Core Patterns

Articles, Adjectives & Objects

This page adds two things to a subject and its verb: words that describe a noun, and the noun that receives the action. Articles and adjectives describe a noun and hang below the base line. The noun that receives the action, the direct object, sits on the base line.

What you’ll learn

Draw articles and adjectives on slants beneath their noun
Recognise an adjective phrase at the front of a sentence and draw it beneath the subject
Find a direct object by asking “what?” or “whom?” after the verb
Tell a direct object from a subjective complement and from the object of a preposition
Draw the half vertical before a direct object, and a fork for a compound object
Identify det, amod, dobj and conj in a dependency tree

Articles and adjectives

The words a, an and the are articles, a kind of determiner. Words like tired and several are adjectives. Both are modifiers: they tell you more about a noun (which one, how many, what kind). So Reed-Kellogg draws them the same way, on a slant below the noun.

When a noun has more than one modifier, each one gets its own slant, side by side, in sentence order. Every slant hangs from the noun itself, not from the word beside it.

“Several tired hikers reached the summit.”

Reed-Kellogg — parallel slants, one per modifier

amod Adjectival modifier
nsubj Nominal subject
ROOT Root of the sentence
det Determiner
dobj Direct object

Dependency — amod and det are distinguished

Comparing the two views

In Reed-Kellogg, Several, tired and the look alike: each one sits on its own slant below its noun. The dependency tree gives each one a label. Several and tired are both amod (adjectives), while the is det (a determiner). So only the tree shows that the is a different kind of word from tired.

An adjective phrase set off from its noun

An adjective does not have to stand next to its noun. In Weary from the hike, Mia slept, the words before the comma describe the subject, Mia. The adjective weary has a prepositional phrase after it (from the hike), and the whole group is an adjective phrase.

Reed-Kellogg draws it where any adjective goes: on a slant below Mia, with from the hike hanging from that slant. The Roles exercise boxes Weary from the hike as an Adjective phrase. Inside it are two smaller boxes: from the hike is an Adverbial prep. phrase (it modifies the adjective weary), and the hike is its Object of preposition. Because the phrase describes Mia, it is also inside the Subject box: the Subject is Weary from the hike, Mia.

“Weary from the hike, Mia slept.”

Reed-Kellogg — the adjective phrase hangs beneath the subject

advcl Adverbial clause modifier
prep Prepositional modifier
det Determiner
pobj Object of preposition
nsubj Nominal subject
ROOT Root of the sentence

Dependency — advcl hangs the adjective from the verb

Comparing the two views

Reed-Kellogg hangs Weary from Mia, the noun it describes. The parser hangs it from the verb: Weary is the advcl of slept. The legend says “Adverbial clause modifier”, although Weary from the hike has no verb. The parser uses this label for an adjective phrase at the front of a sentence, too. Both readings make sense: the phrase describes Mia at the time she slept. Expect the tree, and the Dependencies exercise, to hang such a phrase from the verb.

The direct object

A direct object is a noun, a pronoun or an equivalent expression that receives the action of the verb. To find it, ask whom? or what? straight after a verb that is not a linking verb. A direct object is an argument, not a modifier, so it sits on the base line, after a short line called the half vertical.

Do not confuse the half vertical with the full vertical between the subject and the predicate. The full vertical crosses the base line; the half vertical stops at it.

The “equivalent expressions” are phrases and clauses that do a noun’s job. You will meet each one on its own page later:

an infinitive phrase: She hopes to visit Lisbon. (see Infinitives)
a gerund phrase: He avoids driving at night. (see Gerunds)
a noun clause: Everyone knows that the ferry left. (see Noun Clauses)

Each one stands on a pedestal in the object slot, after the same half vertical. The Roles exercise gives it two labels: Direct object for its job, and Infinitive phrase, Gerund phrase or Noun clause for its form.

Say the subject and verb, then ask what or whom
“A kestrel caught — what?” The answer, if there is one, is the direct object. Careful: some nouns after a verb only say how far, how long or when. In They walked three miles, three miles answers “how far?”, so it is an adverbial objective, not a direct object.
Check that it does not rename or describe the subject
In She became a pilot, the question “became what?” has an answer: a pilot. But she and the pilot are the same person, so the pilot receives no action. Became is a linking verb here, and a pilot is a subjective complement, drawn after a backslash, not a half vertical. The Roles exercise calls it a Pred. nominative.
Draw a half vertical before it
Sitting on the base line, going up only.

“A kestrel caught a vole.”

Reed-Kellogg — the direct object after a half vertical

det Determiner
nsubj Nominal subject
ROOT Root of the sentence
dobj Direct object

Dependency — nsubj on the left of the verb, dobj on the right

Comparing the two views

The half vertical is Reed-Kellogg’s whole answer: vole sits on the base line after a line that stops at it, so it is an object, not a subject. The dependency tree says the same with a label — vole is the dobj of caught, while kestrel is its nsubj. Both articles hang from their nouns in both views.

Compound objects: two objects joined by a conjunction

When a verb has two objects joined by and or or, the object slot forks. Draw the half vertical after the verb as usual. Then split the line into two branches, one for each object, and write the conjunction on a dashed line between them. It is the same chevron as a compound subject in Imperatives & Conjunctions, but it opens to the right.

In the Roles exercise, the two objects and the conjunction make one box: apples and pears is a single Direct object.

“She bought apples and pears.”

Reed-Kellogg — the object slot forks

nsubj Nominal subject
ROOT Root of the sentence
dobj Direct object
cc Coordinating conjunction
conj Conjunct

Dependency — one object, with the second attached to it

Comparing the two views

The fork shows apples and pears as equal partners in the object slot. The tree cannot draw two equals: it makes apples the dobj of bought and hangs pears from apples as conj, with and as cc. So in the Dependencies exercise, attach pears and and to apples, not to bought.

Quick check

In The young doctor answered every question, which words hang on slants in the Reed-Kellogg diagram? Which of them does the dependency tree label det?
Answer
The and young hang on slants under doctor, and every hangs on a slant under question. Each one tells you more about a noun, so Reed-Kellogg draws them all the same way. The tree tells them apart: The and every are det (determiners), while young is amod (an adjective).
Which of these sentences has a direct object? (a) My uncle became a farmer. (b) My uncle asked for a loan. (c) My uncle bought a farm.
Answer
Only (c). Ask “bought what?”: a farm. A farm is a different thing from the uncle, so it receives the action and sits on the base line after a half vertical. In (a), became is a linking verb: the uncle and the farmer are the same person. So a farmer is a subjective complement, which the Roles exercise calls a Pred. nominative. In (b), a loan comes after the preposition for, so it is the object of the preposition, and for a loan hangs below asked.
In Proud of her work, Marta smiled, what does the phrase before the comma describe? Where does Reed-Kellogg draw it?
Answer
It describes Marta, the subject. Proud of her work is an adjective phrase: the adjective proud with the prepositional phrase of her work. Reed-Kellogg hangs Proud on a slant under Marta, with of her work hanging from that slant. It does not go under smiled, even though the phrase comes first. The dependency tree reads it differently: it attaches Proud to smiled as advcl.
How does each view show the two objects in We packed sandwiches and juice?
Answer
Reed-Kellogg draws one half vertical after packed. Then the object slot forks into two equal branches, sandwiches and juice, with and on a dashed line between them. The dependency tree cannot show two equals: sandwiches is the dobj of packed, and juice (conj) and the conjunction and (cc) both hang from sandwiches. In the Roles exercise, sandwiches and juice is one Direct object box.

Key terms

Article: a, an, the. A kind of determiner, drawn on a slant like any other modifier. Tagged DT. A kestrel caught the vole. An owl hooted.
Adjective: A word describing a noun. An attributive adjective stands next to its noun and hangs on a slant. A predicate adjective comes after a linking verb and sits on the base line, after a backslash. The tired hikers rested. — attributive. The hikers were tired. — predicate.
See: Subjective Complements
Adjective phrase: An adjective together with what it carries — a prepositional phrase, an infinitive — set off from the noun it describes. Drawn on a slant beneath that noun, like any adjective. Relation advcl when it comes first in the sentence. Other books use the name for a prepositional or participial phrase doing an adjective’s work; this app does not. Weary from the hike, Mia slept. Eager to help, the boys carried the bags.
See: Prepositional Phrases · Participles
Direct object: A noun, pronoun or equivalent expression receiving the action — ask whom? or what? after a verb that is not linking. On the base line, after a half vertical; an infinitive phrase, gerund phrase or noun clause stands there on a pedestal. Relation dobj for a noun. A kestrel caught a vole. She hopes to visit Lisbon. — ask “caught what? hopes what?”.
See: Indirect Objects & Complements · Infinitives
Transitive verb: A verb that takes a direct object. One that does not is intransitive; many English verbs are both, depending on the sentence. She bought apples. — transitive. She slept. — intransitive. She read the letter. and She read all night. — the same verb both ways.
See: Miscellaneous

Practice on a real sentence

Ask “has what?” to find the direct object, then look at the two words in front of its noun: an article and an adjective. In the Roles exercise, the half vertical appears when you box the Direct object. In the Dependencies exercise, attach the article and the adjective to the noun they describe.

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