This question really stems from technical writing (police reports). Can you start a sentence with the word "Subject?"
eg. Subject stated that he did not know.
Or should it be, The subject stated that he did not know. ?
Thanks
I daresay either variant is possible. Here is a quote from a story by R.Chandler (a popular detective story writer, the 30s-40s of the 20th century):1. A waitress came with the inevitable glass of ice water, and the menu. The subject gave an order.2. I went back to the coffee shop and looked in through the glass wall. Subject was reading her paperback and toying with coffee and a snail. Indeed the ways of English grammar are very mysterious.
Did R.Chandler find the second appearance of the definite article in the next sentence redundant?
Or maybe he named the person that way?
Thanks
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