ANALYZING SENTENCE STRUCTURE: THE TREE DIAGRAM

 

The tree diagram is a new method for analyzing sentences in linguistics. It is a useful tool for students 
to visualize sentence structures even if they are not familiar with sentence diagrams.

BREAKING DOWN THE TREE:

In a diagram tree, the sentence is divided into two parts: a SUBJECT and a PREDICATE. They are formed by NOUN PHRASES and VERB PHRASES. These are groups of words that include a noun or  verb and any other words that act as modifiers. The subject is a noun phrase and the predicate usually is a verb phrase.

For example, in the sentence: The dog ate the bone,  the subject of the sentence is The dog which is a noun phrase (NP) formed by the indeterminate article "the" and the noun "dog". The predicate is ate the bone, formed by a the verb ate and a noun phrase the bone.

DRAW A DIAGRAM TREE STEP BY STEP

SENTENCE: I have a green spaceship.

STEP 1: Identify the subject (Noun Phrase)
Subject: I

STEP 2: Find the predicate (Verb Phrase)
Predicate: HAVE A GREEN SPACESHIP.

STEP 3: Identify the main verb (V)
Verb: HAVE

STEP 4: Identify the modifiers.
Modifiers: A GREEN 

STEP 5. Identify the object (Noun Phrase)
Noun Phrase: SPACESHIP

STEP 6: Draw the tree.
Start with an S on the top. Then, draw the branches, one for the Subject (Noun Phrase -NP-) and one for the Predicate (Verb Phrase -VP-). Then, draw two branches in the Verb Phrase, one for the Verb (V) and second the object (Noun Phrase usually)





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