English IV Sentence of the Day 22

Today's sentence comes from "Beowulf":

I will compensate you for settling the feud

As I did the last time with lavish wealth,

Coffers of coiled gold, if you come back.

For an audio recording of the explanation of today's sentence, click here.

English I SoD 17

Today's sentence comes from Maya Angelou's "Graduation":

Their authority was so new that

occasionally if they pressed a

little too hard it had to be overlooked.

For an audio lesson, click here.

English IV SoD 21

Today's sentence is from "Beowulf":

There was less tampering and big talk then 

from Unferth the boaster, less of his blather

as the hall-thanes eyed the awful proof of the hero's prowess.

For an audio lesson, click here.

English IV SoD 19: Complex Sentence

Today's sentence comes from "Beowulf":

They had seen me boltered in the blood of enemies
when I battled and bound five beasts,
raided a troll-nest and in the night-sea
slaughtered sea-brutes.

For an audio lesson (recorded in class on 10/25), click here.

English 1 SoD 14: Complex Sentence

Pick out main parts in this sentence from "A Reunion with Boredom":

There’s also television, of course,

which in homes of many

Americans is on twenty-four

hours a day, making it harder and harder to find a

quiet place to sit and think.

For an audio lesson (recorded in class on 10/23), click here.

English 4 SoD 13: Model Sentence 2

This is Model Sentence 2:

Students everywhere live in dread
of the summer reading test, an
assessment of how well they
understood the reading and of
how skilled they are at test-
taking. (Model 2: Parallel Structure in the
Phrase of Apposition)

For an audio lesson (recorded in class on 10/9), click here.

English 1 Sentence of the Day 13

Today's sentence of the day comes from the story "There Will Come Soft Rains":

There, down tubes which fed into

the cellar, it was dropped into the sighing vent of

an incinerator which sat like evil Baal in a dark

corner.

For an audio recording of today's lesson, click here.

Here's a picture of the labeled sentence:

English I Sentence of the Day 9

Now that you've completed Sentence Basics Lessons 1 to 5, let's put your skills to work on a sentence from "The Necklace":

He stopped, distracted, seeing that his wife was crying.

There are no prepositional phrases. There are TWO action verbs that have subjects, "stopped" and "was crying," thus there are two predicates.

Who or what stopped? He. He is the subject of stopped. He stopped who or what? There is no answer so there is no DO.

Who or what was crying? Wife. Wife is the subject of was crying. Wife was crying who or what? There is no answer so there is no DO.

"Distracted" looks like a verb, but it has no subject, so it is not a predicate. "Seeing" also looks like a verb, but it also has no subject, so it is not a predicate.

English I Sentence of the Day 7

Now that you've completed Sentence Basics Lessons 1 to 5, let's put your skills to work on a sentence from "The Cask of Amontillado"

It must be understood that

neither by word nor deed

had I given Fortunato cause

to doubt my good will.

Pick out Main Parts!

First bracket off prep phrases: It must be understood that neither [by word] nor deed had I given Fortunato cause to doubt my good will. 

Then underline verbs: It must be understood that neither [by word] nor deed had I given Fortunato cause to doubt my good will. 

Now ask the questions to pick out main parts for each verb:

Must be understood. Who or what must be understood? It. "It" is the subject.
It must be understood who or what? This question doesn't make sense, so there's no DO.

Had given. Who or what had given? I. "I" is the subject. In this case, the helping verb and main verb are divided up by the subject. This is a little odd to our ears, but the subject question helped us find the subject anyway. When the words are not in the expected order, we call it "inverted word order."

I had given who or what? Cause. "Cause" is the direct object.

I had given cause to whom? Fortunato. "Fortunato" is the indirect object.

English I S o D 5

Now that you've completed Sentence Basics Lessons 1 to 5, let's put your skills to work on a sentence from "The Tell-Tale Heart":

A watch's minute hand
moves more quickly
than did mine.

Pick out main parts!

There are no prep phrases in this sentence.

Find the verbs:

A watch's minute hand moves more quickly than did mine.

Who or what moves? hand.

• Hand is the subject

Hand moves what? There is no logical answer, so there is no direct object.

• You may have been tempted to say "quickly" was the DO, but "quickly" does tell us what the hand moved. "Quickly" tells us how.

Who or what did? Mind

• Mind is the subject because it is the logical answer to the question. Sometimes, as in this case, the subject is placed after the verb, but the subject question still leads us to the answer. This is called inverted word order.

English I S of D 4

Now that you've completed Sentence Basics Lessons 1 to 5, let's put your skills to work on a sentence from our reading:

You should have seen how wisely I proceeded--with what caution--with what foresight--with what dissimulation I went to work!

Note, the pairs of hyphens in this sentence are dashes, more technically "em dashes." An em dash is an emphatic form of punctuation. You can use them where you would normally use a comma to add emphasis, or you can use them to set off an aside or interjection. Edgar Allan Poe, author of this sentence, loved dashes. To type an em dash, you type a word, type two hypens, and then type the next word with no spaces in between. On most word processors, when you do, the computer will turn the two hypens into a line. Alas, blogger doesn't do that, but even many phones do.

Prep phrases:

You should have seen how wisely I proceeded--[with what caution]--[with what foresight]--[with what dissimulation] I went [to work]!

Verbs:

You should have seen how wisely I proceeded--[with what caution]--[with what foresight]--[with what dissimulation] I went [to work]!

POMP for each verb:

Who or what should have seen? You.

• You is the subject.

You should have seen who or what? How wisely I proceeded.

• "How wisely I proceeded." A whole group of words answers the direct object question. Therefore a whole group of words is acting together as the direct object. This is a noun clause.

Who or what proceeded? I

• I is the subject.

I proceeded who or what? There is no answer, so there is no direct object.

Who or what went? I

• I is the subject.

I went who or what? There is no answer, so there is no direct object.

English IV SoD 5

Now that you've completed Sentence Basics Lessons 1 to 5, let's put your skills to work on a sentence from our reading. Today's sentence comes from Barbara Lazear Ascher's "The Boxman."

His collar was pulled so high that he appeared headless as he shuffled across the street like a man who must feel Earth with his toes to know that he walks there.

Pick out main parts!

Bracket off prep phrases:

• His collar was pulled so high that he appeared headless as he shuffled [across the street] [like a man] who must feel Earth [with his toes] to know that he walks there.

Underline all the verbs:

• His collar was pulled so high that he appeared headless as he shuffled [across the street] [like a man] who must feel Earth [with his toes] to know that he walks there.

Test each verb to see if it is a predicate. If it is a predicate, pick out all main parts.

Was pulled. Who or what was pulled? Collar. 

• Collar is the subject.
• Collar was pulled who or what? This question doesn't make sense, so there's no DO.

Appear. Who or what appeared? He.

• He is the subject.
• He appeared what? Headless. Headless is the predicate adjective. 
• Appear can be an action verb or a linking verb depending on context. In this case, appear isn't describing the action of showing up. Rather it is telling us what he looked like.

Shuffled. Who or what shuffled? He.

• He is the subject. 
• He shuffled who or what? There is no answer to that question. Nothing is on the receiving end of his shuffle. Therefore there is no DO.

Must feel. Who or what must feel? Who.

• Who is the subject. 
• You may have been tempted to select "man" as the subject, and if you did, you had the right meaning, but "man" is already bracketed off as part of a prepositional phrase, so it cannot be the subject. Any one word can only do one job. The pronoun who refers to man, so "who" is the grammatical subject.
• Who must feel what? There is no answer to this question, so there is no predicate nominative or predicate adjective.

To know. Any time you have the verb in its infinitive forms (to + verb), the verb will not take a subject. In fact, as you get good at POMP, you'll know not to underline infinitives when searching for verbs.

Walks. Who or what walks? He.

• He is the subject. 
• He walks who or what? There is no answer to that question, so there is no DO. Note, "there" does not tell us who or what he walks. It tells us where he walks. 

This sentence has 5 clauses. Only one of the clauses is independent ("His collar was pulled so high"). This is a complex sentence.

English IV SoD 3

Now that you've completed Sentence Basics Lessons 1 to 5, let's put your skills to work on a sentence from our reading:

Six years have passed since I resolved on my present undertaking.

Click here for today's video lesson.

Pick out main parts!

• First bracket off prep phrases
• Then find all the verbs
• Test verbs to see which are predicates.
• Pick out all main parts for the predicates you find.

English IV - SoD 1

Now that you've completed Sentence Basics Lessons 1 to 5, let's put your skills to work on a sentence from our reading:

The breeze, which has traveled from the regions towards which I am advancing, gives me a foretaste of those icy climes.

Click here for today's video lesson.

Pick out main parts!

• First bracket off prep phrases
• Then find all the verbs
• Test verbs to see which are predicates.
• Pick out all main parts for the predicates you find.