In a previous article, we already explained the step-by-step analysis of a noun subordinate that contained an adjective subordinate inside it (you can see it by clicking here), today we are going to see the detailed analysis of a sentence composed by coordination in which we will also find an adverbial subordinate. This is the sentence:
– Yesterday afternoon I painted the walls of Juan's room and today, when Araceli arrives, we'll start sanding the hallway.
Analysis:
The first thing we have to do when starting the parsing of a compound sentence is to locate the verbs and the links; In this case, we find three verbal nuclei (I painted, I'm here and we'll start sanding) and two links (and, when). We observe, then, that one of the nexuses (and) is a nexus that unites copulative coordinated propositions and the other is a nexus that introduces adverbial subordinates of time (when). Faced with such a sentence, what we must do is start by separating the propositions that form the sentence composed by coordination; thus, here we find the following propositions that make up the copulative coordinated compound sentence:
Proposition 1: Yesterday afternoon I painted the walls of Juan's room.
Proposition 2: Today, when Araceli arrives, we'll start sanding the hallway.
Let us remember that the propositions thatmake up a coordinate must be analyzed separately, since they do not depend on each other. Let's begin, then, to analyze the first of the propositions:
– Yesterday afternoon I painted the walls of Juan's room.
In the first place, we look for the subject of the sentence by looking at the verb and we see how it is in the first person singular and, therefore, the subject is the pronoun “I”. The rest of the sentence will constitute the verbal predicate, since the verb is not copulative. Next, we will go on to analyze the complements that appear in this predicate. Let's see:
– If we ask the verb when I painted the walls of Juan's room, the answer we get is yesterday afternoon, which indicates that we are faced with a circumstantial complement of time that is made up of the following elements:
Adverbial phrase / circumstantial complement of time: Yesterday afternoon.
Yesterday: core.
In the afternoon: prepositional phrase / complement of the adverb.
By: preposition.
The afternoon: noun phrase.
A: determiner.
Afternoon: core.
– One of the most frequently occurring complements in sentence parsing is the direct object; therefore, we will look for it trying to substitute it with the pronouns “lo, la, lo or las”, which are the ones used to locate the direct object. In this sentence, we see how the noun phrase the walls of John's room can be replaced by thepronoun “las” (Yesterday afternoon I painted the walls of Juan >'s room. Yesterday afternoon I painted them). This direct object is composed of:
– Noun phrase / direct object: The walls of Juan's room.
Las: determinant.
Walls: core.
From Juan's room: prepositional phrase / complement of the name “walls”.
From: preposition.
John's room: noun phrase.
A: determiner.
Room: core.
De Juan: prepositional phrase / complement of the noun “room”.
From: preposition.
John: noun phrase / head.
Once the first proposition has been analyzed, we proceed to analyze the second:
– Today, when Araceli arrives, we'll start sanding the hallway.
When finding two verbs in the proposition, we will have to start analyzing for the verb that does not belong to the subordinate; in this case, we begin with the verbal periphrasis "we will start sanding". We look for its subject, which here is "we" and is omitted, since the verb is in the first person plural and also its predicate: Today when Araceli arrives we will begin to sand the corridor. The verbal predicate of this sentence is composed of the following elements:
– The circumstantial complement formed by the adverbial phrase “today”, which answers the question when?
– The direct object “el corridor”, which can be replaced by “lo” (Today, when Araceli arrives, we will start sandingcorridor > Today, when Araceli arrives, we will start sanding it) and which is made up of:
– Noun phrase / direct object: The corridor.
The: determiner.
Hall: core.
– The subordinate adverbial of time “when Araceli arrives”, which performs the function of a circumstantial complement of time and is analyzed as follows:
– nexus: when (has no syntactic function).
– Noun Phrase / Subject: Araceli (nucleus).
– Verb phrase / verb predicate: arrive (verb nucleus).
