Text Chapter. 9
Text Chapt.11
Grammar Text Table of Contents

                    Basic Sentence Pattern #5: Subject + V_L + SC (Nom) [Nominal Subject Complement]

[Notice the additional node in this diagram, DET. In this case, it is nothing more than the article required by the English language to modify certain nouns in certain contexts. ]

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We need not go into much detail on this sentence pattern. It is exactly the same as Sentence Pattern #4 except that in Sentence Pattern #5 the subject complement is a nominal constituent. While the adjectival subject complement modifies the subject, we might say that the nominal subject complement  renames the subject.

Examples:

        Teachers are professionals.
        To dance is to live.
        Dancing bears become overnight stars by strutting their stuff in public.

Note the examples. The first example is the simplest form: Teachers (subject) are (linking verb) professionals (noun phrase). (Notice that this noun phrase contains only one word.) "Professionals" is another name for "teachers" (at least, in the context of this sentence).

The second example gives us a different slant. Here we have infinitive phrases serving both as subject and subject complement. Infinitives are flexible. They can be used in places where we would see nominal, adjectival, or adverbial constituents. Here they are both nominal:  To dance (infinitive phrase as subject) is (linking verb) to live (infinitive phrase as nominal  subject complement). Notice that gerund phrases are also nominal (e.g., Dancing is living).

"Dancing" is not a gerund in the third example. It is a participle (serving adjectivally). In this example, I just threw in a bunch of distracting junk to see if you could sort through it. Also, I want you to realize the full extent of the phrases (especially noun phrases) in this example. Dancing Bears (subject) become . . . by strutting their stuff in public (linking verb modified by a complicated prepositional phrase which we won’t analyze right now) overnight stars (NP serving as nominal subject complement). If all this is not completely clear to you, I’m not surprised. As I said before. Try to understand thoroughly the less complicated sentences and gradually work toward understanding the more complicated ones. But don’t be afraid of them. Like bears, they are cuddly and harmless.

In groups, today, I want you to do a cumulative exercise. The sentences in the following exercises contain many sentences that reflect Sentence Patterns #1 through #5. Identify such sentences. Heave to!  Lay fore and aft and weigh anchors, me hearties!

I am on a ship. The ship is large. I am on the forecastle. The ship is underway. The ship is on the

ocean. The ship is far from land. The ocean is purple. The ocean is royal. The ship is its crown. I see

the ocean. The ship’s prow opens the ocean. The opening is white. The white shows me a million air

bubbles. Dolphins chase the ship’s prow. The dolphins swim fast. The dolphins swim silently. The

dolphins leap. The dolphins arch their backs. The backs are black. The backs are shining. The

backs reflect the sun. I watch the dolphins race. I am hypnotized. The sun shines on the ship. The

sun shines on the ocean. The sun shines on the dolphins. The sun shines on me. The sun does not

burn us. The sun gives us a bath. The wind is strong. The wind hits my face. The wind hits my hair.

The wind flings tufts of water back. The spray hits my face. The wind does not burn. The spray does

not sting. The wind purifies me. The spray baptizes me. The sun is gold. The sky is blue. The ship is

gray. The dolphins are black. The ocean is purple. The ocean is royal. I become the ocean. The

dolphins are in me. The dolphins dance in me. The sun warms me. The wind purifies me. Sailors

stand on ship’s forecastles. Sailors look into me. Sailors see my dolphins. The dolphins provide them

swimming lessons.

Chapter 10 Homework:  Type a paragraph in which you mark at least three nominal SCs.

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