Diagramming a stranded preposition

[TheParser]

On the "Ask a Teacher Forum," there is a raging controversy going on. (OK! I seem to be the only who is really interested in it!)

" You would be so nice to come home to."

How would you R-K that sentence?

A million thanks.

[Frank Antonson]

I would treat "to come home to" as an infinitive phrase modifying "you". What kind of a "you" ?? A "you" to come home to. A "you" to have as a friend. etc.

As far as the "stranded preposition" is concerned, I would treat it as what I guess in my class I will call a phrasal verb -- like "to give up". In the study of German I think that these are called "separable prepositions". They occur very often in German and are often still bound to the past participle -- "I have upgiven" vs "I have given up". The way in English we would say "I have uploaded my videos" not "I have loaded my videos up."

[Ilki]

On the "Ask a Teacher Forum," there is a raging controversy going on. (OK! I seem to be the only who is really interested in it!)

" You would be so nice to come home to."

How would you R-K that sentence?

A million thanks.

It would be so nice to come home to you
You would be so nice to come home to

The prepositional complement in the subordinate clause is raised out of its original place and placed into the subject-slot of the matrix clause via a process called "raising".

[Frank Antonson]

Ilki,

You say, "The prepositional complement in the subordinate clause is raised out of its original place and placed into the subject-slot of the matrix clause via a process called "raising"."

That is probably a good description of what is going on here, but once again there appears that difference between the British and American systems of analyzing (analysing) sentences.

Within the American system we call "prepositional complements" "objects of prepositions", we call the "matrix clause" the "main (or independent) clause" and we do not recognize "raising".

I believe that the British system is probably more precise, but it does not lend itself so well to R-K diagramming, which is a very fun activity.

The Parser's original question was, I believe, how would one diagram the sentence. Perhaps you could show that. I would like to see it.

In about a week, I will be teaching a complete course on Reed-Kellogg diagramming. I will be doing this online at Youtube channel "mrbisse1".

You might be interested. It shouldn't take more than about two weeks.

Frank

[Frank Antonson]

Well, Forum,

I have begun to teach a brief but complete course on Reed-Kellogg diagramming. It should take no more than two weeks, and I am teaching it for free on Youtube.
The channel is "mrbisse1" The first syntax video is 84.1

The course should be online for a very long time, but there could be an advantage to watching these videos as I teach them ( about 15 minutes a day) because on this forum you could post questions and/or comments.

For some of you who have never seen this American system this might be your best opportunity to learn it.

I hope to hear from some of you -- especially TranceFreak!

frank