nansk Posted October 25, 2016 Share Posted October 25, 2016 Please help me to analyze/diagram this sentence. A ready way to lose your friend is to lend him money. Is this right? Subject: way Verb: is Predicate nominative: to lend If this is right, then what does "to lose" do in the sentence? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted October 25, 2016 Share Posted October 25, 2016 Well, since no one else is responding, I'll take a stab at this... but I can't guarantee that this is the correct answer. I think "to lose your friend" is an infinitive phrase acting as an appositive to "way". That's my guess. Anyone else? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nansk Posted October 26, 2016 Author Share Posted October 26, 2016 Well, since no one else is responding, I'll take a stab at this... but I can't guarantee that this is the correct answer. I think "to lose your friend" is an infinitive phrase acting as an appositive to "way". That's my guess. Anyone else? Thank you. I also thought the same. But appositives should be delimited by commas. So I'm not sure. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MorningGlory Posted October 26, 2016 Share Posted October 26, 2016 My son is doing Analytical Grammar, and he (we) just learned that appositives are not always set apart by commas. If they are very closely related to the subject, they do not have to have commas. For example: "my sister Sally". However, I'm not sure that "to lose your friend" is an appositive. It really doesn't rename the subject; instead, it seems to further describe the subject. I looked it up in AG and found that infinitive phrases can act as adjectives. In fact, the author gives an example very similar to this one: The best way to keep it a secret is to forget it. She has "to keep it a secret" as an infinitive phrase modifying "way" and "to forget it" as an infiinitive phrase acting as a predicate nominative. What do you think? :-) 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nansk Posted October 27, 2016 Author Share Posted October 27, 2016 The best way to keep it a secret is to forget it. She has "to keep it a secret" as an infinitive phrase modifying "way" and "to forget it" as an infiinitive phrase acting as a predicate nominative. Wow! Thank you. That makes sense. I am putting off AG for next year, but it seems I should work through it myself first. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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