| Author |
Message |
Guest
|
| Posted: Thu Sep 22, 2005 5:37 am
Post subject: How to analyze the grammar of this sentence |
|
|
Hi,
In the following sentence, how to understand "a Category 5, 165-mph
monster"? From the context, I know it is Rita. But, it is still
different from the normal sentence to me. Could you explain it to me
further? And give me another example?
Thank you very much.
Gaining strength with frightening speed, Hurricane Rita swirled toward
the Gulf Coast a Category 5, 165-mph monster Wednesday as more than 1.3
million people in Texas and Louisiana were sent packing on orders from
authorities who learned a bitter lesson from Katrina.
|
|
| Back to top |
|
 |
ray o'hara
Guest
|
| Posted: Thu Sep 22, 2005 5:54 am
Post subject: Re: How to analyze the grammar of this sentence |
|
|
<freelait2000@yahoo.com> wrote in message
news:1127345825.178927.271110@f14g2000cwb.googlegroups.com...
| Quote: | Hi,
In the following sentence, how to understand "a Category 5, 165-mph
monster"? From the context, I know it is Rita. But, it is still
different from the normal sentence to me. Could you explain it to me
further? And give me another example?
Thank you very much.
Gaining strength with frightening speed, Hurricane Rita swirled toward
the Gulf Coast a Category 5, 165-mph monster Wednesday as more than 1.3
million people in Texas and Louisiana were sent packing on orders from
authorities who learned a bitter lesson from Katrina.
|
A category 5 is the strongest classification for a hurricane as judged on
the Safir-Simpson scale.
A 165-mph monster means it has wind speeds of 165mph in the core and the
monster part means it is a large frighting entity coming to destroy
Gavelston Texas.
Monsters are large frightning creatures like Godzilla or Gorgo that destroy
cities and are to be respected and feared. |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
Richard Yates
Guest
|
| Posted: Thu Sep 22, 2005 6:28 am
Post subject: Re: How to analyze the grammar of this sentence |
|
|
| Quote: | In the following sentence, how to understand "a Category 5, 165-mph
monster"? From the context, I know it is Rita. But, it is still
different from the normal sentence to me. Could you explain it to me
further? And give me another example?
Thank you very much.
Gaining strength with frightening speed, Hurricane Rita swirled toward
the Gulf Coast a Category 5, 165-mph monster Wednesday as more than 1.3
million people in Texas and Louisiana were sent packing on orders from
authorities who learned a bitter lesson from Katrina.
A category 5 is the strongest classification for a hurricane as judged
on
the Safir-Simpson scale.
A 165-mph monster means it has wind speeds of 165mph in the core and the
monster part means it is a large frighting entity coming to destroy
Gavelston Texas.
Monsters are large frightning creatures like Godzilla or Gorgo that
destroy
cities and are to be respected and feared.
I think the original poster was asking about the grammar not the meanings of |
the terms. The structure is odd although I cannot give a judgment as to its
correctness. Another example, as he asked for, might be:
Richard reached for the keyboard a hesitant typist.
Richard Yates
|
|
| Back to top |
|
|
Robert Lieblich
Guest
|
| Posted: Thu Sep 22, 2005 7:00 am
Post subject: Re: How to analyze the grammar of this sentence |
|
|
freelait2000@yahoo.com wrote:
| Quote: |
Hi,
In the following sentence, how to understand "a Category 5, 165-mph
monster"? From the context, I know it is Rita. But, it is still
different from the normal sentence to me. Could you explain it to me
further? And give me another example?
Thank you very much.
Gaining strength with frightening speed, Hurricane Rita swirled toward
the Gulf Coast a Category 5, 165-mph monster Wednesday as more than 1.3
million people in Texas and Louisiana were sent packing on orders from
authorities who learned a bitter lesson from Katrina.
|
Both "Category 5" and "165-mph" are nouns used attributively to modify
the noun "monster." Because they both modify the same noun, they are
divided by a comma. Here's another example: "a six-foot-five,
320-pound monster." This refers to a human being ("six-foot-five" is a
measure of height), not a story, but is a parallel construction to the
one you asked about.
--
Bob Lieblich
Not all that monstrous |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
Don Phillipson
Guest
|
| Posted: Thu Sep 22, 2005 7:00 am
Post subject: Re: How to analyze the grammar of this sentence |
|
|
<freelait2000@yahoo.com> wrote in message
news:1127345825.178927.271110@f14g2000cwb.googlegroups.com...
| Quote: | . . . different from the normal sentence to me. Could you explain it to
me
further? And give me another example?
. . .
Gaining strength with frightening speed, Hurricane Rita swirled toward
the Gulf Coast a Category 5, 165-mph monster Wednesday as more than 1.3
million people in Texas and Louisiana were sent packing on orders from
authorities who learned a bitter lesson from Katrina.
|
Just parse the sentence in the normal way, i.e.
pick out all the verbs, identify which is the main
verb of the sentence, define the other verb forms
(e.g. participles as opposed to standard constructions
in subordinate clauses.)
No one sentence is a universal model. I.e. we cannot
easily supply "another example" similar to this -- but
you do not need another example if you can parse OK.
--
Don Phillipson
Carlsbad Springs
(Ottawa, Canada) |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
Weatherlawyer
Guest
|
| Posted: Thu Sep 22, 2005 12:08 pm
Post subject: Re: How to analyze the grammar of this sentence |
|
|
freelait2000@yahoo.com wrote:
| Quote: | Hi,
In the following sentence, how to understand "a Category 5, 165-mph
monster"? From the context, I know it is Rita. But, it is still
different from the normal sentence to me. Could you explain it to me
further? And give me another example?
Gaining strength with frightening speed, Hurricane Rita swirled toward
the Gulf Coast a Category 5, 165-mph monster Wednesday as more than 1.3
million people in Texas and Louisiana were sent packing on orders from
authorities who learned a bitter lesson from Katrina.
|
The sentence is not a sentence but a poorly worded paragraph.
Gaining strength with frightening speed, Hurricane Rita swirled toward
the Gulf Coast. <Insert suitable qualification here eg: It/she
was/became> a Category 5, 165-mph monster <on> Wednesday. <Cut and
capitalise: as m> <M>ore than 1.3 million people in Texas and Louisiana
were sent packing on orders from authorities<,> who learned a bitter
lesson from Katrina.
Here is another example:
In the following sentence how to understand a Category 5 165-mph
monster from the context known as Rita still different from the normal
sentence could you explain it further and give me another example. |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
Don Phillipson
Guest
|
| Posted: Thu Sep 22, 2005 5:28 pm
Post subject: Re: How to analyze the grammar of this sentence |
|
|
"Weatherlawyer" <Weatherlawyer@hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:1127369288.735500.152330@g49g2000cwa.googlegroups.com...
| Quote: | Gaining strength with frightening speed, Hurricane Rita swirled toward
the Gulf Coast a Category 5, 165-mph monster Wednesday as more than 1.3
million people in Texas and Louisiana were sent packing on orders from
authorities who learned a bitter lesson from Katrina.
The sentence is not a sentence but a poorly worded paragraph.
|
You are mistaken. This is a single well-formed sentence,
with a subject and main verb and subordinate clauses (one
with and another without a subordinated verb.) The concatenation
of much information does not make it a paragraph rather than a
sentence.
--
Don Phillipson
Carlsbad Springs
(Ottawa, Canada) |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
Guest
|
| Posted: Thu Sep 22, 2005 7:14 pm
Post subject: Re: How to analyze the grammar of this sentence |
|
|
freelait2000@yahoo.com wrote:
| Quote: | Hi,
In the following sentence, how to understand "a Category 5, 165-mph
monster"? From the context, I know it is Rita. But, it is still
different from the normal sentence to me. Could you explain it to me
further? And give me another example?
Thank you very much.
Gaining strength with frightening speed, Hurricane Rita swirled toward
the Gulf Coast a Category 5, 165-mph monster Wednesday as more than 1.3
million people in Texas and Louisiana were sent packing on orders from
authorities who learned a bitter lesson from Katrina.
|
"a Category 5, 165-mph monster" is in apposition with the subject
"Hurricane Rita".
The author apparently thought that his version read better than the
more transparent "Hurricane Rita, a Category 5, 165-mph monster,
swirled toward....". Or maybe his editor is fussy about commas, so he
reordered his words to remove all those commas between the subject and
its verb.
Gary |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
| |
FAQ
Memberlist
Register
Profile
Log in to check your private messages
Log in