OK you are officially making me think before coffee ;) 

 

But if we re-structured the sentence: <Poe claimed (that) inspiration, or chance, played no part in the poem’s composition.>, then Poe is definitely the subject and the rest becomes…what?  A noun clause in the role of direct object?

 

I don’t think we can say <Poe claimed> is adverbial, can we?  Even in the original sentence structure, <inspiration or chance> aren’t the subjects…

 

Or am I lost in the weeds?  It does happen, I must admit…

 

-patty

 

From: Assembly for the Teaching of English Grammar [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Scott Woods
Sent: Tuesday, March 03, 2009 9:51 AM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: question on the role of a clause

 

List,   In the following sentence, would you say that <Poe> is the subject and <Inspiration or chance played no part in the poem's composition> is the noun clause object of the claim? Is <Poe claimed> adverbial in nature?   <Inspiration or chance, Poe claimed, played no part in the poem's compositon.>

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