Sorry my English is bad. Try again.
A day of disaster (is this noun phrase?)
Mr Brown is toast (Is this Declarative Sentence?)
The granny who dared to use the i-word has been demonised (Is this relative pronoun with Present Perfect Verb)
If bove is meaning but headlines are this -
Day of Disaster
Brown Toast
Demonised: the granny who dared to utter the i-word
How can I explain difference?
Thank you
***** NOT A TEACHER *****
Helpmeplease,
(1) Now I understand. You were interested in analyzing the
grammar of
those headlines.
(2) I can tell that you are an excellent student, for I believe that you
have done a great job in analyzing those headlines.
(a) DAY OF DISASTER
(i) Yes, according to my books, that is a noun phrase. Of course, we
usually do not speak in noun phrases, which are used with other elements to
make a sentence. I naturally do not know what was in the headline
writer's mind. Therefore, your guess is as good as anyone else's:
Brown meets his day of disaster (object of verb)/ Day of disaster dooms reelection chances (subject)/ It was an unexpected day of disaster (complement).
(b) BROWN TOAST
Again, here is a two-word headline to grab people's attention. And
again it's impossible to know what the "complete" sentence is, or even
if there is one. Sometimes, our sentences do consist of one or two
words: For example, Professor Otto Jespersen says that "John!" could
mean: Come here at once/ How delightful to see you/ Can it really be
John?/ I'm ashamed of you/ etc.
Therefore, your interpretation of "Mr. Brown is toast" is as good as
anyone else's. And, yes, my books would call that a simple declarative
sentence. To be more exact: Mr. Brown (subject) + is (linking verb) +
toast (complement). I do
not know whether "toast" is being used as
an adjective or noun in that informal use. Hopefully, one of the teachers
or non-teachers will tell us.
My dictionary tells me that "to toast" means to "heat and
brown some
bread." So I guess that "Brown Toast" could be analyzed in other ways,
too: Brown Toast Is Served to Electors/ The Labour Party Offers Brown
Toast.
(C) Demonised: the granny who dared to utter the i-word.
I really congratulate you. I think that many young (and not so young)
people would be confused by the use of the colon. Your analysis,
I believe, is 100% correct:
The granny. = subject
who dared to use the i-word. = adjective clause ("who" = relative
pronoun).
has been/is demonised.
Active voice: Someone has demonised granny.
Passive voice: Granny has
been demonised.
My book tells me that "has been demonised" is the
the
present perfect passive infinitive.
And "Granny is demonised" would be the
present tense of the passive voice.
***** NOT A TEACHER *****
