Modern Grammar - ASSIGNMENT 19

James Madison University

Instructions: This assignment will be marked as an acceptable or unacceptable effort. Taking time to go slowly and carefully, diagram each of the following sentences. Remember that you have practiced all the basic types of constituents and just need to find combinations. NOTE THAT A COPY OF THE COMPLETE LIST OF PHRASE STRUCTURE RULES WE WILL USE IS NOW AVAILABLE ON CANVAS.


    SOME PRACTICE WITH SENTENCES WITH GERUND PHRASES:
  1. Finding gerunds is easy.
  2. That friendly monkey started giving the little girl pieces of its fruit.
  3. Your ignoring the facts will not change the situation.
  4. Actually, some people do like dancing in their bare feet.

    5. SOME SENTENCES CONTAINING COORDINATE CONJUNCTIONS:
  5. Betty and Jughead are planning an amazing party.
  6. Those mushrooms may be safe, but they could be poisonous.
  7. He washed and polished his car before his date with Odette.
  8. Carefully, the farmer picked all the ripest and tastiest fruit.
  9. Slowly but steadily, the snail inched towards the sea.
    10. NEXT ARE SOME MORE SENTENCES FOR YOU TO TRY WITHOUT BEING TOLD WHAT CONSTRUCTIONS TO LOOK FOR:
  10. While Ken was travelling, his housemates changed the locks.
  11. Once you have completed your work, you should turn off your computer.
  12. Although the guests did not leave early, the party was quiet and rather boring.
  13. The lady threw her gloves and handkerchief to the knight when he requested it sweetly.
  14. The employees get a raise if they increase production or if the company's stock splits.
  15. From the beginning, the story seemed new and exciting to most of us.
  16. Their screaming at the waiter will not help in any way.
  17. Ultimately, he did finish writing his article about endangered ghosts before the magazine's deadline.
  18. While I was getting sponges and soap, those kids spilled more food onto the sticky floor.
  19. After the nervous babysitter turned off the lights, she became scared of the shadows in the old house because she was familiar with the dark rumors about that neighborhood. (Don't panic -- just find three clauses and see how two of them work as adverbial clauses. Watch for the verb-particle combo too and for the roles of the various PPs)

    20. FINALLY, TAKE A STAB AT SENTENCES CONTAINING AN S-BAR (OR EVEN JUST AN S) THAT IS USED AS PART OF BASIC SENTENCE STRUCTURE (WHERE YOU MIGHT NORMALLY EXPECT A NOUN PHORASE). MORE SPECIFICALLY, THESE EXAMPLES HAVE CLAUSES USED AS EITHER A SUBJECT OF A SENTENCE OR AS A DIRECT OBJECT OR OTHER PART OF A VERB PHRASE. IF YOU'RE SHORT ON TIME, FOCUS FOR NOW ON FINDING THAT SPECIAL-USE, SUBORDINATE CLAUSE (WHAT WE CALL A "COMPLEMENT CLAUSE") IN EACH EXAMPLE AND NOTING WHAT PHRASE STRUCTURE RULE YOU'D USE TO COMBINE IT WITH THE REST OF THE LARGER SENTENCE.)
  20. The directions say we need every screw. (A sentential direct object, no complementizer)
  21. Undoubtedly, many customers complained that the food was bland and overcooked. ( sentential direct object with "that" as a complementizer. Remember to build the S-Bar first. :))
  22. The actor doubted if he got a part in the new sitcom. (A Sentential direct object with "if" as the complementizer.)
  23. That the squeaky wheel gets the grease frustrates quieter people. (A sentential subject for the verb "frustrates" )
  24. That those fish can fly seems very unlikely. (another sentential subject)


Syllabus for ENG310 Linguistics Resources Oxford English Dictionary Send email to Prof. Cote