Core Patterns
Articles, Adjectives & Objects
What you’ll learn
- Hang articles and adjectives on slants beneath their noun
- Recognise an adjective phrase that describes the subject from the front of the sentence
- Find a direct object by asking the verb a question
- Draw the half-vertical that marks a direct object
- Diagram a compound object with a fork
Articles and adjectives
a, an and the are articles; words like tired and several are adjectives. Both do the same structural job — they narrow down a noun — so both are drawn the same way: on a slant hanging beneath the noun.
Several modifiers on one noun hang side by side, in the order they appear. They do not chain, because each modifies the noun rather than each other.
“Several tired hikers reached the summit.”
- amodAdjectival modifier
- nsubjNominal subject
- ROOTRoot of the sentence
- detDeterminer
- dobjDirect object
Comparing the two views
amod here while the is det, so the tree tells you which are determiners and which are descriptive. If you care that the and tired are different kinds of word, only the tree says so.An adjective phrase set off from its noun
An adjective does not have to sit beside its noun. Set off by a comma at the front of the sentence — Weary from the hike, Mia slept. — it still describes the subject, and it brings along whatever it carries: here a prepositional phrase. The whole unit is an adjective phrase (grammarians say a depictive one, because it depicts the subject at the moment of the verb), and Reed-Kellogg draws it exactly where any adjective goes: on a slant beneath Mia, with from the hike hanging off that slant.
The Roles exercise boxes the whole phrase as Adjective phrase. The prepositional phrase inside it is still its own role, and its object its own — the boxes nest, the way they do inside a clause.
“Weary from the hike, Mia slept.”
- advclAdverbial clause modifier
- prepPrepositional modifier
- detDeterminer
- pobjObject of preposition
- nsubjNominal subject
- ROOTRoot of the sentence
Comparing the two views
advcl of slept, the label spaCy uses for an adjective that comments on the clause from a distance. Both readings are defensible — the phrase describes Mia while she slept — and only the tree tells you which one the parser took.The direct object
A direct object is what receives the action. It is an argument, not a modifier, so it sits on the base line — separated from the verb by a vertical that stops at the line rather than crossing it.
That half-height vertical is doing real work. It is the only thing distinguishing “this noun receives the action” from “this noun is the subject”, and reading it wrong is the most common early mistake.
Say the subject and verb, then ask what or whom
“A kestrel caught — what?” The answer, if there is one, is the direct object.Check it is not describing the subject
In She became a pilot, pilot answers “became what?” but is the subject rather than receiving anything. That is a complement — see Subjective Complements.Draw a half vertical before it
Sitting on the base line, going up only.
“A kestrel caught a vole.”
- detDeterminer
- nsubjNominal subject
- ROOTRoot of the sentence
- dobjDirect object
Comparing the two views
dobj of caught, while kestrel is its nsubj. Both articles hang from their nouns in both views.Two objects, one verb
When a verb takes two objects joined by and or or, the object slot forks — the same chevron used for a compound subject in Imperatives & Conjunctions, mirrored.
“She bought apples and pears.”
- nsubjNominal subject
- ROOTRoot of the sentence
- dobjDirect object
- ccCoordinating conjunction
- conjConjunct
Comparing the two views
conj. The tree is easier to compute and the diagram is truer to the grammar — a real trade, not a defect in either.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. Attributive adjectives sit next to the noun and hang on a slant; predicate adjectives arrive through a linking verb and sit on the base line. The tired hikers rested. — attributive. The hikers were tired. — predicate.
- 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
advclwhen it comes first in the sentence. Weary from the hike, Mia slept. Eager to help, the boys carried the bags. - Direct object
- The noun receiving the action. On the base line, after a half vertical. Relation
dobj. A kestrel caught a vole. She bought apples. — ask “caught what? bought what?”. - 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