You can be missing but understood. Huh?

Here is a riddle. When can you be missing but understood? Don't go searching for the answer in a bad self help book. This is actually a grammar situation. The "you" is missing from any command statement, but it is understood to be there as the hidden subject of the action commanded. If someone grabs you by the arm and says "Call 9-1-1!," you know darn well you've been designated to dial the phone. You understand that you are the subject meant to execute that order. Interestingly, a command is the only time that a complete sentence will be missing its subject. Commands come in many varieties and can be mild as well as intense. Some examples of the "understood you" are as follows:
Go to your room!
Pass the butter.
Meet us at the pizza place on Kirkwood and Grant.
Ask her friend if she wants to go out with me.
Tell me again what you need me to do.
Get real.
Wait thirty seconds before shutting off the engine.

Weird subjects and verbs Part 1

Here is a really strange subject and verb pattern that is easy get wrong. In the following sentences, the subject is not the word before the verb. Instead these words are adverbs: there, here, where, how, and why. I find it easier to locate the true subject and verb if I hear Yoda's voice rewriting the sentence:

There are no Jedis who complain. = No Jedis there are who complain, young Skywalker.
Here lies your destiny. = Your destiny here lies, young Skywalker.
There seems no need to argue. = No need there seems to argue, young Skywalker.

In statements starting with "There" or "Here," Yoda emphasizes the subject first.
With questions of "Where," "How," or "Why," Yoda always knows the answer and emphasizes the action (verb).

Where have you left your light saber? = Left your light saber you have, young Skywalker.
How will you find your true nature? = Find your true nature you will, young Skywalker.
Why did you choose this path? = Choose this path you did, young Skywalker.

Weird subjects and verbs Part 2

Wacky "ing" phrases do not just act as adjectives (describing something) or trouble us as dangling modifiers. Ing's can be weird subjects too. The technical term for an "ing" is a participle and when it functions as the subject of a sentence it is known as a gerund. But big names for categories can get annoying fast. Just notice the pattern of this type of weird "ing" and how it functions as the subject (the "What") in our basic sentence structure: What does what.

Jogging is great exercise. (What?) Jogging (does what?) is great exercise.
Coming to a conclusion is difficult. (What?) Coming to a conclusion (does what?) is difficult.
Entering my password took an hour. (What?) Entering my password (does what?) took an hour.
Deciding what to do made me stronger. (What?) Deciding what to do (does what?) made me stronger.
Stealing is wrong. (What?) Stealing (does what?) is wrong.

The most boring verb in the world

The majority of verbs are actions we can imagine: The dog ran. Billy ate his vegetables. Gillian slept for ten hours. Even a tricky verb like "exists" is imaginable: The alien exists in another dimension. But what about Hamlet's well-known dilemma: To be or not to be? To be is the same verb (the infinitive form) as I am, You are, It is, We are, You (all) are, They are. Personally, I think is and all of its forms make the most boring verb in the world. What does is look like? How can I imagine it? A Zen monk meditating comes to mind, and he would say that meditating is anything but boring. However, writing He meditates is far more imaginable than He is. I mention the most boring verb in the world because people have trouble identifying these verbs in sentences. Remembering "is" as the most boring verb will help you find them in sentences like Gwyn is cute or The meeting was too long. (Was is the past form of is.) Also, watch out for sentences beginning with There is or There are. In the sentence "There are only so many hours in a day" the subject/verb is hard to identify because the verb is so blah and the subject "hours" is inverted with There. On the other hand, sometimes blah is exactly what you need. I wouldn't rewrite it as "A day can only hold so many hours" even though many teachers suggest rewriting every There are. I think the rewrite sounds pretentious.