Forgot to time but looking at the clock it took about an hour.
Steps I was using:
- Step 1 - Find the action or linking verb
- Step 2 - Find the subject
- Step 3 - Find the object/complement
- Step 4 - Find the modifiers and what they are modifying
- Step 5 - Figure out what the whole sentence means.
Here are some sentences to get you started practicing:
- John is wise.
- 1 - is, linking verb
- 2 - John, subject
- 3 - wise, complement
- 4 - no modifiers
- 5 - John, in his current state of being, is wise.
- John quickly drank milk.
- 1 - drank, action verb
- 2 - John, subject
- 3 - milk, object
- 4 - quickly modifies drank
- 5 - The way John drank his milk was very fast.
- John likes big, fast cars.
- 1 - likes, action verb
- 2 - John, subject
- 3 - cars, object
- 4 - big, fast, modifiers
- big modifies car
- fast modifies car
- 5 - John likes the kind of cars that are both big and fast.
- John went to the new store.
- 1 - went, action verb
- 2 - John, subject
- 3 - no direct object
- 4 - to the new store , prepositional phrase modifying went
- to - preposition
- the is modifying store
- new is modifying store
- store is the prepositional noun
- 5 - John went to a store. The store was new. The store was the only(?) new one.
- The ferocious dog chased three cats over the chair.
- 1 - chased, action verb
- 2 - dog, subject
- 3 - cats, object
- 4 - the, ferocious, three, over the chair
- the modifies dog
- ferocious modifies dog
- three modifies cats
- over the chair is a prepositional phrase modifying chased
- over is the preposition
- the is modifying chair
- chair is the noun governed by over
- 5 - There is a ferocious dog. The dog chased three cats. The dog chased the cats while going over the chair.
- Clever John carefully ate the very juicy steak.
- 1 - ate, action verb
- 2 - John, subject
- 3 - steak, object
- 4 - clever, carefully, the, very, juicy
- clever is an adjective modifying John
- carefully is an adverb modifying ate
- the is a determiner modifying steak
- very is an adverb modifying juicy
- juicy is an adjective modifying steak.
- 5 - John is a clever person. John ate a steak carefully. The steak that he ate was very juicy.
- John thought hard about chemistry.
- 1 - thought, action verb
- 2 - John, subject
- 3 - no direct object
- 4 - hard, about chemistry
- hard is an adverb modifying thought
- about chemistry is a prepositional phrase modifying thought
- about is a preposition
- chemistry is the noun governed by about
- 5 - John thought about chemistry. The thinking was hard/involved a lot of effort.
- John put the toy soldier in the compartment in the box on the shelf in his room.
- 1 - put, action verb
- 2 - John, subject
- 3 - soldier? , object
- 4 - the, toy, in the compartment, in the box, on the shelf, in his room
- the is a determiner modifying soldier
- toy is an adjective modifying soldier
- in the compartment is a prepositional phrase modifying put
- in is the preposition
- the is a determiner modifying compartment
- compartment is the noun governed by in
- in the box is a prepositional phrase modifying compartment
- in is the preposition
- the is a determiner modifying box
- box is the noun governed by in
- on the shelf is a preposition modifying box
- on is the preposition
- the is a determiner modifying shelf
- box is the noun governed by on
- in his room is a preposition modifying shelf
- in is the preposition
- his is an adjective modifying room
- room is the noun governed by in
- 5 - John put away a soldier that was a toy. He put the toy in a compartment which was located in a box. The box was on a shelf. The shelf was in his room.
- The delicious cake with berries unfortunately fell onto the dirty floor from the table.
- 1 - fell, action verb
- 2 - cake, subject
- 3 - no object
- 4 - the, delicious, with berries, unfortunately, onto the dirty floor, from the table.
- the is a determiner modifying cake
- delicious is an adjective modifying cake
- with berries is a prepositional phrase acting as an adjective modifying cake
- unfortunately is an adverb modifying fell
- onto the dirty floor is a prepositional phrase modifying fell
- onto is the preposition
- the is a determiner modifying floor
- dirty is an adjective modifying floor
- floor is the noun governed by onto
- from the table is a prepositional phrase modifying fell
- from is the preposition
- the is a determiner modifying table
- table is the noun governed by from
- 5 - There is a cake. The cake is delicious. The cake had berries on it. The cake fell. The cake fell from a table. The cake fell from the table onto a floor. The floor was dirty.