L3J04A

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Joke # 4 Answer Key for Level 3
Subordinate clauses are in brackets [ ]. / represents the vertical line at the end of a main clause. The font size of words aleady analyzed has been decreased. The color codes for adjectives, adverbs, and prepositional phrases have been deleted because too many colors seemed distracting. Words which remain to be analyzed are still in 14-point black. Spaces Missing between Words? (Click here for an explanation.)

The American government, {in studying the migratory

habits} {of birds}, bands them {with a metal strip}

inscribed: /^{Note #1} "Notify Fish & Wild Life Service, {Washington,

D.C.)" / The bands used to read, "Washington Biological

Survey," abbreviated {to "Wash. Biol. Surv."} / The

inscription was changed {to the present one}shortly^{Note # 2}

[Adverbial to "was changed" after a farmer shot a crow and

disgustedly wrote the U.S. government:] / ^{Note #3}

"Dear Sirs: I shot one {of your pet crows}the other day

and followed the instructions attached {to it} and

surved it. / It was turrible. / You should stop

trying to fool the people {with things} {like that}." /

Baude's Handbook of Humor for All Occasions.
Compiled by Jacob M. Braude.
Englewood Cliffs: Prentice Hall, 1958. p.122

Notes:

1. At Level Three, the best way to deal with this is to consider it as a main clause break (justified by the colon) and move on. At Level Five, we can deal with it in more detail.

2. Notice that the "shortly" modifies the entire "after" subordinate clause."

3. I have ended the main clause here. The colon plus quotation marks serve as a sign to dump to long-term memory. The direct object of "wrote" is the entire quotation -- three sentences. We are, here, on the edge of the MIMC question -- is the main idea in a sentence usually expressed in the main S/V/C pattern, and are the hierarchies of meaning in a sentence separate from the hierarchy of subordination in the context (paragraph). I intend to deal with this question in a separate essay.

Progress
Total Words = 96	Words	%
L1: In Prep Phrases	31	32
L1: + Adj & Adverbs	20	53
+ L2: S / V / C	35	90
+ L3: Clauses	1	91

Some Basic Statistics on Style
# of Sentences:	5	Words per:	19.2
# of Main Clauses:	7	Words per	13.7
# of Sub Clauses:	1	SC / MC	.14

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