"On September 11, 2011, the tenth anniversary of the attacks that destroyed the twin towers of the World Trade Center, the official memorial will be dedicated at Ground Zero (the opening of the adjacent museum had been delayed and is now scheduled for 2012).
This is the first sentence of an essay written by David Rieff in the August '11 issue of Harper's. David Rieff might be the son of Susan Sontag, though it's hard to check this fact without the internet or Susan Sontag's journal collection Reborn. Reborn is fascinating, but many readers are annoyed by all of the interjections by her son. It is touching that her son interjects to explain things or justify his decisions, but some readers aren't touched at all and find such intrusions annoying. Other readers don't understand why he didn't include more of her journal entries in Reborn. At one point in Reborn, after a fascinating list of words and names that Susan Sontag had made, Susan Sontag's son interrupts to let his readers know that Sontag habitually made fascinating lists in her journals. He says this, but then there is never another list in Reborn. Where are the other lists? And where are the sequels to Reborn? On the jacket of the book, it says that Reborn is the first of a series, and yet there are no other collections of Susan Sontag's journal entries. Her son might be David Rieff, and David Rieff is the author of the essay in the August '11 Harper's. His first sentence is above. That first sentence floats like a balloon. Or should it be "as a balloon"?
"On September 11, 2011" is a prepositional phrase that acts as an adverb. It answers the question "When?".
"the tenth anniversary of the attacks that destroyed the twin towers of the World Trade Center" is an appositive phrase that tells us more about the preceding prepositional phrase about September 11, 2011. David Rieff is making us wait for the main clause and main subject of his sentence.
---"the tenth anniversary" is the simplest part of the appositive phrase. Maybe it's what's called a "head" of the phrase.
---"of the attacks" is a prepositional phrase that acts as an adjective because it modifies "the tenth anniversary."
---"that destroyed the twin towers" is maybe a relative clause. It is a clause that acts as an adjective because it modifies "the attacks." "that" is the subject of the clause, and "destroyed" is the verb. "the twin towers" is the direct object.
--"of the World Trade Center" is another prepositional phrase that acts as an adjective because it modifies "the twin towers."
"the official memorial" is the subject of the sentence's main clause.
"will be dedicated" is the verb of the main clause. This main verb has a modal in it, "will." This verb is also in the passive formation. Who will dedicate the memorial?
"at Ground Zero" is a prepositional phrase that acts as an adverb.
"(the opening of the adjacent museum had been delayed and is now scheduled for 2012)" is something that's hard to identify. What's in the parenthesis is a complete sentence, so the "the" in "the opening" maybe could have been capitalized, and the period could have been put in the close parenthesis. But maybe, instead of being treated like its own sentence, the stuff in the parentheses wants to be treated like stuff that comes after a dash.
"the opening" is the subject of that parenthetical clause.
"of the adjacent museum" is a prepositional phrase that serves as an adjective.
"had been delayed" is half of the main coordinate verb. It's in the passive formation. Who delayed they opening?
"and" is a conjunction that joins the coordinate main verb.
"is scheduled" is the other half of the coordinate main verb. Like its other half, it's passive. Who scheduled?
"now" is an adverb that modifies "is scheduled."
"for 2012" is a prepositional phrase that acts as an adverb. It also modifies "is scheduled."
No comments:
Post a Comment