The first offerings of a penny paper tended to be highly sensational（A）; human interest stories overshadowed important news（B）, and crime and sex stories were written in full detail（C）.

基本结构分析：

该句是个“多重并列句”。网友注意到分号了没有？分号之前的（A）跟分号之后的（B）（C）并列，即：红色分句跟蓝色分句并列。两个蓝色的分句（B）和（C）又是并列，中间用and 连接。

具体成分分析：

The first offerings of a penny paper(主语）tended to be （合成谓语，系动词）highly sensational（表语）; human interest stories（主语） overshadowed （谓语动词）important news（宾语）, and（并列连词） crime and sex stories （主语）were written（谓语） in full detail（方式状语）.