Identify the category and the head of the underlined phrases in the following sentences (The ones in CAPS ONLY):
1- Among your guests, he is THE MOST BORING TO TALK TO.
2- Your student scored HIGHER THAN ALL OF HIS CLASSMATES.
3- This wonderful city is MUCH MORE GLAMOROUS THAN THE OTHER ONE WE VISITED.
4-The committee wrote an extensive report ABOUT THE PROBLEM FACES BY UNDERGRADUATES.
5-Please pass this information to POTENTIAL APPLICANTS WITHIN YOUR ORGANIZATION.
6- THIS provides the MOST TALENTED GRADUATES WITH THE OPPORTUNITY TO PURSUE THEIR STUDIES.
7- He got his degree from ONE OF BRITAIN'S FINEST UNIVERSITIES.
8- QUIET FRANKLY, AN EMPLOYEE RETURNING TO THE WORKPLACE WHO HAS GAINED A POST GRADUATE CERTIFICATE can make a contribution to our company.
9-He sneaked behind his daughter REALLY SLOWLY.
10-To maintain your ideal weight is VERY HARD TO DO.
I'd appreciate it if you helped me with the homework because I skipped classes and I don't know how to solve it on my own :'( please help
#1.
We have no idea as to what "category" refers to. What categories have you worked on?
#2. We will not "do" your work for you, but we will tell you how to go about doing your work....and we will give you suggestions for corrections.
I can't grasp the concept of 'HEAD' of the sentence yet. I know that there is a 'Modifier' and it is Dependent on the head, but I can't find the head to find the modifier.
About category, we worked on Noun,adverbial,verb, and prepositional phrases.
Thank you for your response. I'm not expecting you to give me the answers on a golden plate, I just need to learn the definitions correctly so I can do the home work on my own. :)
Those terms aren't familiar to us English teachers here in the United States. If you post the definitions given in your text, we'll try to help you.
I'm just guessing here, but I think this is what you mean:
1- Among your guests, he is THE MOST BORING TO TALK TO.
he = "head"
THE MOST BORING TO TALK TO = adjectival (since it's describing a pronoun, "he")
Is that right?
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I appreciate your help :)
What we discussed in class is the Sentence Structure and the Function of each constituent.
The head as we learned, is the essential center of the phrase.
The example in the book says:
e.g: Their rather dubious jokes.
Quoting from the book: To begin at the lowest level of structure, rather has its function in respect of its sister dubious. It specifies the extent of the dubiousness, telling us how dubious the jokes are. Rather is dependent on dubious, in the sense that it is only present because because dubious is. If we were to omit dubious, rather would be left without a function, and the omission would result in an ill-formed string (their rather jokes). Notice however that dubious is in no way dependent on rather. We can omit rather and still be left with a perfectly good phrase (their dubious jokes.) This, then, is a one-way function/dependency, rather depends on dubious but not vice versa. This function is called modification. The function of rather is to modify dubious."
I hate syntax :'(
Then in the following sentence, I'd say that the "head" is boring since all the other words modify it or are dependent on it for meaning:
1- Among your guests, he is THE MOST BORING TO TALK TO.
What would you say about the others then?
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Ok it's starting to look clearer now.
The answer for question 2 would be: Higher, because the rest of the words in the phrase function as a complimentary or modifiers and the category of the head is adjective.
I'd say that the answer for question three is glamorous, for the same reason stated above , and the category of the head is adjective.
For four the head is applicants, and it's a noun.
Please tell me that I'm on the right track here :)