Diagramming Shakespeare 14

[Frank Antonson]

"I will tell thee in French, which I am sure will hang upon my tongue like a new-married wife about her husband's neck, hardly to be shook off. "
Henry V

 

[Kondorosi]

"I will tell thee in French, which I am sure will hang upon my tongue like a new-married wife about her husband's neck, hardly to be shook off. "
Henry V

Tomorrow, Frank. OK? I am in coma now. Tired.

 

[Frank Antonson]

You won't be able to do that one in a coma.

 

[Kondorosi]

You won't be able to do that one in a coma.

I can't do it anyway. ;-)
Wait! I will work on it now.

 

[Kondorosi]

No picnic.

 

[Frank Antonson]

Wow! Nice work!

I think "to be shook" is passive voice and I am not so sure that it is an absolute phrase. Couldn't "that is" be understood before it and thereby connect it somehow to the understood "hangs"?

Still, nice work!

 

[Kondorosi]

Wow! Nice work!

:up:

I think "to be shook" is passive voice

So do I. ;-)

and I am not so sure that it is an absolute phrase.

I think it is.

Couldn't "that is" be understood before it and thereby connect it somehow to the understood "hangs"?

Wait a minute. :roll: No, I think not and I will tell you why. First, a comma is there. 'which' and not 'that' is used in non-reduced relative clauses. Second, the relative pronoun would refer back to the closest noun: neck. Not okay.

Was sagen Sie darüber, Herr Frank? ;-)

 

[Frank Antonson]

Hier ist was ich denke daruber ---
First, I'm in school and they still have not been able to unblock the images, so I am working from memory.
Second, "hardly to be shook off" doesn't need the understood words I mentioned. It can directly modify "hangs". How does the wife hang? Answer, "to be shook off hardly"
Third, I do not trust punctuation to acurately show syntax.
Finally, I think you could have diagrammed the independent clause at the top, which is the way it is usually done.

 

[Kondorosi]

Hier ist was ich denke daruber ---
First, I'm in school and they still have not been able to unblock the images,

You can unblock yourself. If you need instructions, whistle. :up:

so I am working from memory.
Second, "hardly to be shook off" doesn't need the understood words I mentioned. It can directly modify "hangs". How does the wife hang? Answer, "to be shook off hardly"
Third, I do not trust punctuation to acurately show syntax.

This part I see differently. Let us agree to disagree on this one. ;-)

Finally, I think you could have diagrammed the independent clause at the top, which is the way it is usually done.

That I do not believe firmly.

 

[Frank Antonson]

The advantage is that when you go to reconstruct the sentence you can do it quicker if you expect the independent clause to be at the top.

Also, as a rule, modifiers go under what they modify, and adjective and adverbial clauses are modifiers.

Noun clauses are another matter.