Week 2: Readings from Grammar Lab: Guide to Grammar Website: Subjects, Predicates, Objects, Complements, Noun Phrases, Prepositional Phrases, Appositive Phrases, Absolute Phrases, Gerund Phrases, Participial Phrases, and Infinitive Phrases

What is the understood subject of a command?

"You"

What is a complement?

A complement is any word or phrase that completes the sense of a subject, an object, or a verb. A subject complement follows a linking verb; it is normally an adjective or a noun that renames or defines in some way the subject. A glacier is a huge body of ice. ("Body" is the subject complement; it is a predicate nominative.) Glaciers are beautiful and potentially dangerous at the same time. ("Beautiful" and "dangerous" are the subject compliments; they are predicate adjectives.) This glacier is not yet fully formed. (The verb "form" is acting as an adjective, a participle. So it is the subject compliment; it is a predicate adjective.) An object complement follows and modifies or refers to a direct object. It can be a noun or adjective or any word acting as a noun or adjective. The convention named Dogbreath Vice President to keep him happy. (The noun "Vice President" complements the direct object "Dogbreath"; the adjective "happy" complements the object "him.") The clown got the children too excited. (The participle "excited" complements the object "children.") A verb complement is a direct or indirect object of a verb. Granny left Raoul all her money. (Both "money" [the direct object] and "Raoul" [the indirect object] are said to be the verb complements of this sentence.)

What is a complete predicate?

A complete predicate consists of the verb and all accompanying modifiers and other words that receive the action of a transitive verb or complete its meaning. With an intransitive verb, objects and complements are included in the predicate. (The glacier is melting.) With a transitive verb, objects and object complements are said to be part of the predicate. (The slow moving glacier wiped out an entire forest. It gave the villagers a lot of problems.) With a linking verb, the subject is connected to a subject complement. (The mayor doesn't feel good.)

What is a compound predicate?

A compound predicate consists of two (or more) such predicates connected: The glacier began to slip down the mountainside and eventually crushed some of the village's outlying buildings.

What is the direct object?

A direct object is the receiver of action within a sentence. Be careful to distinguish between a direct object and an object complement: They named their daughter Natasha. In that sentence, "daughter" is the direct object and "Natasha" is the object complement, which renames or describes the direct object.

What is a noun phrase?

A noun phrase comprises a noun (obviously) and any associated modifiers. The modifiers that accompany a noun can take any number of forms and combination of forms: adjectives, of course ("the tall and brilliant professor"); a participial phrase ("the road following the edge of the frozen lake"); an infinitive phrase ("the first man to walk on the moon"); a modifying clause ("the presentation that he had made the day before"); and prepositional phrases ("the building next to the lodge, over by the highway"). Examples of noun phrases: "The long and winding road" ("Road" is the noun; the other words are modifiers) A noun phrase ("phrase" is the noun; the other words are modifiers.) any associated modifiers ("Modifiers" is the noun; the other words are modifiers.)

What is a phrase?

A phrase is a group of related words that does not include a subject and verb.

What is the difference between a phrase and a clause?

A phrase is a group of related words that does not include a subject and verb. (If the group of related words does contain a subject and verb, it is considered a clause.)

What is a predicate adjective?

A predicate adjective follows a linking verb and tells us something about the subject: Ramonita is beautiful. ("beautiful" is the predicate adjective.) His behavior has been outrageous. ("Outrageous" is the predicate adjective.) That garbage on the street smells bad. ("Bad" is the predicate adjective.)

What is a predicate nominative?

A predicate nominative follows a linking verb and tells us what the subject is: Dr. Couchworthy is acting president of the university. ("President" is the predicate nominative.) She used to be the tallest girl on the team. ("Girl" is the predicate nominative.)

What is a prepositional phrase?

A prepositional phrase consists of a preposition, a noun or pronoun that serves as the object of the preposition, and, more often than not, an adjective or two that modifies the object.

What is a simple predicate?

A simple predicate consists of only a verb, verb string, or compound verb: The glacier melted. The glacier has been melting. The glacier melted, broke apart, and slipped into the sea.

What is the simple subject?

A simple subject is the subject of a sentence stripped of modifiers. However, sometimes a simple subject can be more than one word-- for example, the simple subject can be a clause, as in the sentence "What he had already forgotten about computer repair could fill whole volumes," the simple subject is the clause "What he had already forgotten about computer repair."

What is a subject complement?

A subject complement follows a linking verb; it is normally an adjective or a noun that renames or defines in some way the subject. A glacier is a huge body of ice. ("Body" is the subject complement; it is a predicate nominative.) Glaciers are beautiful and potentially dangerous at the same time. ("Beautiful" and "dangerous" are the subject compliments; they are predicate adjectives.) This glacier is not yet fully formed. (The verb "form" is acting as an adjective, a participle. So it is the subject compliment; it is a predicate adjective.)

What is a verb complement?

A verb complement is a direct or indirect object of a verb. Granny left Raoul all her money. (Both "money" [the direct object] and "Raoul" [the indirect object] are said to be the verb complements of this sentence.)

What is a vocative?

A vocative — an addressed person's name or substitute name — is often a single word but sometimes takes the form of a noun phrase. A vocative is always treated as a parenthetical element and is thus set off from the rest of the sentence with a comma or a pair of commas (if it appears within the flow of a sentence). When vocatives are proper nouns (usually the case), they are also referred to as "nouns of address." E.g. "Jorge, turn the boat around." 1.) Single names, with or without a title: Jorge, Mr. Valdez, Dr. Valdez, Uncle, Grandma. Dr. Valdez, will you please address the graduates? 2.) The personal pronoun you (not a polite form of address): You, put down that gun! The second person pronoun is sometimes combined with other words (but the result is often rather rude and is never used in formal prose ["You over there, hurry up!" "You with the purple hair and silver nose rings, get back in line!"]) The indefinite pronouns can also serve as a vocative: Call an ambulance, somebody! Quick, anybody! Give me a hand! 3.) Appellatives (what we call people) of endearment ("Darling," "Sweetheart," "My dear," "Love") Come sit next to me, my dear.; of respect ("Sir," "Madam," "Your Honor," "Ladies and gentlemen") I would ask you, Sir, never to do that again.; of profession or status ("Professor," "Mr. President," "Madam Chairman," "Coach") Please, Coach, let me play for a while. 4.) Nominal clause: Whoever is making that noise, stop it now.

What is an object complement?

An object complement follows and modifies or refers to a direct object. It can be a noun or adjective or any word acting as a noun or adjective. The convention named Dogbreath Vice President to keep him happy. (The noun "Vice President" complements the direct object "Dogbreath"; the adjective "happy" complements the object "him.") The clown got the children too excited. (The participle "excited" complements the object "children.")

What is a stacked noun phrase or packed noun phrase?

One thing you want to watch out for with noun phrases is the long compound noun phrase.* This is sometimes called the "stacked noun phrase" or "packed noun phrase." when we create a long string of such attributive nouns or modifiers, we create difficulties: People who author web-pages have become aware of what is now known as the uniform resource locator protocol problem. ("uniform resource locator protocol problem" is the stacked noun phrase.) The difficulty we have here is knowing what is modifying what. Usually, the solution to an overly extended compound noun phrase is to take the last noun of the series and liberate it from the rest of the string (putting it at the beginning of the sentence) and then to turn at least one of the modifying nouns into a prepositional phrase: The problem with the protocol of uniform resource locators is now recognized by people who author web-pages as. . . .

What is the agent of a sentence?

The do-er or the initiator of action in a sentence is referred to as the agent of the sentence. In an active sentence, the subject is the agent. In a passive sentence, the agent is not the subject. In fact, sometimes a passive sentence will not contain an agent: The dean's report was reviewed by the faculty senate. ("Senate" is the agent here, even though it is not the subject of the sentence.) Three cities in the country's interior were bombed. (There is no agent in this sentence, although the sentence has a subject.)

What is the indirect object?

The indirect object identifies to or for whom or what the action of the verb is performed. The instructor gave his students A's. ("Students" is the indirect object, while "A's" is the direct object.) Grandfather left Rosalita and Raoul all his money. ("Rosalita and Raoul" are the indirect objects, while "all his money" is the direct object.) Jo-Bob sold me her boat. ("Me" is the indirect object, while "her boat" is the direct object.) Incidentally, the word me (and similar object-form pronouns such as him, us, them) is not always an indirect object; it will also serve, sometimes, as a direct object. Bless me/her/us! ("Me/ her/ use" is the direct object) Call me/him/them if you have questions ("me/him/them" is direct object)

What is the subject?

The person, place, thing, or idea that is doing or being something

What is a discontinuous noun phrase?

Usually, a noun phrase will be all of a piece, all the words that compose it being contiguous with the noun itself. It is possible, however, for a noun phrase to be broken, to become what we call discontinuous. Sometimes part of the noun phrase is delayed until the end of the sentence so that that portion of the phrase (usually modifying phrases — participial or prepositional) can receive end weight or focus. In our first example, for instance, "*Several accidents* have been reported *involving passengers falling from trains*" we could have put the entire noun phrase together: "*Several accidents involving passengers falling from trains* have been reported recently." Shifting the modifying phrases to the end puts additional emphasis on that part. Here are some other examples: "*A rumor* circulated among the staff *that he was being promoted to Vice President*. (instead of "*A rumor that he was being promoted to Vice President* circulated among the staff.") *The time* had come *to stop spending money foolishly and to put something away for the future*. (instead of "The time to stop spending money foolishly and to put something away for the future had come.") *That hard drive* was faulty *that you sold me* . (instead of "*That hard drive that you sold me* was faulty.") *What business* is it *of yours(? (instead of "*What business of yours* is it? ") Clearly, there is nothing inherently wrong with a discontinuous noun phrase. One very good reason for a discontinuous noun phrase is to achieve a balance between a subject and its predicate: *The story* is told *that he was once a soldier in French Foreign Legion*. Without the discontinuous noun phrase in the sentence above, we end up with a twelve-word subject, a linking verb, and a one-word predicate — sort of lop-sided.