Have you ever heard of ICA (immediate constituent analysisis)? If not, you're not alone! ICA is one of the methods used to divide sentences into smaller units to understand their structure and meaning. By learning ICA, we will know how sentences are built, from word level to phrases and words. Learning ICA also makes us write more effectively. Inevitably, you will often encounter difficulties when learning it.
As complicated as it sounds, learning ICA is actually as fun as learning to ride a bike. Why? Because at first, you might be a little frustrated, still bouncy, or might fall. However, that's part of the process. When you get good at cycling, you'll find that it's a lot of fun, just like with ICA, if you understand the concept, you'll find that learning ICA is actually that much fun.
In the process of learning ICA, you will encounter complex terms or concepts. Â Initially, you will learn terms such as subject, predicate, modifier, and object. You will understand them more easily with frequent practice.
For example, take a simple sentence:
"I played with dolls in the park."
At first glance, this seems straightforward, but to decipher it with ICA, an understanding of its components is required:
- Subject: "I"
- Predicate: "play"
- Object: "doll"
- Modifiers: "in the park"
Another example as in the sentence "The old man ran away," the first division into direct constituents is between "the old man" and "ran away." The direct constituents of "the old man" are "the" and "old man." At the next level "old man" is divided into "old" and "man." This term was introduced by American linguist Leonard Bloomfield in 1933
A slightly more complex example explaining the clause is:
"When I go to school, my mom went to the zoo."
Explanation:
- Subordinate Clause: "When I go to school"
~subject   : i
~predicate : go Â
- Main Clause: "my mom went to the zoo"
~subject   : my mom
