SoD 11: Compound-Complex Sentence

Now that you've completed Sentence Basics Lessons 1 to 6, let's put your skills to work on a sentence from "My Landlady's Yard":

So I go ahead and drag around a

green hose despite my perception

that gold, colorless liquid, is pouring out onto this

desert, an offering as unquenchable and ruthless as

to any Aztec deity (don’t water a couple of days

and watch how fast it dries away).

Let's pick out main parts!

First bracket off prepositional phrases: So I go ahead and drag around a green hose despite my perception that gold, colorless liquid, is pouring out [onto this desert], an offering as unquenchable and ruthless as [to any Aztec deity] (don’t water a couple [of days] and watch how fast it dries away).

Note, "ahead," "around,"and "out" are sometimes prepositions, but in this sentence, they are helping the verbs express their actions, therefore they are phrasal verbs.

Next underline verbs: So I go ahead and drag around a green hose despite my perception that gold, colorless liquid, is pouring out [onto this desert], an offering as unquenchable and ruthless as [to any Aztec deity] (don’t water a couple [of days] and watch how fast it dries away).

We don't have to underline "offering" here because we know that -ing verbs need helping verbs to take a subject. "Offering" is a participle and is acting as a modifier.

Who or what goes ahead? I. "I" is the subject. 
I go ahead who or what? The question makes no sense, so there's no complement.

Who or what drags around? I. "I" is the subject. 

Both verbs share the same subject, therefore these verbs are part of a single clause. This is an example of compound-predicate.

I drag around who or what? A hose. "Hose" is the direct object.

Who or what is pouring out? Gold. "Gold" is the subject.

Note, "liquid" cannot be the subject because it is separated from the verb with a single comma. The two commas surrounded "colorless liquid" act like a bridge, allowing us to move from the verb "is pouring out" to the subject "gold."

Who or what don't water? This verb is an imperative verb. It is giving a command, therefore the subject is understood to be the reader, or "you." 

You don't water who or what? This question makes no sense so there's no complement.

Who or what watch? This verb is an imperative verb. It is giving a command, therefore the subject is understood to be the reader, or "you." 

You watch who or what? "How fast it dries away." This is a noun clause acting as direct object.

Who or what dries? It. "It" is the subject.
It dries who or what? There is no answer, so no complement.

This sentence contains a whooping five clauses:

So I go ahead and drag around a green hosedespite my perception that gold, colorless liquid, is pouring out [onto this desert]don’t water a couple [of days]watch how fast it dries away

Two of the clauses are dependent:

despite my perception that gold, colorless liquid, is pouring out [onto this desert]how fast it dries away 

The rest are independent. Thus this is a compound-complex sentence.

The portion of the sentence that is set off with parenthesis is a sort of aside, as if the author is leaning over and whispering a comment to the audience. 

English I: S o D 2

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

Listen, and I will tell you how it happened.

Pick out main parts!

There are no prepositional phrases in this sentence.

The first verb is listen. Who or what listen? You listen. 

• The word "you" is not written in the sentence, but it is understood that the speaker of the sentence is talking to some person, telling him or her to listen. This verb is a command, so the subject is "you," which is understood but not stated. A verb that issues a command is an imperative verb.

"Listen" will not have any additional main parts. I know this because there is a comma immediately after it and you cannot separate main parts with a single comma.

The second verb is "will tell." Who or what will tell? 

• I. I is the subject of "will tell." 

I will tell who or what?

• I will tell "how it happened." The entire group of words "how it happened" is the direct object. Any one word can only do one job, but a whole group of words can work together to do another job. In this case, the thing the speaker will be telling to the listened is the story or "how it happened." This is a noun clause--a group of words with a subject and verb that acts like a noun.

I will tell how it happened to whom?

• You. You is the indirect object.

The final verb is happened. Who or what happened?

• It. It is the subject of happened.