of sentences, where either there is no subject at all, or it is implied, but is not included in the general structure of the sentence.

Subject and object in a sentence

The main form of expression of the subject becomes the nominative case with the questions “who?” What?". An interesting situation arises here. The fact is that in Russian two cases answer the same questions: nominative and accusative. In addition, the very form of the nominative and accusative cases may be the same.

For example:

1. "The house is located by the road." Here the subject is the noun “House”, which is in the nominative case and answers the question “what?”
2. "I see beautiful house on the outskirts of the village." IN in this case the subject is the pronoun “I”, and the noun “house” becomes an object (a minor member of the sentence), but also answers the question “what?”.

In such a situation, it is important to correctly determine the subject and object, and you can also use a little trick and substitute for an incomprehensible case form any first declension noun, for example, mother.

It will turn out:

1. The house (mother) stands by the road - nominative case.
2. I see a beautiful house (mother) on the outskirts of the village - accusative case.

From this example it is clear that similar nouns have different shapes words and endings. This way, the subject's questions will no longer cause any difficulty.

Ways to Express Subject

The subject, its semantics and methods of expression depend on the part of speech that takes the place of one of the main members in the sentence. It is impossible to say that the subject is a more significant member of the sentence than the predicate. So, for example, in impersonal sentences there is not and cannot be a subject, so the entire semantic load falls on the predicate.

Examples of the subject and its ways of expression in Russian are presented below.

Noun

If the form of the main member is a noun:

• Mom (who?) prepared a delicious lunch.
• Natasha (who?) washed the dishes.
• Ivan (who?) put the books away after himself.
• The bus (what?) left for the depot.
• The book (what?) lies on the table.
• The brush (what?) is in a glass.

Pronoun

If the form of the main member is a pronoun:

• She (who?) went to watch a movie.
• He (who?) went to Moscow.
• They (who?) were riding horses.
• Someone (who?) was hiding behind the curtain.
• Something (what?) lies in the box.
• I (who?) saw the new student first.

Adjective

If the form is an adjective:

• The eldest (who?) stayed with the kids.
• The last one (who?) is standing in line on the left.
• The silent one (who?) stood next to us and frowned.
• We haven't thought about sneakers on our trip for a long time. Forgotten and lost (what?) lay in the same place.
• Not always tasty (what?) is healthy.
• The stingy one (who?) pays twice.

Participle

If the form is a participle:

• The seeker (who?) will always find.
• He who (who?) picks up the sword will die by the sword.
• The desired thing (what?) was nearby.
• The one who left (who?) suddenly returned.
• Everything good (what?) is remembered for a long time.
• Has the missing thing (what?) been found?

Numeral

If the form is a numeral:

• Twice two (what?) is four.
• Three (what?) is a good number.
• Four (what?) is not divisible by three.
• Seven (who?) do not wait for one.
• The second (who?) in line left.
• One (who?) happened to be nearby.

In addition to the above parts of speech, unchangeable significant or auxiliary parts of speech in the meaning of a noun can also act as the subject.

Infinitive

If the form is an infinitive - an indefinite form of the verb:

• Smoking (what?) is harmful to health.
• Living (what?) is good!
• Defending (what?) the homeland is the duty of every citizen.
• Loving (what?) is amazing!
• Knowing (what?) does not mean being able to.
• Understanding (what?) other people is an art!

Adverb

If the form is an adverb:

• Tasty (what?) is not always healthy.
• Today (what?) has already arrived.
• Often, quickly (what?) does not mean competently.
• Home is better (what?) than away.
• Simple (what?) – without any extra hassles!

Pretext

If the form is a preposition:

• "Oh" (what?) is a preposition.
• "K" (what?) is a spatial preposition.
• “For” (what?) is also a word.

Union

If the form is conjunction:

• “But” is an adversative conjunction.
• “I” is a connecting conjunction.

Particle

If the shape is a particle:

• “Not” with verbs is written separately.

Interjection

If the form is an interjection:

They say “ouch” when it hurts!

A loud “Aw” (what?) came from the forest.

Indirect form of a noun

In addition to the unchangeable parts of speech, the role of the subject can be an indirect form of a noun (that is, a noun placed in any case other than the nominative), or a sentence in the meaning of a noun or a form of a verb that can be conjugated.

For example:

• Where should I put this? Brother.
• What are you doing? I'm reading.
• Don’t think about me, don’t be upset, don’t overwork yourself – this was written at the end of the letter.

Syntactically indivisible phrase

And finally, the whole form of the subject falls into the category of the subject and its methods of expression, which is a syntactically indivisible phrase, where there is a main and a dependent word. They differ in different meanings and composition of parts of speech.

Quantitative value

If the form of the subject is a tandem of a name in the nominative case and a name in the genitive case.

• Six people stood at the parapet.
• Several bags lay on the bench.
• Some of the papers were lying on the table.
• Half of the documents have been verified.
• Many people marched with banners.

Selective value

If the form is a fusion of a name in the nominative case and a name in the genitive with the preposition “from”.

• Three from the detachment went in search of the missing.
• Each of us has been to the South at some point.
• Many of them will go through all levels of mastery.

The meaning of togetherness

If the form is a tandem of a name in the nominative case and a name in the instrumental case with the preposition “s”. An important nuance here will be the predicate - it must have a plural form.

For example:

• My father and brother will go and look at the car.
• Mother and son will go to the museum.
• My sister and uncle went to the cinema.
• The cat and kittens went around the corner of the house.
• The textbook and notebooks were on the table.

Phase value

If the form is a tandem, consisting of a noun with the meaning “beginning, middle and end” of some state and a noun in the genitive case.

• It was the end of December.
• The beginning of March was approaching.
• It's already the middle of summer.

Phraseologisms

Phraseological forms of the subject are also considered a separate case, when the main member of the sentence is a special pair - a noun and an agreed name. For example, phraseological, terminological, or a phrase with a metaphorical meaning.

In this case, the components of a given syntactic alloy only collectively express that single and indivisible meaning that is required to understand the semantic component.

• Working carelessly is not my habit.
• “You can’t catch a fish out of a pond without effort” is written on a poster in the foyer.
• The rings of Saturn are visible to the naked eye.
• The Milky Way is visible far away.
• White flakes fall from the sky.
• A crew cut of hair stuck out militantly on the top of his head.

And the last form for the subject can be indefinite pronouns, which are formed from the stems “who” and “what”, constituting a single alloy with an agreed name. Such forms of the subject carry an indefinite meaning.

• Someone bald was peeking out from behind him.
• Something unpleasant fell on my head from the balcony.
• Someone nasty was making a nasal noise from the stage.
• Something shaggy touched my leg.
• Someone “smart” scribbled an obscene word on the wall of the entrance.
• Something tasty smelled pleasantly from the plate.

Thus, the ways of expressing the subject in the Russian language can vary and depend on the specific verbal form used in place of one of the main members of the syntactic structure. The role of the subject can be not only nouns, but also other parts of speech, and even complex syntactically indivisible phrases with phase, metaphorical and terminological meaning. In addition, it is worth remembering that the subject has a specific form of expression - the nominative case.

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the subject is the nominative case form noun. This is explained by the fact that the noun as a part of speech has a generalized meaning of objectivity, and the form of the nominative case, as the initial, independent case, is most suitable for expressing the subject of thought: The shepherd sat down near the greenhouse and immediately called me to complete frankness(Sol.). In principle, a noun of any lexical category can be a subject, but there are still some restrictions in this regard. Nouns with a concrete material meaning or an abstract but materialized one are usually used as subjects. Nouns that contain an evaluative, essentially predicative meaning, as a rule, do not act as a subject.

For example, nouns like mischievous, scoundrel, hoarder, fool, clever, liar etc., are limited in use as a subject. In sentences like The mischievous boy was sitting at his desk; Duraley appeared only in the morning the unusualness of the use of nouns in the role of subjects is clearly felt, which is explained by the secondary nature of their function and can only be justified by the conditions of a special context: previously, these words were already used in the role of a predicate, the functional quality of which is fully consistent with the semantics of these nouns.

In addition to nouns, they are used as subjects pronouns-nouns: a) personal: I met her at my friend's(Sol.); There was only one light on in the hotel. She flushed when the phone rang caustically(Past.); b) undefined: All someone is walking and not sleeping(Past.); And, it seems, in that solitude someone unearthly hid(P.); c) negative: Nothing will bring us closer together(L.); d) interrogative-relative: Who hasn't cursed the stationmasters?(P.); I don't understand what happened to me(P.).

Pronouns of other categories are used as subjects if they act in the meaning of a noun: a) demonstrative: It's true that the rooster no longer crows(Kr.); This was in the seventies(L. T.); b) definitive: This way anyone can sing(Ch.); c) possessive: Let mine disappears(Ya. T.).

The subject may be any part of speech that can be substantivized or used as a noun: Good things always spark a desire for better things.(M.G.); ...The irreparable happened(Fed.); The dancers crowded and pushed each other(Cupr.). The subject can be a numeral: a) quantitative: Fifteen is divided by three, b) collective: Both were busy, it seemed, in a serious conversation(L.); c) ordinal: One walks, another drives, the third sings a song(mystery).

Much less often, unchangeable parts of speech are used as the subject, which in this case functionally replace nouns - conjunctions, particles, adverbs, interjections, For example: This “if”, which he attributed to the past, came true(T.); ...And again you hear “boo-boo-boo”(Ch.); And this “so” for me the knife is sharp(Letters).

IN special cases forms of words (for example, verbs) intended for other functions can be used as subjects: Our most innocent “hello” and “farewell” would have no meaning if time were not permeated by the unity of life events(Past.); Tsvetaev’s “I know” is poetically more competent than “I see”(S. Wyman). Such unusual forms require their position to be supported by defining members.

The subject can be an infinitive, which does not receive an objective meaning, retains the meaning of the action, and is not substantivized. And therefore, unlike other “substitutes” of a noun, the infinitive cannot have definitions as a subject: Loving is happiness! In the structure of such sentences, the order of words and the way of expressing the predicate play a significant role. Usually the infinitive subject precedes the predicate, expressed both by an impersonal predicative word and by a noun. With a predicate expressed by an impersonal predicative word, this order is the only possible. The subject is separated from the predicate by a pause, dividing the sentences into two compounds: It was scary to approach my brother(M.G.) - the pause before the predicate was scary. This order of words - an infinitive subject (alone or together with explanatory words), then a predicate after a pause - is a sign of a two-part sentence. With a different word order, the sentence easily becomes impersonal, since the infinitive placed after the predicate, expressed by an impersonal predicative word, falls into the dependent position: It was scary to approach my brother. If the predicate is expressed by a noun, then the infinitive subject can be placed in the position after the pause, but this word order is felt as inverted, for example: It's a great pleasure to live on earth(M. G.), cf.: Living on earth is a great pleasure(direct word order).

There are also special, contextually determined ways of expressing the subject. They are unusual in the sense that they designate a character or object through its signs or signs, for example: At his call, a small, limping man, covered in black tights, with a knife tucked into his leather belt, red-haired, with a yellow fang, with a thorn on his left eye, ran into the hallway.(Bulg.).

Subject expressed by phrase

Can be used as subject syntactically constrained phrases. The peculiarity of these phrases is that the main word form in them is lexically indefinite or empty, and the dependent one contains a real meaning ( a pinch of tea, a kilogram of sugar). In addition, a phrase can express some aggregates ( grandparents, you and I).

Among the subjects expressed by a phrase, the following stand out: 1) a noun of quantitative meaning in combination with a noun in the genitive case: In the yard, near the porch, stood a pair of horses(Shol.); Close in meaning to this variety is the subject, which has as the main word a noun with the meaning of a group, aggregation: Finally, a crowd of people in gray overcoats poured into the hallway(M.G.); Tufts of yellow fluffy feather grass creep along the stingrays...(Shol); 2) numeral, pronoun, adjective in combination with a noun (or parts of speech replacing it) in the genitive plural form with a preposition: Each of us dreamed of becoming a geologist; One of the boys came back late in the evening(Ch.); 3) a noun or pronoun in combination with the instrumental case form of the noun or pronoun: Bazarov with Arkady left the next day(T.); Chuk and Gek looked at each other(Guide.); You and I, as you say, are young, we good people (T.); 4) a combination of a collective noun ( majority, minority, multitude etc.) with a noun in the genitive case: Most students have already arrived for the session.

The role of the subject is often definite-quantitative combinations, indefinite-quantitative and combinations with the meaning of approximate quantity: four chairs, several students, many books, few nuts, some flowers, about ten schoolchildren, about a dozen notebooks. For example: The apartment contained only two pianos, a violin and a cello(Fed.); One day about ten of our officers dined at Silvio's(P.); Gradually a dozen and a half gloomy men climbed into the room. high school students, students, baker and glazier(M.G.); Passed few weeks(P.); How a lot of heaven and earth left behind(TV).

Features of subjects expressing approximate quantities using words about, over, more, less etc., lies in the absence of the nominative case form: More than a hundred kilometers there was still more to come; About a dozen books read in one gulp.

In addition to syntactically constrained phrases, other phrases are also used as subjects. indivisible combinations. These can be geographical names: Cape of Good Hope, Gulf of St. Lawrence, Main Caucasus Range, East European Plain, Ossetian Military Road, city Mineral water, Big Stone Bridge; names of institutions, organizations, enterprises: United Nations, State Historical Museum, names of historical eras and events: Roman Empire, Renaissance; titles significant dates, holidays: Victory Day, New Year.

The subjects expressed are also not divided stable combinations of terminological nature (Red Ribes, geometric figure, verb form), and idioms type: Augean stables, Ariadne's thread, pillars of Hercules, Aesopian language, Archimedes' lever.

Other combinations of words can act as the subject, in particular revealing semantic confusion: It was clear from everything that something wrong had happened to Shchukar(Shol.).

Along with this, the subject position can be occupied by whole predicative units. Being part of simple sentence as its member, they lose the characteristics of a separate sentence and acquire the ability to spread in the usual way for the subject, i.e. attach attributive members of the sentence, for example: ...Loud “Thank you, Father Alexey Stepanych!” announced the clearing(Ax.).