THE ANALYSIS OF SIMPLE, PARTIALLY COMPOUND, AND COMPLEX SENTENCES
1. Study the sentence as to number and kind of propositions, to
determine whether it is simple, partially compound, or complex.
Determine also whether it is declarative, interrogative, or imperative.
Name it according to both structure and form. If it has been rendered
exclamative, state that fact.
2. If the sentence is simple, separate it into its two parts, subject
and predicate.
3. Analyze the subject; that is, separate it into the substantive used
as base-word and the adjuncts of that substantive.
4. Analyze the predicate; that is, separate it into predicate verb,
complement, and modifiers (provided the verb has these adjuncts).
5. If the complement is complex, analyze it by separating it into
base-word and modifiers.
NOTE.--Do not talk about “complete subject” and “simple subject,”
neither “logical predicate” and “grammatical predicate.” The subject
is the subject; the predicate is the predicate. That ends it.
6. If the sentence is complex, containing an adjective clause, proceed
the same as in the analysis of simple sentences, analyzing the clause
last.
7. When the clause is given as an adjunct of some noun, state whether
it is restrictive or unrestrictive, and give its introductory word.
8. If any subject or predicate is partially compound, state that fact
before analyzing it.
Always proceed logically. In analyzing the sentence, “The city editor
laid a clipping from the morning paper on the desk,” do not say that
_from the morning paper_ is a phrase modifying _clipping_. Say instead
that _clipping_ is modified by the prepositional phrase _from the
morning paper_. In other words, get new elements by reaching out from
elements that you already have.
Always proceed from the whole to the part. Do not say that _laid_
is completed by the object _clipping_, for that is only part of the
object. The object is _a clipping from the morning paper_. After giving
this as a unit, or whole, separate it into base-word and modifiers.
Do not analyze a simple prepositional phrase like _on the desk_. It is
a waste of time. If the phrase is complex, that is, contains a phrase,
like _from the morning paper of July first_, it should be analyzed.
Model for Analysis
The Merced Yosemite was created by the action of five immense
glaciers, traces of which still exist upon every rock in the
valley.--_Muir._
This is a complex declarative sentence.
The subject is _The Merced Yosemite_. The predicate is _was created by
the action of five immense glaciers, traces of which still exist upon
every rock in the valley_.
The base-word of the subject is the noun _Yosemite_; it is modified by
the adjective _Merced_ and the article _the_.
The predicate verb is _was created_; it is modified by the
prepositional phrase _by the action of five immense glaciers, traces
of which still exist upon every rock in the valley_.
The base-word of the object of the preposition _by_ is _action_; it
is modified by the prepositional phrase _of five immense glaciers,
traces of which still exist upon every rock in the valley_ and by the
article _the_. The base-word of the object of the preposition _of_ is
_glaciers_; it is modified by the adjectives _immense_ and _five_, and
by the unrestrictive adjective clause _traces of which still exist
upon every rock in the valley_; this clause is introduced by the
relative pronoun _which_.
The subject of the clause is _traces of which_. The predicate is
_still exist upon every rock in the valley_.
The base-word of the subject is the noun _traces_. It is modified by
the prepositional phrase _of which_.
The predicate verb is _exist_; it is modified by the adverb _still_
and the prepositional phrase _upon every rock in the valley_. The
base-word of the object of the preposition _upon_ is _rock_; it is
modified by the adjective _every_ and the prepositional phrase _in the
valley_.
Exercise 6
Analyze the following sentences. If the analysis is written, take
pains to arrange it well on paper. Divide it into paragraphs. Either
underline or enclose in quotation marks all words quoted from the
sentence. Use abbreviations. Do not write out elements in full if they
consist of more than two words. Instead write the first and last words
with a dash between them.
1. Fear is a wonderful goad to remorse.--_H. H._
2. A part of the citizens seceded from the main body, and formed a
separate community on the neighboring marshes.--_Prescott._
3. He is great who confers the most benefits.--_Emerson._
4. After two hours’ march the cortege stopped at the end of the quay,
where the Prince de Joinville had stationed himself at the head of the
officers of the three French ships of war.--_Thackeray._
5. How many men and women perform their daily tasks from the
highest motives alone--for the glory of God and the relief of man’s
estate?--_C. W. Eliot._
6. No one is useless in this world who lightens the burden of it for
another.--_Dickens._
7. He lifted his enormous ears, gave a short trumpet, and for an
instant wavered in his determination whether to attack or fly.--_Sir
Samuel Baker._
8. Simplicity must be the first element of literary art.--_Higginson._
9. I touched him on the shoulder, at which he collared me and nearly
knocked me down.--_Miss Mulock._
10. Those were the days when a man could hold three small livings,
starve a curate apiece on two of them, and live badly himself on the
third.--_George Eliot._
11. A woman kept the summer school, sharp, precise, unsympathetic,
keen and untiring.--_Beecher._
12. I hold our actual knowledge very cheap.--_Emerson._
13. Then saunter down that terrace whence the sea
All fair with wing-like sails you may discern.
--_Jean Ingelow._
14. Man hath no fate except past days.--_E. Arnold._
15. How few men in all the pride of culture can emulate the easy grace
of a bright woman’s letter!--_Higginson._
16. And, what is notable, in no time whatever can they entirely
eradicate out of living men’s hearts a certain altogether peculiar
reverence for Great Men.--_Carlyle._