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i still confused about identifying the main verb and distinguish phrase and clause including this sentence: Several previous deals to end the fighting in Idlib have collapsed

What is the main verb in this sentence? Is "Several previous deals to end the fighting in Idlib" a noun phrase? Thank you for your help

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  • Yes: "several previous deals to end the fighting in Idlib" is a noun phrase. If by 'main' verb you mean the matrix (main clause) verb , then it's "have". "Collapsed" is a subordinate clause functioning as complement of "have", and is thus the subordinate verb.
    – BillJ
    Commented Sep 15, 2020 at 6:44
  • [correction: I am still confused etc.]
    – Lambie
    Commented Feb 16, 2023 at 17:02

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The verb is "collapsed" and yes, "Several previous deals to end the fighting in Idlib" is a noun phrase.

it may be easier to visualize if we simplify the sentence by taking out some details. In the sentence "The deals collapsed," the noun phrase is "The deals" and the verb is "collapsed."

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    "Collapsed" is a subordinate clause functioning as complement of "have", so syntactically the matrix verb is "have" and "collapsed" is the subordinate verb.
    – BillJ
    Commented Sep 15, 2020 at 11:30
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    It might be more helpful for the OP to just look at it as the present perfect form of collapse though. I think the confusion might have been around having "to end" in there as well
    – cactustictacs
    Commented Sep 15, 2020 at 16:27
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The main verb is "to collapse" in the present perfect simple tense: "have collapsed".

The subject of the sentence is indeed "Several previous deals to end the fighting in Idlib" (and yes, you're right; it is a noun clause).

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A learner's guide

Parsing a sentence according to the question:

/Several previous deals //to end the fighting in Idlib// have collapsed.

the infinitive may function as a subject, direct object, subject complement, adjective, or adverb in a sentence. Although an infinitive is easy to locate because of the to + verb form, deciding what function it has in a sentence can sometimes be confusing. Purdue Writing Lab

to end the fighting in Idlib=can be viewed as a subject complement, used in an infinitive phrase. A subject complement says something about the subject of the sentence.

several previous deals=subject of the sentence have collapsed=verb

If you remove the infinitive phrase, you still get a clause with meaning and this makes the verb stand out: /Several previous deals have collapsed/.

The main verb is have collapsed.

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