本文首先指出前人對於英日語長句分析時常違反線性狀原則，而受到篇幅上的制 約，以致不能落實到實際研究與教學層面。特別是在臺灣主導所謂句子構造的英語長句分析 ，不是學界反而是坊間雜誌。日語長句分析，亦有此傾向。 文中所提案的階梯圖分法，主要是根據結合價語法的原理，將長句定義為子句的集合，一子 句以一行一數字表示，子句內題目語、主語、賓語、補語等所有成分共同修飾核心述語，清 楚地山凸顯出各子句內成分間的修飾關係，在現行的所有方法內，不失為較具體而有效的分 析法。

　　　　　We review the preceding ideas about analysis of long sentences while contrasting Japanese with English, which usually violate the principle of linearity in language; meanwhile, the traditional methods of analyzing long sentences are limited in space as a result that it is hard to integrate into teaching and research. The leading ideas about analyzing long sentences are postulated within mass-marketing grammar magazines rather than the academic research papers. We also noticed that there is a similar tendency in analyzing Japanese. We assume the ladder-like structure will characterize the modification in sentences, which is based on the standpoint of valency grammar, and defines the long sentence is a set of clauses each of which is identified with number by line. The topic, subject, objective and complement, constituents of sentences, are actually modifying the core predicates. Among the current research methods, it probably is an accessible approach, concrete and valid.