Unconventional Grammar Trivia Quiz

Answer: For all of these reasons

It is often not realized that the concept of "subject of a sentence" is purely structural. The only fully accurate defintions are those given in terms of structure, for example: "The subject of a sentence or clause is the noun, noun phrase or pronoun that determines the person and number of the verb." This is formalistic in that it presupposes a knowledge of grammar and grammatical terminology and is unsuitable for teaching purposes.

However, any definition that seeks to break out of this formalism, by using meaning, faces immense problems. Structure in itself, though essential to the functioning of language, has no meaning.

Answer: No

Unfortunately, inaccurate definitions of this kind are sometimes taught in schools and can also be found in some reference works. Consider sentences like "She collapsed in her own home", "The old man died" and "The plants grew well". Obviously, there is no question of agency in these sentences.

After all, the absence of an agent with "to die" is in fact a key feature of its meaning: it's one of the things that makes "to die" different in meaning from from "to commit suicide", for example. Agency is essential to the meaning of the latter, just as its absence is a key feature of the meaning of the former.

Answer: Experiencer

Far from being the active doers or agents, the syntactic (grammatical) subject here - "the men" - undergo an involuntary experience: something happens to them, whether want it or not. They are, as it were, the "object" of the process described by the verb. (Animate objects of this kind generally belong to the category called the "Experiencer", while the category "Object" is generally reserved for inanimates).

Answer: Object

In this sentence, the grammatical subject is the semantic object of the process described by the verbs: things happen to empires in this sentence. (If the semantic object in this sentence were animate it would belong to the category called the "Experiencer", not the "Object", which is generally reserved for inanimates that undergo a change of state).

Answer: Experiencer

Clearly the events described by the verbs are involuntary events that happen to Anne and there is no question of agency. (The "Experiencer" is in effect an animate semantic "Object").

Answer: Yes

"Those people" could be an agent, actively and deliberately engaging in terrifying; or they could be merely a trigger for fear, in effect an "instrument".

Answer: Instrument

In semantic terms an unspecified, but implied person, machine or supernatural force is opening the door, using the key as an instrument. Logic and common sense require that there must be an agent at some level, even if the key is operated by computer, and even if the agent is at several removes from the action of the verb.

Answer: "It" doesn't refer to anything

In English (and many other languages, too) the structure of a sentence making a statement must consist at the very least of a subject and a verb. "It" here functions as a dummy grammatical subject.

Answer: An implied "you"

In other words the implied structure is something like: "You shut the window". Some linguists would argue for an even more elaborate implied structure along the lines "I am telling you - you shut the window".

Answer: False

The function of linguistics is to *describe* language and language-use. Linguistics leaves the business of telling people how to speak and write to others.