Like a mournful harbinger of impending conflict the katabic wind let out a plaintive howl.:cry:
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Like a mournful harbinger of impending conflict the katabic wind let out a plaintive howl.:cry:
Are you asking for help with the meaning or with analysing and/or diagramming the sentence?Quote:
Originally Posted by 0072537
ps. katabatic.
Hi there, i just joined yesterday. so i'm quite new here! therefore i don't know how to post diagrams yet :-(
(also, i have not been parsing sentences for very long. i still have much to learn but i hope this helps nonetheless).
- Like a mournful harbinger of impending conflict the katabic wind let out a plaintive howl.
this is how i went about parsing the sentence, it's not necessarily the correct way (whatever works)
1st step: i located the prepositional phrases. my teacher says that you will never find a verb or the sentence subject in any prepositional phrase(s).
i found just one; it being: "of impending conflict"
prepositional phrses are not too dificult to find (you should quickly pick them out as easily as you pick yout nose [hehe]) because they always start with a preposition!
i can't yet tell you confidently if this prep. phrase is adverbial or adjectival, but i think it answers the question: What kind (of conflict)? Answer: "impending" and is therefore adjectival
the questions to ask yourself to determine if a word is an adjective are
-what kind?
-which one?
-how many?
if the word/prep. phrase answers one of these questions it's an adjective
and the questions you ask to determin if a word is an adverb are:
-when?
-where?
-how?
-why?
- to what extent? - meaning, how much? or how long?
if the word/prep. phrase answers one of these questions it's an adverb
2nd step: i highlighted the modifiers i could find and drew arrows to the parts/elements they modify (i transcribed the sentence onto paper so i could break it down and draw arrows n'stuff)
what i came up with is :
- a and mournful are adjectives and both modify harbinger. so i drew arrows from both pointing to harbinger
- the prep. phrase "of impending conflict" modifies harbinger. i drew an arrow from the prep. phrase (which i put in brackets/parenthatis(/z)ed, just like i have done to what i'm sayin now!) pointing to harbinger
- the and katabatic are both adjectives modifying wind. so two arrows pointed to wind
- a and plaintive are both adjectives and modify howl. arrows pointing to howl
3rd step: i double underlined "let out" as the verb
and made a bit of a guess that "like," at the beginning of the sentence, is an adverb modifying the verb "let out".
when? where? how? why? to what extent (how many? how long?)?
or
what kind? which one? how many?
i decided that "like" answered the adverbial question, how?
How was the howl "let out"? Answer: Like a mournful harbinger.
(i wonder if that means that "like a mournful harbinger" in its entirity modifies "let out"
sorry, need to abruptly end it at this point. hopefully i remember to tie up any loose ends later.
goodluck!
What help are you looking for with this sentence? Use your dictionary. Find words in your language that match the words in the sentence that you do not know. Then write back to me with questions you may have about this sentence. What questions do you have at all about this sentence? What help do you need with this sentence! :-)
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