"Potatoes are fattening" diagram

[TheParser]

"Potatoes can add more pounds than soft drinks."


Would you kindly Reed-Kellogg?


Thank you very much.


James

[konungursvia]

This question doesn't make any sense to me.

[Rolex_Cellini]

"Potatoes can add more pounds than soft drinks."


Would you kindly Reed-Kellogg?

Here comes nothing.



Hope you like it. Note the relative freedom of "more" to move around "pounds".

Thank you very much.

You are welcome.

[Frank Antonson]

I still do not have this computer set up to diagram, but I think that "more...than" is a correlative conjunction and would not be diagrammed as you have done it.

"Than" by itself is not a conjunction here.

[TheParser]

I still do not have this computer set up to diagram, but I think that "more...than" is a correlative conjunction and would not be diagrammed as you have done it.

"Than" by itself is not a conjunction here.

Welcome back, Mr. Antonson.

Your remarks were very insightful. I found a similar sentence on

Mr. Eugene R. Moutoux's diagramming website: "We humans get more

bonus points for penitence than we get for kindness."

He analyzes it as:

We humans get more bonus points for penitence than we get many/some

bonus points for kindness.

He shows "than" modifying the understood "many/some."


I believe that is how our heroes, Professors House and Harman, would

diagram it, too.



James

[Frank Antonson]

James,

I (we) am (are) SOOOO hampered by our present inability to R-K online.

I cannot understand "than" to modify "many" or "some" -- e.g. "than many" or "than some" ??? Rather "more... than many can".

I'm not too sure about this, but from your description, I think Moutoux MAY have this wrong.

Correlative conjunctions are REALLT cool -- the way they work.

Frank

[TheParser]

James,

I (we) am (are) SOOOO hampered by our present inability to R-K online.

I cannot understand "than" to modify "many" or "some" -- e.g. "than many" or "than some" ??? Rather "more... than many can".

I'm not too sure about this, but from your description, I think Moutoux MAY have this wrong.

Correlative conjunctions are REALLT cool -- the way they work.

Frank

Thank you for your note.

I know that if anyone else is reading this thread, they must be

wondering: why does anyone care about such a matter?

Well, we do, don't we!!!

According to the great diagrams in Descriptive English Grammar, the

"many" is justified because it is the positive of the comparative
"more"

in the main clause.

For example, Professors House and Harman explain that "Tom is taller

than Mona" = "Tom is taller (more tall) than Mona is tall." I notice,

however, that the redoubtable Professor Quirk does NOT buy this view.


James

[Frank Antonson]