How to analyze a substantive subordinate clause

When making the syntactic analysis of a sentence, we can find different types of sentences based on the function they perform. One of the major groups are subordinate sentences, that is, those that depend on the main verb of the sentence; also, we can find substantive, adjectival and adverbial subordinates according to what they are equivalent. In the case of substantive subordinate clauses, they will perform the same functions as a noun or noun: subject, direct, indirect, circumstantial, name, agent or attribute / predicative complement. In this article, we explain how to analyze a substantive subordinate clause.

one

First of all, we must remember that subordinate sentences depend on the main verb of the sentence and, therefore, have no meaning in themselves.

two

In the case of substantive subordinates, they are introduced by: the conjunction " that ", the conjunction " if ", an interrogative particle or an exclamatory . Likewise, they can carry nexus or not.

3

Also, substantive subordinate clauses perform the same functions as a noun or noun, so we can replace them with the pronoun "this" and thus know what is their role in the sentence.

4

We now turn to see how a substantive subordinate sentence is analyzed, taking as an example: "She wanted you to tell her the truth".

5

In this sentence, we find two verbs : "I wanted" and "you will count", so that the second depends on the first (main verb) and is therefore part of the subordinate sentence.

6

Also, we can see that this second sentence is introduced by the conjunction " that ": "that you will tell the truth".

In such a way that we can confirm that it is a substantive subordinate clause.

7

To make sure that we are analyzing a substantive subordinate, we can substitute the pronoun " this " and see if it makes sense: "She wanted this." We see how the sentence does have meaning and we realize the function of the substantive subordinate sentence (the same as the pronoun): direct object.

8

To make the morphosyntactic analysis, that is to say, of the types of words and functions that they carry out in the sentence, you will have to separate it by parts, on the one hand the main one:

"She wanted"

And on the other, the substantive subordinate with a direct complement function:

"You will tell him the truth"

9

In the main sentence, we find:

- "She" as a personal pronoun depending on the subject.

- "I wanted" is the main verb .

10

In the case of the substantive subordinate:

- "what" is a conjunction that functions as a link or relationship between the two sentences.

- "le" is a pronoun with an indirect complement function . - "you will tell" we have already seen that it is the verb of the subordinate.

- "the" is a determinant article.

- "truth" is a noun or name that accompanied by the article works as a direct complement within the substantive subordinate.

eleven

In this way, you already have the complete morphosyntactic analysis of the sentence "She wanted you to tell her the truth", in which we find a substantive subordinate sentence with a direct complement function.