Grammar in the News

1. Grammar in the News
https://www.npr.org/2018/10/24/657477478/democrats-vow-to-rein-in-trump-
administration-if-they-win-the-house (Links to an external site.)Links to an external
site.

2. Democrats promise to put the Trump
administration under the microscope of
oversight investigations if they win control
of the House.
ADVERB CLAUSE

3. Aggressive oversight would mark an abrupt
about-face for Congress, where Republican
leaders for two years have avoided
confronting President Trump.
ADJECTIVE CLAUSE
RELATIVE PRONOUN: WHERE

4. GOP-led committees have resisted investigating
alleged wrongdoing by officials, as well as
questions about Trump's own possible conflicts
of interest.
PREPOSITIONAL PHRASE
“AS WELL AS” IS THE PREPOSITION

5. "What we've seen is not only a stretch of time when
you have an executive branch that has been breaking
norms, but you have a Congress who's sat by without
consequence and allowed that to happen without
significant accountability,"
COMPOUND SENTENCE WITH TWO MAIN CLAUSES. THE CONJUNCTION IS “BUT.”
NOUN CLAUSE IS THE SUBJECT OF THE FIRST MAIN CLAUSE
TWO ADJECTIVE CLAUSES “WHEN” AND “THAT”
“YOU” IS THE SUBJECT OF THE SECOND MAIN CLAUSE
ADJECTIVE “WHO” IS AN INFORMAL RELATIVE PRONOUN FOR “THAT”
PREPOSITONAL PHRASE WITH “WITHOUT”

6. He's now with the nonprofit Project on Government
Oversight, which trains Capitol Hill staffers in how to do
oversight.
ADJECTIVE CLAUSE WITH “WHICH”
PREPOSITIONAL PHRASE WITH “IN”

7. The president broke tradition by refusing to release them. As
the majority party, Democrats would have the power to
demand the returns.
“BY REFUSING” IS A PREPOSITIONAL PHRASE. THE GERUND
IS THE OBJECT OF THE PREPOSITION

8. In particular, Democrats want to know what sort of conflicts
of interest Trump's business interests present.
NOUN CLAUSE IS THE OBJECT OF THE VERB “KNOW.”
“PRESENT” IS THE VERB IN THE NOUN CLAUSE.

9. Allegations that "the Russians may possess financial leverage
over the president" would come under scrutiny at the
intelligence committee, according to Rep. Adam Schiff, D-
Calif., who's in line to lead the panel.
“ALLEGATIONS” IS THE SUBJECT.
ADJECTIVE CLAUSES:
that "the Russians may possess financial leverage over the president“
AND
who's in line to lead the panel.

10. Democrats could move to impeach the president.
“COULD MOVE TO” = maybe they will try to do it

11. The Judiciary Committee would investigate whether the new
Supreme Court justice was truthful in his Senate confirmation
hearings …
“WOULD INVESTIGATE” = IF THEY WON THE HOUSE,
DEMOCRATS WOULD INVESTIGATE
THE SENTENCE HAS A NOUN CLAUSE THAT BEGINS WITH
“WHETHER”