Questions tagged [sentences]
A sentence is a grammatical unit that is composed of one or more clauses or of written texts delimited by upper case letters and markers such as . , ? and ! .
16 questions with no upvoted or accepted answers
7
votes
0
answers
424
views
Why were written sentences longer in the past?
These ELU answers affirm, but do not explain, the decrease in written sentence length. So why?
To allow for comparison with modern dialects, I restrict this question to:
writing in European ...
user5306
3
votes
0
answers
124
views
In English, what rules govern the optimal order of nouns in a list?
For example, is noun word-order governed by a universal ranking of semantic fields, as with adjectives, or do other considerations in general English word choice and order (well-formedness of ...
- 261
2
votes
0
answers
77
views
Why do so many grammars divide a clause into Subject and Verb instead of Subject and Predicative?
I used to start learning a few languages, admittingly my interest ,stamina and brain force didn't last for more than a couple of days each.
Nethertheless, I noticed , that the different grammars ...
- 1,047
2
votes
0
answers
179
views
Do subject-object-verb language users perceive the world differently than SVO or VSO users?
So based on linguistic relativity, I'm wondering if there are any ways that people perceive the world differently based on sentence order, or rather, if this has even been studied at all?
- 121
2
votes
0
answers
1k
views
How to analyze this sentence in a tree diagram?
I tried to draw a tree diagram of this sentence
In 1816 they were purchased by the British government and from then on displayed in the British Museum.
but it leads nowhere. I think I'm fine ...
- 21
1
vote
0
answers
81
views
Is "because" always a subordinating conjunction introducing a subordinate clause?
My grammar book says that a word like "because" is a subordinating conjunction, meaning that it is a word that can introduce a dependent clause. I know that a dependent clause contains its ...
- 11
1
vote
0
answers
266
views
How can I identify whether it is local or global ambiguity?
I am currently learning about local and global ambiguity and we had the following example in of the texts explaining what the topic is about:
Paul sent the note to Elena.
Paul sent the books, a record,...
- 11
1
vote
0
answers
73
views
Could certain languages encourage different models of sentence processing?
I'm gonna be frank: I'm a high school student who has limited experience with linguistics. I've never studied it, I've just read a textbook and a handful of seminal studies. Recently, though, I was ...
- 259
1
vote
0
answers
83
views
Carrying a mistake in a sentence until contradiction
I am new to the field of linguistics so please forgive any ignorance or naivety, but there is something I have been thinking about recently and cannot find anything about it online. I suppose there ...
- 11
1
vote
0
answers
290
views
Average number of independent clauses in a compound sentence
I'm working on a NLP project, where we analyze large text samples (think a novel), and produce some metrics that help us answer interesting questions about the text. One of these metrics is average ...
- 163
1
vote
0
answers
93
views
Is there a term for this use of an indirect object?
I have noticed that some Americans from the mid-South will use indirect objects in their speech where standard English would use a prepositional phrase. Is there a name for this phenomenon? Is it ...
- 1,014
1
vote
0
answers
71
views
Associating Sentences with Animations
Let's say you're teaching someone the sentence "I got in the car". This is a tricky sentence for beginners since they might ask: eh, what did you get in the car? Such sentences are easier to teach ...
- 1,072
0
votes
0
answers
28
views
In the sentence 'he was very early', would it be correct to say that 'early' functions as both a noun and the object of the sentence?
I'm currently trying to construct my own language as an exercise, and I need to know if such a description is linguistically accurate, or if the word should be described otherwise.
- 1
0
votes
0
answers
94
views
What advantages might the Reed-Kellogg diagramming method provide over other diagramming methods?
What advantages might the Reed-Kellogg diagramming method provide over other diagramming methods, and is the R-K diagramming method English specific?
- 109
0
votes
0
answers
46
views
Is there a chart showing all assignments of phrases to functions within a sentence?
For practical reasons, it is obvious to assume there is chart giving an overview which phrases can be assigned to which functions in a sentence.
For instance, one sentence function is called an ...
- 1,047
0
votes
0
answers
117
views
Incomplete sentences
I am looking for studies which looks at understanding and preference of incomplete sentences.
For example, is there a higher workload for (in)complete sentences or even though the sentence might be ...
- 101