Parsing

[Elitez]

He is depicted of having a very prominent nose about which he is very self conscious.

He is depicted of having a very prominent nose--Main clause
about which he is very self conscious--Relative or adjective clause

He-subject
is-copular verb
depicted-adjective (subject complement)
of having very prominent nose-prepositional phrase functioning as adverb ; having--participle adjective, nose-object of preposition


about which he is very self conscious--Relative or adjective clause

He-subject
is-copular verb
very-adverb
self conscious-adjective
about which-prepositional phrase modifying "self conscious"

Is this sentence parsing correct?

 

[MikeNewYork]

It seems good to me.

 

[Tarheel]

I think somebody copied wrong. "He is depicted as having a very prominent nose" makes more sense.

 

[Elitez]

I think somebody copied wrong. "He is depicted as having s very prominent nose" makes more sense.

Thank you Tarheel. You are right, it should be "He is depicted as having a very prominent nose about which he is very self conscious". While writing this sentence for parsing, by mistake I wrote it as "of"


Does the sentence parsing remain same except that "as" would be preposition in place of "of" or will it change?

 

[TheParser]

***** NOT A TEACHER *****


Hello, Elitez:

May I add my two cents (very humble opinion) to your thread?

First, let's look at the active version: "They depict him as having a prominent nose."

Now, let's look at your passive version: "He is depicted as having a prominent nose."

Here's how I would diagram it:

He = subject.

is depicted = passive version of "depict."

as = this word in your kind of sentence simply introduces the -ing phrase. Some books call it an "introductory word." Other books call it an "expletive."

having a prominent nose. = As you can see, this -ing phrase describes "he." Thus, it is a subjective complement.

 

[Elitez]

Thank you TheParser. You mean to say "is depicted" is a copular verb. Can a copular verb be changed to passive version?

 

[MikeNewYork]

"Is depicted" is not a copular verb. Copular verbs are intransitive. Therefore, they cannot be passive.

 

[TheParser]

You mean to say "is depicted" is a copular verb.

***** NOT A TEACHER *****


Hello, Elitez:

As the teacher reminded us, "is depicted" is NOT parsed as a copular verb.

1. "People depict him as having a prominent nose."

a. People = subject.
b. depict = (transitive) verb.
c, him = object.
d. as having a prominent nose = objective complement. (It adds more information about "him.")

2. When you change it to the passive, the object ("him") becomes the subject ("he"), so this time "as having a prominent nose" refers to "he." Thus, the objective complement becomes a subjective complement.

3. Look at this example from one of my favorite books: "They [subject] appointed [transitive verb] Mr. Smith [object] manager [objective complement]."

a. How would you change that to the passive?

i. I am sure that you said, "Mr. Smith was appointed manager."

(a) "was appointed" is the passive of "appointed." "Was appointed" is NOT parsed as a copular verb.
(b) You can see that "manager" refers to "Mr. Smith." Therefore, it is by definition a "subjective complement."

Source for #3: Pence and Emery, A Grammar of Present-Day English (1947).

 

[LaMelange]

You explain it beautifully!

 

[PaulMatthews]

He is depicted [STRIKE]of[/STRIKE] as having a very prominent nose about which he is very self conscious.

No, I’m afraid not!

The whole sentence is the main clause, or matrix clause as it's commonly known.

The sentence is in the passive voice, so "depicted" is not an adjective but a past participle verb. It’s called a 'short' (or 'agentless') passive because the usual by- phrase is omitted (cf "… is depicted by some people as having …".)

Matrix Clause:

Subject = "He"
Verb = "Is depicted"
Complement of verb = the preposition phrase "as having a very prominent nose about which he is very self-conscious"

Complement of Verb:

Head = preposition "as"
Complement of prep = the non-finite clause: "having a very prominent nose about which he is very self-conscious"
Relative Clause = "about which he is very self-conscious"

Relative Clause:

Subject = "He"
Verb (copula) = "is"
Predicative complement = "very conscious about which"
Preposition Phrase = "about which"
Comp of prep = “which” = "his very prominent nose"