Diagram

[alixtii]

bookishwench asked, I can only assume facetiously, "Just how the heck would one diagram the first sentence in the Star Spangled Banner?"

This is is my best try:



I'm not quite sure what the what is doing. It seems to be taking the place of a that which, but I'm not sure how it is doing that, what that would be called, or how to diagram it. It's not ungrammatical--"I want what I deserve" strikes my ear as perfectly fine--but I don't know what it is.

I either love or hate the fact that I understand my native language so poorly. I'm not sure which.

Comments

[hjcallipygian.livejournal.com]

I think this is my favorite post of June. And perhaps all of 2006.

Grammar Geeks unite! (and this sentence is easily diagrammable, too)