1)
The man next to him, talking to the neighbours whenever
possible, was his father. The first modifying phrase is “next to him”, which
acts as an adjective, as it describes the noun “man”. The second modifying
phrase is “talking to the neighbours”, and it also acts as an adjective (also
describes the man). The third modifying phrase would be “whenever possible”,
and it acts as an adverb, telling us when the man talks to the neighbours.
2)
The people urged him to surrender; he resisted. This
sentence is compound because it has two independent clauses: “the people urged
him to surrender” and “he resisted”. It is balanced for contrast with a
semicolon because it is more effective that way. The semicolon adds to the
dynamics. It is still the same sentence, and the contrast is all the more
remarkable.
3)
Helen was starting to like him; however, she didn’t
want to show her true feelings. This is a compound sentence because it has two
independent clauses. The conjunctive adverb is “however”. Here is how it would
look without it: Helen was starting to like him, but she didn’t want to show
her true feelings.
4)
Everybody loved to listen to Marco, who was an
interesting person. This is a complex sentence, composed of an independent
clause “everybody loved to listen to Marco”, and a dependent (subordinate) clause
“who was an interesting person”. Here is the same sentence with an appositive
phrase instead of the subordinate clause: Everybody loved to listen to Marco, an
interesting person.
