_ANALYSIS OF SENTENCES._
CLASSIFICATION ACCORDING TO FORM.
[Sidenote: _What analysis is._.]
335. All discourse is made up of sentences: consequently the
sentence is the unit with which we must begin. And in order to get a
clear and practical idea of the structure of sentences, it is
necessary to become expert in analysis; that is, in separating them
into their component parts.
A general idea of analysis was needed in our study of the parts of
speech,--in determining case, subject and predicate, clauses
introduced by conjunctions, etc.
[Sidenote: _Value of analysis._]
A more thorough and accurate acquaintance with the subject is
necessary for two reasons,--not only for a correct understanding of
the principles of syntax, but for the study of punctuation and other
topics treated in rhetoric.
[Sidenote: _Definition._]
336. A sentence is the expression of a thought in words.
[Sidenote: _Kinds of sentences as to form._]
337. According to the way in which a thought is put before a
listener or reader, sentences may be of three kinds:--
(1) Declarative, which puts the thought in the form of a declaration
or assertion. This is the most common one.
(2) Interrogative, which puts the thought in a question.
(3) Imperative, which expresses command, entreaty, or request.
Any one of these may be put in the form of an exclamation, but the
sentence would still be declarative, interrogative, or imperative;
hence, _according to form_, there are only the three kinds of
sentences already named.
Examples of these three kinds are, declarative, "Old year, you must
not die!" interrogative, "Hath he not always treasures, always
friends?" imperative, "Come to the bridal chamber, Death!"
CLASSIFICATION ACCORDING TO NUMBER OF STATEMENTS.
SIMPLE SENTENCES.
[Sidenote: _Division according to number of statements._]
338. But the division of sentences most necessary to analysis is the
division, not according to the form in which a thought is put, but
according to how many statements there are.
The one we shall consider first is the simple sentence.
[Sidenote: _Definition._]
339. A simple sentence is one which contains a single statement,
question, or command: for example, "The quality of mercy is not
strained;" "What wouldst thou do, old man?" "Be thou familiar, but by
no means vulgar."
340. Every sentence must contain two parts,--a subject and a
predicate.
[Sidenote: _Definition: Predicate._]
The predicate of a sentence is a verb or verb phrase which says
something about the subject.
In order to get a correct definition of the subject, let us examine
two specimen sentences:--
1. But now all is to be changed.
2. A rare old plant is the ivy green.
In the first sentence we find the subject by placing the word _what_
before the predicate,--_What_ is to be changed? Answer, _all_.
Consequently, we say _all_ is the subject of the sentence.
But if we try this with the second sentence, we have some
trouble,--_What_ is the ivy green? Answer, _a rare old plant_. But we
cannot help seeing that an assertion is made, not of _a rare old
plant_, but about _the ivy green_; and the real subject is the latter.
Sentences are frequently in this inverted order, especially in poetry;
and our definition must be the following, to suit all cases:--
[Sidenote: _Subject._]
The subject is that which answers the question _who_ or _what_
placed before the predicate, and which at the same time names that of
which the predicate says something.
[Sidenote: _The subject in interrogative and imperative simple
sentences._]
341. In the interrogative sentence, the subject is frequently after
the verb. Either the verb is the first word of the sentence, or an
interrogative pronoun, adjective, or adverb that asks about the
subject. In analyzing such sentences, _always reduce them to the order
of a statement_. Thus,--
(1) "When should this scientific education be commenced?"
(2) "This scientific education should be commenced when?"
(3) "What wouldst thou have a good great man obtain?"
(4) "Thou wouldst have a good great man obtain what?"
In the imperative sentence, the subject (_you_, _thou_, or _ye_) is in
most cases omitted, and is to be supplied; as, "[You] behold her
single in the field."
Exercise.
Name the subject and the predicate in each of the following
sentences:--
1. The shadow of the dome of pleasure
Floated midway on the waves.
2. Hence originated their contempt for terrestrial distinctions.
3. Nowhere else on the Mount of Olives is there a view like this.
4. In the sands of Africa and Arabia the camel is a sacred and
precious gift.
5. The last of all the Bards was he.
6. Slavery they can have anywhere.
7. Listen, on the other hand, to an ignorant man.
8. What must have been the emotions of the Spaniards!
9. Such was not the effect produced on the sanguine spirit of the
general.
10. What a contrast did these children of southern Europe present to
the Anglo-Saxon races!
ELEMENTS OF THE SIMPLE SENTENCE.
342. All the elements of the simple sentence are as follows:--
(1) The subject.
(2) The predicate.
(3) The object.
(4) The complements.
(5) Modifiers.
(6) Independent elements.
The subject and predicate have been discussed.
343. The object may be of two kinds:--
[Sidenote: _Definitions. Direct Object_.]
(1) The DIRECT OBJECT is that word or expression which answers the
question _who_ or _what_ placed after the verb; or the direct object
names that toward which the action of the predicate is directed.
It must be remembered that any verbal may have an object; but for the
present we speak of the object of the verb, and by _object_ we mean
the _direct_ object.
[Sidenote: _Indirect object_.]
(2) The INDIRECT OBJECT is a noun or its equivalent used as the
modifier of a verb or verbal to name the person or thing for whose
benefit an action is performed.
Examples of direct and indirect objects are, direct, "She seldom saw
her _course_ at a glance;" indirect, "I give _thee_ this to wear at
the collar."
[Sidenote: _Complement_:]
344. A complement is a word added to a verb of incomplete
predication to complete its meaning.
Notice that a verb of incomplete predication may be of two
kinds,--transitive and intransitive.
[Sidenote: _Of a transitive verb_.]
The _transitive verb_ often requires, in addition to the object, a
word to define fully the action that is exerted upon the object; for
example, "Ye call me chief." Here the verb _call_ has an object _me_
(if we leave out _chief_), and means summoned; but _chief_ belongs to
the verb, and _me_ here is not the object simply of _call_, but of
_call chief_, just as if to say, "Ye _honor me_." This word completing
a transitive verb is sometimes called a _factitive object_, or _second
object_, but it is a true complement.
The fact that this is a complement can be more clearly seen when the
verb is in the passive. See sentence 19, in exercise following Sec.
364.
[Sidenote: _Complement of an intransitive verb_.]
An _intransitive verb_, especially the forms of _be_, _seem_,
_appear_, _taste_, _feel_, _become_, etc., must often have a word to
complete the meaning: as, for instance, "Brow and head were _round,
and of massive weight_;" "The good man, he was now getting _old_,
above sixty;" "Nothing could be _more copious_ than his talk;" "But in
general he seemed _deficient in laughter_."
All these complete intransitive verbs. The following are examples of
complements of transitive verbs: "Hope deferred maketh the heart
_sick_;" "He was termed _Thomas_, or, more familiarly, _Thom of the
Gills_;" "A plentiful fortune is reckoned _necessary_, in the popular
judgment, to the completion of this man of the world."
345. The modifiers and independent elements will be discussed in
detail in Secs. 351, 352, 355.
[Sidenote: _Phrases_.]
346. A phrase is a group of words, not containing a verb, but used
as a single modifier.
As to _form_, phrases are of three kinds:--
[Sidenote: _Three kinds_.]
(1) PREPOSITIONAL, introduced by a preposition: for example, "Such a
convulsion is the struggle _of gradual suffocation_, as _in drowning_;
and, _in the original Opium Confessions_, I mentioned a case _of that
nature_."
(2) PARTICIPIAL, consisting of a participle and the words dependent on
it. The following are examples: "Then _retreating into the warm
house_, and _barring the door_, she sat down to undress the two
youngest children."
(3) INFINITIVE, consisting of an infinitive and the words dependent
upon it; as in the sentence, "She left her home forever in order _to
present herself at the Dauphin's court_."
Things used as Subject.
347. The subject of a simple sentence may be--
(1) _Noun_: "There seems to be no _interval_ between greatness and
meanness." Also an expression used as a noun; as, "A cheery, '_Ay, ay,
sir_!' rang out in response."
(2) _Pronoun_: "We are fortified by every heroic anecdote."
(3) _Infinitive phrase_: "_To enumerate and analyze these relations_
is to teach the science of method."
(4) _Gerund_: "There will be _sleeping_ enough in the grave;" "What
signifies _wishing_ and _hoping_ for better things?"
(5) _Adjective used as noun_: "_The good_ are befriended even by
weakness and defect;" "_The dead_ are there."
(6) _Adverb_: "_Then_ is the moment for the humming bird to secure the
insects."
348. The subject is often found _after the verb_--
(1) _By simple inversion_: as, "Therein has been, and ever will be, my
_deficiency_,--the talent of starting the game;" "Never, from their
lips, was heard one _syllable_ to justify," etc.
(2) _In interrogative sentences_, for which see Sec. 341.
(3) _After_ "it _introductory_:" "It ought not to need _to print_ in
a reading room a caution not to read aloud."
In this sentence, _it_ stands in the position of a grammatical
subject; but the real or logical subject is _to print_, etc. _It_
merely serves to throw the subject after a verb.
[Sidenote: _Disguised infinitive subject_.]
There is one kind of expression that is really an infinitive, though
disguised as a prepositional phrase: "It is hard _for honest men to
separate_ their country from their party, or their religion from their
sect."
The _for_ did not belong there originally, but obscures the real
subject,--the infinitive phrase. Compare Chaucer: "No wonder is a
lewed man to ruste" (No wonder [it] is [for] a common man to rust).
(4) _After_ "there _introductory_," which has the same office as _it_
in reversing the order (see Sec. 292): "There was a _description_ of
the destructive operations of time;" "There are _asking eyes_,
_asserting eyes_, _prowling eyes_."
Things used as Direct Object.
349. The words used as direct object are mainly the same as those
used for subject, but they will be given in detail here, for the sake
of presenting examples:--
(1) _Noun_: "Each man has his own _vocation_." Also expressions used
as nouns: for example, "'_By God, and by Saint George!_' said the
King."
(2) _Pronoun_: "Memory greets _them_ with the ghost of a smile."
(3) _Infinitive_: "We like _to see_ everything do its office."
(4) _Gerund_: "She heard that _sobbing_ of litanies, or the
_thundering_ of organs."
(5) _Adjective used as a noun_: "For seventy leagues through the
mighty cathedral, I saw _the quick_ and _the dead_."
Things used as Complement.
[Sidenote: _Complement: Of an intransitive verb_.]
350. As complement of an _intransitive_ verb,--
(1) _Noun_: "She had been an ardent _patriot_."
(2) _Pronoun_: "_Who_ is she in bloody coronation robes from Rheims?"
"This is _she_, the shepherd girl."
(3) _Adjective_: "Innocence is ever _simple_ and _credulous_."
(4) _Infinitive_: "To enumerate and analyze these relations is _to
teach_ the science of method."
(5) _Gerund_: "Life is a _pitching_ of this penny,--heads or tails;"
"Serving others is _serving_ us."
(6) _A prepositional phrase_: "His frame is _on a larger scale_;" "The
marks were _of a kind_ not to be mistaken."
It will be noticed that all these complements have a double
office,--completing the predicate, and explaining or modifying the
subject.
[Sidenote: _Of a transitive verb_.]
As complement of a _transitive_ verb,--
(1) _Noun_: "I will not call you _cowards_."
(2) _Adjective_: "Manners make beauty _superfluous_ and _ugly_;"
"Their tempers, doubtless, are rendered _pliant_ and _malleable_ in
the fiery furnace of domestic tribulation." In this last sentence, the
object is made the subject by being passive, and the words italicized
are still complements. Like all the complements in this list, they are
adjuncts of the object, and, at the same time, complements of the
predicate.
(3) _Infinitive_, or _infinitive phrase_: "That cry which made me
_look a thousand ways_;" "I hear the echoes _throng_."
(4) _Participle_, or _participial phrase_: "I can imagine him _pushing
firmly on, trusting the hearts of his countrymen_."
(5) _Prepositional phrase:_ "My antagonist would render my poniard and
my speed _of no use_ to me."
Modifiers.
I. Modifiers of Subject, Object, or Complement.
351. Since the subject and object are either nouns or some
equivalent of a noun, the words modifying them must be adjectives or
some equivalent of an adjective; and whenever the complement is a
noun, or the equivalent of the noun, it is modified by the same words
and word groups that modify the subject and the object.
These modifiers are as follows:--
(1) _A possessive_: "_My_ memory assures me of this;" "She asked her
_father's_ permission."
(2) _A word in apposition_: "Theodore Wieland, the _prisoner_ at the
bar, was now called upon for his defense;" "Him, this young
_idolater_, I have seasoned for thee."
(3) _An adjective_: "_Great_ geniuses have the _shortest_
biographies;" "Her father was a prince in Lebanon,--_proud_,
_unforgiving_, _austere_."
(4) _Prepositional phrase_: "Are the opinions _of a man on right and
wrong on fate and causation_, at the mercy of a broken sleep or an
indigestion?" "The poet needs a ground _in popular tradition_ to work
on."
(5) _Infinitive phrase_: "The way _to know him_ is to compare him, not
with nature, but with other men;" "She has a new and unattempted
problem _to solve_;" "The simplest utterances are worthiest _to be
written_."
(6) _Participial phrase_: "Another reading, _given at the request of a
Dutch lady_, was the scene from King John;" "This was the hour
_already appointed for the baptism_ of the new Christian daughter."
Exercise.--In each sentence in Sec. 351, tell whether the subject,
object, or complement is modified.
II. Modifiers of the Predicate.
352. Since the predicate is always a verb, the word modifying it
must be an adverb or its equivalent:--
(1) _Adverb:_ "_Slowly_ and _sadly_ we laid him down."
(2) _Prepositional phrase_: "The little carriage is creeping on _at
one mile an hour_;" "_In the twinkling of an eye_, our horses had
carried us _to the termination of the umbrageous isle_."
In such a sentence as, "He died like a God," the word group _like a
God_ is often taken as a phrase; but it is really a contracted clause,
the verb being omitted.
[Sidenote: _Tells how._]
(3) _Participial phrase:_ "She comes down from heaven to his help,
_interpreting for him the most difficult truths_, and _leading him
from star to star_."
(4) _Infinitive phrase:_ "No imprudent, no sociable angel, ever
dropped an early syllable _to answer his longing_."
(For participial and infinitive phrases, see further Secs. 357-363.)
(5) _Indirect object:_ "I gave _every man_ a trumpet;" "Give _them_
not only noble teachings, but noble teachers."
These are equivalent to the phrases _to every man_ and _to them_, and
modify the predicate in the same way.
[Sidenote: _Retained with passive; or_]
When the verb is changed from active to passive, the indirect object
is retained, as in these sentences: "It is left _you_ to find out the
reason why;" "All such knowledge should be given _her_."
[Sidenote: _subject of passive verb and direct object retained._]
Or sometimes the indirect object of the active voice becomes the
subject of the passive, and the direct object is retained: for
example, "She is to be taught _to extend the limits of her sympathy_;"
"I was shown an immense _sarcophagus_."
(6) _Adverbial objective._ These answer the question _when_, or _how
long_, _how far_, etc., and are consequently equivalent to adverbs in
modifying a predicate: "We were now running _thirteen miles an hour_;"
"_One way_ lies hope;" "_Four hours_ before midnight we approached a
mighty minster."
Exercises.
(_a_) Pick out subject, predicate, and (direct) object:--
1. This, and other measures of precaution, I took.
2. The pursuing the inquiry under the light of an end or final cause,
gives wonderful animation, a sort of personality to the whole writing.
3. Why does the horizon hold me fast, with my joy and grief, in this
center?
4. His books have no melody, no emotion, no humor, no relief to the
dead prosaic level.
5. On the voyage to Egypt, he liked, after dinner, to fix on three or
four persons to support a proposition, and as many to oppose it.
6. Fashion does not often caress the great, but the children of the
great.
7. No rent roll can dignify skulking and dissimulation.
8. They do not wish to be lovely, but to be loved.
(_b_) Pick out the subject, predicate, and complement:
1. Evil, according to old philosophers, is good in the making.
2. But anger drives a man to say anything.
3. The teachings of the High Spirit are abstemious, and, in regard to
particulars, negative.
4. Spanish diet and youth leave the digestion undisordered and the
slumbers light.
5. Yet they made themselves sycophantic servants of the King of Spain.
6. A merciless oppressor hast thou been.
7. To the men of this world, to the animal strength and spirits, the
man of ideas appears out of his reason.
8. I felt myself, for the first time, burthened with the anxieties of
a man, and a member of the world.
(_c_) Pick out the direct and the indirect object in each:--
1. Not the less I owe thee justice.
2. Unhorse me, then, this imperial rider.
3. She told the first lieutenant part of the truth.
4. I promised her protection against all ghosts.
5. I gave him an address to my friend, the attorney.
6. Paint me, then, a room seventeen feet by twelve.
(_d_) Pick out the words and phrases in apposition:--
1. To suffer and to do, that was thy portion in life.
2. A river formed the boundary,--the river Meuse.
3. In one feature, Lamb resembles Sir Walter Scott; viz., in the
dramatic character of his mind and taste.
4. This view was luminously expounded by Archbishop Whately, the
present Archbishop of Dublin.
5. Yes, at length the warrior lady, the blooming cornet, this nun so
martial, this dragoon so lovely, must visit again the home of her
childhood.
(_e_) Pick out the modifiers of the predicate:--
1. It moves from one flower to another like a gleam of light, upwards,
downwards, to the right and to the left.
2. And hark! like the roar of the billows on the shore,
The cry of battle rises along their changing line.
3. Their intention was to have a gay, happy dinner, after their long
confinement to a ship, at the chief hotel.
4. That night, in little peaceful Easedale, six children sat by a peat
fire, expecting the return of their parents.
Compound Subject, Compound Predicate, etc.
[Sidenote: _Not compound sentences._]
353. Frequently in a simple sentence the writer uses two or more
predicates to the same subject, two or more subjects of the same
predicate, several modifiers, complements, etc.; but it is to be
noticed that, in all such sentences as we quote below, the writers of
them purposely combined them _in single statements_, and they are not
to be expanded into compound sentences. In a compound sentence the
object is to make two or more full statements.
Examples of compound subjects are, "By degrees Rip's _awe_ and
_apprehension_ subsided;" "The _name of the child_, _the air of the
mother_, the _tone of her voice_,--all awakened a train of
recollections in his mind."
Sentences with compound predicates are, "The company _broke up_, and
_returned_ to the more important concerns of the election;" "He
_shook_ his head, _shouldered_ the rusty firelock, and, with a heart
full of trouble and anxiety, _turned_ his steps homeward."
Sentences with compound objects of the same verb are, "He caught his
_daughter_ and her _child_ in his arms;" "_Voyages_ and _travels_ I
would also have."
And so with complements, modifiers, etc.
Logical Subject and Logical Predicate.
354. The logical subject is the simple or grammatical subject,
together with all its modifiers.
The logical predicate is the simple or grammatical predicate (that
is, the verb), together with its modifiers, and its object or
complement.
[Sidenote: _Larger view of a sentence._]
It is often a help to the student to find the logical subject and
predicate first, then the grammatical subject and predicate. For
example, in the sentence, "The situation here contemplated exposes a
dreadful ulcer, lurking far down in the depths of human nature," the
logical subject is _the situation here contemplated_, and the rest is
the logical predicate. Of this, the simple subject is _situation_; the
predicate, _exposes_; the object, _ulcer_, etc.
Independent Elements of the Sentence.
355. The following words and expressions are grammatically
independent of the rest of the sentence; that is, they are not a
necessary part, do not enter into its structure:--
(1) _Person or thing addressed_: "But you know them, _Bishop_;" "_Ye
crags and peaks_, I'm with you once again."
(2) _Exclamatory expressions_: "But the _lady_--! Oh, _heavens_! will
that spectacle ever depart from my dreams?"
[Sidenote: _Caution._]
The exclamatory expression, however, may be the person or thing
addressed, same as (1), above: thus, "Ah, _young sir_! what are you
about?" Or it may be an imperative, forming a sentence: "Oh, _hurry,
hurry_, my brave young man!"
(3) _Infinitive phrase_ thrown in loosely: "_To make a long story
short_, the company broke up;" "_Truth to say_, he was a conscientious
man."
(4) _Prepositional phrase_ not modifying: "Within the railing sat, _to
the best of my remembrance_, six quill-driving gentlemen;" "_At all
events_, the great man of the prophecy had not yet appeared."
(5) _Participial phrase:_ "But, _generally speaking_, he closed his
literary toils at dinner;" "_Considering the burnish of her French
tastes_, her noticing even this is creditable."
(6) _Single words_: as, "Oh, _yes_! everybody knew them;" "_No_, let
him perish;" "_Well_, he somehow lived along;" "_Why_, grandma, how
you're winking!" "_Now_, this story runs thus."
[Sidenote: _Another caution._]
There are some adverbs, such as _perhaps_, _truly_, _really_,
_undoubtedly_, _besides_, etc., and some conjunctions, such as
_however_, _then_, _moreover_, _therefore_, _nevertheless_, etc., that
have an office in the sentence, and should not be confused with the
words spoken of above. The words _well_, _now_, _why_, and so on, are
independent when they merely arrest the attention without being
necessary.
PREPOSITIONAL PHRASES.
356. In their use, prepositional phrases may be,
(1) _Adjectival_, modifying a noun, pronoun, or word used as a noun:
for example, "He took the road _to King Richard's pavilion_;" "I bring
reports _on that subject_ from Ascalon."
(2) _Adverbial_, limiting in the same way an adverb limits: as, "All
nature around him slept _in calm moonshine_ or _in deep shadow_;" "Far
_from the madding crowd's ignoble strife_."
(3) _Independent_, not dependent on any word in the sentence (for
examples, see Sec. 355, 4).
PARTICIPLES AND PARTICIPIAL PHRASES.
357. It will be helpful to sum up here the results of our study of
participles and participial phrases, and to set down all the uses
which are of importance in analysis:--
(1) _The adjectival use_, already noticed, as follows:--
(_a_) As a complement of a transitive verb, and at the same time a
modifier of the object (for an example, see Sec. 350, 4).
(_b_) As a modifier of subject, object, or complement (see Sec. 351,
6).
(2) _The adverbial use_, modifying the predicate, instances of which
were seen in Sec. 352, 3. In these the participial phrases connect
closely with the verb, and there is no difficulty in seeing that they
modify.
[Sidenote: _These need close watching._]
There are other participial phrases which are used adverbially, but
require somewhat closer attention; thus, "The letter of
introduction_, containing no matters of business_, was speedily run
through."
In this sentence, the expression _containing no matters of business_
does not describe _letter_, but it is equivalent to _because it
contained no matters of business_, and hence is adverbial, modifying
_was speedily run through_.
Notice these additional examples:--
_Being a great collector of everything relating to Milton_ [reason,
"Because I was," etc.], I had naturally possessed myself of Richardson
the painter's thick octavo volumes.
Neither the one nor the other writer was valued by the public, _both
having_ [since they had] _a long warfare to accomplish of contumely
and ridicule_.
Wilt thou, therefore, _being now wiser_ [as thou art] _in thy
thoughts_, suffer God to give by seeming to refuse?
(3) _Wholly independent_ in meaning and grammar. See Sec. 355, (5),
and these additional examples:--
_Assuming the specific heat to be the same as that of water_, the
entire mass of the sun would cool down to 15,000° Fahrenheit in five
thousand years.
_This case excepted_, the French have the keenest possible sense of
everything odious and ludicrous in posing.
INFINITIVES AND INFINITIVE PHRASES.
358. The various uses of the infinitive give considerable trouble,
and they will be presented here in full, or as nearly so as the
student will require.
I. The verbal use. (1) Completing an incomplete verb, but having no
other office than a verbal one.
(_a_) With _may (might)_, _can (could)_, _should_, _would_, _seem_,
_ought_, etc.: "My weekly bill used invariably _to be_ about fifty
shillings;" "There, my dear, he should not _have known_ them at all;"
"He would _instruct_ her in the white man's religion, and _teach_ her
how to be happy and good."
(_b_) With the forms of _be_, being equivalent to a future with
obligation, necessity, etc.: as in the sentences, "Ingenuity and
cleverness are _to be rewarded_ by State prizes;" "'The Fair Penitent'
was _to be acted_ that evening."
(_c_) With the definite forms of _go_, equivalent to a future: "I was
going _to repeat_ my remonstrances;" "I am not going _to dissert_ on
Hood's humor."
(2) Completing an incomplete transitive verb, but also belonging to a
subject or an object (see Sec. 344 for explanation of the complements
of transitive verbs): "I am constrained every moment _to acknowledge_
a higher origin for events" (retained with passive); "Do they not
cause the heart _to beat_, and the eyes _to fill_?"
359. II. The substantive use, already examined; but see the
following examples for further illustration:--
(1) _As the subject: "To have_ the wall there, was to have the foe's
life at their mercy;" "_To teach_ is to learn."
(2) _As the object_: "I like _to hear_ them tell their old stories;"
"I don't wish _to detract_ from any gentleman's reputation."
(3) _As complement:_ See examples under (1), above.
(4) _In apposition_, explanatory of a noun preceding: as, "She
forwarded to the English leaders a touching invitation _to unite_ with
the French;" "He insisted on his right _to forget_ her."
360. III. The adjectival use, modifying a noun that may be a
subject, object, complement, etc.: for example, "But there was no time
_to be lost_;" "And now Amyas had time _to ask_ Ayacanora the meaning
of this;" "I have such a desire _to be_ well with my public" (see also
Sec. 351, 5).
361. IV. The adverbial use, which may be to express--
(1) _Purpose:_ "The governor, Don Guzman, sailed to the eastward only
yesterday _to look_ for you;" "Isn't it enough to bring us to death,
_to please_ that poor young gentleman's fancy?"
(2) _Result:_ "Don Guzman returns to the river mouth _to find_ the
ship a blackened wreck;" "What heart could be so hard as _not to take_
pity on the poor wild thing?"
(3) _Reason:_ "I am quite sorry _to part_ with them;" "Are you mad,
_to betray_ yourself by your own cries?" "Marry, hang the idiot, _to
bring me_ such stuff!"
(4) _Degree:_ "We have won gold enough _to serve_ us the rest of our
lives;" "But the poor lady was too sad _to talk_ except to the boys
now and again."
(5) _Condition:_ "You would fancy, _to hear_ McOrator after dinner,
the Scotch fighting all the battles;" "_To say_ what good of fashion
we can, it rests on reality" (the last is not a simple sentence, but
it furnishes a good example of this use of the infinitive).
362. The fact that the infinitives in Sec. 361 are used adverbially,
is evident from the meaning of the sentences.
Whether each sentence containing an adverbial infinitive has the
meaning of purpose, result, etc., may be found out by turning the
infinitive into an equivalent clause, such as those studied under
subordinate conjunctions.
To test this, notice the following:--
In (1), _to look_ means _that he might look_; _to please_ is
equivalent to _that he may please_,--both purpose clauses.
In (2), _to find_ shows the result of the return; _not to take pity_
is equivalent to _that it would not take pity_.
In (3), _to part_ means _because I part_, etc.; and _to betray_ and
_to bring_ express the reason, equivalent to _that you betray_, etc.
In (4), _to serve_ and _to talk_ are equivalent to [_as much gold_]
_as will serve us_; and "too sad _to talk_" also shows degree.
In (5), _to hear_ means _if you should hear_, and _to say_ is
equivalent to _if we say_,--both expressing condition.
363. V. The independent use, which is of two kinds,--
(1) Thrown loosely into the sentence; as in Sec. 355, (3).
(2) _Exclamatory:_ "I a philosopher! I _advance_ pretensions;" "'He
_to die_!' resumed the bishop." (See also Sec. 268, 4.)
OUTLINE OF ANALYSIS.
364. In analyzing simple sentences, give--
(1) The predicate. If it is an incomplete verb, give the complement
(Secs. 344 and 350) and its modifiers (Sec. 351).
(2) The object of the verb (Sec. 349).
(3) Modifiers of the object (Sec. 351).
(4) Modifiers of the predicate (Sec. 352).
(5) The subject (Sec. 347).
(6) Modifiers of the subject (Sec. 351).
(7) Independent elements (Sec. 355).
This is not the same order that the parts of the sentence usually
have; but it is believed that the student will proceed more easily by
finding the predicate with its modifiers, object, etc., and then
finding the subject by placing the question _who_ or _what_ before it.
Exercise in Analyzing Simple Sentences.
Analyze the following according to the directions given:--
1. Our life is March weather, savage and serene in one hour.
2. I will try to keep the balance true.
3. The questions of Whence? What? and Whither? and the solution of
these, must be in a life, not in a book.
4. The ward meetings on election days are not softened by any
misgiving of the value of these ballotings.
5. Our English Bible is a wonderful specimen of the strength and music
of the English language.
6. Through the years and the centuries, through evil agents, through
toys and atoms, a great and beneficent tendency irresistibly streams.
7. To be hurried away by every event, is to have no political system
at all.
8. This mysticism the ancients called ecstasy,--a getting-out of their
bodies to think.
9. He risked everything, and spared nothing, neither ammunition, nor
money, nor troops, nor generals, nor himself.
10. We are always in peril, always in a bad plight, just on the edge
of destruction, and only to be saved by invention and courage.
11. His opinion is always original, and to the purpose.
12. To these gifts of nature, Napoleon added the advantage of having
been born to a private and humble fortune.
13. The water, like a witch's oils,
Burnt green and blue and white.
14. We one day descried some shapeless object floating at a distance.
15. Old Adam, the carrion crow,
The old crow of Cairo;
He sat in the shower, and let it flow
Under his tail and over his crest.
16. It costs no more for a wise soul to convey his quality to other
men.
17. It is easy to sugar to be sweet.
18. At times the black volume of clouds overhead seemed rent asunder
by flashes of lightning.
19. The whole figure and air, good and amiable otherwise, might be
called flabby and irresolute.
20. I have heard Coleridge talk, with eager energy, two stricken
hours, and communicate no meaning whatsoever to any individual.
21. The word _conscience_ has become almost confined, in popular use,
to the moral sphere.
22. You may ramble a whole day together, and every moment discover
something new.
23. She had grown up amidst the liberal culture of Henry's court a
bold horsewoman, a good shot, a graceful dancer, a skilled musician,
an accomplished scholar.
24. Her aims were simple and obvious,--to preserve her throne, to keep
England out of war, to restore civil and religious order.
25. Fair name might he have handed down,
Effacing many a stain of former crime.
26. Of the same grandeur, in less heroic and poetic form, was the
patriotism of Peel in recent history.
27. Oxford, ancient mother! hoary with ancestral honors, time-honored,
and, haply, time-shattered power--I owe thee nothing!
28. The villain, I hate him and myself, to be a reproach to such
goodness.
29. I dare this, upon my own ground, and in my own garden, to bid you
leave the place now and forever.
30. Upon this shore stood, ready to receive her, in front of all this
mighty crowd, the prime minister of Spain, the same Condé Olivarez.
31. Great was their surprise to see a young officer in uniform
stretched within the bushes upon the ground.
32. She had made a two days' march, baggage far in the rear, and no
provisions but wild berries.
33. This amiable relative, an elderly man, had but one foible, or
perhaps one virtue, in this world.
34. Now, it would not have been filial or ladylike.
35. Supposing this computation to be correct, it must have been in the
latitude of Boston, the present capital of New England.
36. The cry, "A strange vessel close aboard the frigate!" having
already flown down the hatches, the ship was in an uproar.
37. But yield, proud foe, thy fleet
With the crews at England's feet.
38. Few in number, and that number rapidly perishing away through
sickness and hardships; surrounded by a howling wilderness and savage
tribes; exposed to the rigors of an almost arctic winter,--their minds
were filled with doleful forebodings.
39. List to the mournful tradition still sung by the pines of the
forest.
40. In the Acadian land, on the shores of the Basin of Minas,
Distant, secluded, still, the little village of Grand-Pré
Lay in the fruitful valley.
41. Must we in all things look for the how, and the why, and the
wherefore?
CONTRACTED SENTENCES.
[Sidenote: _Words left out after_ than _or_ as.]
365. Some sentences look like simple ones in form, but have an
essential part omitted that is so readily supplied by the mind as not
to need expressing. Such are the following:--
"There is no country more worthy of our study than England [is
worthy of our study]."
"The distinctions between them do not seem to be so marked as
[they are marked] in the cities."
To show that these words are really omitted, compare with them the two
following:--
"The nobility and gentry are more popular among the inferior
orders than _they are_ in any other country."
"This is not so universally the case at present as _it was_
formerly."
[Sidenote: _Sentences with_ like.]
366. As shown in Part I. (Sec. 333). the expressions _of manner_
introduced by _like_, though often treated as phrases, are really
contracted clauses; but, if they were expanded, _as_ would be the
connective instead of _like_; thus,--
"They'll shine o'er her sleep, like [as] a smile from the west
[would shine].
From her own loved island of sorrow."
This must, however, be carefully discriminated from cases where _like_
is an adjective complement; as,--
"She is _like_ some tender tree, the pride and beauty of the
grove;" "The ruby seemed _like_ a spark of fire burning upon her
white bosom."
Such contracted sentences form a connecting link between our study of
simple and complex sentences.
COMPLEX SENTENCES.
[Sidenote: _The simple sentence the basis._]
367. Our investigations have now included all the machinery of the
simple sentence, which is the _unit of speech_.
Our further study will be in sentences which are combinations of
simple sentences, made merely for convenience and smoothness, to avoid
the tiresome repetition of short ones of monotonous similarity.
Next to the simple sentence stands the complex sentence. The basis of
it is two or more simple sentences, which are so united that one
member is the main one,--the backbone,--the other members subordinate
to it, or dependent on it; as in this sentence,--
"When such a spirit breaks forth into complaint, we are aware how
great must be the suffering that extorts the murmur."
The relation of the parts is as follows:--
we are aware
_______ _____
| |
__| _when such a spirit breaks_
| _forth into complaint_,
|
_how great must be the suffering_
|
that extorts the murmur.
This arrangement shows to the eye the picture that the sentence forms
in the mind,--how the first clause is held in suspense by the mind
till the second, we are aware, is taken in; then we recognize this
as the main statement; and the next one, _how great ... suffering_,
drops into its place as subordinate to _we are aware_; and the last,
_that ... murmur_, logically depends on _suffering_.
Hence the following definition:--
[Sidenote: _Definition._]
368. A complex sentence is one containing one main or independent
clause (also called the principal proposition or clause), and _one or
more_ subordinate or dependent clauses.
369. The elements of a complex sentence are the same as those of
the simple sentence; that is, each clause has its subject, predicate,
object, complements, modifiers, etc.
But there is this difference: whereas the simple sentence always has a
word or a phrase for subject, object, complement, and modifier, the
complex sentence has _statements_ or _clauses_ for these places.
CLAUSES.
[Sidenote: _Definition._]
370. A clause is a division of a sentence, containing a verb with
its subject.
Hence the term _clause_ may refer to the main division of the complex
sentence, or it may be applied to the others,--the dependent or
subordinate clauses.
[Sidenote: _Independent clause._]
371. A principal, main, or independent clause is one making a
statement without the help of any other clause.
[Sidenote: _Dependent clause._]
A subordinate or dependent clause is one which makes a statement
depending upon or modifying some word in the principal clause.
[Sidenote: _Kinds._]
372. As to their office in the sentence, clauses are divided into
NOUN, ADJECTIVE, and ADVERB clauses, according as they are equivalent
in use to nouns, adjectives, or adverbs.
Noun Clauses.
373. Noun clauses have the following uses:--
(1) _Subject_: "_That such men should give prejudiced views of
America_ is not a matter of surprise."
(2) _Object of a verb_, _verbal_, _or the equivalent of a verb_: (_a_)
"I confess _these stories, for a time, put an end to my fancies_;"
(_b_) "I am aware [I know] _that a skillful illustrator of the
immortal bard would have swelled the materials_."
Just as the object noun, pronoun, infinitive, etc., is retained after
a passive verb (Sec. 352, 5), so the object clause is retained, and
should not be called an adjunct of the subject; for example, "We are
persuaded _that a thread runs through all things_;" "I was told _that
the house had not been shut, night or day, for a hundred years_."
(3) _Complement_: "The terms of admission to this spectacle are, _that
he have a certain solid and intelligible way of living_."
(4) _Apposition_. (_a_) Ordinary apposition, explanatory of some noun
or its equivalent: "Cecil's saying of Sir Walter Raleigh, '_I know
that he can toil terribly_,' is an electric touch."
(_b_) After "it _introductory_" (logically this is a subject clause,
but it is often treated as in apposition with _it_): "_It_ was the
opinion of some, _that this might be the wild huntsman famous in
German legend_."
(5) _Object of a preposition_: "At length he reached to _where the
ravine had opened through the cliffs_."
Notice that frequently only the introductory word is the object of
the preposition, and the whole clause is not; thus, "The rocks
presented a high impenetrable wall, _over which_ the torrent came
tumbling."
374. Here are to be noticed certain sentences seemingly complex,
with a noun clause in apposition with _it_; but logically they are
nothing but simple sentences. But since they are _complex in form_,
attention is called to them here; for example,--
"Alas! it is we ourselves that are getting buried alive under
this avalanche of earthly impertinences."
To divide this into two clauses--(_a_) _It is we ourselves_, (_b_)
_that are ... impertinences_--would be grammatical; but logically the
sentence is, _We ourselves are getting ... impertinences_, and _it is
... that_ is merely a framework used to effect emphasis. The sentence
shows how _it_ may lose its pronominal force.
Other examples of this construction are,--
"It is on the understanding, and not on the sentiment, of a
nation, that all safe legislation must be based."
"Then it is that deliberative Eloquence lays aside the plain
attire of her daily occupation."
Exercise.
Tell how each noun clause is used in these sentences:--
1. I felt that I breathed an atmosphere of sorrow.
2. But the fact is, I was napping.
3. Shaking off from my spirit what must have been a dream, I scanned
more narrowly the aspect of the building.
4. Except by what he could see for himself, he could know nothing.
5. Whatever he looks upon discloses a second sense.
6. It will not be pretended that a success in either of these kinds is
quite coincident with what is best and inmost in his mind.
7. The reply of Socrates, to him who asked whether he should choose a
wife, still remains reasonable, that, whether he should choose one or
not, he would repent it.
8. What history it had, how it changed from shape to shape, no man
will ever know.
9. Such a man is what we call an original man.
10. Our current hypothesis about Mohammed, that he was a scheming
impostor, a falsehood incarnate, that his religion is a mere mass of
quackery and fatuity, begins really to be no longer tenable to any
one.
Adjective Clauses.
375. As the office of an adjective is to modify, the only use of an
adjective clause is to limit or describe some noun, or equivalent of a
noun: consequently the adjective may modify _any_ noun, or equivalent
of a noun, in the sentence.
The adjective clause may be introduced by the relative pronouns _who_,
_which_, _that_, _but_, _as_; sometimes by the conjunctions _when_,
_where_, _whither_, _whence_, _wherein_, _whereby_, etc.
Frequently there is no connecting word, a relative pronoun being
understood.
[Sidenote: _Examples of adjective clauses_.]
376. Adjective clauses may modify--
(1) _The subject_: "The themes _it offers for contemplation_ are too
vast for their capacities;" "Those _who see the Englishman only in
town_, are apt to form an unfavorable opinion of his social
character."
(2) _The object_: "From this piazza Ichabod entered the hall, _which
formed the center of the mansion_."
(3) _The complement_: "The animal he bestrode was a broken-down
plow-horse, _that had outlived almost everything but his usefulness_;"
"It was such an apparition _as is seldom to be met with in broad
daylight_."
(4) _Other words_: "He rode with short stirrups, _which brought his
knees nearly up to the pommel of the saddle_;" "No whit anticipating
the oblivion _which awaited their names and feats_, the champions
advanced through the lists;" "Charity covereth a multitude of sins, in
another sense than that _in which it is said to do so in Scripture_."
Exercise.
Pick out the adjective clauses, and tell what each one modifies; i.e.,
whether subject, object, etc.
1. There were passages that reminded me perhaps too much of Massillon.
2. I walked home with Calhoun, who said that the principles which I
had avowed were just and noble.
3. Other men are lenses through which we read our own minds.
4. In one of those celestial days when heaven and earth meet and adorn
each other, it seems a pity that we can only spend it once.
5. One of the maidens presented a silver cup, containing a rich
mixture of wine and spice, which Rowena tasted.
6. No man is reason or illumination, or that essence we were looking
for.
7. In the moment when he ceases to help us as a cause, he begins to
help us more as an effect.
8. Socrates took away all ignominy from the place, which could not be
a prison whilst he was there.
9. This is perhaps the reason why we so seldom hear ghosts except in
our long-established Dutch settlements.
10. From the moment you lose sight of the land you have left, all is
vacancy.
11. Nature waited tranquilly for the hour to be struck when man should
arrive.
Adverbial Clauses.
377. The adverb clause takes the place of an adverb in modifying a
verb, a verbal, an adjective, or an adverb. The student has met with
many adverb clauses in his study of the subjunctive mood and of
subordinate conjunctions; but they require careful study, and will be
given in detail, with examples.
378. Adverb clauses are of the following kinds:
(1) TIME: "_As we go_, the milestones are grave-stones;" "He had gone
but a little way _before he espied a foul fiend coming_;" "_When he
was come up to Christian_, he beheld him with a disdainful
countenance."
(2) PLACE: "_Wherever the sentiment of right comes in_, it takes
precedence of everything else;" "He went several times to England,
_where he does not seem to have attracted any attention_."
(3) REASON, or CAUSE: "His English editor lays no stress on his
discoveries, _since he was too great to care to be original_;" "I give
you joy _that truth is altogether wholesome_."
(4) MANNER: "The knowledge of the past is valuable only _as it leads
us to form just calculations with respect to the future_;" "After
leaving the whole party under the table, he goes away _as if nothing
had happened_."
(5) DEGREE, or COMPARISON: "They all become wiser _than they were_;"
"The right conclusion is, that we should try, so far _as we can_, to
make up our shortcomings;" "Master Simon was in as chirping a humor
_as a grasshopper filled with dew_ [is];" "_The broader their
education is_, the wider is the horizon of their thought." The first
clause in the last sentence is dependent, expressing the degree in
which the horizon, etc., is wider.
(6) PURPOSE: "Nature took us in hand, shaping our actions, _so that we
might not be ended untimely by too gross disobedience_."
(7) RESULT, or CONSEQUENCE: "He wrote on the scale of the mind itself,
_so that all things have symmetry in his tablet_;" "The window was so
far superior to every other in the church, _that the vanquished artist
killed himself from mortification_."
(8) CONDITION: "_If we tire of the saints_, Shakespeare is our city of
refuge;" "Who cares for that, _so thou gain aught wider and nobler_?"
"You can die grandly, and as goddesses would die _were goddesses
mortal_."
(9) CONCESSION, introduced by indefinite relatives, adverbs, and
adverbial conjunctions,--_whoever_, _whatever_, _however_, etc.: "But
still, _however good she may be as a witness_, Joanna is better;"
"_Whatever there may remain of illiberal in discussion_, there is
always something illiberal in the severer aspects of study."
These mean _no matter how good, no matter what remains_, etc.
Exercise.
Pick out the adverbial clauses in the following sentences; tell what
kind each is, and what it modifies:--
1. As I was clearing away the weeds from this epitaph, the little
sexton drew me on one side with a mysterious air, and informed me in a
low voice that once upon a time, on a dark wintry night, when the wind
was unruly, howling and whistling, banging about doors and windows,
and twirling weathercocks, so that the living were frightened out of
their beds, and even the dead could not sleep quietly in their graves,
the ghost of honest Preston was attracted by the well-known call of
"waiter," and made its sudden appearance just as the parish clerk was
singing a stave from the "mirrie garland of Captain Death."
2. If the children gathered about her, as they sometimes did, Pearl
would grow positively terrible in her puny wrath, snatching up stones
to fling at them, with shrill, incoherent exclamations, that made her
mother tremble because they had so much the sound of a witch's
anathemas.
3. The spell of life went forth from her ever-creative spirit, and
communicated itself to a thousand objects, as a torch kindles a flame
wherever it may be applied.
ANALYZING COMPLEX SENTENCES.
379. These suggestions will be found helpful:--
(1) See that the sentence and all its parts are placed in the natural
order of subject, predicate, object, and modifiers.
(2) First take the sentence _as a whole_; find the principal subject
and principal predicate; then treat noun clauses as nouns, adjective
clauses as adjectives modifying certain words, and adverb clauses as
single modifying adverbs.
(3) Analyze each clause as a simple sentence. For example, in the
sentence, "Cannot we conceive that Odin was a reality?" _we_ is the
principal subject; _cannot conceive_ is the principal predicate; its
object is _that Odin was a reality_, of which clause _Odin_ is the
subject, etc.
380. It is sometimes of great advantage to map out a sentence after
analyzing it, so as to picture the parts and their relations. To take
a sentence:--
"I cannot help thinking that the fault is in themselves, and that
if the church and the cataract were in the habit of giving away
their thoughts with that rash generosity which characterizes
tourists, they might perhaps say of their visitors, 'Well, if you
are those men of whom we have heard so much, we are a little
disappointed, to tell the truth.'"
This may be represented as follows:--
I cannot help thinking
____________________
|
_______________________|
|
| (_a_) THAT THE FAULT IS IN THEMSELVES, AND
|
| (_b_) [THAT] THEY MIGHT (PERHAPS) SAY OF THEIR VISITORS
| ___________________
| |
| _____________________________|_________________________________
| | |
| | (_a_) We are (a little) disappointed |
| O| ___________________________ |
O| b| ________________________| |
b| j| M| |
j| e| o| (_b_) If you are those men |
e| c| d| ___ |
c| t| i| _________________________| |
t| | f| M| |
| | i| o| Of whom we have heard so much. |
| | e| d. |
| \ r\ \ |
| _____________________________________________________|
| M|
| o| (_a_) If the church and ... that rash generosity
| d| __________
| i| |
| f| _______________________________________________|
| i| |
| e| | (_b_) Which characterizes tourists.
| r| |
\ \ \
OUTLINE
381. (1) Find the principal clause.
(2) Analyze it according to Sec. 364.
(3) Analyze the dependent clauses according to Sec. 364. This of
course includes dependent clauses that depend on other dependent
clauses, as seen in the "map" (Sec. 380).
107 |
Exercises.
(_a_) Analyze the following complex sentences:--
1. Take the place and attitude which belong to you.
2. That mood into which a friend brings us is his dominion over us.
3. True art is only possible on the condition that every talent has
its apotheosis somewhere.
4. The deep eyes, of a light hazel, were as full of sorrow as of
inspiration.
5. She is the only church that has been loyal to the heart and soul of
man, that has clung to her faith in the imagination.
6. She has never lost sight of the truth that the product human nature
is composed of the sum of flesh and spirit.
7. But now that she has become an establishment, she begins to
perceive that she made a blunder in trusting herself to the intellect
alone.
8. Before long his talk would wander into all the universe, where it
was uncertain what game you would catch, or whether any.
9. The night proved unusually dark, so that the two principals had to
tie white handkerchiefs round their elbows in order to descry each
other.
10. Whether she would ever awake seemed to depend upon an accident.
11. Here lay two great roads, not so much for travelers that were few,
as for armies that were too many by half.
12. It was haunted to that degree by fairies, that the parish priest
was obliged to read mass there once a year.
13. More than one military plan was entered upon which she did not
approve.
14. As surely as the wolf retires before cities, does the fairy
sequester herself from the haunts of the licensed victualer.
15. M. Michelet is anxious to keep us in mind that this bishop was but
an agent of the English.
16. Next came a wretched Dominican, that pressed her with an
objection, which, if applied to the Bible, would tax every miracle
with unsoundness.
17. The reader ought to be reminded that Joanna D'Arc was subject to
an unusually unfair trial.
18. Now, had she really testified this willingness on the scaffold, it
would have argued nothing at all but the weakness of a genial nature.
19. And those will often pity that weakness most, who would yield to
it least.
20. Whether she said the word is uncertain.
21. This is she, the shepherd girl, counselor that had none for
herself, whom I choose, bishop, for yours.
22. Had _they_ been better chemists, had _we_ been worse, the mixed
result, namely, that, dying for _them_, th107 |e flower should revive for
_us_, could not have been effected.
23. I like that representation they have of the tree.
24. He was what our country people call _an old one_.
25. He thought not any evil happened to men of such magnitude as false
opinion.
107 |
26. These things we are forced to say, if we must consider the effort
of Plato to dispose of Nature,--which will not be disposed of.
27. He showed one who was afraid to go on foot to Olympia, that it was
no more than his daily walk, if continuously extended, would easily
reach.
28. What can we see or acquire but what we are?
29. Our eyes are holden that we cannot see things that stare us in the
face, until the hour arrives when the mind is ripened.
30. There is good reason why we should prize this liberation.
_(b)_ First analyze, then map out as in Sec. 380, the following
complex sentences:--
1. The way to speak and write what shall not go out of fashion, is to
speak and write sincerely.
2. The writer who takes his subject from his ear, and not from his
heart, should know that he has lost as much as he has gained.
3. "No book," said Bentley, "was ever written down by any but itself."
4. That which we do not believe, we cannot adequately say, though we
may repeat the words never so often.
5. We say so because we feel that what we love is not in your will,
but above it.
6. It makes no difference how many friends I have, and what content I
can find in conversing with each, if there be one to whom I am not
equal.
7. In every troop of boys that whoop and run in each yard and square,
a new-comer is as well and accurately weighed in the course of a few
days, and stamped with his right number, as if he had undergone a
formal trial of his strength, speed, and temper.
COMPOUND SENTENCES.
[Sidenote: _How formed._]
382. The compound sentence is a combination of two or more simple
or complex sentences. While the complex sentence has only _one_ main
clause, the compound has _two or more_ independent clauses making
statements, questions, or commands. Hence the definition,--
[Sidenote: _Definition._]
383. A compound sentence is one which contains two or more
independent clauses.
This leaves room for any number of subordinate clauses in a compound
sentence: the requirement is simply that it have at least two
independent clauses.
Examples of compound sentences:--
[Sidenote: _Examples._]
(1) _Simple sentences united:_ "He is a palace of sweet sounds and
sights; he dilates; he is twice a man; he walks with arms akimbo; he
soliloquizes."
(2) _Simple with complex:_ "The trees of the forest, the waving grass,
and the peeping flowers have grown intelligent; and he almost fears to
trust them with the secret which they seem to invite."
(3) _Complex with complex:_ "The power which resides in him is new in
nature, and none but he knows what that is which he can do, nor does
he know until he has tried."
384. From this it is evident that nothing new is added to the work
of analysis already done.
The same analysis of simple sentences is repeated in (1) and (2)
above, and what was done in complex sentences is repeated in (2) and
(3).
The division into members will be easier, for the coördinate
independent statements are readily taken apart with the subordinate
clauses attached, if there are any.
Thus in (1), the semicolons cut apart the independent members, which
are simple statements; in (2), the semicolon separates the first, a
simple member, from the second, a complex member; in (3), _and_
connects the first and second complex members, and _nor_ the second
and third complex members.
[Sidenote: _Connectives._]
385. The coördinate conjunctions _and_, _nor_, _or_ _but_, etc.,
introduce independent clauses (see Sec. 297).
But the conjunction is often omitted in copulative and adversative
clauses, as in Sec. 383 (1). Another example is, "Only the star
dazzles; the planet has a faint, moon-like ray" (adversative).
[Sidenote: _Study the thought._]
386. The one point that will give trouble is the variable use of
some connectives; as _but_, _for_, _yet_, _while_ (_whilst_),
_however_, _whereas_, etc. Some of these are now conjunctions, now
adverbs or prepositions; others sometimes coördinate, sometimes
subordinate conjunctions.
The student must watch _the logical connection_ of the members of the
sentence, and not the form of the connective.
Exercise.
Of the following illustrative sentences, tell which are compound, and
which complex:--
1. Speak your latent conviction, and it shall be the universal sense;
for the inmost in due time becomes the outmost.
2. I no longer wish to meet a good I do not earn, for example, to find
a pot of buried gold.
3. Your goodness must have some edge to it--else it is none.
4. Man does not stand in awe of man, nor is his genius admonished to
stay at home, but it goes abroad to beg a cup of water of the urns of
other men.
5. A man cannot speak but he judges himself.
6. In your metaphysics you have denied personality to the Deity, yet
when the devout motions of the soul come, yield to them heart and
life.
7. I thought that it was a Sunday morning in May; that it was Easter
Sunday, and as yet very early in the morning.
8. We denote the primary wisdom as intuition, whilst all later
teachings are tuitions.
9. Whilst the world is thus dual, so is every one of its parts.
10. They measure the esteem of each other by what each has, and not by
what each is.
11. For everything you have missed, you have gained something else;
and for everything you gain, you lose something.
12. I sometimes seemed to have lived for seventy or one hundred years
in one night; nay, I sometimes had feelings representative of a
millennium, passed in that time, or, however, of a duration far beyond
the limits of experience.
13. However some may think him wanting in zeal, the most fanatical
can find no taint of apostasy in any measure of his.
14. In this manner, from a happy yet often pensive child, he grew up
to be a mild, quiet, unobtrusive boy, and sun-browned with labor in
the fields, but with more intelligence than is seen in many lads from
the schools.
OUTLINE FOR ANALYZING COMPOUND SENTENCES.
387. (i) Separate it into its main members. (2) Analyze each complex
member as in Sec. 381. (3) Analyze each simple member as in Sec. 364.
Exercise.
Analyze the following compound sentences:--
1. The gain is apparent; the tax is certain.
2. If I feel overshadowed and outdone by great neighbors, I can yet
love; I can still receive; and he that loveth maketh his own the
grandeur that he loves.
3. Love, and thou shalt be loved.
4. All loss, all pain, is particular; the universe remains to the
heart unhurt.
5. Place yourself in the middle of the stream of power and wisdom
which animates all whom it floats, and you are without effort impelled
to truth.
6. He teaches who gives, and he learns who receives.
7. Whatever he knows and thinks, whatever in his apprehension is worth
doing, that let him communicate, or men will never know and honor him
aright.
8. Stand aside; give those merits room; let them mount and expand.
9. We see the noble afar off, and they repel us; why should we
intrude?
10. We go to Europe, or we pursue persons, or we read books, in the
instinctive faith that these will call it out and reveal us to
ourselves.
11. A gay and pleasant sound is the whetting of the scythe in the
mornings of June, yet what is more lonesome and sad than the sound of
a whetstone or mower's rifle when it is too late in the season to make
hay?
12. "Strike," says the smith, "the iron is white;" "keep the rake,"
says the haymaker, "as nigh the scythe as you can, and the cart as
nigh the rake."
13. Trust men, and they will be true to you; treat them greatly, and
they will show themselves great, though they make an exception in your
favor to all their rules of trade.
14. On the most profitable lie the course of events presently lays a
destructive tax; whilst frankness invites frankness, puts the parties
on a convenient footing, and makes their business a friendship.
15. The sturdiest offender of your peace and of the neighborhood, if
you rip up his claims, is as thin and timid as any; and the peace of
society is often kept, because, as children, one is afraid, and the
other dares not.
16. They will shuffle and crow, crook and hide, feign to confess here,
only that they may brag and conquer there, and not a thought has
enriched either party, and not an emotion of bravery, modesty, or
hope.
17. The magic they used was the ideal tendencies, which always make
the Actual ridiculous; but the tough world had its revenge the moment
they put their horses of the sun to plow in its furrow.
18. Come into port greatly, or sail with God the seas.
19. When you have chosen your part, abide by it, and do not weakly try
to reconcile yourself with the world.
20. Times of heroism are generally times of terror, but the day never
shines in which this element may not work.
21. Life is a train of moods like a string of beads, and as we pass
through them they prove to be many-colored lenses which paint the
world their own hue, and each shows only what lies at its focus.
22. We see young men who owe us a new world, so readily and lavishly
they promise, but they never acquit the debt; they die young, and
dodge the account; or, if they live, they lose themselves in the
crowd.
23. So does culture with us; it ends in headache.
24. Do not craze yourself with thinking, but go about your business
anywhere.
25. Thus journeys the mighty Ideal before us; it never was known to
fall into the rear.