Structure of Modern English1
Noun Phrases and Predicate Phrases
(Diagram the phrases outside the parentheses.)
1. Money talks.
2. Everything hurts.
key
S - sentence
NP – noun phrase
N – noun
NGer – noun gerund
PredP – predicate phrase
VP – verb phrase
V - verb
3. Accidents happen.
4. Politicians lie.
5. Memories fade.
6. Elephants remember.
7. Walking relaxes.
8. Laughing hurts.
(The diagrams begin on page 39.)
PROPER NOUNSGod (used as a name)
Book of Jeremiah
Uncle Pedro
Father (used as a name)
Lake Superior
the Capital Center
the South
University of Wisconsin
Geology 101
Environmental Protection
Agency / COMMON NOUNS
(a) god
(a) book
(my) uncle
(my) father
(a picturesque) lake
(a) center (for advanced studies)
(a) south wind
(a good) university
geology
(a federal) agency
Structure of Modern English1
Personal Prounouns: Prop
(Diagram.)
1.They lumber.
2. It happens.
3. He listens.
Singular / 1stI2nd You
3rd He/She/It
Plural / 1st We
2nd You
3rd They
4. She fawns.
5.I think.
Determiners: Det
key
DET - determiner
Art – article (definite of indefinite)
Dem – demonstrative
Q – quantifier
Poss - possessive
NP/poss – possessive noun (dog’s bone)
(Diagram.)
1.Some things change.
2. The dog’s paw bled.
3. That kid’s parents smoke.
4. Your vote counts.
5.These days drag.
6. 618 soldiers died.
7. That spy’s car flies.
8. All thirty children passed.
9. My sister’s boyfriend’s hamster died.
10. The town’s many problems vanished.
11. These two colors match.
(Check your diagrams with the 1C diagram section in the back.)
Structure of Modern English1
Adjective Phrases: AdjP
(Diagram.)
1.The hot liquids synthesized.
2. His old car died.
3. This lavender dress sparkles.
4. The endangered condor subsists.
5.His heavy heart ached.
6. The restrained audience gasped.
7. Their exotic flowers wilted.
8. That very young girl won.
9. The more cunning animals survive.
10. Mom’s new china shattered.
(The section continues.)
Structure of Modern English1
Adjective Phrases: AdjP
(Continue diagramming.)
11.The young cubs fed.
12. Some restless refugees escaped.
13. A few broken pieces glistened.
Structure of Modern English1
Compound Nouns
(Diagram.)
1.My print cartridge leaks.
2. The entire speaker box shook.
3. Four more soccer teams qualified.
4. The bank manager retired.
5.Their water tank arrived.
6. My neighbor’s chicken coop collapsed.
7. Your grandmother’s blood pressure dropped.
8. A mysterious road sign appeared.
9. This rusty can opener works.
10. The old post office reopened.
Structure of Modern English1
Prepositional Phrases: PP
(Diagram.)
1.The fight against injustice continues.
2. Activists in a crowd shout.
key
AdjP – adjective phrase
Adj – adjective
Deg – degree modifier
PP – prepositional phrase
prep – preposition
3. A moment of clarity transpired.
4. The giraffes in the zoo escaped.
5.That group of young scouts returned.
6. This flush of hearts wins.
7. The roof beams in the middle collapsed.
8. The available apartment above the pet shop reeked.
9. The acrylic landscape paintings by his Japanese friends arrived.
Structure of Modern English1
Direct Objects and Reflexive Pronouns
(Diagram.)
1.Edison invented the light bulb.
2. Nature admits no lie.1
3. I live a charmed life.
4. She hurt herself.
Singular / 1stI2nd You
3rd He/She/It
Plural / 1st We
2nd You
3rd They
5.The story wrote itself.
6. Oppression enrages wise men.
7. Loose lips sink ships.
8. They excused themselves.
9. Mark Rothko’s late paintings achieved a new luminosity.
10. The machine threatens all achievement.2
(The section continues.)
Structure of Modern English1
Direct Objects
(Continue diagraming.)
11.Their criticism evokes harsh responses.
12. We fed ourselves.
13. Her simple faith in the immediate future gave me hope.
14. He trained himself.
15. The Western phallocentric tradition poses a problem.
Structure of Modern English1
Adverb Phrases
key
AdvP – adverb phrase
Adv – adverb
(Diagram.)
1. The Festival of Chicano Literature began in Los Angeles in 1973.
2. My parents put a live teddy bear in my crib.1
3. Obedient women rarely make history.
4. That comment really hits a cord.
5. This book completely overwhelmed me.
6. It touched me sharply in all its aspects.
7. It places the fragile experience of the individual against the barbaric
arbitrariness of history.
8. This compelling work vividly demonstrates the presence of suppressedhistories.
9. Calmly, the explorers cut their way through the tall
grasses to the edge of the canyon.
Structure of Modern English1
Section One Review
(Diagram.)
1.The firm fired several employees without a word of warning.
2. Year after year, this convention attracts scientists of international renown.
3. This year we made no profit from our bake sale.
4.This experiment shows the error of our theory.
5. Children test their parents’ boundaries quite frequently throughout adolescence.
6. In this course, we study the structure of English sentences objectively.
7. The true significance of this historical event escaped notice at the time.
8. At recess, the children devised new games for themselves.
9. From the dugout, the boy ardently cheered for the rest of his team.
10.) The winners of this year’s contest receive an anthology of contemporary poetry as punishment for their diligence.
Structure of Modern English1
Phrase Structure Rules (as of Test 1)
Prop (Subj NP) / Prop (Obj NP) / Possesive (Poss) / Reflexive (Prox)I / Me / My / Myself
You / You / Your / Yourself
He/She/It / Him/Her/It / His/Her/Its / Himself/Herself/Itself
We / Us / Our / Ourselves
You / You / Your / Yourselves
They / Them / Their / Themselves
Structure of Modern English1
Intransitive, Transitive, & Linking Verbs: VPI, VPT, VPL
(Diagram, and label all the verbs from unit one.)
1. The heart is forever inexperienced.1
2. Policy sits above conscience.2
3. A good beginning makes a good ending.3
4. The road to excess leads to the palace of wisdom.4
5. We are never hypocrites in our sleep.5
6. The crisp air felt invigorating.
7. The body never lies.6
8. Law is a bottomless pit.7
9. Ornette Coleman’s experimental jazz music sounds discordantly pleasant.
10. A young doctor means a new graveyard.8
11. Events expand with the character.9
12. The mass of men lead lives of quiet desperation.10
13. Almost always dreams appear obtusely connected to conscious life.
14. Grammar is the grave of letters.11
Structure of Modern English1
Present, Past, and Future Verb Tenses
(Diagram.)
1. Mary laid the baby on my lap.
2. That approach will misguide everyone.
3. On Fourth Street, the subway starts every morning at five.
4. Daily, she weaves.
5. He loves her.
6. His heart lies on his sleeve.
7. I volunteered my time last summer.
8. Now I work with welfare mothers.
9. CIA officials met with him.
10. Deborah gave him the letter at breakfast.
11. We will rebuild this place with love.
12. The movement against ignorance will combat a variety of evils.
Structure of Modern English1
Perfect Tenses:Present Perfect, Past Perfect,and Future Perfect Tenses
key
perfpres – has, have
perfpast– had
Vpart – past participle
Aux – auxiliary
Fut – will
(Diagram.)
1. I have danced in Brazil.
2. Often, students have malingered on Fridays.
3. This proposed amendment has gained support.
4. She has forgiven him.
5. You have delighted me.
6. By sunset, across Lake Merritt, they will have started the
jazz festival.
7. Many people had lost faith in the President by election time.
8. The current violence has stymied the latest UN efforts.
9. At this rate we will have finished our beer by halftime!
10. This Confederation has enacted a policy of wage restraint.
11. Repeatedly, war has filled the streets with blood.
12. In time, you will have experienced some of life’s bitter disillusionments.
13. My work has been my escape.
14. During intermission, he had sensed a strange fear from the woman beside him.
15. By the time of the revolt, many organizations will have intervened.
16. You have drunk enough!
Perfect Tenses:Present Perfect, Past Perfect ,and Future Perfect Tenses
(Continue diagramming.)
17. The hot coffee has fogged my glasses again!
18. They will have worshiped in secret for most of their lives.
19. These brilliant cicadas have formed underground for seventeen years as buried nymphs.
20. By the end of spring, our delphiniums will have blown away.
21. We have insisted on rights for children.
22. Now this flank of fajitas has tenderized overnight in my famous pineapple marinade.
23. I have prayed in Mecca.
24. You had time.
25. They have had plenty of time.
26. She has written a novel about evolution.
27. After the symposium, the majority had already left.
28. Defiantly, she has laid each color in a sequence of exaggerated light.
29. My sister’s parrot has eaten entire kumquats in one bite.
30. At the toll of the bell, we will have lain together too long.
Structure of Modern English1
Progressive Tenses:
key
progpres– am, is, are
progpast– was, were
progpart– been
progθ – be
Vprog – progressive inflection (-ing)
1. Life is moving too fast.
2. The young comedians were facing an obdurate crowd.
3. You will be landing in Rio De Janeiro in twenty minutes.
4. The chocolate has been melting in my car.
5. Before the wreck, we already had been waiting for an hour in traffic.
6. In July, I will have been living as an American for thirteen years.
7. I am writing about the origins of the Civil War .
8. The white flower was leaning near the window.
9. My wife will be presenting her new book of poetry at the Insomniac Café on Wednesday.
Structure of Modern English1
Progressive Tenses:
10. Lies have been preventing boredom for millennia.
11. The river had been cutting into the rock for ages.
12. The deficit will have been increasing dangerously by next year.
13. We are sacrificing a lot of our time.
14. My friends were planning a surprise for me.
15. These poems will be inspiring you.
16. We have been dancing all night.
17. The horsemen had been hunting for Mephistopheles.
18. Commercials have been manipulating our perceptions.
19. Education has been providing a healthy investment for human capital.
20. We are failing our low-income children.
21. She will have been waiting for us.
22. The richest countries are developing the deadliest weapons.
23. The poorest countries have been using them.
24. By now, Diana’s friends will be drinking with them at Jeff’s house.
25. Corporate interests have been manipulating the world’s water supply.
26. The earth will have been entering its final ice age by that time.
27. Hope will always be sustaining the movement for peace.
28. The candidates have not been discussing the 35 million underprivileged Americans.
29. Violence has had a long-standing place in many whites’ images of blacks.
30. Single women are representing half of the poor families in America.
Structure of Modern English1
More Auxilaries
key
Supp – ‘do’ (in negations & questions)
Emph– ‘do’ (only for emphasis)
neg - negative
Mod – modals
(will)would
shallshould
cancould
maymight
must
(Diagram.)
1. Did you hear that noise?
2. That drunk sailor did not remember his old songs.
3. I do have the ring.
4. She does leave her trash everywhere.
5. Do you know that bar in Chinatown?
(The section continues.)
Structure of Modern English1
More Verbal Auxiliaries
(Continue diagramming.)
6. Have you been there before?
7. Have you looked beyond the surfaces?
8. Did you hear about the development of human embryonic stem cells from a cloned
human blastocyst?
9. Toxins in our air can pollute a mother’s breast milk.
10. The World Bank should stop plans for industrial timber production in the world’s
rainforests.
11. Do you understand the potential dangers to the Southwest from aging stores of chemical
weapons?
12. A hydrogen economy may begin in twenty-five years.
13. It may be our innate instincts.
14. With some intensification, the purple light could grow brighter in pulses.
15. Our hard labor may not be suffiecient for Wolf Larsen.
16. The shuttle may have difficulties in its orbital approach.
17. He might grouse about the mess again.
18. Can you do the right thing?
19. On the other side of the bridge, the snow should be melting.
20. The cold rains did seem the end of this early spring.
21. Many citizens will not vote.
22. She may ask her after dinner.
Structure of Modern English1
Passive Voice:passpres, passpast, passθ
(Diagram.)
1. In the sales department, some sacrifices are needed.
2. I am being obscured by snowflakes.
3. The environmentalist group on campus is harassed often for their furious enthusiasm.
4. In Arizona, a band of bank robbers were captured with incriminatoryevidence.
(The section continues.)
Structure of Modern English1
Passive Voice: passpres, passpast, passθ
(Continue diagramming.)
5. During the Cold War, the security of some countries was threatened by their own leaders.
6. The hotel suite with the ocean view was booked for two weeks.
7. This French mahogany table was shipped from a dealer in Boston.
8. The agency will be granted enough money for a dramatic increase in staff.
9. Some knowledge has been ingrained in our DNA.
10. Dawn has been outdone in Mazatlan only by the majestic sunsets.
11. Children are given mixed messages all the time.
12. The solution has been distilled properly.
13. A paean has been performed often during times of trouble.
14. Soon, college life will have been reduced to a boring memory.
15. We have been beguiled again
16. After elections, the enthusiasm of voters will have been lost.
17. Innocent lives are being sacrificed.
18. On that network, the news was being made for the audiences’ entertainment.
19. Justice is not being served by our current system.
20. Their sense of obligation to the entire community was being reduced by some of their
outdated ideals.
21. Thousands of local citizens are being reached with grassroots activity.
22. The diet market has been turned into a nightmare.
key
prt - particle
phrasal – phrasal verb
1. Will you drop off the movies?
2. Look up the word!
3. Nydia called the wedding off.
4. This morning I woke up at dawn.
5. I ran over a kid’s bike.
6. Get down!
7. Do not leave your sister out from the game. .
8. They should cheer her up.*
9. Chip some money in for gas.
10. Our receipts do not add up.
11. Draw up some diagrams.
Structure of Modern English1
Section Two Review
(Diagram.)
1. Three years into a major drought, dwindling water supplies are becoming a serious concern in many urban areas.
2. My new friends have inspired these short stories.
3. Do not be lulled into a false sense of security by these crooks!
4. Did you see this article about your motherin the paper?
5. You could consistently bring extra flyers to the meetings.
6. Can a judge remain objective under these circumstances?
Structure of Modern English1
Coordinating Conjunction: Cjc
(Diagram.)
1. Federico and Sergio drilled through the coarse ground.
2. Go and wake up your luck. Persian proverb
3. Many schools are lacking resources, yet we are cutting back on education funding.
4. The morning shines and I am wide awake.
5. We do not believe in rheumatism and true love until after the first attack. Marie von Ebner-Eschenbach
6. Restlessness and discontent are the necessities of progress. Edison
7. The human mind always makes progress, but it is a progress in spirals. Madame de Stael
8. The storm ruined our work, so we’ll need more concreteand dirt.
9. They reviewed each permutation yet remained confused.
10. History is often kind to leaders, for they often write it.
11. Rules and models destroy genius and art. William Hazlitt
12. You can choose your friends, but you only have one mother. Max Shulman
13. The highest, most varied and lasting pleasures are pleasures of the mind. Arthur Schopenhauer
14. Repetition rules everywhere, and nothing is found only once in the world. Goethe
Structure of Modern English1
Conjunctive Adverb: Advc
(Diagram.)
1. Leave him; besides, you deserve better.
2. Clean my room; next, clean yours.
3. He denounced the new stadium; then he discouraged investing in low-income jobs.
4. Many brokers gain wealth from judicious work; Jeff, however, finds other means.
5. Youth violence has dropped; even so, kids are killed everyday by guns.
6. My mother blamed my hormones; however, she never understood brain development.
7. The stamped date on foods encourages waste; after all, the date only reflects the peak quality.
8. Her paintings of construction sites were vivid; moreover, they raised issues of poverty.
9. The group appeased the aggressors; as a result, the aggression eased temporarily.
10. We discussed the environment; specifically, we informed them of military pollution.
11. Certainly, they will sear through the tanks; the bullets are encased inuranium.
12. Her legal career has been brilliant; at the same time, she has been loving to all.
13. In the book, the boy became the hero; nevertheless, his family was left behind.
14. Her characters discovered their roots; furthermore, they developed a deep sense of self.
15. People’s compassion created this new legislation; indeed, in time, all our children will have equal opportunities.