A couple of sentence questions

Question

Perhaps you'll meet a native speaker who can help you out, there are 2 other people here.Main clause=perhaps you will meet a native speakerSubject=youModal Verb=willMain Verb=meetNoun Phrase=a native speaker- Also the direct object of the verb meetDependent clause/relatve clause=who can help you outSubject=whoModal Verb=canMain Verb=helpObject of clause=youPreposition=outCan someone correct my mistakes above, please.  There are 2 other people here. (second part of sentence)There=cannot be a subject, so what is it?verb=aresubject=Is this a clause or what? Also, I have heard on credible english sites that I should not use the word FOR to begin a sentence. I think they are refering to FOR when it is a coordinating conjunction. But I assume it is completely fine as a preposition...the head of a prep. phrase...Thanks heaps!

Clive · Accepted Answer

Hi Eddie,
Perhaps you'll meet a native speaker who can help you out, there are 2 other people here.

I don't want to get involved in parsing and naming the various parts of this. No doubt someone else will help you with that.

However, I'd just like to point that this is a run-on sentence, meaning that you have simply joined two separate sentences with a comma. Unless you reword the sentence in some way, you need a period after 'out'.

Best wishes, Clive

Eddie88 · Answer

Hi Clive,

Yes it is a comma splice as you have pointed it out. I just found this sentence amusing as it is one I copied and pasted from this website, an english forum, haha. I found it on the ESL chat; it was telling me how many people were online.

Cheers.

CalifJim · Answer

Eddie88Main clause=perhaps you will meet a native speaker

Subject=you
Modal Verb=will
Main Verb=meet
Noun Phrase=a native speaker- Also the direct object of the verb meet

Yes. Note also that you is a personal pronoun and also counts as a noun phrase because it's a noun substitute. Its function here is subject. You have a parallel analysis at the end, where you say that a native speaker is a noun phrase and it is (it functions as) a direct object.

Eddie88Dependent clause/relatve clause=who can help you out

Subject=who
Modal Verb=can
Main Verb=help
Object of clause=you
Preposition=out

Good. Note again that who and you are also pronouns. Some analysts allow that last word out to be considered a preposition without an object. Others say that it can't be a preposition because it has no object. You could call it an adverbial particle. Together with help it forms the phrasal verb help out.

Eddie88There are 2 other people here. (second part of sentence)

There=cannot be a subject, so what is it?
verb=are
subject=

The underlying sentence is: Two other people are here. You can rearrange this by inserting there, thus: There are two other people here. The there structure is unique in this way.
1. For purposes of forming questions, using subject-verb inversion, there is the subject. There are ... . Are there ... ?

2. For purposes of number agreement, the noun phrase following the verb is the subject. There is one ... . There are many ... .

There = Existential there. (Subject for the purpose of inversion.)
are = verb
two other people = noun phrase : (Subject for the purposes of verb agreement.)
here = adverb.

Eddie88I should not use the word FOR to begin a sentence. I think they are refering to FOR when it is a coordinating conjunction. But I assume it is completely fine as a preposition...the head of a prep. phrase...

Yes. Your understanding of it is correct.
CJ

Eddie88 · Answer

Cheers, good to see my analysis was on-track!

The reason I was confused with the second part is because THERE cannot be the subject of a sentence. But you are saying THERE can be the subject of a sentence when it is in the form of a question.

Thanks

CalifJim · Answer

Eddie88But you are saying THERE can be the subject of a sentence when it is in the form of a question.

No. You'll have to read my explanation again.
there is treated as the subject when it is necessary to turn the statement form into a question form. But there is still that kind of subject in both the statement form and the question form.
CJ

Eddie88 · Answer

O.k. I have re-read your comment.

That is interesting; I have always deemed there as never being the subject of a sentence.

I don't know if you can help me with this conundrum, but I'll present you with it, nonetheless.

So is a coordinating conjunction used with a comma to join two independent clauses. However, experts say that if so is to begin a sentence when it means 'therefore, it should have a comma immediately following it as it is now a transitional expression.

I would have thought that this would mean that when 'so' means therefore, a comma is not strong enough to separate the two independent clauses.

I walked home, so I was very tired.

So in this case means 'therefore' and, therefore, is a transitional expression. This means it should be punctuated as follows:

I walked home; so I was very tired.

Just a thought (no reply necessay)

A couple of sentence questions

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