Sentence Analysis

Question

Hi all,
as you probably can see I'm new to the forum and hope I get this thing right

I have to analyse a sentence and I'm not too sure if I got everything right, so I would be happy if you could check it and correct it if necessary.
The sentence is:
Unlike the little girls who adored doing household chores and drawing water it was only now and then that the boys showed themselves as useful attachments to any household.
here's what I got so far:
- Unlike the litte girls who adored doing household chores and drawing water (Adverbial, realized as Prepositional Phrase). I also think that it's fair to say that the 'the' before little girls is a determiner and that 'who adored doing household chores and drawing water' is a post-modifier to the little girls.
- it (temporary subject)
-was (Predicator, realized as Verb Phrase)
- only now and then (Adverbial, realized as Adverb Phrase)
-that (subordinator)
- the boys showed themselves as useful attachments to any household. (Subject, realized as Noun Phrase)

I think I am right if I say that 'the boys showed themselves as useful attachments to any household.' is the main clause.
But I tried to do this long subject in more detail:
-the boys (subject, realized as noun phrase)
- showed (predicator, realized as verb phrase)
- themselves as useful attachments to any household (Subject attribute)
I am not sure at all if the last part of the sentence is a subject attribute or a direct object, and also I wonder if there is a way to tell a clear difference between those two.

all in all I think the sentence is complex-compound as there is one main clause and two subordinate clauses.

I would be more than happy if anyone could tell what I got right or wrong and also leave a short explanation if there is anything wrong.

Thank you in advance!

Luis_XD · Accepted Answer

Hi, Do you speak Spanish? because I do too <img class='emoticon' style='Width:19px;Height:19px;' data-delaysrc='https://uat-englishforward-forums-backend.s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/Emoticons/1.gif' src='https://uat-englishforward-forums-backend.s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/Emoticons/1.gif' alt='Emotion: smile'/> where are you from?

Anonymous · Answer

I do speak Spanish (if not very well but okay) but this is not the point here

I need to know the answer to this, so let me know if you do.

AlpheccaStars · Answer

The core of the sentence (below) is a cleft (Dummy-it) construction. This is explained here:
http://grammar.about.com/od/c/g/cleftterm.htm

... it was only now and then that the boys showed themselves as useful attachments to any household.

The first component is a prepositional phrase, with an embedded relative clause (underlined below):

Unlike the little girls who adored doing household chores and drawing water

AlpheccaStars · Answer

Luis_XDHi, Do you speak Spanish? because I do too where are you from?

Luis:
Please do not post something off topic in a thread. If you want to ask someone a personal question, then use a private message. (PM)

Anonymous · Answer

Thanks for the answer!

In the link is says "A cleft sentence is a sentence that is cleft (split) so as to put the focus on one part of it. The cleft sentence is introduced by it, which is followed by a http://grammar.about.com/od/tz/g/verbphraseterm.htm whose main verb is generally be. The focused part comes next, and then the rest of the sentence is introduced by a http://grammar.about.com/od/rs/g/relpronounterm.htm, relative http://grammar.about.com/od/d/g/determterm.htm, or http://grammar.about.com/od/rs/g/relativeadverbterm.htm."
My sentence is introduced by it and it is also follow by a form of be. The focused part in my case would be 'it was only now and then', right? but then I can't find a relative pronoun, relative determiner, or relative adverb. I thought it was a subordinator, or is it a subordinator functioning as relative adverb/determiner? But it can't be a relative pronoun, as those stand for nouns, right?
I'm getting a little confused and would be gald if you could help me out of my mess

AlpheccaStars · Answer

...it was only now and then that the boys showed themselves as useful attachments to any household.

I have quoted from the explanation page:

At the beginning is the pronoun it followed by a form of the verb be.

In your sentence... it was

After the verb comes the focus of the cleft sentence.

In your sentence... only now and then

This is then post-modified by a clause containing the rest of the information in the original sentence

In your sentence... that the boys showed themselves as useful attachments to any household.
That is the relative pronoun which introduces the clause.

"A cleft sentence is a sentence that is cleft (split) so as to put the focus on one part of it. The cleft sentence is introduced by it, which is followed by a verb phrase whose main verb is generally be. The focused part comes next, and then the rest of the sentence is introduced by a relative pronoun, relative determiner, or relative adverb. If we take the sentence Tom felt a sharp pain after lunch, two possible cleft sentences formed from it are: It was Tom who felt a sharp pain after lunch and It was after lunch that Tom felt a sharp pain." (Sidney Greenbaum, Oxford English Grammar. Oxford Univ. Press, 1996)

Anonymous · Answer

My ***, you have no idea how thankful I am <img class='emoticon' style='Width:19px;Height:19px;' data-delaysrc='https://uat-englishforward-forums-backend.s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/Emoticons/1.gif' src='https://uat-englishforward-forums-backend.s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/Emoticons/1.gif' alt='Emotion: smile'/>

AlpheccaStars · Answer

DebbyyPMy ***, you have no idea how thankful I am

We like to be of assistance.

Once you have the core sentence structure, it is usually fairly straightforward to fill in the details.

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