Discov0lante Posted 15 years ago
Grammar
Syntactic function of this particular sentence
Hi, everyone!
I can't tell the syntactic function of the underlined sentences below. I'm guessing they are postmodifying the subject, but I'm not so sure about it.
"Mew was fussy about colour and spent minutes each week regarding the supermarket fruit, like a still stone in the tide of women hurtling round her with big full trolleys, children kicking their heels in the trolley baskets, their legs like hanging plants as they wailed for sweets."
I'd also like you to point me out whether this is a nominative construction. The main verb in this sentence is "spent", so I think the verb "to be" is ellided in the rest of the sentence: "children were kicking..., their legs were like..."
Any answers will be really helpful. Thank in advance!
P.S.: this is take from "The Kiss of Life" by Jane Gardam
I can't tell the syntactic function of the underlined sentences below. I'm guessing they are postmodifying the subject, but I'm not so sure about it.
"Mew was fussy about colour and spent minutes each week regarding the supermarket fruit, like a still stone in the tide of women hurtling round her with big full trolleys, children kicking their heels in the trolley baskets, their legs like hanging plants as they wailed for sweets."
I'd also like you to point me out whether this is a nominative construction. The main verb in this sentence is "spent", so I think the verb "to be" is ellided in the rest of the sentence: "children were kicking..., their legs were like..."
Any answers will be really helpful. Thank in advance!
P.S.: this is take from "The Kiss of Life" by Jane Gardam
Top answer
Hi, The structure seems broken to me. I think that there is a conjunction or preposition missing. " The present participles, hurtling and kicking , introduce reduced adjectival clauses.
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Hi,
The structure seems broken to me. I think that there is a conjunction or preposition missing.
These modifications fix the structure:
"Mew was fussy about colour and spent minutes each week regarding the supermarket fruit, like a still stone in the tide of women hurtling round her with big full trolleys and children kicking their heels in the trolley baskets
The structure seems broken to me. I think that there is a conjunction or preposition missing.
These modifications fix the structure:
"Mew was fussy about colour and spent minutes each week regarding the supermarket fruit, like a still stone in the tide of women hurtling round her with big full trolleys and children kicking their heels in the trolley baskets
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Thanks! I was also thinking a conjuction is missing. That's why I thought the sentences were asyndetically coordinated. Thanks for your help!
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