nsubj: nominal subject
A nominal subject (nsubj) is a nominal which is the syntactic subject and the proto-agent of a clause.
That is, it is in the position that passes typical grammatical test for subjecthood, and this argument is the more agentive,
the do-er, or the proto-agent of the clause.
(See csubj for when the subject is clausal. See nsubjpass and csubjpass for when the subject is not
the proto-agent argument due to valence changing operations.) This nominal may be headed by a noun,
or it may be a pronoun or relative pronoun, or in ellipsis contexts, other things such as an adjective.
The nsubj role is only applied to semantic arguments of a predicate.
When there is an empty argument in a grammatical subject position (sometimes called a pleonastic or expletive),
it is labeled as expl. If there is then a displaced subject
in the clause, as in the English existential there construction, it will be labeled as nsubj.
The governor of the nsubj relation might not always be a verb: when
the verb is a copular verb, the root of the clause is the complement
of the copular verb, which can be an adjective or noun, including a noun marked by a preposition,
as in the examples below.
In English, the nsubj normally precedes the predicate that it depends on, but this need not be the case,
both for the displaced subjects of expletive constructions and in other cases of stylistic inversion, such
as the example headed by the predicate come below.
Clinton defeated Dole
nsubj(defeated, Clinton)
The car is red .
nsubj(red, car)
Sue is a true patriot .
nsubj(patriot, Sue)
We are in the barn .
nsubj(barn, We)
Agatha is in trouble .
nsubj(trouble, Agatha)
There is a ghost in the room .
expl(is, There)
nsubj(is, ghost)
These links present the many viewpoints that existed .
acl:relcl(viewpoints, existed)
nsubj(existed, that)
From China comes news of a new super-small mobile phone .
nsubj(comes, news)
Treebank Statistics (UD_English)
This relation is universal.
20389 nodes (8%) are attached to their parents as nsubj.
19622 instances of nsubj (96%) are right-to-left (child precedes parent).
Average distance between parent and child is 2.50517435872284.
The following 60 pairs of parts of speech are connected with nsubj: en-pos/VERB-en-pos/PRON (10124; 50% instances), en-pos/VERB-en-pos/NOUN (3392; 17% instances), en-pos/VERB-en-pos/PROPN (1546; 8% instances), en-pos/ADJ-en-pos/PRON (1198; 6% instances), en-pos/ADJ-en-pos/NOUN (1035; 5% instances), en-pos/NOUN-en-pos/PRON (1030; 5% instances), en-pos/NOUN-en-pos/NOUN (489; 2% instances), en-pos/NOUN-en-pos/PROPN (215; 1% instances), en-pos/ADJ-en-pos/PROPN (188; 1% instances), en-pos/ADV-en-pos/PRON (145; 1% instances), en-pos/ADV-en-pos/NOUN (122; 1% instances), en-pos/PROPN-en-pos/PRON (91; 0% instances), en-pos/VERB-en-pos/ADJ (78; 0% instances), en-pos/VERB-en-pos/DET (73; 0% instances), en-pos/PRON-en-pos/NOUN (72; 0% instances), en-pos/AUX-en-pos/PRON (68; 0% instances), en-pos/VERB-en-pos/NUM (62; 0% instances), en-pos/PROPN-en-pos/NOUN (57; 0% instances), en-pos/PRON-en-pos/PRON (50; 0% instances), en-pos/NUM-en-pos/PRON (44; 0% instances), en-pos/ADJ-en-pos/DET (30; 0% instances), en-pos/NUM-en-pos/NOUN (29; 0% instances), en-pos/NOUN-en-pos/NUM (22; 0% instances), en-pos/PROPN-en-pos/PROPN (20; 0% instances), en-pos/NOUN-en-pos/DET (16; 0% instances), en-pos/ADV-en-pos/PROPN (15; 0% instances), en-pos/ADJ-en-pos/ADJ (14; 0% instances), en-pos/DET-en-pos/PRON (13; 0% instances), en-pos/NUM-en-pos/PROPN (13; 0% instances), en-pos/ADJ-en-pos/NUM (12; 0% instances), en-pos/PRON-en-pos/PROPN (12; 0% instances), en-pos/ADP-en-pos/PRON (11; 0% instances), en-pos/NOUN-en-pos/ADJ (11; 0% instances), en-pos/SYM-en-pos/NOUN (11; 0% instances), en-pos/SYM-en-pos/PRON (11; 0% instances), en-pos/AUX-en-pos/NOUN (8; 0% instances), en-pos/VERB-en-pos/VERB (8; 0% instances), en-pos/ADP-en-pos/NOUN (5; 0% instances), en-pos/DET-en-pos/NOUN (5; 0% instances), en-pos/PROPN-en-pos/NUM (5; 0% instances), en-pos/VERB-en-pos/ADV (5; 0% instances), en-pos/X-en-pos/NOUN (5; 0% instances), en-pos/AUX-en-pos/PROPN (4; 0% instances), en-pos/PROPN-en-pos/ADJ (4; 0% instances), en-pos/NOUN-en-pos/VERB (3; 0% instances), en-pos/ADV-en-pos/ADJ (2; 0% instances), en-pos/NUM-en-pos/DET (2; 0% instances), en-pos/VERB-en-pos/X (2; 0% instances), en-pos/ADJ-en-pos/ADP (1; 0% instances), en-pos/ADJ-en-pos/ADV (1; 0% instances), en-pos/ADJ-en-pos/VERB (1; 0% instances), en-pos/ADV-en-pos/DET (1; 0% instances), en-pos/ADV-en-pos/NUM (1; 0% instances), en-pos/DET-en-pos/VERB (1; 0% instances), en-pos/INTJ-en-pos/DET (1; 0% instances), en-pos/INTJ-en-pos/NOUN (1; 0% instances), en-pos/NUM-en-pos/NUM (1; 0% instances), en-pos/PRON-en-pos/DET (1; 0% instances), en-pos/PRON-en-pos/SYM (1; 0% instances), en-pos/VERB-en-pos/SYM (1; 0% instances).
# visual-style 1 bgColor:blue
# visual-style 1 fgColor:white
# visual-style 3 bgColor:blue
# visual-style 3 fgColor:white
# visual-style 3 1 nsubj color:blue
1 We we PRON PRP Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=1|PronType=Prs 3 nsubj _ SpaceAfter=No
2 've have AUX VBP Mood=Ind|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin 3 aux _ _
3 moved move VERB VBN Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part 0 root _ _
4 on on ADV RB _ 3 advmod _ SpaceAfter=No
5 . . PUNCT . _ 3 punct _ _
# visual-style 6 bgColor:blue
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# visual-style 4 bgColor:blue
# visual-style 4 fgColor:white
# visual-style 4 6 nsubj color:blue
1 From from ADP IN _ 3 case _ _
2 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 3 det _ _
3 AP AP PROPN NNP Number=Sing 4 nmod _ _
4 comes come VERB VBZ Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin 0 root _ _
5 this this DET DT Number=Sing|PronType=Dem 6 det _ _
6 story story NOUN NN Number=Sing 4 nsubj _ _
7 : : PUNCT : _ 4 punct _ _
# visual-style 6 bgColor:blue
# visual-style 6 fgColor:white
# visual-style 9 bgColor:blue
# visual-style 9 fgColor:white
# visual-style 9 6 nsubj color:blue
1 Now now ADV RB _ 4 advmod _ SpaceAfter=No
2 , , PUNCT , _ 4 punct _ _
3 people people NOUN NNS Number=Plur 4 nsubj _ _
4 wonder wonder VERB VBP Mood=Ind|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin 0 root _ _
5 if if SCONJ IN _ 9 mark _ _
6 Google Google PROPN NNP Number=Sing 9 nsubj _ _
7 can can AUX MD VerbForm=Fin 9 aux _ _
8 even even ADV RB _ 9 advmod _ _
9 survive survive VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 4 ccomp _ _
10 . . PUNCT . _ 4 punct _ _
Treebank Statistics (UD_English-ESL)
This relation is universal.
10016 nodes (10%) are attached to their parents as nsubj.
9688 instances of nsubj (97%) are right-to-left (child precedes parent).
Average distance between parent and child is 2.20666932907348.
The following 55 pairs of parts of speech are connected with nsubj: en-pos/VERB-en-pos/PRON (5693; 57% instances), en-pos/VERB-en-pos/NOUN (1447; 14% instances), en-pos/ADJ-en-pos/PRON (841; 8% instances), en-pos/NOUN-en-pos/PRON (431; 4% instances), en-pos/ADJ-en-pos/NOUN (425; 4% instances), en-pos/VERB-en-pos/DET (236; 2% instances), en-pos/NOUN-en-pos/NOUN (204; 2% instances), en-pos/VERB-en-pos/PROPN (122; 1% instances), en-pos/NOUN-en-pos/DET (109; 1% instances), en-pos/ADJ-en-pos/DET (80; 1% instances), en-pos/PROPN-en-pos/NOUN (44; 0% instances), en-pos/ADV-en-pos/PRON (41; 0% instances), en-pos/ADJ-en-pos/PROPN (34; 0% instances), en-pos/AUX-en-pos/PRON (33; 0% instances), en-pos/ADV-en-pos/NOUN (32; 0% instances), en-pos/NOUN-en-pos/PROPN (32; 0% instances), en-pos/PROPN-en-pos/PRON (25; 0% instances), en-pos/VERB-en-pos/ADJ (25; 0% instances), en-pos/NUM-en-pos/PRON (24; 0% instances), en-pos/NUM-en-pos/NOUN (13; 0% instances), en-pos/NOUN-en-pos/NUM (12; 0% instances), en-pos/PRON-en-pos/NOUN (12; 0% instances), en-pos/VERB-en-pos/NUM (12; 0% instances), en-pos/PROPN-en-pos/DET (7; 0% instances), en-pos/NUM-en-pos/DET (6; 0% instances), en-pos/ADJ-en-pos/VERB (5; 0% instances), en-pos/NUM-en-pos/PROPN (5; 0% instances), en-pos/PRON-en-pos/DET (5; 0% instances), en-pos/PRON-en-pos/PRON (5; 0% instances), en-pos/ADJ-en-pos/ADJ (4; 0% instances), en-pos/DET-en-pos/PRON (4; 0% instances), en-pos/VERB-en-pos/ADV (4; 0% instances), en-pos/VERB-en-pos/SYM (4; 0% instances), en-pos/ADV-en-pos/PROPN (3; 0% instances), en-pos/AUX-en-pos/NOUN (3; 0% instances), en-pos/DET-en-pos/DET (3; 0% instances), en-pos/NOUN-en-pos/ADJ (3; 0% instances), en-pos/PROPN-en-pos/NUM (3; 0% instances), en-pos/VERB-en-pos/VERB (3; 0% instances), en-pos/ADV-en-pos/DET (2; 0% instances), en-pos/AUX-en-pos/DET (2; 0% instances), en-pos/DET-en-pos/NOUN (2; 0% instances), en-pos/SYM-en-pos/NOUN (2; 0% instances), en-pos/VERB-en-pos/PART (2; 0% instances), en-pos/X-en-pos/NOUN (2; 0% instances), en-pos/ADJ-en-pos/NUM (1; 0% instances), en-pos/ADJ-en-pos/PART (1; 0% instances), en-pos/ADJ-en-pos/SYM (1; 0% instances), en-pos/ADP-en-pos/DET (1; 0% instances), en-pos/ADP-en-pos/NOUN (1; 0% instances), en-pos/NOUN-en-pos/VERB (1; 0% instances), en-pos/PART-en-pos/DET (1; 0% instances), en-pos/PROPN-en-pos/PROPN (1; 0% instances), en-pos/SYM-en-pos/DET (1; 0% instances), en-pos/VERB-en-pos/SCONJ (1; 0% instances).
# visual-style 6 bgColor:blue
# visual-style 6 fgColor:white
# visual-style 7 bgColor:blue
# visual-style 7 fgColor:white
# visual-style 7 6 nsubj color:blue
1 _ _ SCONJ IN _ 4 mark _ _
2 _ _ DET DT _ 3 det _ _
3 _ _ NOUN NN _ 4 nsubj _ _
4 _ _ VERB VBD _ 7 advcl _ _
5 _ _ PUNCT , _ 7 punct _ _
6 _ _ PRON PRP _ 7 nsubj _ _
7 _ _ VERB VBD _ 0 root _ _
8 _ _ DET DT _ 9 det _ _
9 _ _ NOUN NN _ 7 dobj _ _
10 _ _ ADP IN _ 11 case _ _
11 _ _ NOUN NNS _ 7 nmod _ _
12 _ _ CONJ CC _ 7 cc _ _
13 _ _ PRON PRP _ 14 nsubj _ _
14 _ _ VERB VBD _ 7 conj _ _
15 _ _ DET DT _ 16 det _ _
16 _ _ NOUN NNS _ 14 dobj _ _
17 _ _ ADP IN _ 18 case _ _
18 _ _ NOUN NNS _ 14 nmod _ _
19 _ _ PUNCT . _ 7 punct _ _
# visual-style 5 bgColor:blue
# visual-style 5 fgColor:white
# visual-style 2 bgColor:blue
# visual-style 2 fgColor:white
# visual-style 2 5 nsubj color:blue
1 _ _ PRON EX _ 2 expl _ _
2 _ _ VERB VBZ _ 0 root _ _
3 _ _ DET DT _ 5 det _ _
4 _ _ ADJ JJ _ 5 amod _ _
5 _ _ NOUN NN _ 2 nsubj _ _
6 _ _ PART TO _ 7 mark _ _
7 _ _ VERB VB _ 5 acl _ _
8 _ _ ADV RB _ 7 advmod _ _
9 _ _ SCONJ IN _ 12 mark _ _
10 _ _ DET DT _ 11 det _ _
11 _ _ NOUN NNS _ 12 nsubj _ _
12 _ _ VERB VBP _ 2 advcl _ _
13 _ _ PART RB _ 12 neg _ _
14 _ _ VERB VB _ 12 xcomp _ _
15 _ _ NOUN NN _ 14 dobj _ _
16 _ _ PUNCT . _ 2 punct _ _
# visual-style 3 bgColor:blue
# visual-style 3 fgColor:white
# visual-style 6 bgColor:blue
# visual-style 6 fgColor:white
# visual-style 6 3 nsubj color:blue
1 _ _ ADV RB _ 6 advmod _ _
2 _ _ PUNCT , _ 6 punct _ _
3 _ _ PRON PRP _ 6 nsubj _ _
4 _ _ VERB VBD _ 6 cop _ _
5 _ _ ADV RB _ 6 advmod _ _
6 _ _ ADJ JJ _ 0 root _ _
7 _ _ PART TO _ 8 mark _ _
8 _ _ VERB VB _ 6 advcl _ _
9 _ _ PRON EX _ 10 expl _ _
10 _ _ VERB VBD _ 8 ccomp _ _
11 _ _ PART RB _ 10 neg _ _
12 _ _ NOUN NNS _ 10 nsubj _ _
13 _ _ ADP IN _ 15 case _ _
14 _ _ DET DT _ 15 det _ _
15 _ _ NOUN NN _ 10 nmod _ _
16 _ _ PUNCT . _ 6 punct _ _
Treebank Statistics (UD_English-LinES)
This relation is universal.
6804 nodes (8%) are attached to their parents as nsubj.
6437 instances of nsubj (95%) are right-to-left (child precedes parent).
Average distance between parent and child is 2.34861845972957.
The following 43 pairs of parts of speech are connected with nsubj: en-pos/VERB-en-pos/PRON (3441; 51% instances), en-pos/VERB-en-pos/NOUN (1373; 20% instances), en-pos/VERB-en-pos/PROPN (787; 12% instances), en-pos/ADJ-en-pos/PRON (282; 4% instances), en-pos/NOUN-en-pos/PRON (243; 4% instances), en-pos/ADJ-en-pos/NOUN (176; 3% instances), en-pos/NOUN-en-pos/NOUN (108; 2% instances), en-pos/AUX-en-pos/PRON (66; 1% instances), en-pos/PRON-en-pos/PRON (48; 1% instances), en-pos/ADJ-en-pos/PROPN (43; 1% instances), en-pos/NOUN-en-pos/PROPN (43; 1% instances), en-pos/PRON-en-pos/NOUN (31; 0% instances), en-pos/VERB-en-pos/ADJ (24; 0% instances), en-pos/PROPN-en-pos/PRON (22; 0% instances), en-pos/AUX-en-pos/NOUN (18; 0% instances), en-pos/VERB-en-pos/NUM (14; 0% instances), en-pos/ADV-en-pos/NOUN (12; 0% instances), en-pos/AUX-en-pos/PROPN (10; 0% instances), en-pos/PRON-en-pos/PROPN (9; 0% instances), en-pos/ADV-en-pos/PRON (7; 0% instances), en-pos/ADP-en-pos/NOUN (5; 0% instances), en-pos/PROPN-en-pos/PROPN (5; 0% instances), en-pos/PROPN-en-pos/NOUN (4; 0% instances), en-pos/PUNCT-en-pos/PRON (4; 0% instances), en-pos/DET-en-pos/PRON (3; 0% instances), en-pos/NOUN-en-pos/X (3; 0% instances), en-pos/NUM-en-pos/NOUN (3; 0% instances), en-pos/ADJ-en-pos/ADJ (2; 0% instances), en-pos/ADP-en-pos/PRON (2; 0% instances), en-pos/NUM-en-pos/PROPN (2; 0% instances), en-pos/PART-en-pos/PRON (2; 0% instances), en-pos/ADJ-en-pos/ADV (1; 0% instances), en-pos/ADJ-en-pos/NUM (1; 0% instances), en-pos/ADJ-en-pos/SCONJ (1; 0% instances), en-pos/ADV-en-pos/PROPN (1; 0% instances), en-pos/DET-en-pos/PROPN (1; 0% instances), en-pos/INTJ-en-pos/PROPN (1; 0% instances), en-pos/NOUN-en-pos/ADJ (1; 0% instances), en-pos/NOUN-en-pos/NUM (1; 0% instances), en-pos/NUM-en-pos/PRON (1; 0% instances), en-pos/PROPN-en-pos/ADJ (1; 0% instances), en-pos/SCONJ-en-pos/PROPN (1; 0% instances), en-pos/VERB-en-pos/X (1; 0% instances).
# visual-style 1 bgColor:blue
# visual-style 1 fgColor:white
# visual-style 2 bgColor:blue
# visual-style 2 fgColor:white
# visual-style 2 1 nsubj color:blue
1 That _ PRON DEM-SG _ 2 nsubj _ _
2 is _ VERB PRES _ 0 root _ _
3 : _ PUNCT Colon _ 2 punct _ _
# visual-style 3 bgColor:blue
# visual-style 3 fgColor:white
# visual-style 4 bgColor:blue
# visual-style 4 fgColor:white
# visual-style 4 3 nsubj color:blue
1 A _ DET IND-SG _ 3 det _ _
2 long _ ADJ POS _ 3 amod _ _
3 time _ NOUN SG _ 4 nsubj _ _
4 passed _ VERB PAST _ 0 root _ _
5 . _ PUNCT Period _ 4 punct _ _
# visual-style 1 bgColor:blue
# visual-style 1 fgColor:white
# visual-style 2 bgColor:blue
# visual-style 2 fgColor:white
# visual-style 2 1 nsubj color:blue
1 Access _ PROPN SG _ 2 nsubj _ _
2 supports _ VERB PRES _ 0 root _ _
3 the _ DET DEF _ 6 det _ _
4 XML _ PROPN SG _ 6 compound _ _
5 Schema _ NOUN SG _ 4 name _ _
6 standard _ NOUN SG _ 2 dobj _ _
7 ( _ PUNCT LeftParenthesis _ 8 punct _ _
8 XSD _ X NOM _ 6 amod _ _
9 ) _ PUNCT RightParenthesis _ 8 punct _ _
10 . _ PUNCT Period _ 2 punct _ _
nsubj in other languages: [bg] [cs] [de] [el] [en] [es] [eu] [fa] [fi] [fr] [ga] [he] [hu] [it] [ja] [ko] [sv] [u]