Question

What is an implied subject?

Answer 1

Hint: By knowing the separate meanings of the words ‘implied’ and ‘subject’ we will be able to find the meaning of the term ‘implied subject’. The meaning of ‘implied’ is that it need not be explicitly specified but it is obvious. And a ‘subject’ in any sentence is the part seen before a verb that performs the action specified by the verb. Most of the time, when imperative sentences are considered, they contain solid examples of implied subjects.

Complete answer:
Consider the meanings of ‘implied’ and ‘subject’ on their own; The meaning of ‘implied’ is that it need not be explicitly specified but it is obvious. And a ‘subject’ in any sentence is the part seen before a verb that performs the action specified by the verb.

Now an implied subject would mean a combination of meanings of the words implied and subject. So in general any subject that acts as a subject and that need not be specified explicitly but is supposed to be obvious that it is in fact the subject in that sentence is known as an implied subject.

In simpler words, if we know that something is a subject without having to specify who the subject is, is called an implied subject.

Take some examples:
Example; Give me a glass of orange juice.
In the above example, ‘you’ is without a doubt the subject, since it is a command. Therefore since we are not explicitly taking writing the subject ‘you’ in the sentence, but we have understood it by the meaning of the sentence, it is clearly an ‘implied subject’.

Example; See you later.
In the above phrase, we know that the person saying this will obviously be the subject of the phrase. So the subject is ‘I’ since the phrase is implied to be “I will see you later”. Here ‘I’ acts as the implied subject as we have not used it explicitly in the phrase given in the example.

Example; Thank you!
In the above example, we know that the person saying “Thank you” is the person who is expressing their gratitude, so they do not need to explicitly say “I thank you”. This is why the implied subject is ‘I’ in the above phrase.

Note: We know that implied subjects can be easily recognized. If we find it difficult then we will try to write the sentence in its complete format rather than a shortened version. In place of “Go home”, write “You go home”. So once in a while when you read such sentences you will become familiar with the possible subjects for imperative sentences which will make it easier to understand implied subjects.