The sentence structure is like this: In the end "X" got badly on my nerves. X = "the sneering ..., the insults ...," X is a list of descriptions. The "and" was omitted by the author for dramatic effect.

There are three verbs in this sentence, two of which form part of the compound subject. The verbs are 'meet', 'hoot' and 'get'. 'Meet' and 'hoot' are part of the subject. You can see this if you can consider the following: x = In the end the sneering yellow faces of young men that met me everywhere, the insults hooted after me when I was at a safe distance x got on my nerves. To meet someone is to see them for the first time; to hoot at someone is to shout at someone in a disparaging manner; and if something 'gets on your nerves', it annoys or upsets you. Hope that answers your question, at least in part.

In the end the sneering yellow faces of young men that met me everywhere, the insults hooted after me when I was at a safe distance, got badly on my nerves. Hey Terry, I'm a native English speaker and even while reading this sentence, I was confused. The grammatical structure is off. The sentence should be broken up into two sentences: 1. In the end, the sneering yellow faces of young men met me everywhere. 2. The insults that hooted after me when I was at a safe distance got badly on my nerves. The verb in the first sentence is "met". The verb in the second sentence is "got". The sentence consists of a lot of prepositional phrased which probably through you off. These prepositional phrases add more details to the sentence. Sentence 1: Prepositional Phrase: "In the end", "of young men" Subject: "the sneering yellow faces" Verb: "met" Object: "me" Adverb: "everywhere" Sentence 2: Main Subject: "the insults" Prepositional Phrase: "that hooted after me when I was at a safe distance", "on my nerves" Main Verb: got Adverb: badly There are also subjects and verbs within the prepositional phrases. For example, in the second sentence, the phrase "when I was at a safe distance" has the subject "I" and the verb "was".

Terry: I agree with another member that the word "and" has been omitted ( a comma takes its place). Therefore, I believe the the BASIC sentence is this: "The sneering yellow faces of young men AND the insults got badly on my nerves." The sneering yellow faces of young men and the insults hooted after me when I was at a safe distance. = COMPLETE subject. got = verb. badly = adverb. on my nerves. = prepositional phrase. ***** NOTES: In the end. = prepositional phrase. Some people would say, it modifies the verb "got"; others would say it modifies the whole sentence. "That met me everywhere." = adjective clause. Some people would say its antecedent is "young men"; other people would say its antecedent is "the sneering yellow faces." What met me everywhere? Sneering faces or young men? "hooted after me" = participial phrase that modifies "the insults." "when I was at a safe distance" = adverbial clause that modifies the participal "hooted." Tells when the hooting occurred.