PBS Newshour 2

A wildfire burning in a remote Hawaii rainforest is underscoring a new reality for the normally lush island state just a few months after a devastating blaze on a neighboring island leveled an entire town and killed at least 99 people.
 
SUBJECT-VERB AGREEMENT
– What is the subject of this sentence?
– Is the subject singular or plural?
 
This sentence consists of 2 clauses:
(1) a wildfire burning in a remote Hawaii rainforest is underscoring a new reality for the normally lush island state
The subject of this clause is a wildfire burning in a remote Hawaii rainforest
This is a singular subject.
We use a singular subject with singular verb (is in this sentence)
The plural form is wildfires.
 
(2) after a devastating blaze on a neighboring island leveled an entire town and killed at least 99 people
The subject of this clause is a devastating blaze on a neighboring island
This is a singular subject.
The plural form is blazes.
 
TENSES
– What is/are the tense(s) used in this sentence?
(1) a wildfire burning in a remote Hawaii rainforest is underscoring a new reality for the normally lush island state
Subject + is + -ing form
This clause uses the present continuous tense.
 
(2) after a devastating blaze on a neighboring island leveled an entire town and killed at least 99 people
Subject + past simple
This clause uses a past simple tense.
 
ACTIVE vs. PASSIVE
– Is this an active or passive sentence?
(1) a wildfire burning in a remote Hawaii rainforest is underscoring a new reality for the normally lush island state
The subject is the one doing the action.
This clause uses active voice.
 
(2) after a devastating blaze on a neighboring island leveled an entire town and killed at least 99 people
Subject + past simple
This clause uses a past simple tense.
The subject is the one doing the action.
This clause uses active voice.
 
DEPENDENT CLAUSES
– Is there a noun, adjective or adverb clause in this sentence?
 
The sentence contains:
  • an independent clause
  • a dependent clause
A wildfire burning in a remote Hawaii rainforest is underscoring a new reality for the normally lush island state
= independent clause (can stand on its own)
 
just a few months after a devastating blaze on a neighboring island leveled an entire town and killed at least 99 people.
= dependent clause (cannot stand on its own, used to explain independent clause)
= adverb clause of time (it explains when the independent clause happens -> after a devastating blaze a few months ago)
 
In the dependent clause itself, there is dependent clause.
A wildfire burning in a remote Hawaii rainforest is underscoring a new reality for the normally lush island state
 
a wildfire
= noun phrase
 
burning in a remote Hawaii rainforest
= reduced adjective clause
 
which is burning in a remote Hawaii rainforest
= full adjective clause
 
An adjective clause gives additional information to a noun or noun phrase.
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