Modern Grammar - ASSIGNMENT 18

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:

  1. We need more time for fun and relaxation, but we have tons of homework!
  2. To my surprise, the words on the first page of that author's new novel sent shivers down my back for hours.
  3. John seemed quite normal before he ate that old man's strange mushrooms. (the new rule here is VP --> VP AdvCl )
  4. The lady will throw her glove to the knight, if he requests it sweetly. (see rule above)
  5. You do not get an automatic "A" if your roomate dies or if a crazy robber invades your dormitory. (Treat the "A" as a noun, and note that there's a coordinate conjunction of adverbial clauses too!)
  6. 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 the three clauses and see what connects them. )
  7. The directions say we should have used every screw. ( clause as a direct object: VP --> V S)
  8. That farmer thinks that his cows have magical powers.(There is a complementizer that combines with a clause to make an "S-BAR," which would be made with a line above the S if that symbol was available here :) , and that S-Bar is then used as a direct object: New rules: S-BAR-->comp S , VP --> V S-BAR)
  9. The frog asked whether any of us would kiss him.
    10. (Remember that there are other complementizers besides "that")
  10. That your dog writes poetry seems unlikely. (S-BAR used as the subject of another sentence: S--> S-BAR VP)
  11. That three minutes can feel like an eternity is a bizarre fact. (see rule above)
  12. That the cafeteria put peanut butter and pickles in the same sandwich disturbed the cafeteria's customers.
  13. Because the students are experts at grammar, that this sentence has multiple clauses does not bother them.
  14. The butterfly was quite devastated that it could not make butter.
    15. (S-BAR modifying an adjective: AP --> AP S-BAR)
  15. The gladiator's certainty that he could defeat all challengers was getting tiresome. (S-BAR modifying a noun: N-BAR --> N-BAR S-BAR)


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