Janice in NJ Posted March 14, 2008 Share Posted March 14, 2008 Not a nasty, dirty, wet hole, filled with the ends of worms and an oozy smell, nor yet a dry, bare, sandy hole with nothing in it to sit down on or to eat. For some reason, I'm just not sure of this: with nothing in it to sit down on or to eat I'm flip-flopping about what's what with this chunk of the diagram. I can see the parts, but for some reason I can't nail down the relationships in a confident way. Help! THANKS! Janice Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Anne/Ankara Posted March 14, 2008 Share Posted March 14, 2008 But it isn't a complete sentence, is it-- no subject or predicate... isn't the whole thing just a fragment? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Raders Fan Posted March 14, 2008 Share Posted March 14, 2008 Yes, it's just a fragment. Jennifer Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Janice in NJ Posted March 14, 2008 Author Share Posted March 14, 2008 Sometimes I just assume that everyone knows what I'm thinking. MY BAD!!! J.R.R. finishes it up. I think the first past is just elliptical with an understood "It was" In a hole in the ground there lived a hobbit. Not a nasty, dirty, wet hole, filled with the ends of worms and an oozy smell, nor yet a dry, bare, sandy hole with nothing in it to sit down on or to eat: it was a hobbit-hole, and that means comfort. Does that help? Janice Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Riverfront Headmistress Posted February 11, 2009 Share Posted February 11, 2009 Janice, I'm now working on the first three sentences of the book. Ugh. I think I have sentence three figured out, but scratching my head on the first two sentences. In fact, I keep flip-flopping as well. Are you up to discussing your finds and how/why you achieved it? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThelmaLou Posted February 11, 2009 Share Posted February 11, 2009 I just went searching for that fabulous post where someone from this board posted videos of an entire language arts session with their kids using this passage. I found it, only to discover that's it's you, Janice from NJ! Wow! That sentence must have been eating at you for a long time! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Janice in NJ Posted February 11, 2009 Author Share Posted February 11, 2009 Actually I asked that about diagramming that sentence the day that we recorded our language arts session. It was bugging me because I just didn't know where to put that part. In the video I commented that I didn't know what to do with that section, but that I had asked my buds on the boards and was waiting for an answer. :001_smile: Isn't life grand? What a blast-from-the-past! Peace, Janice Enjoy your little people Enjoy your journey Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rhondabee Posted February 11, 2009 Share Posted February 11, 2009 (edited) Sometimes I just assume that everyone knows what I'm thinking. MY BAD!!! J.R.R. finishes it up. I think the first past is just elliptical with an understood "It was" In a hole in the ground there lived a hobbit. Not a nasty, dirty, wet hole, filled with the ends of worms and an oozy smell, nor yet a dry, bare, sandy hole with nothing in it to sit down on or to eat: it was a hobbit-hole, and that means comfort. Does that help? Janice Could it be that the independent phrase begins with "it was a hobbit-hole", and the first part of the sentence, "Not a nasty..." is an inverted appositive? And, then you would actually have two appositives. One "hole" modified by "not a nasty, dirty, wet hole....smell" - joined by the conjunction "yet" (modified by "nor") to the second appositive "hole" modified by "a dry, bare, sandy...eat" IRDK. Just a thought~ ETA: Sorry. Now I see you were just concerned about that one wierd phrase that starts like a prepositional phrase and ends with infinitives. Hmmm...... Edited February 12, 2009 by Rhondabee Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rhondabee Posted February 12, 2009 Share Posted February 12, 2009 (edited) Not a nasty, dirty, wet hole, filled with the ends of worms and an oozy smell, nor yet a dry, bare, sandy hole with nothing in it to sit down on or to eat. For some reason, I'm just not sure of this: with nothing in it to sit down on or to eat I'm flip-flopping about what's what with this chunk of the diagram. I can see the parts, but for some reason I can't nail down the relationships in a confident way. Help! THANKS! Janice I still think "hole" is an appositive, but whether that's true or not, the "with nothing" is modifying "hole". That makes "nothing" a substantive (modified by "in it" underneath). The verbals "To sit down on" (an infinitive phrase) and "to eat" (an infinitive) are then compound object complements and are diagrammed after a slanted line after "nothing" (like a predicate nom or adj's line). They should each be on one of those "Men-at-work" looking signs. (yes, whenever these come up I *have* to sing "We come from the land down under" for the rest of the day.) They would further be on a fork, with the conjunction "or" between them on the dotted line. What'cha think? Edited February 12, 2009 by Rhondabee trying to be clear - golly, it's hard to diagram without a white-board =) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Riverfront Headmistress Posted February 12, 2009 Share Posted February 12, 2009 This sentence is really puzzling my brain. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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