Search results for 'tag:Noun phrases tag:Indirect objects' matching tags 'Noun phrases' and 'Indirect objects'

Re: Help please! Subordinate or main clause

CalifJim — Sun, 30 Nov 2008 17:27:31 GMT

Eddie88
The subject in this case has a subject and a verb, why is it not a clause?

Nobody said it was not a clause!

There are several bits of terminology that are confusing.

One set of terms applies to the individual words. 'house' is a noun. 'happy' is an adjective. 'quietly' is an adverb. And so on.

Another set of terms applies to groups of words that do not form complete thoughts or complete sentences, but which "go together". These are phrases: noun phrases, adjective phrases, verb phrases, and so on. 'in the corner' is a prepositional phrase. 'very unhappily' is an adverb phrase. 'the bird singing in that tree' is a noun phrase. 'what I did last summer' is a noun phrase. 'slept for ten hours' is a verb phrase. Phrases can have other phrases or clauses within them. The noun phrase 'the bird singing in that tree' contains the prepositional phrase 'in that tree', for example, and the verb phrase 'slept for ten hours' contains the prepositional phrase 'for ten hours'.

Another set of terms applies to the functions of phrases within clauses. The main terms that show function are words that show the function of noun phrases in a sentence. A noun phrase is almost always going to be one of these: a subject, a direct object, an indirect object, an object of a preposition, or a subject complement.

(Another term for a verb phrase is predicate. And, just to make it confusing, sometimes the term 'verb phrase' is applied only to groups consisting of consecutive verbs, not the objects that follow them.)

This means that the same group of words in a sentence can be labeled in more than one way. For example, anything that is a subject is also a noun phrase. Anything that is an object of a preposition is also a noun phrase. And so on.

Clauses almost always contain a verb. But on rare occasions the verb that is intended is so obvious that it is not stated; the word group is then often called a clause anyway. The verb may show tense ("be tensed", "be finite"), or the verb may not show tense ("be non-tensed", "be non-finite"). Depending on this feature, the clause is called a finite clause or a non-finite clause. Non-finite forms of the verb are gerunds, participles, and infinitives.

Independent clauses are those that can stand alone as complete sentences. These are either complete sentences or the clauses joined by coordinating conjunctions like and or but. All other clauses are dependent clauses. A non-finite clause can only be a dependent clause. But finite clauses can be dependent clauses as well.

Clauses can occur within phrases. These are all dependent clauses. Independent clauses are not embedded within phrases.

the man whom I saw walking down the street yesterday is a noun phrase, but it contains a dependent clause used as an adjective to modify the noun man.

into the house located across the street is a prepositional phrase, but it contains the noun phrase the house located across the street. The noun phrase contains the clause (which is) located across the street (also called a participial phrase). And across the street is also a prepositional phrase inside the larger prepositional phrase.

You have to think in terms of hierarchies and structures that are embedded inside of other structures.

Re: Help please! Subordinate or main clause

CalifJim — Thu, 27 Nov 2008 00:50:10 GMT

Anaylsis of the large structure:

Independent clause #1 : I can not tell you that, mate,

Conjunction joining two independent clauses: but

Independent clause #2: what I can tell you is that it was one day before my birthday

____________________

Anaylsis of Ind. Clause #2:

Subject: what I can tell you

Verb: (Linking verb) is

Subject complement: (predicate nominative) that it was one day before my birthday

_________

Analysis of the subject of Clause #2

The subject of Clause #2 is a noun phrase formed by the fused relative pronoun what and a relative clause, call it Clause #2A.

[Note: The fused relative what is the understood fusion of that and which, where that is a demonstrative pronoun and which is a relative pronoun. that is thus the understood subject of Clause #2 and which is the understood direct object of the understood relative Clause #2A which I can tell you. what thus simultaneously serves both as the subject of Clause #2 and the direct object of Clause #2A.]

Understood demonstrative component of what: : (Subject of #2): that

Subject of Clause #2A: I

Verb of Clause #2A: can tell

Indirect Object of Clause #2A: you

Direct Object of Clause #2A: understood relative pronoun component of fused relative what : which

_________

Analysis of the subject complement of Clause #2.

The subject complement of Clause #2 is a noun phrase formed by a complementizer and a clause, call it Clause #2B.

Complementizer: that

Subject of Clause #2B: it

Verb of Clause #2B: (linking verb) was

Subject complement of Clause #2B: one day before my birthday

____

Analysis of the subject complement of Clause #2B.

The subject complement of #2B is a noun phrase.

Determiner: a numeral: one

Head noun: day

Modifier: a prepositional phrase: before my birthday

___

Analysis of the preceding prepositional phrase:

Preposition: before

Object of the preposition: a noun phrase: my birthday

Analysis of the preceding noun phrase:

Head noun: birthday

Determiner: possessive adjective my

Re: Analyse the sentence syntactically in terms of clause elements.

AlpheccaStars — Thu, 06 Nov 2008 14:56:07 GMT

Through a mixture of anthropological analysis and her own unorthodox experiments, complex phrase- adverb

further dissected
Through - preposition
a mixture of anthropological analysis and her own unorthodox experiments compound noun phrase, object of preposition

using herself as a reluctant guinea-pig, participle phrase, modifying Kate Fox

Kate Fox - noun phrase; subject

discovers verb ;

what these unwritten behaviour codes tell us about Englishnes dependent clause; direct object of verb discover

further dissected
what - pronoun; introduces the clause, object of verb tell about
these unwritten behaviour codes - noun phrase, subject of verb tell about
us - indirect object of tell about
Englishness - direct object

Re: grammar learning

Grammar Geek — Wed, 14 May 2008 23:40:37 GMT

Raen, at times like this I realize just how poorly I chose my nickname here.

What goes from one person to the other is the DIRECT object. The $50.

The person who receives the direct object is the INDIRECT object. The clerk.

I sent a letter to my sister. The letter is the DO, and my sister is the IO.

"exactly how that was done" is, I think a noun phrase serving as the object. Exactly what was done is what I'd like to know. See how it serves as the subject when you turn it around? It's a noun phrase.

I'm sorry, but someone else is going to have to address your second question. I've never seen the value in learning this stuff. I tell my 11 year old that, but then tell her she has to do her homework anyway.

Re: In the following sentence ''He'' is subject, ''is'' is a...

CalifJim — Mon, 10 Sep 2007 02:22:28 GMT

Categories or Parts of Speech

he - pronoun
he - noun phrase (NP)*
is - verb
a - article
nice - adjective
person - noun
a nice person - noun phrase (NP)*
is a nice person - verb phrase (VP)*

*These designations come from a system of analysis called 'transformational grammar'.

Functions

he - subject
is - copula
a - determiner
nice - modifier
person - complement
a nice person - complement
is a nice person - predicate

At the highest level of functional analysis, each sentence has simply a subject and a predicate; the predicate is everything in the sentence except the subject.

The same part of speech (category), particularly nouns, can be used with different functions. For example a noun can act as a subject, a subject complement, a direct object, an indirect object, an object complement, the object of a preposition, or a modifier. In grammatical analysis the different kinds of terminology shown above are often mixed. The same component in a sentence may have several different names. Also, the same term may be used both as a category and as a function. The word verb, for example, is often used both to mean a part of speech and as the name of its function in the sentence. There are often many different terms that apply to the same word or group of words. The terms selected depend on the type of analysis which is being done.

CJ

Re: Direct Objects, Indirect Objects, Obliques, Dative Movement

Doll — Mon, 23 Apr 2007 12:38:05 GMT

Could you give the book to Mike for me?"           the book = direct object,yes Mike = indirect object,yes me = oblique object I haven't heard of it before.
Correct?

in "Mike gave the book to me"                               the book = direct object, me = indirect object, right? Yes.

however, in
"Mike pointed to my tooth"                                   is "my tooth" indirect object or oblique?   It is direct object I think.

in "Mike entered the house"                                  "the house" is direct object, but in Yes.
"We have entered upon a new phase in history"   "a new phase in history" is what? Oblique? I would say it is predicator complement.
and in "Mike talked about me"                               is "me" oblique?sorry I don't know I would just say it is indirect object.

"I sent money to her."                                            "money" = direct object, "her" = indirect object, right? Yes.But

"I went to her."                                                      "her" is NOT indirect object, nor any other type of object, is it?Hmm I would say it is direct object.

So is the Indirect Object always and only the noun phrase that "receives" the direct object of the clause, that is to say, is it the case that without a Direct Object the clause CANNOT have an Indirect Object either?Yes I was taught so but I am sure there are exceptions.

Someone on this forum said Dative Movement is the operation of moving the indirect object in front the direct object with deletion of 'to'. However, if my above assumptions are true, this would not be the whole truth, for:
in
"I caught a fish for the cat,"                                    "a fish" is Direct Object and "the cat" is Oblique, and in
"I caught the cat a fish"                                           the very same sentence seems to have undergone dative movement, and
                                                                             another such pair is

"They built a house for Harry" and
"They built Harry a house"

so this would suggest that Dative Movement can be used, with ditransitive verbs, not only to do away with 'to' and move the Indirect Object in front of the Direct Object, but also to delete 'for' and move the Oblique in front of the Direct Object. Do y'all agree? Sorry, I will not be able to do any comment on dative object.

Direct Objects, Indirect Objects, Obliques, Dative Movement

Ocelot — Mon, 23 Apr 2007 08:01:13 GMT

Can a clause have three different objects?

"Could you give the book to Mike for me?"           the book = direct object, Mike = indirect object, me = oblique object
Correct?

in "Mike gave the book to me"                               the book = direct object, me = indirect object, right?

however, in
"Mike pointed to my tooth"                                   is "my tooth" indirect object or oblique?

in "Mike entered the house"                                  "the house" is direct object, but in
"We have entered upon a new phase in history"   "a new phase in history" is what? Oblique?
and in "Mike talked about me"                               is "me" oblique?

"I sent money to her."                                            "money" = direct object, "her" = indirect object, right? But

"I went to her."                                                      "her" is NOT indirect object, nor any other type of object, is it?

So is the Indirect Object always and only the noun phrase that "receives" the direct object of the clause, that is to say, is it the case that without a Direct Object the clause CANNOT have an Indirect Object either?

Someone on this forum said Dative Movement is the operation of moving the indirect object in front the direct object with deletion of 'to'. However, if my above assumptions are true, this would not be the whole truth, for:
in
"I caught a fish for the cat,"                                    "a fish" is Direct Object and "the cat" is Oblique, and in
"I caught the cat a fish"                                           the very same sentence seems to have undergone dative movement, and
                                                                             another such pair is

"They built a house for Harry" and
"They built Harry a house"

so this would suggest that Dative Movement can be used, with ditransitive verbs, not only to do away with 'to' and move the Indirect Object in front of the Direct Object, but also to delete 'for' and move the Oblique in front of the Direct Object. Do y'all agree?

Re: EH.. I dont get these => inside post...

Mister Micawber — Wed, 29 Nov 2006 08:13:07 GMT

Short Course:

1-- A Predicate Nominative is a noun phrase on the predicate (right) side of a linking verb: I am a handsome fellow.
2-- A Direct Object receives the action of a verb: I bought a sandwich. An Indirect Object receives the benefit of the action of the verb: I bought my girlfriend a sandwich.
3-- Objects of prepostions are the nouns that are usually to the right of the preposition and indicate the origin of the prepositional action or position: The sandwich is on the table.

Googling any of your terms will get you many pages of detailed examples and explanation, so I shan't spend more time here on it.

Re: in giving the wider movement a sense of cohesion

Mister Micawber — Sat, 18 Nov 2006 02:16:05 GMT

Is 'giving' a noun? -- Not precisely; it is the nonfinite clause which is a noun object of the preposition in.

Is 'the wider movement' a noun phrase? -- Yes

Is 'a sense of cohesion' a noun phrase? -- Yes

Does 'giving' modify 'the wider movement' which in turn modifies 'a sense of cohesion'? -- No. the wider movement is the indirect object of giving; a sense of cohesion is the direct object.

That's my take on the structure.

Re: labelling

Mister Micawber — Wed, 26 Jul 2006 07:14:04 GMT

Briefly (and reasonably accurately), the direct object receives the action of the verb, while the indirect object receives the benefit of the action:

I bought my wife a new can opener.

I -- Subject
bought -- Verb
my wife -- Indirect object: I didn't buy my wife, I bought a can opener, but she receives the benefit of my purchase.
a new can opener -- Direct object: this is directly what was purchased.

The new coach seems determined and competent

The new coach -- Subject (a noun phrase containing the definite article the and the adjective new)
seems -- (Linking) Verb
determined, competent -- Predicate adjectives
and -- Coordinating Conjunction for the compound predicate, determined and competent.