Sentence analysis

Chapter 2: Words
Words belong to different categories; such a category is called a word class or part of speech
(woordsoort)

2.1 Word classes

The following classes can be distinguished:
Noun (zelfstandig naamwoord)
Table, music, London, James, guilt, etc.

Article (lidwoord)
Definite article (bepaald lidwoord)
- The
Indefinte article (onbepaald lidwoord)
- a/an

Adjective (bijvoeglijk naamwoord)

Cold, big, heavy, etc.

Verb (werkwoord)
Walk, read, be, become, seem, can, may, etc.

Adverb (bijwoord)
Quickly, seriously, always, fortunately, yesterday, when, where, why, how, etc.

Particle (partikel)
To (to go, to sit, etc)

Pronoun (voornaamwoord)
Personal pronoun (persoonlijk voornaamwoord)
- I, you, he , she, it, we, they; me, you, him, her, it, us, them

Reflexive pronoun (wederkerend voornaamwoord)

- Myself, yourself, himself, herself, itself, ourselves, yourselves, themselves, oneself.

Possessive pronoun (bezittelijk voornaamwoord)

- My, your, his, her, its, our, their; mine, yours, his, hers, ours, theirs.

Demonstrative pronouns ( aanwijzend voornaamwoord)

- This, that, these, those

Interrogative pronoun (vragend voornaamwoord)

- Who(m), whose, what, which

Relative pronoun (betrekkelijk voornaamwoord)

- Who(m), whose, which, that

Indefinite pronoun (onbepaald voornaamwoord)

- Some (= een of ander/sommige), any, each, every, somebody, someone, something,
anybody, anyone, anything, nothing, none, all, both, either, no, other, another, such
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Numeral (telwoord)
Cardinal (hoofdtelwoord)
- One, two, three, etc.
Ordinal (rangtelwoord)
- First, second, third, etc.; next, last.

Quantifier (hoeveelheidaanduidend woord)

Much, many, more, most, enough, little, a little, less, least, few, a few, several, some, double, half,
twice, three times, etc.

Preposition (voorzetsel)
At, in, on, behind, of, from, than, like, because of, etc.

Conjunction (voegwoord)
Coordinating conjunction (nevenschikkend voegwoord)
- And, but, or, nor
Subordinating conjunction (onderschikkend voegwoord)
- Because, if, when, though, that, etc.

Interjection or exclamation (tussenwerpsel/uitroep)

Oh, ouch, wow, hurray, etc.

Note that many words can belong to more than one-word class, as the following exmples show:
- ‘answer’ can be a verb (He did not answer) or a noun (this answer is correct)
- ‘cold’ can be an adjective (a cold day) or a noun (I had a cold)
- ‘when’ can be an adverb (When will he come?) or conjunction (He did not say everything
when he left)

2.2 Parsing
Indicating to what word class each word in a sentence belongs is called parsing (taalkundig
ontleden), some examples:

1. Yesterday I met some old friends of mine at the station.

Yesterday: adverb of: preposition
I: personal pronoun mine: possessive pronoun
met: verb at: preposition
some: quantifier the: definite article
old: adjective station: noun
friends: noun

2. It had been a very pleasant and instructive evening.

It: personal pronoun pleasant: adjective
had: verb and: conjunction
been: verb instructive: adjective
a: indefinite article evening: noun
very: adverb

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Chapter 4 : Sentence elements

When we analyse a sentence, we point out what the syntactic function of each sentence element is.
By ‘syntactic function’ we mean the function that a sentence element has in building the sentence.

What are the various syntactic functions:

- Subject
- Predicator
- Subject complement
- Direct object
- Object complement
- Indirect object
- Adverbial
4.1 Subject (S)
The suvject of a sentence is the person, thing or animal about whom or which ‘something is said’.
The subject may perform the action, undergo the action or there may be no action at all.
 He laughed
 The book was published last year
 Most of our customers are satisfied
 Where is the post office? It is just round the corner.
The subject can also be defined as that part of the sentence which takes up a position after the first
verb in questions:
 He is ill. > Is he ill?
 She speaks English. > Does she speak English?
4.1.1 ‘There’ as provisional subject
‘There’ has no meaning and is used to introduce the subject, which follows the verb(s). it is therefore
called provisional subject (voorloping onderwerp) and sometimes introductory ‘there’.
 There is a beautiful park in this town.
 There have been some problems.
4.1.2 ‘It’ as formal subject
It is the subject in the sentences below, but it does not express any meaning nor does it refer to
anything. It is called formal subject (loos onderwerp), empty subject or impersonal ‘it’. It is used in
sentences referring to time, the weather, distance and situations.
 It is 4 o’clock/late/Wednesday.
 It is ten miles/an hour’s walk from here.
 It is cold/raining.
 It is lonely/noisy here.
4.2 Predicate
What is said about the subject is called the predicate. Therefore all the words outside the subject
from the predicate.
 She has studied English in London for two years.
4.3 Predicator
The verb phrase is the predicator, in other words all the verbs in a sentence together are predicator
 She teaches English.
 They would never have believed me.
 He paid attention to my words.

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4.3.1 Lexical verbs and auxiliary verbs

A verb that can form the predicator on its own is called a lexical verb (main verb/kernwerkwoord). If
the predicator consists of more than one verb, the last verb (the head) is a lexical verb and the
preceding verbs (modifiers) are auxiliary verbs (hulpwerkwoorden).
What are the characteristics of an auxiliary?
- It cannot form the pedicator on its own;
- It does not require ‘do’ in negative sentences
The auxiliaries are:
 Be  Have  Need
 Be going  Have got  Ought
 Can/could  Had better  Shall/should
 Dare  Had rather  Used
 Do  May/might  Will/would
 Must  Would rather
4.3.2 Semi-auxiliaries
A word is a semi-auxiliary when it does require ‘do’ in interrogative sentences and when it has to be
followed by a to-infinitive.
 Appear  Fail  Have  Seem
 Come  Get  Need  Tend
 Dare  Happen  Prove  Turn out
 Used
4.4 Subject complement (SC)
A subject is usually a noun phrase or an adjective phrase (sometimes a preposition phrase) which
follows the predicator and which expresses what the subject is or becomes.
 She is a teacher.
 His wife is ill.
 She is in high spirits.
4.4.1 Linking verbs
The verb between the subject complement is called a linking verb or a copula. You can find a list with
the most important linking verbs on page 48. Lexical verbs that are not linking verb are called non-
linking verbs (zelfstandige werkwoorden) examples are see, kill, write, paint, etc.
4.4.2 Subject complement after non-linking lexical verbs
A subject complement is also found after a couple of lexical verbs that are normally not used as
linking verbs. In hits case the subject complement is sometimes introduced by ‘as’ or ‘for’
 She could pass for a much younger woman.
 She married young.
4.5 Direct object
The direct object can be defined as the person, thing or animal that is affected by the action
expressed by the predicator, though this is not always the case.
 He has a nice house.
 They disapproved of her behaviour
A characteristic of the direct object is that it becomes subject when the sentence is made passive
(lijdend). But not all sentences containing a direct object can be made passive:
 They published a new book. > A new book was published (by them).
 She disapproved of his behaviour. > his behaviour was disapproved of (by her).

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4.5.1 Formal direct object

The formal direct object is ‘it’, it does not express any meaning nor does it refer to anything. ‘it’ as
formal direct object occurs in a limited number idiomatic expressions.
 Beat it!
 Make it snappy!
 He was afraid he would blow it again.

4.6 Object complement

An object complement is a noun phrase or an adjective phrase (sometimes a preposition phrase)
which follows the direct object and which expresses what the direct object is or becomes. An object
complement is sometimes introduced by ‘as’ or ‘for’.
 I found him a very nice chap.
 They chose him for their leader.
 They knocked him unconscious.
When sentences become passive the object complement becomes subject complement in the
passive sentence.
 He called me a fool. > I was called a fool (by him).
 She painted the door blue. > The door was painted blue (by her).
 They declared him innocent. > He was declared innocent (by them).

4.7 Indirect object

The indirect object can be defined as the person who (sometimes the thing which) benefits from the
action expressed by the predicator + direct object.
 I gave Mary a book.
 I gave a book to Mary.
The indirect object also often becomes subject when a sentence is made passive.
 I gave Mary a book > Mary was given a book (by me).
A book was given to Mary (by me).
The indirect object may begin with ‘to’, in this case it follows the direct object. This structure is used
particularly in cases when we want to focus the attention on the indirect object or when the
sentence is very long:
 I gave the book to Mary, not to John.
 He had taught English to all the children in the village.

4.7.1 Indirect object always beginning with ‘to’

A number of verbs only take an indirect object with ‘to’. The most important verbs are:
Administer Admit Announce Communicate Confess
Confide Declare Delegate Deliver Demonstrate
Dictate Entrust Explain Indicate Introduce
Mention Point out Propose Prove Report
Report Reveal Say State Suggest Transmit

An indirect object that always begins with ‘to’ cannot become subject in a passive sentence.
Therefore a sentence can only be made passive by making the direct object subject in the passive:
 I explained the situation to him. > The situation was explained to him (by me).

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4.7.2 Indirect object beginning with ‘for’

A number of verbs take an indirect object beginning with ‘for’ when the indirect object follows the
direct object. These verbs are:
Book Bring Build Buy Cook Cut
Fetch Find Get Leave Make Order
Prepare Reserve Sing
In this case the indirect object is called benefactive object. Normally, an indirect object that can be
replaced by an indirect object beginning with ‘for’ cannot become the subject of a passive sentence.
 They had booked a room for her. > A room had been booked for her.
 They had booked her a room. > Not: *She had been booked a room.
The only exceptions are bring, bur and find:
 They bought a drink for her. > A drink was bought for her. (rare)
 They bought her a drink. > She was bought a drink. (more usual)

4.8 Adverbial
An adverbial (bijwoordelijke bepaling) give information about when, where, why, how, under wat
circumstances, to what degree, etc. something takes place, took place or will take place.
 She sings well.
 He shut the door carefully.
 He has always been a good friend to us.

It is characteristic of most adverbials that they can often be left out without making the sentence
ungrammatical. Another characteristic is that they can usually occupy more than one position in a
sentence:
 It is probably true./Probably it is true./It is true, probably.
 Yesterday I met him./I met him yesterday.

More examples of sentences with adverbials:

 The phone was on the floor in the hallway.
 I have often/sometimes/never heard this.
 He spoke with a foreign accent.