Subject

Date: 2015-10-07; view: 427.

Exercise 1. Point out the subject in the following sentences and state what it is expressed by. Translate into Russian.

1. This made me look at him twice. 2. Blues is the most interesting form of American music. 3. Who is this Alfonso, please? 4. It took her a long time to get home. 5. The absent are always in the wrong. 6. Explaining grammar to Bobby is like flogging a dead horse. 7. Nobody made the world laugh louder than Charlie Chaplin. 8. A friend of mine had interviewed her for a movie magazine. 9. The crying made me believe that centuries of human anguish had been born into this one little soul. 10. Good will triumph over evil, I am sure. 11. The relief of it was enormous. 11. Some of the folks here in town are taking up for me and some turned against me. 12. It is better to deserve honours and not to have them than to have them and not deserve them. (Mark Twain) 13. Learning to write effectively is largely a matter of practice. 14. To start like that is to find a career waiting for one. 15. Ah, I forgot, your husband is an exception. Mine is the general rule. 16. “My God!” was all she said. 17. What on earth does Maxim see in her? 18. The whole art of teaching is only the art of awakening the natural curiosity of young minds. 19. There is the thick snoring of a car turning in the driveway. 20. Whatever could have possessed her to think him this and that? 21. Being awake in a house where everyone else was sleeping made him lonely. 22. To think that I'll never go there again is a great relief. 23. I've always found that intuitions are rarely wrong. Mine work very well. 24. That's the door-bell. It'll be Fred. 25. There is no flying from fate.

Exercise 2. Define the types of the sentences (definite personal, indefinite personal and impersonal) according to the character of the subject.

1. My part-time job limits my study time. 2. To do so would be unwise. 3. It was bitterly cold. The wind cut like a knife. 4. His clothes were a trifle outgrown. 5. There came a laugh, high, gay, sweet. 6. It is in vain for a boy to attempt to do it. 7. Take this medicine. It will do you a lot of good. 8. It was a dark night, with no moon. 9. If you wish to reach the highest, begin at the lowest. 10. He laughs best who laughs last. 11. We grow small trying to be great. 12. Language is the dress of thought. 13. We never had clothes enough to wear, nor enough food to eat. 14. You are only what you are when no one is looking. 15. It's your cousin, Ralph Sommers. 16. He who establishes his argument by noise and command shows that his reason is weak. 17. We must learn to live together as brothers or perish together as fools. 18. It's been a dreadful day for me. 19. We never know the love of the parent till we become parents ourselves. 20. It sounded as if you were praying. 21. Gordon made for the hotel. It was a painted wooden structure. 22. Some don't like classical music, others do. 23. One must be poor to know the luxury of giving. 24. It is only through labour and painful effort that we move on to better things. 25. He who praises everybody praises nobody. 26. It was like walking on the bottom of the sea.

Exercise 3. Use the construction with the emphatic it to answer the following questions.