Handout 51

Handout 51

Analyzing The Sentence Part 1

THE VERB

When you analyze a sentence, first identify the verb. The verb asserts the action of a sentence, and often follows the pattern –something—did/caused/is—something else. Verbs identify activities – that is anything we can do. We can run, sleep, jump, digest, shout or walk. Verbs also show a state of being. Balled “be verbs” or “linking verbs”, they include such words as am, is, are, was, were, be, been, being, became, seem and appear. There are also “sense verbs” like tastes, feels, looks, hears and smells.

	Example 1: Eating fourteen toads gave Harold a stomachache. . ------something------- verb ----something else-----
	Example 2: Crabs and lobsters are my favorite seafood. . . -----something---- verb ---something else---

THE PREDICATE

A sentence can be divided into two parts, a subject and a predicate. Now that you have identified the main verb, identifying the subject and the predicate is easy, The predicate includes the verb and the words which come after the verb.

THE SUBJECT

Once you determine the verb, ask yourself “who or what” relates to or of the verb. This is the subject. The subject of a sentence will answer the question “who” or “what”.

	Example 1: Eating fourteen toads gave Harold a stomachache. What gave Harold a stomachache? “Eating fourteen toads” gave Harold a stomachache. “Eating fourteen toads” is the subject. “Toads” is the subject noun because it was the toads that gave Harold the stomachache.
	Example 2: Crabs and lobsters are my favorite seafood. What are my favorite seafood? Crabs and lobsters are my favorite seafood. “Crabs and lobsters” is the subject . “Crabs” & “lobsters are subject nouns because they “are my favorite seafood”.

THE UNDERSTOOD SUBJECT

A complete sentence must contain a subject and a verb. Sometimes, the subject is not stated, but is understood.

Example 1: Come to my house. The inference is “You” come to my house. The word “you” is understood – who is to come to my house? You. The word “you” is the subject even though it is not stated because it is understood.

THE NOUN

A noun symbolizes a person, place or thing. A noun will name anything you can point to. A noun is anything you can touch or see. A noun can also represent an idea. The words greed, ambition and socialism are examples of idea nouns. Put the words a, an or the (articles or determiners) in front of the word and see if it makes sense. If it does make sense, the word id a noun.

Examples: the car, a mountain, an ideal, the idea, a love, a freedom, the government, an egg.

THE PRONOUN

A pronoun is a word that takes the place of a noun. Pronouns are words like you, they, them, those, these, his hers, their, she, me, I, who and whom. The word that the pronoun refers to is called the antecedent. This sounds complicated, but it is really very simple. Look at the example below.

Example 1: Nancy is a good student. She is very smart. “She” in the second sentence is a pronoun because she refers to a noun (Nancy) . The word the pronoun refers to is the antecedent. She refers to Nancy, so “Nancy” is the antecedent of the pronoun “she” because the word “she” means or refers to Nancy.

THE ADJECTIVE

An adjective is a word or group of words that modify, or add information to a noun. An adjective clarifies or strengthens a noun. Adjectives answer questions like “how many”, “what kind”, “what color”, or “which ones”. Adjectives can be a single word, a phrase or a clause. Clauses will be covered later.

- First, lets look at single word adjectives.

Example 1: The fast, blue 1998 Honda was stolen. . adj. adj. adj. subject verb “Fast”, “blue” and “1998” modify, or give additional information about the Honda – what kind of a Honda was it? A “fast” Honda. What color was the Honda? A “blue” Honda. What year model was the Honda? A “1998” model Honda.

Now, lets look at an adjective phrase.

Example 2: The man with the torn shirt threw the ball. . . subj. (------ adj. phrase ----) verb . “With the torn shirt” modifies, or adds information about the man. Which man threw the ball? The man “with the torn shirt”. .

Because adjectives give extra, or additional information, they can be removed and the sentence will still make sense. Consider the same examples.

	Example 1: The fast, blue 1998 Honda was stolen. Remove the adjectives “FAST". Does the sentence still make sense? Yes. In fact, you can remove all the adjectives and the sentence will still make sense. "The Honda was stolen" makes sense.
	Example 2 "The man with the torn shirt threw the ball". Remove the adjective phrase "with the torn shirt". Does the sentence still make sense? Yes. "The man threw the ball" makes perfect sense.

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