TransWikia.com

In terms of clause analysis, does this constitute a complex sentence?

English Language & Usage Asked by tardy pigeon on September 2, 2021

My usual grammatical spidey-sense has let me down here.

The sentence "I can’t begin to fathom how their tiny bodies would cope with what they had to carry" FEELS complex to me. I feel that

i) "how their tiny bodies would cope" is a subordinate/dependent clause.

BUT

ii) it also feels like the object of the main clause "I can’t begin to fathom".

So I’m currently labelling it like this: Main clause [I can’t begin to fathom] + subordinate clause [how their tiny bodies would cope] + prepositional phrase [with what they had to carry].

Is this correct as you understand it – I feel there’s some grammatical info I’ve missed here for this confusion to occur!

One Answer

In the words of CGEL (§ 10.1 p. 719), a complex sentence is recognized by the fact that "one or more of its elements is realized as a subordinate clause".
Thus, the object "how their tiny bodies would cope with what they had to carry" being a subordinate, this sentence is complex; that is all there is to it.

"with what they had to carry" is a subordinate clause of the subordinate/ superordinate clause "how their tiny bodies would cope with what they had to carry".

enter image description here

Correct answer by LPH on September 2, 2021

Add your own answers!

Ask a Question

Get help from others!

© 2024 TransWikia.com. All rights reserved. Sites we Love: PCI Database, UKBizDB, Menu Kuliner, Sharing RPP