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My guesses 😉 -- "red" is an adverb, modifying the verb "painted" -- here the sense of the sentence is that the wall was painted; how was it painted? It was painted bright red.

The = article, modifying the noun "wall" (because articles are special types of adjectives, which modify nouns)
wall = subject -- a noun (because it is the noun or pronoun that the sentence is about)
was painted = predicate -- a helping verb + verb (predicate because it is what the subject is "doing" or "being"; 2 words (helping verb + verb) because it is past tense)
bright = adverb, modifying the adverb "red" (because adverbs modify other adverbs)
red = adverb, modifying the verb "painted"  (because adverbs modify verbs)

Or... red is an adjective, modifying the noun "wall" -- in the sense of "The painted, bright red wall was." -- the wall existed and the other words describe what the existing wall looked like -- it was painted, it was red, and it was bright red.

The = article, modifying the noun "wall" (because articles are special types of adjectives, which modify nouns)
wall = subject -- a noun (because it is the noun or pronoun that the sentence is about)
was = predicate -- a verb (because it is what the subject is"being")
painted = adjective (because it modifies the wall -- what the wall was)
bright = adverb, modifying the adverb "red" (because adverbs modify other verbs, adjectives, other adverbs)
red = adjective, modifying the noun "wall"  (because adjectives modify nouns)

Edited by Lori D.
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My question then is: How can "red" coming after the verb (and therefore in the predicate) modify the subject (wall)? Or do the rules change because the verb is passive and not active? I don't know if I am thinking this right. Grammar was not my strong suit growing up and now as a homeschool mom I am forced to learn it- which is a good thing. I am learning a lot. But sometimes grammar doesn't always make sense to me.

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1 hour ago, rayntiff said:

My question then is: How can "red" coming after the verb (and therefore in the predicate) modify the subject (wall)? Or do the rules change because the verb is passive and not active? I don't know if I am thinking this right. Grammar was not my strong suit growing up and now as a homeschool mom I am forced to learn it- which is a good thing. I am learning a lot. But sometimes grammar doesn't always make sense to me.


That's called a "predicate adjective" -- an adjective that modifies the subject, but is in the predicate, following a verb of being (also known as a "stative verb". Check out this Grammar Monster explanation and example.

As a side note: I'm not sure that "passive verb" is ever used in the way that I think you are meaning here -- I believe the term for what you are calling a "passive verb" is actually a "stative verb" (stative meaning "stating") -- or sometimes called a "verb of being" (examples: is, has). This type of verb is in contrast to an "active verb" (examples: run, sing), sometimes called an "action verb".

"Active" and "passive" have to do with "active voice" and "passive voice", with active voice being a stronger more direct sentence structure, and passive voice being a weaker and less direct sentence structure.

- Active voice = the subject of the sentence actively "does" the verb to the object in the sentence.
example: "She throws the ball."  
("She" = subject, "throws" = predicate (active verb), "ball" (direct object)

- Passive voice = the subject of the sentence is acted upon
example: "The ball is thrown by her." 
("Ball" = subject, "is" predicate (stative verb), "thrown" (predicate adjective, modifying "ball" -- what kind of ball? a thrown ball), "by her" (prepositional phrase, acting as an adverb by modifying "thrown", an adjective -- what kind of thrown ball? a thrown by her ball)

You can see why passive voice is weaker and less direct, because if you reword this second example, what it is saying is" "The thrown-by-her ball is." ----> something that had an action done to it exists
In contrast, the active voice example is very direct and clear: "She throws the ball" ----> someone does an action to something


Just to encourage you: I had virtually no grammar in my public school education 😲 -- but I just learned alongside my kids. And when I had confusions, I came here and asked. 😄 So, you're definitely on the right track! 😉 Warmest regards, Lori D.

Edited by Lori D.
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Thank you so much for clearing that up for me! I kept trying to diagram it and thinking that adjectives went on a slanted line under the word that they modified. I think that was where I was getting tripped up. I had forgotten about those modifiers that point back. lol. And yes, I meant passive voice. I guess I should have made that clear. Thanks again! I appreciate it! 

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On 10/8/2019 at 4:37 PM, rayntiff said:

I was wondering on how one might parse the sentence:

"The wall was painted bright red."

Especially, what is "red"? would it be a noun acting as the direct object? or something else since the verb is passive. Thoughts on what? or why?

Red is an adjective describing wall. Bright is an adverb modifying red. "Was painted" can't be transitive. So we have effectively a predicate adjective, as if we'd said The wall was red.

If the verb isn't passive, you can also have an adjective as an object complement, like this: It made me angry. (Angry describes the direct object me; it's like saying The homeowner painted the wall bright red.) Or an implied infinitive for which the DO of the verb is a sort of subject: It made me smile.

 

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