ANALYSIS OF SENTENCES.1

PRELIMINARY REMARKS.

1. A sentence is a collection of words making complete sense. Ex. James is idle. Flowers bloom.

2. There are two kinds of sentences; namely, simple and compound.

3. A simple sentence consists of two parts-the subject and the predicate.

4. The subject of a sentence denotes the person or thing spoken of. Ex. The sea roars.

5. The predicate is that which is affirmed or asserted of the subject. Ex. Animals perish.

6. The predicate of a sentence must always contain a

finite verb. Every part of a verb is termed finite, with the exception of the participles and the infinitive mood.

7. A phrase is any collection of words not making complete sense. Ex. In truth; in a word; men of

experience.

8. "To analyse a sentence is to divide it into those

words, or groups of words, which form the chief divisions of it, and to examine the relation of the parts of which the groups consist."2

1 For a complete course of lessons, see “Morell's Analysis of Sentences," "M'Leod's Goldsmith's Deserted Village," &c.

2 "Hunter's Paraphrasing and Analysis of Sentences."

I. THE SUBJECT.

1. The subject of a sentence may be either simple or enlarged.

2. The simple subject is the person or thing spoken of,

unlimited by other words. Ex. Home is sweet. 3. The enlarged subject is the person or thing spoken of, together with all the words or phrases by which it is qualified, limited, or defined. As examples: Tall oaks grow from little acorns; The walls of the city measured ten miles; Thomson, the poet of the Seasons, wrote the Castle of Indolence.

4. The simple subject is, for the most part, a noun or pronoun; but it may be a participle, a verb in the infinitive mood, an adjective, a sentence, a letter, a character, &c.

Ex. 1. A noun.

John is my friend.

3. A participle.
health.

He is my friend.

Walking is conducive to

7. A letter. B is a consonant.

8. A character. + and are the signs of

addition and subtraction.

5. The subject is enlarged in various ways, as will be seen from the annexed examples.

Ex. 1. Milton the poet was blind.
2. Aaron's rod budded.

3. Lost time cannot be recovered.
4. A desire to learn is praiseworthy.
5. He, having spoken, withdrew.

6. Socrates the philosopher died by poison.
7. Solomon, the son of David, built the temple
at Jerusalem.

8. It is a difficult thing to be idle = It, to be
idle, is a difficult thing.

9. Wealth to be valued must be earned.

10. Aurelian, weary of the siege, and angry with Zenobia for her long resistance,

pressed harder and harder on Palmyra.

6. In imperative sentences, the subject is always thou, or you, or ye, and is generally understood.

Ex. 1. Descend (thou) on our plains. 2. Venerate (ye) the plough. 3. Be (ye) patient.

7. The name of the person or thing addressed forms no part of the sentence. Ex. 1. Come, gentle Spring. 2. Ye generous Britons, venerate the plough.

II. THE PREDICATE.

1. The predicate of a sentence, like the subject, may be either simple or enlarged.

2. The simple predicate consists of the simple or compound tense of a verb, or of the verb To Be with a noun, a pronoun, an adjective, a participle, an adverb, a verb in the infinitive mood, &c.

Ex. 1. John reads. 2. William has been deceived.

3. Thomson was a poet. 4. I am he. 5. He is diligent. 6. James is coming. 7. He is 8. To be good is to be happy.

ill.

3. The verb To Be does not form a predicate by itself,

except when it denotes existence.

Ex. 1. Light is. 2. I am; They are; God is.

4. The adverb there is frequently used in connection with the verb To Be, and the two together form a predicate equivalent to the verb "exist." Thus : 1. There was light = Light was (exists).

2. There are few great men = Few great men are. The adverb "there" is, in these and in similar

instances, an expletive.

5. In most sentences the predicate comes after the subject, but in questions, and when the imperative mood is used, the order is generally inverted, as in the following examples:

1. Where shall we go? = We shall go where.
2. Come to me = Ye come to me.

3. Have they been successful? = They have been
successful.

III. THE OBJECT OR COMPLETION OF THE
PREDICATE.

1. Besides the subject and the predicate, when a transitive verb is used, it is necessary to have an object, in order to make complete sense. Thus, the man digs the ground. The words, the ground, are necessary to complete the assertion; they therefore form what is termed the object, the completion, or the complement of the predicate.

2. The predicate is completed in various ways.

1. By a noun.

Brutus killed Cæsar.

2. By a pronoun. I have seen him.

3. By an infinitive. Boys love to play.

4. By a sentence. He said, " You have saved my life." 5. By an adjective. He visited the sick.

6. By a phrase. He answered “on no account.” 7. By a noun in the nomina- He became a king.

tive case after verbs of He seems a dishonest seeming, becoming, &c.

man.

3. The word which forms the object of a transitive verb may be enlarged in the same way as the subject of a sentence. Ex. Summer shot his pestilential heats. Grateful Science still adores her Henry's holy shade. Burns calls Thomson, Scotia's son.

4. A preposition and verb sometimes form together a predicate. At least it seems advisable so to treat such expressions as the following:

1. Up springs the lark.

2. To confirm his words, out flew

Millions of flaming swords.

3. Leith, the port of Edinburgh, cairres on a great trade.

4. The moon leads on the gentle hours.

See also the Notes to lines 1058 and 1092.

INDIRECT OBJECT.

1. It frequently happens that a complete assertion cannot be made without the use of two objects; the one being called the direct, and the other the indirect object. Thus, in the following examples there are two objects:

1. They made him secretary.

2. They voted it a nuisance.

3. He ordered the men to advance.

4. We saw the army fighting.