modify

joon · Post by **joon** » Sun Mar 30, 2003 2:05 am

(example)The agencies worry greatly about the possible outbreak of war on the Korean peninsula if friendly cooperation between the South and the U.S. should break.

(1) The adverb "greatly" modifies the main verb "worry".

(2) The prepositional phrase"about the possible outbreak of war" modifies
the main verb "worry".

(3) The prepsoitional phrase "on the korean peninsula" modifies the noun "war".

(4) The if-clause "if friendly cooperation between the South and the U.S. should break" modifies the main verb "worry".

Do you think my 4 statesments above are all true?

Roger · Post by **Roger** » Sun Mar 30, 2003 4:40 am

1) ...greatly... does qualify worry. Thus it is an adverb of manner.
2) ...worry about the possible...war does not modify or qualify the verb, it
constitues a prepositional object. "Worry" can be both a vi. or vt.
3) ...on the Korean peninsula.. is a complement to ...war... IT is an optional element in this sentence.
4) ...if friendly...: An if-clause is a conditional clause.

joon · Post by **joon** » Sun Mar 30, 2003 5:28 am

The element of the root structure : {}
The element of the 1st sub-structure : []
The element of the 2nd sub-sturcture: ()

1. {[The agencies] [worry] [greatly] [about the possible outbreak of war on the Korean peninsula]} {if [friendly cooperation between the South and the U.S.] [should break]}.

2.{The agencies} {worry} {greatly} {[about the possible outbreak of war on the Korean peninsula] [if (friendly cooperation between the South and the U.S.) (should break)]}}.

I thought analysis 1 first.
Now I think analysis 2 is in the right.

I am wandering this kind of structure analysis is useful to study English or not -useful.

Celeste · Post by **Celeste** » Mon Mar 31, 2003 6:52 am

I have not done much sentence diagramming, but my husband has. He and I are both living in Japan now, and we are both trying to learn japanese. He is doing very well at reading, and I am doing better at speaking, listening, and even writing. I think that sentence diagramming is useful if you are trying to figure out grammatically difficult sentences, but it really won't help you learn to speak a foreign language well.

joon · Post by **joon** » Mon Mar 31, 2003 11:15 am

I'll keep your advice in my mind, Celeste.

And
if you let me tell you why I am interested in the sentence diagramming.
I will say that it is a useful tool for reading comprehension without translation into mohter tongue.

Anyway, I am fall in love with the diagramming these days.
However, I have to confess that I am not skillful on it.

I hope someone in this forum is interested in it.