The village seemed deserted, the only sign of life being an

你好。主语是the only sign。 可以改写成句子：The village seemed deserted, AND the only sign of life WAS an ugly-looking black goat on a short length of rope tied to a tree in a field nearby你的句子是独立主格结构,我的句子是两个简单句,但the only sign 是后面句子的主语。