92923
Based on what I understand, formal nouns like はず take up a subordinate clause,
therefore taking が to mark the subject, but when I see examples such as

> あの人は若いはず

or

> あの本は高かったはずだ

It makes it look like my understanding is wrong.

When I tried to contemplate why, I just imagine that あの人 and あの本 aren't a part
of the subordinate clause, but it is more of saying "that person/book is ～
はずだ".

If that may be the case can this also be applied to other formal nouns such as
わけ?
CC BY-SA 4.0
2022-01-11T06:46:24.460
92922
2022-01-14T17:55:54.837
2022-01-14T17:55:54.837
5229
45598
question
grammar particle-は formal-nouns subordinate-clauses
Why is は used in phrases with はず, if they are formal nouns that take a subordinate clause?
Technically, 高い and 高かった are the short subordinate clauses that modify はず.
Japanese relative clauses [can be very
short](https://japanese.stackexchange.com/a/48859/5010). As you said, the word
marked with は is working as a topic of the entire sentence.

あの人が若いはず lacks a topic, and this doesn't even look like a valid sentence to
me. It's just a fragment roughly meaning "probable-ness of that person being
young". Still, you can make the subordinate clause have a different subject
using が:

> 彼はあの人が若いはずがないと思っている。  
>  He thinks that person should not be young.
CC BY-SA 4.0
2022-01-11T10:29:30.147
92923
2022-01-11T10:29:30.147
5010
92922
answer