Learn English – How would you analyse the following sentence on the level of syntax

linguisticssyntactic-analysis

For our linguistics course we are supposed to analyse the following sentence by breaking it down into its constituent parts. We need to analyse it in terms of Function (FU) and Form (Fo), that is, clause constituents, phrase constituents and word classes.

So how would you analyse the follwing sentence?

His attitude made him very unpopular with colleagues.

This is what I've got so far but not too sure about this.

  • FU: His attitude = S, made = V, him = Object direct, very
    unpopular… = A

  • Fo: S = Noun phrase, V = Verb Phrase, ObjD = Noun Phrase, A = Adjectival
    Phrase

  • FU: dtm head, mv, head, premodifier head postmodifier

  • Fo: det noun, full verb, pronoun, Adjectival Phrase = very unpopular
    with, Noun phrase = colleagues

  • FU: premodifier head postmodifier, head

  • Fo: adj conjunction, noun

If you can't follow my analytics just tell me how you would analyse it when going by the following pattern:

  1. Function: Clause constituents (S, V, Od, Oi, Cs, Co, A)

  2. Form: On the level of "phrase": Noun phrase, Verb phrase…

  3. Function: Phrase constituents: determiner, premodifier, postmod., head, mV..

  4. Form: Word classes: noun, determiner, adjective, adverb…

  5. Function: again, phrase constituents

  6. Form: again, Word classes.

Best Answer

Here is a slightly simplified tree diagram of your sentence:

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(Note: comp=complement; NP=noun phrase; Det=determiner; D-determinative, ObjectD=direct object)

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