SYNTACTIC analysis of a sentence

When we carry out an analysis we can do it by focusing on the type of words that make up a sentence or on the function that each one of them performs within it. Depending on the type of it, the concepts that we will have to know will be different, as will the steps to carry it out. In this lesson from a PROFESSOR we want to show you the peculiarities of parsing a sentence. In addition, we have prepared some printable exercises with their solutions so that you can practice what you learned in this class and correct yourself.

Syntactic analysis of a sentence determines what the structure of it is. In other words, it is based on a series of rules that allow us to know what function the words that compose it have. Before starting to carry out an analysis of this type, we must know correctly the functions and parts with which It counts every sentence, as well as the type of phrases that we can find to be able to carry out the procedure correctly.

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: 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.

Once the subject and predicate of the sentence have been located, we are going to analyze each of the parts separately. The subject is usually a noun phrase because the core of it is always a noun or a pronoun. Next we will see what parts make up this phrase:

• Core: it will always be a noun or a pronoun
• Determinant: it can be an article, a possessive a demonstrative… .etc. this will always accompany the nucleus of the noun phrase, that is, the noun.
• Name complement: consists of several words that accompany the name.
• Attach: they are adjectives that are always placed next to the noun.
• Apposition: they are names that accompany the nucleus of the noun phrase and that are not preceded by any preposition. An example would be the name of certain rivers, for example, Tagus River. In this case, river would be the nucleus of the noun phrase and Tagus its apposition.

The predicate It is the part of the sentence determined by the verb and that we will analyze once we have shelled the subject. The predicate is made up of a verb phrase in which different parts appear:

• Verb (or nucleus): it is always formed by the conjugated verb.
• Direct complement: accompanies the verb and directly indicates the person or object that receives its action.
• Indirect compliment: accompanies the verb and indicates who or what receives the action of the verb, but in an indirect way. That is, it shows who the recipient or beneficiary of the action is.

Situational complements

circumstantial complements indicate additional information on how the action of the verb has been carried out and can be of different types:

• Circumstantial Affirmation Complement: it is always accompanied by an affirmative particle.
• Circumstantial Quantity Complement: can be quantified.
• Circumstantial Cause Supplement: shows the reason.
• Company Circumstantial Complement: indicates with whom the action is carried out.
• Circumstantial Complement of Purpose: indicates the purpose.
• Instrument Circumstantial Complement: indicates the tool with which it has been carried out.
• Circumstantial Place Complement: shows the place where the action takes place.
• Circumstantial Material Add-on: shows what it's made of.
• Circumstantial Mode Complement: shows the way in which the action of the verb has been carried out.
• Negation Circumstantial Complement: it is always accompanied by a negative particle.
• Circumstantial Time Complement: indicates when it has occurred.

In order to perform a syntactic analysis, in addition to knowing all the parts that we have indicated above, it will be necessary to identify the type of sentence we face. These are the ones you can find:

Copulative prayers

They are those sentences that have a copulative verb (to be, be or seem) without meaning. This is only used as a link between subject and predicate. This type of sentence will always have a Circumstantial Complement and do not have direct or indirect Complements. Let's see an example: The highway is marked with blue signs.

Passive sentences

The passive sentences are those in which the subject is the one who suffers the action of the verb. The core of the verb phrase always appears in compound form. An example would be: The painting was made by the child.

Reflective prayers

They are those sentences in which the subject makes or receives the action, for example: I dropped the glass of water on the floor.

Reciprocal prayers

These sentences are those in which we find two or more subjects who do or receive the action indicated by the verb at the same time. In this example we can see it: My brother and his coworkers went to dinner.

Transitives

Its core is a transitive verb and therefore they will always have a direct complement. This example will help you: Children have many toys.

Intransitive sentences

The verbal core will be a Intransitive verb and therefore they will not have a Direct Complement, as in this example: He ran through the park.

We hope that all the keys about parsing a sentence have been helpful to you. If you want to find more content like this, we encourage you to visit our Spanish Language section.