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This might seem like a simple question, but I'm not sure it definitely is.

What is the Subject, in its most likely reading, of the question:

  • What is the answer?

Is it the noun phrase (NP) What, or is it the noun phrase the answer?

How can we tell? In other words what evidence do we have?

I reserve the right as stipulated in the guidance to ask questions that I know the answer to. I ask the question because a good answer would be useful to point to in other answers and because I think the question of evidence is interesting enough in its own right

Edwin Ashworth
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Araucaria - Him
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  • You should reserve the right to answer your own question if you know the answer. That said, this is a good question. – David M Sep 19 '19 at 15:43
  • @DavidM Thank you. I also reserve the right to let people more able, perspicuous, concise or more eloquent than me, provide an answer! – Araucaria - Him Sep 19 '19 at 15:46
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    I was being snarky in an amused tone. – David M Sep 19 '19 at 15:47
  • @DavidM Indeed, and it was well appreciated :) Banter is a dying art! – Araucaria - Him Sep 19 '19 at 15:48
  • Possible duplicate of Can words like "what" be the subject of a sentence? – Edwin Ashworth Sep 19 '19 at 15:51
  • @EdwinAshworth I don't believe so for two reasons. In that question, there is only a lexical verb hears. The verb hear, not being an auxiliary (and should it matter, not being the verb BE) cannot appear in subject-auxiliary inversion contexts. The structure there in terms of whether what is a complent of the verb or not is quite unambiguous, which is why the top rated answer goes into abstract consideration of whether the sentence has a gap as subject, co-indexed with what or whether what itself is the subject. – Araucaria - Him Sep 19 '19 at 15:59
  • @EdwinAshworth Secondly, that question asks a yes/no question. This question asks a what is the evidence question. Never the twain shall meet! And the evidence to support an the answer to that question is utterly different from the evidence to support the answer to this question. – Araucaria - Him Sep 19 '19 at 16:06
  • Obviously, the title question there is wider than the actual question put. Probably there needs to be further discussion on the topic, addressing cases without lexical verbs. / Have to go! Have a real life too! – Edwin Ashworth Sep 19 '19 at 16:10
  • @EdwinAshworth Ah, I'm taking a short (now rare and increasingly infrequent) couple of hours break from my real life :) – Araucaria - Him Sep 19 '19 at 16:18
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    I feel refreshed and bolshy. I'm going to guess that any answer given as being 'correct' here makes assumptions that are perhaps unprovable (unless arbitrary tests are invoked). Comparison of this string with 'John pushed Jill' with an archetypal subject is so difficult/controversial that any conclusion may well be open to revision. – Edwin Ashworth Sep 19 '19 at 19:00
  • @EdwinAshworth I'll upvote (and maybe even accept) any answer with evidence regardless of whether I completely believe it (it being the answer). 'Evidence' here includes theoretical argument, of course. The more evidence the better. Revision is also appreciated. Revision shows dedication – Araucaria - Him Sep 19 '19 at 19:11
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    I’m going to sidestep the entire discussion and suggest that the subject in “What is the answer?” is in fact the question mark at the end. Hang on while I go manuf--gather some evidence to back up this claim. – Janus Bahs Jacquet Sep 19 '19 at 20:34
  • @JanusBahsJacquet If you can summon evidence, so be it. But it'll have to be evidence! – Araucaria - Him Sep 19 '19 at 21:10
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    @JanusBahsJacquet Actually, something very like your proposal is proposed by many generative linguists and similar (all quite thin on the evidence side, imo). This takes the form of a phonogically null Q morpheme sitting on the left periphary. It's not the subject, but who's splitting hairs? Wrong periphery too, but hey ... :) – Araucaria - Him Sep 19 '19 at 21:15
  • @JJJ Could you explain your close vote here, please? – Araucaria - Him Sep 19 '19 at 21:56
  • Good question! I'm waiting expectantly for your answer! I'd also be interested in your analysis of "What on earth is the answer?" In this case inversion does not work: "*The answer is what on earth? – Shoe Sep 20 '19 at 11:01
  • And then there's 'What is in there?' and 'Who hunts alone in the middle of a crowd?' – Edwin Ashworth Sep 20 '19 at 12:58

1 Answers1

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In this question, the answer is the subject.

Questions often reverse the typical syntactic order of noun then verb. Subject-auxillary inversion is frequently employed in English to form questions.

The question at hand can be dissected and reassembled as:

The answer is what?

Had it been phrased in this more awkward but grammatically correct manner, the subject is much more readily apparent.

David M
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