grammatical analysis of the parts of the sentence

[ziawj2]

Please help to analyze the grammatical parts of the following sentene, especially, "as were the Europeans about the Indians".
The Indians, who had a highly developed culture in many ways, must have been as curious about the strange European manners and customs as were the Europeans about the Indians.

 

[philo2009]

as: subordinating CONJUNCTION, introducing adverbial clause as were...about the Indians complementing adjective phrase as curious (about...customs)

were: preposed finite copular VERB (=were curious)

the: definite ARTICLE, determining Europeans

Europeans: plural NOUN, subject of were

about: PREPOSITION, introducing adverbial prepositional phrase about the Indians complementing (were) curious

the: definite ARTICLE, determining Indians

Indians: plural NOUN, object of about

 

[ziawj2]

as: subordinating CONJUNCTION, introducing adverbial clause as were...about the Indians complementing adjective phrase as curious (about...customs)

were: preposed finite copular VERB (=were curious)

the: definite ARTICLE, determining Europeans

Europeans: plural NOUN, subject of were

about: PREPOSITION, introducing adverbial prepositional phrase about the Indians complementing (were) curious

the: definite ARTICLE, determining Indians

Indians: plural NOUN, object of about

Can you paraphrase this sentence in simple or compound one?

 

[Pedroski]

The Indians, who had a highly developed culture in many ways, must have been as1 curious about the strange European manners and customs as2 were the Europeans about the Indians.

The Indians = what you are talking about
who had a highly developed culture = relative clause used as an adjective, tells us more about them darn Injuns.
in many ways = an adverbial used to hone the adjective 'developed'
must have been = conjectural form of 'were'
as1 = degree adverb modifying 'curious', an adjective
about the strange European manners and customs = prepositional phrase adverbial tells us how they were curious and what they were curious of.
as2 comparative adverb, used in conjuction with as1: as1 ...... as2........
were the Europeans (curious) = the Europeans were curious about ....
about the Indians. = adverb modifier tells us what the Europeans were curious of.

Paraphrased: The Indians were curious.

 

[Raymott]

Please help to analyze the grammatical parts of the following sentene, especially, "as were the Europeans about the Indians".
The Indians, who had a highly developed culture in many ways, must have been as curious about the strange European manners and customs as were the Europeans about the Indians.

The Indians must have been as curious about the Europeans as the Europeans were [curious] about the Indians.

 

[philo2009]

must have been = conjectural form of 'were'

There is no such thing - except in Pedro's grammar fantasy-land - as a "conjectural" form of a verb.

The verb phrase in question is the perfective form of the auxiliary verb 'must', consisting of 'must' as finite head, 'have' (dependent infinitive) and 'been' (past participle of 'be', complementing 'have').


as2 comparative adverb,

Wrong again: the second 'as' is, as already stated, a subordinating conjunction

 

[Pedroski]

I don't think 'must' has a Perfective form: 'I have must' nor 'I have musted' Not even in your books, sweet Philo.

'must have been' is here a mood of 'have been', which is the perfective form of 'be'. If the writer were sure, he would have used 'were', the simple past of 'be'. He cannot know for sure, so he conjectures.

Here are some examples of double 'as', for your elucidation:

As1 boring as2 a wet weekend in Wigan
As1 brave as2 a lion
As1 bright as2 a new pin
As1 broad as2 it is long

The as1 is a degree adverb: how boring, brave, bright, broad. as2 then compares. This is a very common usage in English.

 

[philo2009]

I don't think ... usage in English.

I have no intention of responding to this muddle-headed drivel (proving once again that a little knowledge of grammar is a very dangerous thing), nor do I have anything to add to my previous analysis.

If the original questioner has any queries, I will be glad to provide further explanation.

 

[Pedroski]

Well, let's unconjoin the two sentences then, but you won't like the result:

The Indians, who had a highly developed culture in many ways, must have been. (as1 deleted) Curious about the strange European manners and customs as2 were the Europeans about the Indians.

The Indians, who had a highly developed culture in many ways, must have been as1 curious about the strange European manners and customs. (as2 deleted) Were the Europeans about the Indians.

 

[philo2009]

Well, let's unconjoin... about the Indians.

Yet again, a characteristically lunatic Pedroski response!

Where the issue is the grammatical function of a word (regarding the second 'as' - as already stated, a subordinating conjunction), he argues as if the debate had been about the correctness of its inclusion in the sentence!!

:rofl: