[grammar] English Language, Analysis and Grammar Exercises Part 3

[Justin Mallone]

I went through part 3 of Elliot’s English Language, Analysis & Grammar article:

https://fallibleideas.com/grammar

I made a video of me reading through part 3 of the article and doing the questions:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PFxIy0lyoxM

My answers to the questions from Part 3 are below. The answers below have a couple of edits from the video which I’ve noted with “EDIT”.


# Conclusion of Part 3 Example Sentences

> Running fast isn’t fun.

Linking verb: is
Subject: Running
Complement: fun
“not” is an adverb modifying “is.”
“fast” is an adjective modifying “Running.”

> I don’t want to stand on my porch when it’s wet.

Action verb: want
Auxiliary verb: do. Enables the negation of “want” by adverb “not.”
Subject: I.
Object: to stand (infinitive).
“not” is an adverb modifying “want.”

“on my porch” is an adverbial prepositional phrase describing the location where the person does not want to stand.
preposition: on.
object of preposition: porch.
“my” modifies “porch.”

“when” is a conjunction. It tells us the situation under which the person does not want to stand on their porch: when it’s wet.

Subordinate clause: it’s wet.
Linking verb: Is.
Subject: It
Complement: wet.

Conclusions: I don’t want to stand in a particular location under a particular condition. The location is my porch. The condition is when it is wet.

> Swimming after work is too tiring.

Linking verb: is.
Subject: swimming (gerund).
Complement: tiring.

“after work” is an adverbial prepositional phrase describing when the swimming takes place.
Preposition: after.
Object of preposition: work.

“too” is an adverb modifying “tiring.”

> John gets sweaty when he does his exercise routine.

Action verb: gets
Subject: John
Complement: sweaty

“when” is a conjunction describing the situation under which John gets sweaty.

Subordinate clause: he does his exercise routine.
Action verb: does.
Subject: he (refers to John).
Object: routine.
“his” and “exercise” modify routine. “His” is referring to “John’s.”

Conclusions: John gets sweaty in a particular situation. That situation is when he does his exercise routine.

> I gave him gifts.

Action verb: gave.
Subject: I.
Object: gifts.
Indirect object (standing for “to him”): him.

> I love to throw boomerangs to myself.

Action verb: love.
Subject: I.
Object: to throw boomerangs. Infinitive phrase with the object “boomerangs.”

“to myself” is a prepositional phrase describing the recipient of the object of the infinitive.

What word is the prepositional phrase modifying?

EDIT: It modifies throw. It’s not modifying “I” or “love” or “boomerangs.”

What sort of prepositional phrase is it?

EDIT: Adverbial phrase.

Conclusions: I love to engage in an activity. The activity is throwing boomerangs to myself.


> When a movie is boring, I stop watching.

Action verb: stop.
Subject: I.
Object: watching (gerund).

conjunction: when.

subordinate clause: a movie is boring
Linking verb: is.
Subject: movie
complement: boring. EDIT: present participle, adjective.
“a” modifies “movie.”

Conclusions: I stop watching a movie under a particular condition. That condition is when the movie is boring.

> I like reading non-fiction books out of order.

Action verb: like.
Subject: I.
object: reading books (gerund phrase with an object, with the whole phrase serving as an object in the sentence).
“non-fiction” is an adjective modifying “books”
“out” is an adverb modifying “reading.”

“of order” is an adverbial prepositional phrase describing what we’re out of.
preposition: of.
object: order.


> My broken speakers don’t work for making sound.

Action verb: work.
Subject: speakers.
Auxiliary verb: do. support word for “not.”
“not” is an adverb modifying “work.”
“my” is an adjective modifying “speakers”
“broken” is a past participle adjective modifying speakers.

“for making sound” is an adverbial prepositional phrase describing what the speakers do not work for.
Preposition: for
object: sound
“making” is a present participle adjective modifying sound?

Conclusions: My speakers are broken. They don’t work for making sound.

EDIT: I think maybe “making sound” works better as a gerund object of a preposition which has its own object.

EDIT: This is a decent short quiz I found specifically on distinguishing between gerunds and participles. https://webapps.towson.edu/ows/exercises/Participles\_Gerunds\_Ex3.aspx

> FYI, working at the CIA is cooler than the FBI.

Implied words rewrite: FYI, working at the CIA is cooler than [working at] the FBI.

Action verb: is.
Subject: Working (gerund).
Complement: Cooler.

Adverbial prepositional phrase: than [working at] the FBI
preposition: than
object: working

Adjective prepositional phrase: at the FBI
preposition: at
Object: FBI
“the” modifies “FBI”

FYI is an abbreviation for “For your information.”

Conclusions: The following information is for your information: working at the CIA is cooler than working at the FBI.

[GISTE]

On Jul 14, 2019, at 2:44 PM, Justin Mallone <just...@gmail.com> wrote:

>> FYI, working at the CIA is cooler than the FBI.
>
> Implied words rewrite: FYI, working at the CIA is cooler than [working
> at] the FBI.
>
> Action verb: is.
> Subject: Working (gerund).
> Complement: Cooler.
>
> Adverbial prepositional phrase: than [working at] the FBI
> preposition: than
> object: working
>
> Adjective prepositional phrase: at the FBI
> preposition: at
> Object: FBI
> “the” modifies “FBI”
>
> FYI is an abbreviation for “For your information.”
>
> Conclusions: The following information is for your information:
> working at the CIA is cooler than working at the FBI.

How should “For your information” be analyzed? It looks like a
prepositional phrase modifying the entire clause coming after it.

Can a prepositional phrase modify a whole clause? I googled and didn’t
find anything about it.

I also googled about “FYI” and I didn’t find any grammatical
analysis of it.

-- GISTE

[Anne B]

I think FYI modifies all the rest of the sentence.

[Anne B]

On Sun, Jul 14, 2019 at 3:44 PM Justin Mallone <just...@gmail.com> wrote:

> I went through part 3 of Elliot’s English Language, Analysis & Grammar article:
>
> https://fallibleideas.com/grammar
>
> I made a video of me reading through part 3 of the article and doing the questions:
>
> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PFxIy0lyoxM
>
> My answers to the questions from Part 3 are below. The answers below have a couple of edits from the video which I’ve noted with “EDIT”.

> > FYI, working at the CIA is cooler than the FBI.
>
> Implied words rewrite: FYI, working at the CIA is cooler than [working at] the FBI.
>
> Action verb: is.
> Subject: Working (gerund).
> Complement: Cooler.
>
> Adverbial prepositional phrase: than [working at] the FBI
> preposition: than
> object: working
>
> Adjective prepositional phrase: at the FBI

I think "at the FBI" functions as an adverb rather than an adjective.
It modifies "working". Since "working" is a verbal, it can be modified
by an adverb. And the phrase tells where the working happens, which is
more of an adverb function than an adjective function.

https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/adjective

> adjective
>
> a word belonging to one of the major form classes in any of numerous languages and typically serving as a modifier of a noun to denote a quality of the thing named, to indicate its quantity or extent, or to specify a thing as distinct from something else

https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/adverb

> adverb
>
> a word belonging to one of the major form classes in any of numerous languages, typically serving as a modifier of a verb, an adjective, another adverb, a preposition, a phrase, a clause, or a sentence, expressing some relation of manner or quality, place, time, degree, number, cause, opposition, affirmation, or denial, and in English also serving to connect and to express comment on clause content

End of dictionary quotations. I left the rest of Justin's analysis of
this sentence below for context.

[Justin Mallone]

On Jul 29, 2019, at 6:55:28 PM, Anne B <anne...@gmail.com> wrote:

> On Sun, Jul 14, 2019 at 3:44 PM Justin Mallone <just...@gmail.com> wrote:
>
>> I went through part 3 of Elliot’s English Language, Analysis & Grammar article:
>>
>> https://fallibleideas.com/grammar
>>
>> I made a video of me reading through part 3 of the article and doing the questions:
>>
>> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PFxIy0lyoxM
>>
>> My answers to the questions from Part 3 are below. The answers below have a couple of edits from the video which I’ve noted with “EDIT”.
>
>
>>> FYI, working at the CIA is cooler than the FBI.
>>
>> Implied words rewrite: FYI, working at the CIA is cooler than [working at] the FBI.
>>
>> Action verb: is.
>> Subject: Working (gerund).
>> Complement: Cooler.
>>
>> Adverbial prepositional phrase: than [working at] the FBI
>> preposition: than
>> object: working
>>
>> Adjective prepositional phrase: at the FBI
>
> I think "at the FBI" functions as an adverb rather than an adjective.
> It modifies "working". Since "working" is a verbal, it can be modified
> by an adverb. And the phrase tells where the working happens, which is
> more of an adverb function than an adjective function.

I agree. I think I must have done an overly simplistic analysis where I saw “working" was a gerund functioning as a noun-subject and was like “oh so if it has a prepositional phrase modifying it, the phrase has to be an adjective."

-JM