I need help with determining the parts of speech w/ this sentence!!!!

Question

"Give a yearbook to whoever paid for one."

what is the subject, verb, and complements?

what part of speech is every word in this sentence?

I know that "a" is an article, but what about "whoever" and so on?

and is this one whole independent clause or 2?

HELP!! Urgent!!

AlpheccaStars · Accepted Answer

alaricepent"
Give a yearbook to whoever paid for one."

Give: main verb, present tense, imperative mood (implicit subject is "you")
a: indefinite article, modifying yearbook
yearbook - noun, direct object of verb give
to whoever - indirect object of the verb give;
to - preposition

whoever - pronoun, object of preposition "to"

whoever - relative pronoun, subject of dependent clause "whoever paid for one"
paid - verb, simple past tense
for - preposition
one - pronoun, object of preposition for, its antecedent is "yearbook"

Avangi · Answer

Welcome to English Forums.

It's an imperative sentence, the subject being (you) understood.
"Give" is a verb, present tense, second person singular or plural, the simple predicate of the sentence.
"yearbook" is a noun, the direct object of the verb.
"whoever" is a pronoun, subject of the dependent clause, "whoever paid for one." The clause is object of the preposition "to."
"paid" = verb
"for" = preposition
"one" = pronoun, in this case.

While "whoever paid for one" is a clause, if you removed it from the sentence, I don't believe you'd be left with another separate clause. "Give a yearbook" could be considered to be a clause, but in this sentence, the prepositional phrase, "to whoever paid for one" is an integral part of the main clause.

Best wishes, - A.

Avangi · Answer

AlpheccaStars whoever - pronoun, object of preposition "to"

Hi,
Shouldn't it be "whomever"? - A.

Alaricepent · Answer

do you think there are any special phrases in the sentence?
and where does the independent and dependent clauses end and start?

sorry about all the questions!!!!!

AlpheccaStars · Answer

Avangi
AlpheccaStars whoever - pronoun, object of preposition "to"
Hi,
Shouldn't it be "whomever"? - A.

Don't think so, because the case of relative pronoun is governed by the dependent clause (nominative, in this instance).

Avangi · Answer

<< Give a yearbook to whoever paid for one. >> I don't see anything special, except "to whoever." I'm not sure what you mean by "special," but that's the most special of the lot.

I've been hoping someone else would address your original clause question, but no luck so far. I tried to explain how I felt about it in my original reply, but I know I didn't make a lot of sense. I think you have a clause imbedded in a clause. Unfortunately, it's something I never happened to think about before, but we have many people here who could deal with it without hesitation.

If you remove "whoever paid for one," what you have left will not stand alone. "Give a yearbook" is a gramatically correct imperative sentence, and therefore an independent clause (like "Give a dollar.") But "Give a yearbook to" is not an independent clause. I don't know what to tell you.

AlpheccaStars · Answer

Alaricepent:
Please read our previous answers carefully.

Avangi · Answer

AlpheccaStars
Avangi
AlpheccaStars whoever - pronoun, object of preposition "to"
Hi,
Shouldn't it be "whomever"? - A.
Don't think so, because the case of relative pronoun is governed by the dependent clause (nominative, in this instance).

So why doesn't it work to say that the whole clause is object of the preposition "to"? Instinctively, that's the way it seems to me.
I agree that "whoever" is correct in the clause. I just didn't think it made sense to call it an object. Actually, I don't see how it's a relative pronoun. What's it relate to??
(I hope you don't mind my bugging you like this.)
And I still don't think we've answered his final question. Like, how can you have a dependent clause with no independent clause? I think that's more up your alley than mine.

Best wishes, - A.

Alaricepent · Answer

so what kind of pronoun is "one"?
and is "paid" a transitive/intransitive verb? action or linking?

Avangi · Answer

This is terrible. You're gonna fire me. I can only find "one" listed as an indefinite pronoun, which means it has no antecedent; but in your sentence it has an antecedent - yearbook.

"Paid" is either transitive or intransitive. In this case it's supposedly transitive, as in "to pay taxes." That means it takes a direct object. So what do you pay here? "for one." Again, a prepositional phrase is direct object of the verb. (I don't really like it.) Who thought up this sentence, anyway?? It's very short, but it packs a lot of trouble. - A.

I need help with determining the parts of speech w/ this sentence!!!!

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