Search results for 'tag:Adverbs tag:Determiners' matching tags 'Adverbs' and 'Determiners'

Sentence Analysis

Anonymous — Sat, 13 Sep 2008 12:49:24 GMT

I have to analyse the following sentence, but I'm really stuck...

"Amanda's practical solutions of what had seemed an insoluble mystery descended on the family like a balm."

I have to cut this sentence into constituents and cut those up in nouns, verbs, adverbs, adjectives, pronouns, prepositions etc.
For now I have this:
'Amanda's practical solutions of what had seemed an insoluble mystery' = the subject of the whole sentence and is a Noun Phrase
'descended' = the main verb of the sentence,
'on the family' = a Prepositional Phrase
'like a balm' = a Prepositional Phrase

The two prepositional phrases don't give me any trouble (both start with a preposition, than have a determiner article and end in a noun).

The Noun Phrase is what gives me trouble...

'Amanda's practical solutions of what had seemed an insoluble mystery' has two constituents, I'd say...
'Amanda's practical solutions' = Noun Phrase
'of what had seemed an insoluble mystery' = ???
I really can't get beyond this point... How should I analyse this?

I really hope someone can help me with this sentence...

Re: The next / Next

CalifJim — Sat, 09 Aug 2008 16:18:59 GMT

Oops! I oversimplified. My remarks pertained to the use of next and the next when referring to time. Trains are different!

Both of your examples require the next (train). train is a countable, singular, concrete noun, so it has to have a determiner. This takes precedence over any other considerations.

Time expressions are adverbial, so We're leaving next Monday is OK. Monday is noun-like, but it's used as an adverb. And besides, it's not a concrete noun anyway.

Re: few, tag questions

Teo — Sat, 26 Jul 2008 13:29:11 GMT

There are several adverbs and determiners which are negative in meaning but not in form. They include: seldom, rarely; scarcely, hardly, barely; little, few (in contrast to the positive a little and a few) They can effect clause negation: for example sentences in which they appear generally require a positive tag question.

1. There are few students in the classroom, __ there? (A) are (B) aren't

I think the answer is A because few is negative in meaning. Am I right?

3. There are only a few students in the classroom, __ there? (A) are (B) aren't

Is only a few positive or negative in meaning?

Re: Grammar Suggestion

Mr Wordy — Tue, 10 Jun 2008 23:24:50 GMT

1. Why itâs not good using "Gently landing" I mean gently is adverb of verb landing?

There is no problem with "gently landing" itself. As you rightly say, "gently" is an adverb qualifying "landing". The issue is whether, in the sentence you wrote, the verb "landing" fits the noun "glow". It's not wrong, but to me it sounded slightly odd.

2. Glow is singular, so we use "it's" to balance subject-verb agreement, is it correct?

Almost. It should be "its", not "it's". (It's actually noun-determiner agreement rather than subject-verb agreement.)

Today, in these pleasant evening rays, different colors stepping [ or streaming would be good?] inn through my brown [adding different adjective] window, [situated word is ok?] over the tall blue, right-hand side wall, [same] I feel much relaxed -- light as fur, the dark cloud of stress and fatigue seemingly fading away.

"tall blue, right-hand side wall" is, to me, slightly too much. "right-hand side wall" isn't really grammatical, and again I question whether it helps the sentence to mention that it's "right-hand". If you really do want to include this kind of detail then I wonder if you would do better with two sentences -- perhaps one sentence to explain the layout of the room, window and wall, and another to describe the sun's rays and the feelings that they evoked.

As I mentioned before, "stepping" is the wrong word; "streaming" is fine. "Inn" should be "in". I don't understand what you mean by "situated word is ok?".

And I would like to ask, what if the last line [the dark cloud of stress and fatigue seemingly fading away]
I separate it from rest of the sentence. Would it be fine in case of coherence where each sentence should agree with previous?

I think I answered that one before. I said: "But if you were starting a new sentence then 'seem to be' would be correct: I feel much relaxed -- light as fur. The dark clouds of stress and fatigue seem to be fading away."

Re: predicate adjective??

CalifJim — Wed, 02 Apr 2008 17:40:58 GMT

There is no consensus on how to handle numerals. They are like determiners and like nouns. Some grammarians just use "numeral" as another part of speech, like "noun" or "verb".

I offer this analysis, but there are surely others.

fifty is a noun acting as a determiner for years.

years is a noun acting as an adverb of degree for old.

fifty years is thus an adverbial expression modifying old.

old is an adjective. Functionally in that sentence old is a predicate adjective.

Re: There's no/not

Yankee — Sat, 15 Mar 2008 02:33:47 GMT

<<You can't have an adverb between a determiner and its noun. >>

Is there no even remotely possible chance of that?

Sorry, Jim. I do agree with what you wrote, and I suppose my comment above could use a couple of commas.

(I'm also testing to see whether my posts are still getting gobbled up by some mysterious cyber bug.)

Re: There's no/not

CalifJim — Sat, 15 Mar 2008 02:02:03 GMT

Liveinjapan
There's no even a desk in the room.

No! Can't do it!

no is a determiner. a is a determiner. You can't have more than one determiner before a noun. Never.

*no even a desk

*a the desk

*a no desk

*the my desk

*my no desk

Besides that, even doesn't go with no. You can't have an adverb between a determiner and its noun.

*an always desk

*no slowly desk

*the never desk

Re: Parts of speech

Yankee — Sat, 09 Feb 2008 16:33:47 GMT

You could try color-coding your answers this way, for example:

(1) the verbs; (2) the nouns; (3) the adjectives; (4) the adverbs; (5) the prepositions; and (6) the conjunctions

The usage of the word 'the' in your sentences would normally be referred to as definite article or determiner.

Re: part of speech of only

CalifJim — Tue, 18 Dec 2007 20:11:01 GMT

only is an adverb modifying the adjective short.

only a short time = not a long time

Note that the adverbs only and not are placed before the determiner.

Not *an only short time or *a not long time.

very, in contrast, is placed after the determiner: a very short time.

CJ

Re: what could come after a preposition?

CalifJim — Tue, 30 Oct 2007 19:27:38 GMT

The only thing that can come after a preposition to form a prepositional phrase is a noun phrase, usually a noun accompanied by its preceding determiner and perhaps an adjective. A relative clause may be added. The noun itself may be a gerund.

If the element after the candidate for a preposition looks like it's not a noun, then either of these holds:

a. The preposition candidate is not a preposition, but perhaps an adverb or conjunction.
b. The structure after the preposition candidate actually is a noun phrase.

Both of your examples are in the category labeled b.

In your first example bad should be viewed as an adjective used as a noun, 'promoted' to a noun because of the elision of situation or its equivalent, one.

The situation can be seen as a bad situation.
The situation can be seen as a bad one.

In your second example, bad and good are simply abstract uncountable nouns meaning that which is bad and that which is good, respectively.

CJ