Sentence Analysis?

First sentence:

"A time of prosperity and peace"-- This is not a sentence; it is a noun phrase

'A time' is a noun phrase, where 'a' is the determiner and 'time' is the head. 'Of' is a preposition, so I think it's a prepositional phrase with a noun complement. -- OK, but notice that the prepositional phrase is post-modifying 'time', making the whole thing a larger noun phrase.

In Delft ( Prep phrase) the econony (noun phrase) was thriving (verb phrase) and (conj) brought (verb) wealth (noun phrase) to town and country (prep phrase)-- OK

Greetings, Tina,

Mister Micawber's answers are completely relevant, but let me make some additional remarks:

1. A time of prosperity and peace - is a noun phrase you analysed absolutely correctly. In general, noun phrases may have the following constituent parts:
a) the head, around which the other constituents cluster. In your case, it is time;

b) the determinative, which includes

- predeterminers, all items which precede any central determiner in a noun phrase, eg all, both, half (there are no predeterminers in your case);

- central determiners, such as articles, this/that, some, etc. In your example, a is a central determiner;

- postdeterminers, follow central determiners but precede premodifiers (premodifiers are usually adjectives) - numerals, many, few, several, as in the many new offices (the - central determiner; many - postdeterminer, new - premodifier, offices - noun)

c) premodifiers, all items places before the head other than determiners, mainly adjectives and adjective phrases. There are no premodifiers in your case;

d) postmodifiers, comprising all the items placed after the head. In your example, of peace and prosperity is a postmodifying prepositional phrase.

Please note that, under certain circumstances, the phrase we are discussing can be a special type of sentence - irregular sentence (called so because it lacks all the necessary constituents, such as a verb phrase). Consider the following example:

- What do you want for this country?
- A time of peace and prosperity.

- (In this example, the highlighted part is no longer a mere noun phrase, but an utterance meaning (I want) a time of peace and prosperity (for this country). However, such analysis is only possible if you consider stretches of text; if you deal with phrases in isolation, they remain just phrases, no question as to that.

2. Your analysis of the sentence is flawless. However, when talking about a sentence, we have to acknowledge that any phrase performs a certain function in it - this is a distinction between form (manifested by phrases) and function (expressed by clause elements). Thus, your sentence can be described as follows, with clause elements placed before types of phrases in brackets:

In Delft (adverbial of place/prepositional phrase), the economy (subject/noun phrase) was thriving (verb/verb phrase) and brought (verb/verb phrase) wealth (direct object/noun phrase) to town and country (adverbial of place/prepositional phrase).

As you can see, the same type of phrase can function as different clause elements, eg a noun phrase may be a subject or an object.

Respectfully, Gleb Chebrikoff