Lesson 3

GLOBAL WRITERS BUREAU ENGLISH GRAMMAR & WRITING STYLE COURSE

LESSON 3

 

1. John drives.
2. John is driven.

 

In (1) above the subject (John) is the doer of the action. Thereafter the verb is said to be active. In (2) the subject receives the action, and the verb is passive. Active verbs can take objects. To find the object if any) of a verb, we ask, “whom?” or “what?” after the verb:

 

1. John drives an old car. (Drives what?)
2. Julie assisted me. (Assisted whom?)

 

Note that object words (car, me) are, like subject words, always nouns or pronouns. So, when nouns or pronouns appear in sentences, they are very often subject words or object words. Otherwise they are usually following prepositions – in which case they are said to be governed by prepositions they follow:

 

In the water, after dinner, of anger, with a smile

 

Exercise 3:

Decide (in correct order) the task performed by the nouns and pronouns in the following sentences:

 

1. He took the dog for a walk.

(A- subject, governed by preposition, object)

(B-subject, object, governed by preposition)

1. Out of the house came she.

(A- subject, object)

(B-governed by preposition, subject)

1. A box of nails has disappeared.

(A-subject, governed by preposition)

(B-subject, object)

1. What shall we do?

(A-subject, object)

(B- object, subject)