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Everybody is gonna cut himself a nice fat slash off John Does, eh?

I failed to comprehend how I parse the sentence. Especially, I'd like to see what "off John Does" modifies.

My parsing is as follows:

Everybody (subject) is gonna cut(transitive verb chunk) himself (indirect object) a nice fat slash (direct object) off John Does (predicative complement)

Please correct me if I 'm wrong.

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    What is the source of this quote?
    – James K
    Feb 16, 2019 at 7:36
  • @James K It's from a movie "Meet John Doe" (1941)
    – JYJ
    Feb 17, 2019 at 6:18

1 Answer 1

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It's not a predicative complement of the subject. That is the noun or adjective that follows a linking verb in sentences like "John is good. John is a farmer".

In this sentence "off" acts as a preposition, indicating "disconnection or subtraction from". So the phrase is a prepostional phrase. It acts like an adverb modifying the verb "cut". It tells how to make the cut, and what (or who) to cut it from. A simpler sentence with a similar structure might make this clearer.

"Cut yourself a slice off the loaf"
"Take 20% off the price."

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  • Thank you so much. I'm awfully sorry for me having been late.
    – JYJ
    Feb 17, 2019 at 6:16

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