Whence "subject, predicate"?

From: Jacques Guy (jguy_at_alphalink.com.au)
Date: 07/21/04 

Date: Wed, 21 Jul 2004 11:26:36 -0700

In primary school "l'analyse logique" ("parsing" in English)
taught us to look for the verb first, then for its dependents:
subject (if one), direct object (if one), indirect object
(if one), "complements circonstanciels" and so on, all of
them linked directly to the verb. (I gather that the same
was/is taught in Russian primary schools.) As a result,
a sentence is a central element (the verb) surrounded
by a variable number of ancillary elements. An octopus,
as it were, with a varying number of arms.

English-speaking children, on the other hand, are taught
to analyze a sentence into two elements: subject, predicate.
(Whence the famous rewrite rule: S = NP VP).

There is quite a drastic difference between the two approaches.

I wonder. What is the origin of the English approach to
parsing a sentence? From when does it date? Does anyone
here know?

Same question about the French (Russian?) approach.

And further, which do they teach in, say, Germany, Spain,
Italy, and so on?

Relevant Pages

  • Re: Neutral meaning of the particle "O"
    ... A verb that takes an object without being separated ... knowledge transitivity refers to the number of objects a verb takes, ... A direct object is a noun phrase ... although it is a syntactic feature of transitivity in English. ...
    (sci.lang.japan)
  • Re: If you were inventing CoBOL...
    ... While it's certainly true that English has verb forms that consist of ... Already, we're treating "to do right" as a verb, while some would ... have it verb and direct object. ... usage as in "he came by airplane". ...
    (comp.lang.cobol)
  • Re: Direct object? Indirect object?
    ... direct object of the verb "ask". ... I agree with your analysis, but I think this illustrates a general problem with trying to explain English grammar to Germans, who tend to demand more rigid unambiguous rules than English has. ... There are too many things that defy rational explanation, especially if you want the explanation to be simple and memorable. ...
    (alt.usage.english)
  • Re: "Men have all a one-track mind."
    ... adverbs NEVER occur between the verb and the ... > direct object in English, ...
    (alt.usage.english)
  • Re: [OT] Indian C programmers and "u"
    ... grew up in Hadleigh, Essex, England or have a reference to English usage ... --- verb, transitive ... not a way of phrasing things I have heard from native English ... non-native speakers from affecting my response. ...
    (comp.lang.c)