The Simple Sentence and Its Parts 4, 5, 6,

"SENTENCE 4: The articles, modals, infinitive

Sentence 4: The little moggy can pounce rapidly.

Constituents of a sentence: Subject [The little moggy] Predicate [can pounce rapidly.]

Sentence analysis: S: d.article [The] S:adj [little] S:noun [moggy] P: modal aux. verb [can] P: /main verb/ bare infinitive [pounce] P: adv. [rapidly.]

In sentence 4 we are introduced to the definite article, a modal auxiliary verb [shortened to modal aux., modal verb, even simply modal] and the infinitive.

SENTENCE 5: 'Be' as auxiliary verb, + -ing participle

Sentence 5: A new day was dawning.

Constituents of a sentence: Subject [A new day] Predicate [was dawning.]

Sentence Analysis: S: indef.art.[A] S: adj.[new] S: noun [day] P:'be' as aux. verb [was] P: /main verb/ -ing participle [dawning.]

In sentence 5, the indefinite article a, and the verb be [in the form of was] in its function of primary auxiliary verb [two types of aux. verb: modal and primary]. The main verb takes the -ing form [pronounced '-ing'' or I-N-G] and may be called the -ing participle.

SENTENCE 6: Pronoun, preposition

Sentence 6: She left him in Yonkers.

Constituents of a sentence: Subject [She] Predicate [left him in Yonkers.]

Sentence Analysis: S:pronoun[She] P:verb [left] P:/object/ pronoun [him] P:preposition [in] P:noun [Yonkers.]

In sentence 6, we are introduced to [personal] pronouns and prepositions. You may notice that personal pronouns are the only words in English that have a different form for subject and object, i.e. sentence 6 is not *She left he.

rb"
sentence parts