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Biangzi Posted 21 years ago
Grammar

tree diagram

I had a problem when drawing a tree diagram of the sentence below:
I decided to take low-paid work.

there are two V element in it. The ambiguity hinges on whether "to take low-paid work" as a NP in whole functioning the object of "decide", or whether it is somethingelse half-clause like thing?
Anyway,anyone can help me to draw this tree diagram?

thanks in advance.
  

Top answer

Hello I think two thoughts of yours are complementary to each other. Your sentence can be analyzed like: S I { VP decided [ NP PRO to take low-paid work]} Here, PRO is a hidden pronoun. "PRO to take low-paid work" is a NP working as the object of "decided".

— Paco2004

  • Hello I think two thoughts of yours are complementary to each other.
  • Your sentence can be analyzed like: S I { VP decided [ NP PRO to take low-paid work]} Here, PRO is a hidden pronoun.
  • "PRO to take low-paid work" is a NP working as the object of "decided".
  • It is termed as "small clause" by some grammarians.
  • Indeed you can rephrase this like: "I decided that I would take low-paid work".
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8 Answers
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Hello

I think two thoughts of yours are complementary to each other. Your sentence can be analyzed like:
S I {VP decided [NP PRO to take low-paid work]}
Here, PRO is a hidden pronoun.
"PRO to take low-paid work" is a NP working as the object of "decided". It is termed as "small clause" by some grammarians. Indeed you can re
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Thanks Paco,

Attached is the tree diagram I drew for the whole sentence. Will you please comment on that?
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Hello Biangzi

Frankly speaking, I have thought for a long time how I should answer you. The way to parse sentence structures and the terms used in the parsing vary from linguist to linguist. So I can't say anything about your question without knowing what way your teacher teaches with what terms. I personally like to analyze a sentence into branches in binary ways. For example, I'll analy
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how do you do a tree diagram for the sentence "her friend from the university would travel to Greece with her?" really struggling, thank you
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Anon: What text are you using? Have you started a diagram already, and what problem do you have?
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Well I think "to take low-pay work" isn infinitve clause (that what it's called in my course book, Analyzing English an introduction to descriptive linguistics by Howard Jackson. So my suggestion for your tree diagram is:

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Anonymousmy suggestion for your tree diagram
It works for me! (But it may be too late to help the original poster - November 13, 2005.)
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Hi,
I just came across this forum and hope I'm not causing a digression here but I've a doubt in tree diagrams as well. I'm a student of MA English and preparing for a paper on linguistics. I'm having difficulty with constructing tree diagrams for complex sentences like this:

"When the bell rang, the girls who were selected for basket-ball team rushed to the play-ground."

Cou
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