Classify the sentence

[writingtutor]

I am teaching a student about simple, compound, and complex sentences and what distinguishes each sentence. The student wrote the following sentence. The first time I watched the movie, I was amazed. Although I am certain this sentence is complete and grammatically correct, I cannot determine why. It is not simple, because of the introductory clause with a verb. It is not compound because there is only one independent clause. It appears complex with a dependent clause and a simple sentence. However, this clause (The first time I watched the movie) does not begin with a subordinating conjunction. Please clarify the kind of sentence and why.

 

[tkacka15]

I am teaching a student about simple, compound, and complex sentences and what distinguishes each sentence. The student wrote the following sentence. The first time I watched the movie, I was amazed. Although I am certain this sentence is complete and grammatically correct, I cannot determine why. It is not simple, because of the introductory clause with a verb. It is not compound because there is only one independent clause. It appears complex with a dependent clause and a simple sentence. However, this clause (The first time I watched the movie) does not begin with a subordinating conjunction. Please clarify the kind of sentence and why.

I'm not a teacher and I'm a non-native.

I'd try it like that: I was amazed [when] the first time I watched the movie. Hence the clause the first time I watched the movie following the conjunction "when" is an adverbial modifying the adjective "amazed'.

 

[tkacka15]

I see it as a simple sentence where:

"I" is the subject;

"was" is the predicator (a linking verb);

"amazed [when (implied)] the first time I watched the movie" is the complement in which "the first time I watched the movie" is part of that complement. The clause "the first time I watched the movie" does a job of the modifier in the adjectival subject complement of that sentence.

 

[TheParser]

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

Hello, Tkacka:

Thank you very much for teaching me how to parse that sentence.

"I was amazed (when) I watched the movie the first time."

It seems to be, then:

1. "I was amazed" = main clause.
2. "when I watched the movie the first time." = adverbial clause.

a. "the first time" = a noun phrase that modifies the verb "watched." (In other words, "... I watched the movie for the first time.")

One of my favorite books tells me a complex sentence is "one that contains one and only one main clause and at least one subordinate clause."

In my opinion, you have brilliantly shown that the OP's sentence is a complex sentence.

The quotation is credited to Pence & Emery, A Grammar of Present-Day English (copyright 1947 and 1963).

 

[tkacka15]

Yes, you are right, it seems to be a complex sentence as the adverbial not necessary has to be the part of the adjectival phrase here, but it can stand alone as a syntax element and modify the main clause.

 

[tzfujimino]

(Not a grammarian)

I personally think "the first time" is used like a subordinating conjunction and therefore I'm inclined to call the original sentence a complex sentence.
There are other interesting constructions in English:

I want to see him the moment he arrives.
I recognized her the instant (that) I saw her.
Every time I hear that song I feel happy.
Next time you're here let's have lunch together.
I went home directly I had finished work.
Immediately she'd gone, I remembered her name.

(I've taken all these example sentences from Oxford Learner's Dictionaries.)

Those expressions/words in bold seem to be used like subordinating conjunctions (to me, at least).
(Both 'directly' and 'immediately' are classified as conjunctions in the dictionary above.)

 

[TheParser]

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

I found an interesting discussion on the Web.

The participants seem to agree with Tkacka and Tzfujimino.

As Americans like to say, it's a win-win for those two members. (The only loser is I.)

1. "I was amazed when I saw the movie the first time." ("Everyone" agrees that's a conjunction / indefinite relative adverb)
2. "I was amazed the first time (that) I saw the movie." (Some books that I checked on Web do absolutely consider "the first time" as a conjunction of time.)

Thank you so much, Tzfujimino, for bringing this matter to our attention.

Source: To read the article, go to google and type in: Does "the first time" function like a conjunction? Word Reference

 

[tkacka15]

(Not a grammarian)

I personally think "the first time" is used like a subordinating conjunction and therefore I'm inclined to call the original sentence a complex sentence.
There are other interesting constructions in English:

I want to see him the moment he arrives.
I recognized her the instant (that) I saw her.
Every time I hear that song I feel happy.
Next time you're here let's have lunch together.
I went home directly I had finished work.
Immediately she'd gone, I remembered her name.

(I've taken all these example sentences from Oxford Learner's Dictionaries.)

Those expressions/words in bold seem to be used like subordinating conjunctions (to me, at least).
(Both 'directly' and 'immediately' are classified as conjunctions in the dictionary above.)

If "the moment" or "the minute" can introduce the time clause, then "the first time" can do the same as it marks the point in time the way both "the minute" and "the moment" do.

 

[tzfujimino]

If "the moment" or "the minute" can introduce the time clause, then "the first time" can do the same as it marks the point in time the way both "the minute" and "the moment" do.

Well, I think most people agree that "the first time I watched the movie" and "the moment he arrives" in those sentences function adverbially.
The issue here, I suppose, is whether we can call them subordinate/dependent clauses or not.

 

[tkacka15]

Well, I think most people agree that "the first time I watched the movie" and "the moment he arrives" in those sentences function adverbially.
The issue here, I suppose, is whether we can call them subordinate/dependent clauses or not.

Yes, we should call them the subordinate clauses as they have not much sense standing alone; they have to have a main clause to support them.