Hello, hello! How are you today?
In the last classes we've seen a lot of verbs in the imperative form,
haven't we?
For example,
when we ask for directions, we may hear:
Or, in the negative form:
These are just a few examples of the imperative form,
that is widely used in English language to give commands,
to give instructions and even to make requests.
And the difference between them depends on the context and our intonation.
But there's one thing in common in all of these sentences,
the subject of the sentence does not appear in any of them.
Let's see it again!
In the affirmative form we use the main verb and the complement.
In the negative form,
we use the auxiliary verb "don't", then the main verb and the complement.
So, there's no subject in these sentences?
Wait a minute,
the subject indicates who is performing the action in the sentence, right?
In the imperative, the subject is always "you",
when we give a command, an instruction, or make a request,
we are always referring to the person or people we're talking to.
And that's why it's usually omitted from the sentence,
because the subject is always "you".
But is it possible to use the subject in a sentence,
in the imperative form?
Sure!
But only if we want to give emphasis to what we're saying.
Take a look!
We can include the subject "you", and say:
This is still the imperative form,
but I'm emphasizing what you have to do.
Another example:
Now take a look at the negative form:
In the negative form we use the subject after the auxiliary verb "don't".
This is the position of the subject in the negative of the imperative form,
if we want to emphasize what we say.
But notice that in all sentences, the subject is placed before the main verb.
Even in the imperative, when the subject is rarely used,
that's the position of the subject, before the main verb.
So, the subject performs the action,
and it is placed before the main verb.
But what can be the subject of a sentence?
A noun.
For example:
See? Tony is the one who's parking, so he's the subject,
and park is the main verb,
So, "Tony" comes before the main verb.
But we've also seen that if we want to keep talking about Tony,
we don't have to say Tony, Tony, Tony, over and over.
In this case we can replace the noun Tony with a pronoun!
And we'll use a subject pronoun because, after all,
Tony is the subject of the sentence.
And as the name says,
these pronouns will always replace nouns in the subject position.
So, check it out!
And we could continue like this:
Notice that we have the pronoun "he" as the subject,
instead of using Tony again.
In both sentences, Tony is the subject,
but in the second one we replace the noun, and use the subject pronoun "he".
You remember all the subject pronouns?
No worries, I'll help you remember! Let's take a look!
In the singular we have:
"I", "you"
and "he", that's used for a male person or animal.
"She", used for a female person or animal,
And "it",
used in the third person singular when we're not referring to people.
In the plural we have "we", then there's "you".
Remember that we use the same pronoun for the second person singular and plural.
And finally, "they",
which is the plural form of "he", "she" and "it".
In the plural there's no distinction between people and the other things,
such as places, objects, animals etc.
Bear in mind that "it"
can be used to replace a noun that's not a person, such a in:
See? Here we used the pronoun "it", to replace the noun car.
But the pronoun "it" can also be used
simply to perform the function of the subject in the sentence,
without replacing any noun.
This is the only subject pronoun that can be used like that.
Look.
So, we use "it" to perform the function of the subject,
"it's important to respect the speed-limit".
But pay attention,
in both examples "it" is the subject of the sentences.
So, it's used before the main verb.
In these sentences the main verb is the verb "to be",
and it's in the contracted form.
So, remember,
subject pronouns replace pronouns as the subject,
and they always come before the main verb.
Well, there is one exception.
Interrogative sentences with the verb "to be" as the main verb.
Look!
If we're talking about a car in the affirmative form,
we can say:
We're using the subject "it" referring the car,
and the main verb "to be" right after.
Same thing in the negative:
Now, see the interrogative:
First, we use the verb "to be",
which is the main verb of the sentence, and then the subject it.
But this only happens when the verb "to be" is the main verb of the sentence,
and only in the interrogative form.
This will not happen with the other verbs,
here's an example!
Here the main verb of the sentence is "like",
and the subject is placed before the main verb.
Same thing in the negative, check it out!
We include the auxiliary "don't",
but the subject is before the main verb "like".
Now look at the interrogative form.
The auxiliary verb "do" comes before the subject,
but the subject's position remains the same,
before the main verb "like".
Now you know how to use the subject pronouns and their position,
and that they replace the nouns before the main verb.
Except for sentences in the interrogative form,
with the verb "to be" as the main verb.
But how can we replace a name that comes after the main verb?
Look!
Well, the main verb is "asked", in the past tense.
"Tony" is before the main verb and "Karen" after the main verb,
so Tony is the subject and Karen is the object.
And what does that mean?
Well, if the subject of the sentence performs the action,
then the object suffers the action.
To replace a noun in the object position,
we have to use object pronouns.
Let's see it again!
"Tony" is the subject of the sentence, third person singular masculine,
so we'll use "he".
Whereas Karen, third person singular feminine,
is the object of the sentence.
So, we'll have to use "her".
To replace the nouns Tony and Karen with pronouns,
we do this:
Let's look at another example!
Same thing, Tony is the subject,
which is before the main verb "gave".
And Karen is the object and it is after the verb.
So, the pronouns don't have to be right before the verb,
in order to be the subject, or right after it to be the object, ok?
Then we can say:
Let's see all object pronouns to understand them better.
The pronouns are "me",
then "you", notice it's the same pronoun used as a subject.
For the third person singular there's "him", "her" and "it",
used for whose gender we cannot specify, and does not refer to people.
It's also the same form used to the subject.
And in the plural we have "us", "you" and "them".
Now, let's see some examples!
In this sentence the verb "help" is the main verb,
so "you" is the subject and the object pronoun is "me".
Look at this other sentence!
In this example there are two sentences,
in the first one we use the noun "car" as the object,
then the main verb "put".
In the second one, we use "it" to replace "car",
but it's still the object.
Notice that "it" is the object because it's after the main verb "turn".
The subject is omitted because these sentences are in the imperative form.
Well, that's it!
Now that you've seen how to use the subject and object pronouns,
it's time to do the follow up activities to practice!
See you soon!