Savoring Syntax

Decoding Sentences in the English Language

Sentence: Alone together at last, I told her how I thought that –in my unbiased opinion–the incidence of oxymorons in the English language had been growing smaller.

NOTES

Source: Brian Bilston, The Incidence of Oxymorons. 2022

CEFR Level: C2

Organization:

  • 1 comma separating initial adverbial phrase from rest of sentence
  • 2 subordinating conjunctions introducing 2 embedded noun clauses
  • 2 m-dashes showing parenthetical information

Syntax: 5 constituents:

  • adverbial (How?)
  • subject
  • predicator (in past simple)
  • indirect object
  • direct object

Speech:

  • 3 nouns
  • 5 verbs
  • 5 adjectives
  • 1 adverb
  • 2 pronouns
  • 3 determiners
  • 4 prepositions

Phrase:

  • 4 adverbial
  • 1 noun
  • 1 verb

Clause:

  • 1 independent
  • 2 embedded dependent – noun

Sentence Type: complex

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