Modern Grammar - ASSIGNMENT 20 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.

1. First,below are some sentences with adverbial clauses in them for you to try diagramming. An adverbial clause is an ordinary sentences with a subordinate conjunction in front of it. The rule is AdvCl--> sconj S. An aderbial clause gets used just like an AdvP, either modifying (another) whole sentence or, if comes before the sentence or modifying just the verb phrase if it comes at the end of another sentence. The true rules should make sense because they look just like the two rules to use AdvPs: S--> AdvCl S in one case, and VP--> VP AdvCl in the other.

   FYI, An adverbial clause is a kind of subordinate clause. So, we are now officially working with "complex sentences," which just means we now have sentences with more than one clause where one is the "main" clause" and the other(s) is/are subordinate. :)
   

   1. Because the invisible monster smells like rotten eggs, we know its location. (Adverbial Clause comes first.)
   2. John seemed normal before he ate that old man's strange mushrooms. (Our sentence with an adverbial clause after the main clause)
   3. Once the drivers start their engines, the race will begin soon.
   4. You looked troubled when you saw all those unfamiliar faces at the orientation.
   5. My dog will not chase a cat if the cat is acting slightly confident.
   
   SOME PRACTICE WITH SENTENCES WITH GERUND PHRASES:
   
   6. Finding gerunds is easy.
   7. That friendly monkey started giving the little girl pieces of its fruit.
   8. Your ignoring the facts will not change the situation.
   9. Actually, some people do like dancing in their bare feet.
   
   SOME More SENTENCES CONTAINING COORDINATE CONJUNCTIONS:
   
   10. Betty and Jughead are planning an amazing party.
   11. Those mushrooms may be safe, but they could be poisonous.
   12. He washed and polished his car before his date with Odette.
   13. Carefully, the farmer picked all the ripest and tastiest fruit.
   14. Slowly but steadily, the snail inched towards the sea.
   NEXT ARE SOME MORE SENTENCES FOR YOU TO TRY WITHOUT BEING TOLD WHAT CONSTRUCTIONS TO LOOK FOR:
   
   15. While Ken was travelling, his housemates changed the locks.
   16. Once you have completed your work, you should turn off your computer.
   17. Although the guests did not leave early, the party was quiet and rather boring.
   18. The lady threw her gloves and handkerchief to the knight when he requested it sweetly.
   19. The employees get a raise if they increase production or if the company's stock splits.
   20. From the beginning, the story seemed new and exciting to most of us.
   21. Their screaming at the waiter will not help in any way.
   22. Ultimately, he did finish writing his article about endangered ghosts before the magazine's deadline.
   23. While I was getting sponges and soap, those kids spilled more food onto the sticky floor.
   24. 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)
   
   Finally, Take a stab at sentences containing either a basic sentence or a sentence with a complementizer added at the front of it called an S-BAR THAT IS USED AS PART OF BASIC SENTENCE STRUCTURE (more specifcally, as either a SUBJECT of a verb or as DIRECT OBJECT or other participant inside a verb phrase). FOCUS FIRST ON just FINDING and UNDERLINING that special use subordinate clause in each example and also IDENTIFYING what new rule you might use to add that S or S-bar into the bigger sentence structure. [Your next assignment will include practice diagramming these and other examples. There will be no more new rules to use in sentence diagramming after these! (...though there will be a bit more sentence identification. :) )]
   
   25. The directions say we need every screw. (a sentential direct object, no complementizer)
   26. Undoubtedly, many customers complained that the food was bland and overcooked. ( sentential direct object with "that" as a complementizer. )
   27. The actor doubted if he got a part in the new sitcom. (A Sentential direct object with "if" as the complementizer.)
   28. That the squeaky wheel gets the grease frustrates quieter people. (A sentential subject for the verb "frustrates" )
   29. That those fish can fly seems very unlikely. (another sentential subject)
   
   

   
   

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