Subjects and characters

In an affirmative or negative sentence the grammatical subject is the noun (or nouns) before the verb, and the characters are the nouns that express the concepts, people or things that you are writing about. Readers will understand a text more easily if its grammatical subjects are also frequently characters. For example, consider the following title and first sentence of an institutional text.

Exemple inadequatFirst-year students and the registration process

Complaints about the clarity of information on the website are frequently made by first-year students.


The title identifies two main characters (the things the text is going to discuss), but the subject of the first sentence is complaints, which is neither of them. It would be more appropriate to put one of the characters in subject position. The following is an improvement.

Exemple adequatFirst-year students and the registration process

First-year students frequently complain about the clarity of information on the website.


Readers will find your texts easier to follow if the subjects of your verbs refer to the main characters.
Darrera actualització: 6-9-2023
Impressió del capítol | Impressió de la pàgina
Recommended citation:
«Subjects and characters» [en línia]. A: Llibre d’estil de la Universitat de Barcelona. Barcelona: Universitat de Barcelona. Serveis Lingüístics. <https://www.ub.edu/llibre-estil/criteri.php?id=2463> [consulta: 18 abril 2024].
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