linguistic analysis : help needed

[comalies]

Hi guys,

I have a  big problem dividing this little text into clauses using this conventional signs:


||...|| = clause
| ... | = functional components/ groups
[...] = embedded Prepositional phrase
[[ ... ]] = embedded (downranked) clause

Dear Reader:

On a beautiful late spring afternoon, twenty-five years ago, two young men graduated from the same college. They were very much alike, these two young men. Both had been better than average students, both were personable and both—as young college graduates are—were filled with ambitious dreams for the future. Recently, these men returned to their college for their 25th reunion. They were still very much alike. Both were happily married. Both had three children. And both, it turned out, had gone to work for the same Midwestern manufacturing company after graduation, and were still there. But there was a difference. One of the men was manager of a small department of that company. The other was its president.

 What Made The Difference

 Have you ever wondered, as I have, what makes this kind of difference in people's lives? It isn't a native intelligence or talent or dedication. It isn't that one person wants success and the other doesn't. The difference lies in what each person knows and how he or she makes use of that knowledge. And that is why I am writing to you and to people like you about The Wall Street Journal.

Does anyone know how to do it?  I've never seen this kind of exercize

[Daniel]

As a general rule, we do not do homework for anyone here. The point of the exercise is for you to do it yourself. If you have specific questions, you can ask those.

Hint: remember that in most cases, there is one verb per clause and one clause per verb. So look for verbs then start dividing it up. (Remember, some clauses can be embedded in others, so you'll have more than one verb within a single clause, but embedded within another layer.)
An exception would be auxiliaries, which are part of the same clause as the main verb.

[comalies]

You are absolutely right, and I give my apologies.

ok, I tried to divided into clause etc, and this is the result:

Dear Reader:|

|[On a beautiful late spring afternoon]|, |twenty-five years ago|,|| two young men graduated ||[from the same college] ||They were very much alike|, |these two young men|. ||


        Both| had been |better than average students|, both| were| personable |and |both|—[[as young college graduates are]]—|were filled| [with ambitious dreams]| [for the


 future]| .



|Recently|, ||these men returned [to their college]|| |[for their 25th reunion|]. ||They were| still very much alike||. ||Both |were happily married.|| Both had three children.|| And ||both, ||it


 turned out||,| had gone[ to work] |[for the same Midwestern manufacturing company] |[after graduation]|, |and| were still there|. |But |there was| a difference|. ||One [of the


 men] |was| |manager ||[of a small department]| [of that company|]. ||The other |was| its president.||


 |What |Made The Difference|


 ||Have you ever wondered||, as ||I have||, what| makes| this kind of difference| [in people's lives]? ||It isn't ||a native intelligence or talent or dedication|. ||It isn't|| that


||one person wants ||success |and the other doesn't|. ||The difference lies ||[in what each person]| knows| and |how| ||he or she makes use|| [of that knowledge]|. And |that |is| why



| ||I am writing [to you] || and| [to people] |like you| [about The Wall Street Journal.] |


what do you think?

[Daniel]

I don't know why I didn't notice this before. I may have glanced at the post and wasn't sure about the answer. I don't really know what those terms specifically mean in your class. It depends on the particular theory you're using, I guess.

If you are doing a constituency based analysis, then something like [[I have] [it]] would be wrong because the verb+object form a constituent, then the subject. But I don't know if that's what you're doing for your class or not, because that's not a notation I'm familiar with. If it's just an exercise with that notation for convenience, that's fine, but I'm still not sure what definition of "phrase" you're using. So while there are some parts of that I'd do differently I don't know if that's right for your class.