How to do a MORPHOSYNTACTIC analysis of a sentence
Knowing the language in depth also means knowing how to analyze it correctly. For this we have two forms, which meet different criteria and which will serve for certain cases. In this lesson from a TEACHER we will explain what is morphosyntactic analysis of a sentence and how to do it correctly to analyze sentences. We will complement our lesson with videos made by teachers so that you can clearly see how to carry out this analysis.
In order to understand what the morphosyntactic analysis of a sentence is, we must first know the types we can use. In other words, when facing a sentence we can do it from the syntactic or morphological point of view. The choice of one or the other will depend on how profound our encounter with the phrase will be. Thus, the main differences between them are the following:
- Syntactic analysis: when we talk about a syntactic analysis what we want is to indicate which are the syntactic functions that each of the words has within the sentence that we are going to analyze.
- Morphological analysis: For its part, the morphological analysis is one in which we focus on the class, form or category of the words that make up the sentence.
Therefore, we could say that morphosyntactic analysis is one that combines the two previous forms and therefore the most complete of the two. Correctly performing this analysis will allow us to know in depth the analyzed phrase.
As we have already pointed out, a morphosyntactic analysis is a combination of both, so we must do it at two levels.
Analysis at the morphological level
In the first place we will have to carry out a morphological analysis, to understand and point out the types and classes of words that appear in the sentence. Let's take the following example:
Enrique explained the story to his cousin
The first thing to do is point under each of the words what type do they belong to remaining as follows:
- Enrique: Proper noun, masculine singular
- He explained: Verb explain, third person singular present indicative.
- A: Preposition
- Su: Possessive determinant.
- Prima: Common name, singular feminine.
Syntactic level analysis
Syntactic analysis is what shows us the functions that have each of the words within a sentence. Thus we will distinguish in most sentences two parts:
- Subject: is the person, animal or thing that suffers the action of the verb. It is formed by a noun phrase, in which the name is the nucleus of said subject.
- Predicate: it shows us the action of the verb and the complements that accompany it. It is formed by a verb phrase in which the nucleus will always be the verb.
Within the predicate there are also other words that also have a function within the sentence: "the story" which is the Direct complement and "to her cousin" which is the Indirect compliment. Thus we can point out that within the predicate we find that the word explained is the nucleus.
Morphosyntactic analysis
As you can see, we have carried out two analyzes on the same sentence. When we are asked to perform a morphosyntactic analysis we must, we must mark the functions that appear in both and combine them. Morphosyntactic analysis consists of point out all the parts that make up the sentence, the functions that meet each of them, the types of words and how are they behaving within it.
Although at first it may seem complicated, we assure you that you can easily achieve it with a little practice. In the attached video you will find the same example developed in a graphic way so that you can assimilate it.
