English I SoD 15

Today's sentence comes from "A Reunion with Boredom":


There were radios, but their

delights—with the exception of a

few programs—were reserved for

the grownups only.

Here's how we labeled the sentence in class:

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.