ANALYSIS OF SENTENCES.
Analysis (Greek ana, ανα, up, and lusis, λυσις, a loosening) signifies the separating of anything into the different component elements of which it is made up.
A sentence (Latin sensio, I feel) is a feeling or thought expressed in words.
Every thought or feeling centres upon some subject, and next there is something thought or felt on that subject. When a sentence is expressed, that which we express in regard to the subject is called the predicate. Accordingly, every sentence must necessarily consist of a subject and a predicate—that is, the thing thought or felt about, and what is thought, felt, or asserted about it. Thus, in the words, "rain falls," we have a complete sentence in which "rain" is the subject, and "falls" the predicate, or what is asserted of "rain."
A thought or sentence will thus be seen to necessarily contain the linking together of two ideas. For instance "rain" and "fall" are two ideas standing apart from each other. To link them together, so that the one becomes affirmed of the other, we say, "rain falls." This connecting link is called in logic the copula, and held to be one of the three essential parts of every sentence. But in the science of merely grammatical analysis, the copula is considered to be contained in the predicate. Sentences are of three kinds—
Simple,
Complex, and
Compound.
