ANALYSIS OF SIMPLE SENTENCES

DECLARATIVE
INTERROGATIVE
IMPERATIVE
EXCLAMATIVE
ANALYSIS: INTERROGATIVES/QUESTIONS: SUBJECT

Sentences may also take the form of questions.

 Consider the following sentences:
 Who invented wireless telegraphy?

 Marconi invented wireless telegraphy.

 What is the verb of sentence 1? ____________________

 What is the verb of sentence 2? ____________________

 What is the direct object of sentence 1? _____________________

 What is the direct object of sentence 2? _____________________

 What is the difference between the two sentences? ________________________

 Who invented wireless telegraphy?

Marconi invented wireless telegraphy.

 Notes:
 (a) and (b) In both sentences 1 and 2, the verb is invented
 (c) and (d) The direct object of both sentences is also the same: Who or
what was invented?: wireless telegraphy
 (e) The difference:
 In sentence 2, we are told who carried out the action described in the
verb: Marconi is therefore the subject of the sentence.
 In the first sentence, who, introducing the question, has to stand for an
unknown person who carried out the action described in the verb
invented. Who is the subject, and it is an interrogative pronoun
  Who invented wireless telegraphy?

 Marconi invented wireless telegraphy.

ANALYSIS: QUESTIONS: OBJECT

 The word introducing the question is not always the subject. Consider
the following sentence:

 He is reading the newspaper.

 What is he reading?

 In both sentences, He is carrying out the action of reading, as is the

subject of both sentence. In the first sentence, newspaper is the object
because it is the thing being read. In the second sentence, what is the
unknown thing that is being read, and is the direct object of is reading.
 He is reading the newspaper.
 What is he reading?
ANALYSIS: QUESTIONS: COMPLEMENT

 Some questions have complements because they contain the verb to be,
or other verbs which usually need predicative words to complete the
sense.
 Consider the following sentences:
 His name is Henry
 His name is what?
 What is his name?
What is the subject of :
 sentence 1? _____________ (His name)
 Sentence 2? ____________ (His name)
 Sentence 3? ____________ (His name)
 Note: In all three cases, the subject of the verb (is) is his
name:
 Henry and what (whether at the beginning or end of the
sentence)are predicative words necessary to complete the
sense. As complements, they are graphically represented as
continuations of the verb. Thus the graphic representation
is:
ANALYSIS: QUESTIONS: ADVERBIAL

Consider the following sentences:

 The family is travelling tomorrow.
 When is the family travelling?
 What is the verb of sentence 1? ____________________

 What is the verb of sentence 2? ____________________

 Who is travelling? _____________________

 What does the adverb tomorrow tell? _________________

 What is the function of the word when in the second

sentence? ________
 The family is travelling tomorrow.
 When is the family travelling?
 In both sentences ,
 the verb is is travelling.

 Who is travelling? The family.

 The adverb tomorrow tells when the action of the verb takes
place.
 The word when in the second sentence has the same adverbial
function: it is an interrogative adverb, asking rather than
telling the time when the verb takes place.
 Thus the graphic representative is:
 The family is travelling tomorrow.
 When is the family travelling?
ANALYSIS: QUESTIONS: INVERSION

 Some questions are merely rearrangements of the order of

words in statements (a reversal of normal word order).
 Thus, Can you drive a car? is an inversion of You can drive a
car. Subject, verb, object are the same in both. Thus:
Exercise
Analyse the following questions graphically
1. Who knocked it over?

2. What are you doing?

3. How did they manage?

4. Where is he going?

5. When is the next delivery expected?

ANALYSIS: COMMAND
As discussed before, commands do not have subjects. The
action of the verbs is to be performed by an unspecified ‘you’
who is the person(s) to whom the ‘command’ is given. For
example,
 Go carefully.

 Watch out!

 (You must) go carefully.

 (You must) watch out.

 The subject is said to be understood, and is represented in

graphic analysis in brackets.
ANALYSIS: COMMAND
It may be that the person who is being ‘commanded’ is
named:
 Do sit down, Mrs Doubtfire.

 The subject is still an understood you, however, and

the sentence is represented
ANALYSIS: EXCLAMATION

How do you graphically analyse exclamations

below

 What a fuss she made!

 What a mess it all is!
ANALYSIS: EXCLAMATION
The exclamations
 What a fuss she made!
 What a mess it all is!

If the sentence contains exclamatory words such as ‘oh’, ‘well’ ,etc., these are not
part of the grammatical structure of the sentence, and may be omitted from the
analysis.