- Your remaining here will be dangerous.
Notice that in some of these sentences the participle has an object; as, making shoes, his having joined his comrades. The participle still retains some of its verb nature in that it may take an object. The entire phrases, His having joined his comrades, and, Making shoes, are the subjects of the sentences.
419. The infinitive may also be used as a noun, the subject of the sentence. Note in the following sentences the use of the infinitive as the subject of the sentence:
- To err is human; to forgive is divine.
- To be or not to be is the question.
- To toil all day is wearisome.
- To aim is one thing; to hit the mark is another.
- To remain ignorant is to remain a slave.
420. An adjective can also be used as the subject. You remember in our study of adjectives we found that an adjective may be used as a noun, as for example:
- The strong enslave the weak.
Here the adjective strong is used as a noun, subject of the sentence. Note in the following sentences, the use of the adjectives as subjects:
- The wise instruct the ignorant.
- The dead were left upon the battlefields.
- The rich look down upon the poor.
- The mighty of the earth have forced this war upon us.
- The poor are enslaved by their ignorance.
- The wounded were carried to the hospitals.
PLACE OF THE SUBJECT IN A SENTENCE
The subject usually comes first in the sentence. If it has any modifiers, they alone precede the subject, as for example: