Analysis Of Complex Sentence

Let us analyze the following complex sentence:

Bryant wrote Thanatopsis when he was a very young man.

Bryant is the subject of the sentence.

Wrote Thanatopsis when he was a very young man is the predicate.

The subject Bryant is unmodified.

Wrote is the predicate verb.

Wrote is modified by the object Thanatopsis and by the adverbial clause when he was a very young man.

When connects the clause with the principal statement.

This sentence consists of the principal statement, Bryant wrote Thanatopsis, and the clause when he was a very young man.

We see then that to analyze a complex sentence is to name:

1. The subject.

2. The predicate.

3. The subject and its modifiers, if any.

4. The predicate and its modifiers, if any.

5. If either subject or predicate is modified by a clause, the kind of clause is to be named.

The analysis of the clause is like that of the simple sentence.