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 Finding Clauses
Practice Exercise # 12

Directions:  [Work through the text one sentence at a time.]
1. First place parentheses ( ) around every prepositional phrase.
2. Underline every subject once, every finite verb twice, and label complements (PA, PN, IO or DO). [Reminder: A predicate adjective describes the subject; a predicate noun "equals" the subject; an indirect object is someone or thing "to" or "for" whom (or what) the action of the verb is performed. Any other complement has to be a direct object.]
 

The text is:
      I had been teaching my three-year old daughter, Caitlin, the Lord's Prayer. For several evenings at bedtime, she would repeat after me the lines of the prayer. Finally, she decided to go solo. I listened with pride as she carefully enunciated each word, right up to the end of the prayer: "Lead us not into temptation," she prayed, "but deliver us some E-mail. Amen."
Note: In creating these pages, I cannot create a double underline. I will therefore underline both subjects and finite verbs once, but subjects will be in green; finite verbs in blue.
Work your way through the text one sentence at a time.

Sentence # 1

The first sentence is:
     Ihad been teaching my three-year old daughter (IO), Caitlin, the Lord's Prayer (DO).
Review Prepositional Phrases Review S/V/C patterns.

Because there is only one S/V/C pattern, all we need to do is put a line at the end of the sentence. The sentence is the main clause.
     Ihad been teaching my three-year old daughter (IO), Caitlin, the Lord's Prayer (DO)./
FYI: The only word in this sentence that you might not be able to explain should be "Caitlin." It is an appositive to "daughter."

Sentence # 2

The second sentence is:
(For several evenings) (at bedtime), shewould repeat (after me) the lines (DO)(of the prayer).
Review Prepositional Phrases Review S/V/C patterns.

Because there is only one S/V/C pattern, all we need to do is put a line at the end of the sentence. The sentence is the main clause.
(For several evenings) (at bedtime), shewould repeat (after me) the lines (DO)(of the prayer)./

Sentence # 3

The third sentence is:
Finally, shedecidedto go(DO) solo.
Review Prepositional Phrases Review S/V/C patterns.

Because there is only one S/V/C pattern, all we need to do is put a line at the end of the sentence. The sentence is the main clause.
Finally, shedecidedto go(DO) solo./

Sentence # 4

The fourth sentence is:
Ilistened(with pride) as she carefully enunciated each word (DO), right (up to the end) (of the prayer): "Leadus(DO) not (into temptation)," sheprayed, "but deliverus(IO) some E-mail(DO). Amen."
Review Prepositional Phrases Review S/V/C patterns.

You didn't expect them all to be as easy as the first three, did you? There are numerous ways of analyzing the clauses in this sentence, so I'll try to lead you through what should be the easiest for you.  First of all, a colon can separate two main clauses, and, since we have S/V/C patterns on both sides of the colon, we'll split the sentence into two main clauses.
Ilistened(with pride) as she carefully enunciated each word (DO), right (up to the end) (of the prayer):/  "Leadus(DO) not (into temptation)," sheprayed, "but deliverus(IO) some E-mail(DO). Amen."
Before the colon, we have two S/V/C patterns, one of which starts with the subordinate conjunction "as." The "as" clause ends with "prayer."
["Of the prayer" chunks to "end." "Up to the end" can be analyzed at least two ways -- as an adverb to "each," which chunks to "word," or as an adverb to "enunciated."]
We thus have a clause which begins with "as" and ends with "prayer." The subordinate conjunction  "as" tells us not only that it is subordinate, but also that the "she enunciated" is being connected to "I listened" in terms of time (Hume's "extension").
Ilistened(with pride) [Adverbial to "listened" as she carefully enunciated each word (DO), right (up to the end) (of the prayer)]:/  "Leadus(DO) not (into temptation)," sheprayed, "but deliverus(IO) some E-mail(DO). Amen."
We now have only one unanalyzed pattern before the colon. Since a clause is an S/V/C pattern and everything that chunks to it, the "I listened" is the core of this main clause, and the clause ends with "prayer."
But we still need to deal with the three S/V/C patterns that come after the colon. One way of looking at these clauses is to consider the "Lead" and "deliver" clauses as direct objects of "prayed":
/sheprayed, [DO of "prayed" "Leadus(DO) not (into temptation)], but [DO of "prayed" deliverus(IO) some E-mail(DO). Amen.]" /
In this view, the ", but" joins the two equal subordinate clauses. [The "Amen" can be considered part of the subordinate clause, or, because of the period that precedes it, it can be viewed as a separate main fragment.]

     The KISS psycholinguistic model suggests another way of analyzing these three clauses:
/  "Leadus(DO) not (into temptation)," sheprayed, "but deliverus(IO) some E-mail(DO). Amen."
The model suggests that, after the colon, (unless it finds a subordinate conjunction) a reader's brain will be looking for a main S/V/C pattern. Thus, it will interpret "Lead" as a finite verb in a main clause pattern. It will then interpret "she prayed" as an interjection, followed by the "deliver" clause as another main clause.
/  "Leadus(DO) not (into temptation)," [Interjectionsheprayed,] / "but deliverus(IO) some E-mail(DO). Amen." /
In this course, I expect you to have problems with a sentence like this one. Such sentences will become clearer after you analyze more sentences that are less complex. (Practice makes perfect, and in this course you do not have time for a lot of practice.)