Sentence Analysis please

[pootle]

Thank you. I quite agree!

[philo2009]

One or two errors:

It was in Burma, a sodden morning of the rains.
Am I right in thinking this is coordination, the comma acting as an 'and'?
No. If the comma could meaningfully be said to 'replace' anything, it would be the ellipted preposition (on).

Was - the main verb- auxiliary
Not auxiliary, but COPULAR . (It would be an auxiliary in e.g. It was raining...)

Burma- noun – adverbial phrase modifier of It-
Not a modifier of any kind, but the object of the implied preposition.

A sodden morning of the rains- coordinated clause- noun phrase- appositive of It (subject of the clause)
Not a clause of any kind, since it lacks a verb! It is a simple noun phrase.

There's no apposition here either. The subject 'it' is expletive, not anticipatory.

[Katherine99]

[QUOTE

But he stood quite unresisting, yielding his arms limply to the ropes, as though he hardly noticed what was happening.

1. Some books tell us that if "but" starts the sentence, it is an absolute element. That is, it has no grammatical relation to the sentence. It is there for rhetorical purposes. In plain English, ignore it. In Reed-Kellogg, just write it on a horizontal line and place that horizontal line above the sentence.

2. So now we have:

He stood quite unresisting, yielding his arms to the ropes, as though he hardly noticed what was happening.

3. Now for easier parsing, let's rearrange the parts:

He, yielding his arms to the ropes, stood quite unresisting, as though he hardly noticed what was happening.

a. In my opinion only:

i. "yielding his arms to the ropes" is a participial phrase modifying "He."

ii. "He stood quite unresisting" is the main sentence.

(a) He = subject.
(b) stood = linking verb.
(c) unresisting = complement of "he."
(d) quite = modifies " unresisting."

iii. The subordinate clause is: as though/ as if he hardly noticed what was happening.

(a) The clause modifies the verb "stood."
(b) The clause is "he hardly noticed what was happening."
(c) The conjunction "as though" connects "he hardly noticed what was happening" to "stood."

*****

I am computer illiterate. So I am unable to post a diagram in my post. Hopefully, someone will soon do so for us.[/QUOTE]

Hi Parser,

Is this the correct diagram for the sentence.

[TheParser]

***** NOT A TEACHER *****


Of course, we will have to wait for Mr. Antonson's confirmation, but in my (very!) humble opinion, your diagram is
spot-on! Congratulations! (How sad that 99% of today's students do not know about Reed-Kellogg!)

*****
They are not important, but there are four teeny-weeny points that attracted my attention:

a. Some people would not use dotted lines to connect "but" to the rest of the sentence.
b. You accidentally forgot the left slanting line after "stood."
c. Some books feel that the phrasal conjunction "as though" should be put on this kind of line: _____ ..... _____
d. Some books have a more complicated way to diagram "what was happening." But other books feel that the way you diagrammed it is fine.


James