ABSTRACT
What is an Object P IT is easy enough to see what is the subject of a sentence when this contains only one primary, as in John slept I the door opened slowly; and we have seen that in sentences containing two terms connected by means of is or a similar verb (and also in those sentences without a verb mentioned in Ch. IX.) the member which is most special is the subject (primary) and the less special member the predicative. But many sentences contain two (or three) primaries: here one is the subject and the other (or the two others) the object (or objects) ; thus in John beats Paul I John ShoW6 Paul the way, John is the subject, and Paul and the way are objects. In sentences containing a verb it is nearly always easy to find the subject, for it is that primary that has the most immediate relation to the verb in the form in which the latter actually occurs in the sentence: this applies to sentences like those just mentioned as well as to sentences of the form Peter is beaten by John, where we might according to other definitions feel inclined to regard John as the subject because he is the agent.
