- Identify the main components of the sentence: Subject (S) is "she", Verb (V) is "told", and Object (NP) is "me a little white lie will come back to haunt me".
- Break down the object into its constituents: "me" is a pronoun, and "a little white lie will come back to haunt me" is an embedded clause (IP).
- Analyze the embedded clause: Its subject is "a little white lie" (Det + Adj + N), and its verb phrase is "will come back to haunt me".
- Further decompose the verb phrase: "will" is an auxiliary (Aux), "come back" is the main verb (V) with an adverb (Adv), followed by a prepositional phrase "to haunt me" (SC).
- The subordinate clause "to haunt me" contains a verb "haunt" and its object "me" (Pron).
- Connect all parts hierarchically: S → NP (she) + VP (told + NP (me + IP (NP (a little white lie) + VP (Aux (will) + V (come back) + Adv + SC (to + VP (V (haunt) + NP (me)))))).
Parent Tip: Review the logic above to help your child master the concept of sentence tree diagram examples.
