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I date back to the time when English teachers would teach the parts of speech by having students diagram sentences. Those of you who went through it will remember the little lines connecting, branching off, connecting with what branched off, etc. I've fantasized about going back and saying to one of those know-it-all teachers "Here, diagram THIS." My number one contender at this point is "Is you is or is you ain't my baby?" Does anyone else have any ideas? If so, please send them to gotobarn@sover.net, and I'll send back what accumulates. For what it's worth, I'm a Vermont poet who works as a freelance writer, doint mostly journalism, to make a living.
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Carpal Tunnel
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I love this! Nothing immediately comes to mind, but thanks for the poser, erlbarna.
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Carpal Tunnel
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welcome, erl!  it's been a while since I've diagrammed, but I'll see what I can remember...
formerly known as etaoin...
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The *sentence* "is you is or is you aint my baby" is not grammatically correct. Is it surprising that *sentences* that are not grammatically correct cannot be diagrammed? I would guess we could peruse the significations of Koko to find plenty that could not be diagrammed.
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Pooh-Bah
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Carpal Tunnel
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That's a good first step. I don't have access to any sentence diagramming software but … Code:
Is you is
Verb subj adverbial verb
\
or
my baby?
conj
/ dir obj.
is you ain't
verb subj adverbial verb
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You is baby
\is_____ \my
or
You is baby
\ ain't__ \my
Please note that the is-ness and the ain't-ness is an adjectival condition belonging to "you".
Usually, Faldage, you would have caught that.
But the way you acting lately makes me doubt.
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You're right, Milo. I was toying with whether it was a adverbial verb or a verbal adverb and completely missed the fact that it's adjectiving.
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addict
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addict
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As a non-native speaker of English, not only have I never heard this sentence before, but also I don't understand what it's saying. And yes, it looks quite grammatically wrong to me.
In any case, I view "my baby" here not as a direct object, but as a subject complement. The verb "is" is not an action verb but a stative one. It identifies the subject with a quality or characteristic, but it doesn't impose an action on a primary recipient as action verbs do on their direct objects.
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It's a line from a song - a very old song.
I wonder do we distinquish the state of being grammatically incorrect from that of being ungrammatical.
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