Learn English – The first thing you need to do is clean your room

nounspronounsrelative-clauses

Can someone help me break this sentence down for better understanding?

The first thing you need to do is clean your room.

First off, "The First thing", in the sentence above is acting like an adjective for the pronoun "you"? If so, can someone please provide me more internet reference to this pattern of "noun + pronoun"?

Best Answer

First, break the sentence in three: A is B.

  • A: "The first thing you need to do" is a compound subject -- it acts as a noun.
  • ("is", is the verb).
  • B: "clean your room" is a compound object.

Now you can break A: "The first thing (which) you need to do"

  • A1: "The first thing"
  • A2: (which) -- relative pronoun
  • A3: "You need to do"

And you can break B.

etc.

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