ENGLISH
REFERENCE

subject to sth

prep. phr..
B2 Upper Intermediate Oxford

prep. phr.. to be likely to experience something, or to be controlled by a specific set of rules.

prep. phr.. adjectival or adverbial phrase indicating that an entity is conditional upon, or vulnerable to, a specific external force, rule, or event.


SIMPLE

The flight times are subject to change.

CONTEXTUAL

All new employees are subject to a three-month trial period before their contract becomes permanent.

COMPLEX

The proposed merger is subject to approval by the regulatory board, which must ensure no antitrust laws are violated.

Usage

usually follows the verb 'to be' and is followed by a noun or a gerund.

Teaching tip

distinguish between the passive 'vulnerable' sense and the legal 'conditional' sense; learners often confuse this with the noun 'subject' (topic).

Pitfall

The prices are subject of change.The prices are subject to change.the phrase requires the preposition 'to' rather than 'of' to show dependency.

© 2026 English Reference