Parsing 31/01

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Hela

#190996 Tue, 31 Jan 06 07:26 AM

Dear friends,

Would you please have a look at the parsing below. I'm just picking up sentences and trying to analyse them for future exams.

Treasure Island is one of the best known and most loved children’s adventure stories.

PARTS OF SPEECH:

treasure = descriptive adj. (attributive position)

island = noun

is = copular verb

one = impersonal pronoun (is there anything else to add?)

of = preposition

the = definite article

best + most = superlative adj

known + loved = adjectives

and = coordinating conjunction

children = adj

's = genetive case (?) / possessive .... ?

adventure = adj

stories = noun

FUNCTION:

treasure island = subject

is = verb

one of the best .... stories = subject complement.

What are your comments, please?

All the best,

Hela

Hela

Joined on Mon, Nov 15 2004

Tunisia

Regular Member (831)

Articles, Verbs, Possessives, Prepositions, Nouns, Pronouns, Definite Articles

Mister Micawber

#191003 Tue, 31 Jan 06 07:55 AM

I'm not the best parser, Hela, but a couple of points bother me.

Treasure Island is the name of the island and a book title, both of which qualify as proper nouns. So I wouldn't categorize treasure as an adjective.

Nor would I categorize children as an adjective. I don't think that children's can be broken up into pieces any more than known, loved or stories can.

Mister Micawber

Joined on Wed, Aug 4 2004

Yokohama

Veteran Member (22,606)

'The question is,' said Humpty Dumpty, 'which is to be master-- that's all.'

Nouns

paco2004

#191008 Tue, 31 Jan 06 08:29 AM

"Treasure Island" is one of the best known and most loved children’s adventure stories.

PARTS OF SPEECH:
1 "Treasure Island"=proper noun (phrase), 2 is= copular verb, 3 of=preposition, 4 one=pronoun, 5 the=definite article, 6 best=adverb, 7 known=attributive adjective (past participle), 8 and=coordinative conjunction 9 most=adverb, 10 loved=attributive adjective (past participle), 11 children's=noun (possessive form of "children"), 12 adventure=noun, 13 stories=noun.

STRUCTURE = S+V+Cs
{"Treasure Island"} {is} {one of [the (best known) and (most loved) (children’s adventure stories)]}.
S= treasure island
V= is
Cs= one of the best .... stories

paco

paco2004

Joined on Wed, Nov 17 2004

Senior Member (4,095)

In Japan today even dogs are learning how to bow-wow in English.

Articles, Verbs, Possessives, Prepositions, Nouns, Pronouns, Adverbs, Definite Articles

Hela

#191017 Tue, 31 Jan 06 09:14 AM

Thanks Mr Micawber and Paco.

I understand that "treasure island" is a proper noun; but if we consider "adventure stories" as a compound noun (i.e. noun + noun), what about "radio volume"? Some time ago I analysed "radio" as an adjective and you agreed with me. Would you please explain the difference to me?

When are "best", "most" etc. considered as adjectives and when are they considered as adverbs?

Paco, is it possible to analyse this part further as far as function is concerned or is it fine the way I did it?

{one of [the (best known) and (most loved) (children’s adventure stories)]}

Now concerning the FORM should it be devided up the way you did? How many phrases would we have?

My attempt: treasure island = noun phrase
is = verb phrase
one of the best known (?) = adjectival phrase
and = connector ?
most loved = adjectival phrase (but what about "one of the"?)
children's adventure stories = noun phrase

What are your comments, please?
See you very soon!

Hela

Verbs, Nouns, Adverbs, Noun Phrases

Mister Micawber

#191019 Tue, 31 Jan 06 09:35 AM

I missed the radio volume discussion, Hela, but I would have said that both radio volume and adventure stories are cases of nouns used as adjectives.

Your best and most are adverbs here (and sorry I didn't notice before) because they modify adjectives; they are adjectives when they modify nouns. One of the best known stories -- best is an adverb. But perhaps I should hyphenate that (best-known), because in one of the best unknown stories, best is an adjective!

I leave the rest to Paco-san.

Mister Micawber

Verbs, Nouns, Adverbs

Hela

#191020 Tue, 31 Jan 06 09:49 AM

Dear Mr Micawber, I hope you're still online.

1) In "He would not turn the radio volume down" I analysed "radio" here as an adjective but should I have said "radio is a noun used as an adjective"? But wouldn't it be wrong to analyse it simply as a noun?

2) Your example concerning the use of "best" as an adverb or an adjective is very clear. I have understood the nuance, but I have found it a little strange though to say "one of the BEST UNKNOWN stories"; would you have a more natural example to illustrate your point?

Gratefully yours,

Hela

Verbs, Nouns, Adverbs

Mister Micawber

#191035 Tue, 31 Jan 06 11:17 AM

Back online for a few moments. Must have dinner sometime, you know-- and another student due at 8:30.

As I say, I'm not an expert parser, but I suppose there are different parsing styles. For completeness, I like the 'noun used as an adjective' style: it expresses both form and function. It tells more. But perhaps I am a rogue among parsing traditionalists.

I don't find best unknown particularly odd. My cousin is one of the best unknown bridge players in the US. One of the best little-known sightseeing spots in Japan is Iragomisaki.

Mister Micawber

Nouns

Hela

#191037 Tue, 31 Jan 06 11:29 AM

Hello to Mr Micawber and other visitors,

1) For whoever is a specialist in parsing I'd like to know if in the following sentences "radio" and "adventure" should be analysed as a) adjectives, b) nouns or c) nouns used as adjectives.

"You should turn down the radio volume."

"Treasure Island is one of the best known children's adventure stories."

2) Mr Micawber, what do you mean by "My cousin is the best unknown brigde players in the US" ??

Bye

Hela

Nouns

paco2004

#191038 Tue, 31 Jan 06 11:34 AM

Hello Hela

I'm sorry I was off-line for a bit. Here in Japan it is now evening and I just finished dinner. So I am a bit drunken and not sure I can understand your question correctly.

As for the "radio" and "adventure", Mr.Micawber is quite correct that they are lexically nouns but function syntactically as adjectives when they are incorporated into noun phrases like "radio volume" and "adventure story". Here "radio" and "adventure modify/specify "volume" and "story" respectively.

Your parse is correct in that "best known" and "most loved" are adjectival phrases. They are coordinated by "and" and both modifies "children's (adventure stories)". That is, your sentence could be simplified like : "Treasure Island is one of the X children's adventure stories". Here X is a complex adjectival phrase and it is "best known and most loved". You seem to be troubled with "one of". But please take it as an analogue to "un/une de" in your language.

Hope this helps you.

paco

paco2004

Nouns, Noun Phrases

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