Lazy blogging and subjects

Firstly, apologies for the lazy blogging. It must have been a year since I have posted anything.

One thing that has been coming up recently with a few of my beginner students has been the use of a subject (主語) in sentences.

In English, a sentence is made up from a single, or a combination of clauses. A clause must contain a subject and a verb to be complete:

S          V            O
I       played      tennis.

This is a complete sentence and contains a clause with a subject and a verb.

In Japanese, it is common practice to omit a subject when it is obvious who or what is being talked about:

Ａ：　週末に（あなたは）何をしましたか？
Ｂ：　（私は）テニスをしました。

A: At the weekend, what did you do?
B: I played tennis.

Here the words in brackets, the subjects, are obvious in a conversation between two people and so are left out in the Japanese language.

But in English we cannot do this.

Remember, your sentences must always include a subject.