THE COMPOUND SENTENCE
In our study of dependent propositions, we have considered in
the main the complex sentence. We shall now take up the compound
sentence, whose distinguishing characteristic is that it contains at
least two independent propositions. These propositions with their
accompanying clauses, if any, constitute the members of a compound
or complex-compound sentence, and such a sentence may be classified
according to the relation subsisting between its members. On the basis
of this relation we have the following classification:--
1. Members may be _in the same line of thought_; that is, they may
denote related events succeeding each other in time, or they may tell
similar things about the same subject, or the second may be added to
the first by way of supplementing or explaining it, etc. Sentences of
this kind are very common; as, “We consecrate our work to the spirit
of national independence, and we wish that the light of peace may rest
upon it forever.”--_Webster._
Connective.--For members in the same line of thought the typical
conjunction is _and_. All the other connectives so used are equivalent
to _and_, though they may have a slight additional meaning. These are,--
(_a_) The coördinating conjunction _nor_ or _neither_, equivalent to
_and not_; as, “Bolts and bars are not the best of our institutions,
nor is shrewdness in trade a mark of wisdom.”--_Emerson._
(_b_) _While._--This must be carefully distinguished from the
subordinating conjunction _while_, and from _while_ used to coördinate
but equivalent to _but_; as, “His lower limbs were sheathed like
his body in flexible mail, securing the legs and thighs, while (=
_and_) his feet rested in plated shoes which corresponded with the
gauntlets.”--_Scott._
A common type of sentence which it seems best to classify here is
one in which the first member is imperative, the second declarative,
and the two joined by _and_; as, “Tell me what you like, and I will
tell you what you are.”--_Ruskin._ This is equivalent in meaning to a
complex sentence containing a clause of condition,--“If you tell me
what you like, I will tell you what you are.” But, inasmuch as the
author used _and_ between his two propositions, it would seem that
he intended the condition to be equally important with the second
statement. Sentences of this kind have a directness of appeal to the
reader that gives them a peculiar force.
2. The members of a compound sentence may denote _contrasting
thoughts_; as, “In cities we study those around us, but in the
retirement of the country we learn to know ourselves.”--_Longfellow._
The second member often denotes a thought not to be expected after the
first has been accepted; as, “Boys are capital fellows in their own
way, among their mates; but they are unwholesome companions for grown
people.”--_Lamb._ This sentence reminds us of the complex sentence
containing a clause of concession, for it might easily be recasted into
one,--Though boys are capital fellows, etc.
Connective.--The typical conjunction for this sentence is _but_; all
the substitutes for _but_ are merely its various equivalents. These
are,--
(_a_) The conjunctions _yet_, _while_, _and yet_, _whereas_; as, “It is
no longer a reality; yet it was one.”--_Carlyle._
(_b_) The adverbs _still_, _only_, _nevertheless_, _however_. These are
conjunctions when used alone between independent propositions, adverbs
when associated with _but_. They all imply an opposition between the
two members; for example, “He is glad of his pay--very properly so,
and justly grumbles when you keep him ten years without it--still,
his main notion of life is to win battles, not to be paid for winning
them.”--_Ruskin._
3. Members of a compound sentence may present an _alternation_ or
_choice between two thoughts_. In such a case only one of the members
is true; as, “Come down and help us, Rustum, or we lose.”--_M. Arnold._
If the first proposition here is fulfilled, the second will not be
true. If the second should be true, it would be because the first was
not fulfilled. Often, as in this example, the second member denotes a
consequence of something which is the direct opposite of what is stated
in the first member.
Connective word.--(_a_) The typical connective is the coördinating
conjunction _or_. Sometimes the first member is preceded by _either_,
a correlative of _or_. It may be remarked here that or is much oftener
met between words or phrases than between propositions.
(_b_) The adverbs _else_ and _otherwise_ when equivalent to or may be
used in its stead.
4. The second member of a compound sentence may denote a result of the
first, either a direct _consequence_ or a _conclusion_. In other words,
the first member may denote (_a_) the cause of the second member;
as, “They speak English there, so your difficulties are now pretty
well over.”--_Brontë._ (_b_) The evidence which supports the second
member; as, “He was not at church Sunday, hence he must have been ill.”
Such sentences suggest the complex sentences containing a clause of
real cause or a clause of reason; and owing to the causal relation
between the two members, it may seem at first sight that one of them
is a dependent proposition. But such is not the case. Each of them is
grammatically independent; for both are presented as equally important,
and the coördinating conjunction _and_ could be supplied between them
in addition to the other conjunction.
Connective.--The typical conjunction is _therefore_. We also find
_hence_, _wherefore_, _so_, _so that_, _so then_, _consequently_ and
_accordingly_, all of which are equivalent to _therefore_.
5. Frequently one member is added to another by way of _explanation_,
giving the author’s reason for making the first statement. It is
introduced by _for_ and usually preceded by a semicolon; thus, “Always
pay; for first or last you must pay your entire debt.”--_Emerson._
It is sometimes difficult to decide whether the second member is
independent or dependent, whether _for_ is a coördinating or a
subordinating conjunction. The tests for the independent proposition
must be these:--Did the author intend the second member to stand equal
in importance to the first? Does the second member add something not
necessary to the first member or affecting its meaning? Does the second
member express a thought not perhaps in the author’s mind when he wrote
the first?
* * * * *
=Omission of the Conjunction in Compound Sentences.=--Often when the
relation between two members is perfectly evident, the connective is
omitted. This frequently occurs when the members are in the same line
of thought; as, “The place to observe nature is where you are; the walk
to take today is the walk you took yesterday.”--_Burroughs._
The connective is also omitted to avoid repetition when the sentence
contains several members, all sustaining the same relation to one
another. It should, however, be noticed here that authors differ in
their mode of punctuation. One author might combine two sentences into
one compound sentence by placing a semicolon between them, whereas
another would place a period after each.
* * * * *
=The Number of Members in a Compound Sentence.=--In illustrating
compound sentences we have given those that contain only two members,
but it must not be supposed that the number is restricted to two.
On the contrary we often find three or more. However, these are not
often all of the same rank, and the sentence must first be separated
into coördinate members, then if these members are compound they
must be separated in like manner, and so on. Take, for instance,
the sentence,--“Genius is mainly an affair of energy, and poetry
is mainly an affair of genius; therefore a nation whose spirit is
characterized by energy may well be eminent in poetry,--and we have
Shakespeare.”--_M. Arnold._ This complex-compound sentence is, first of
all, made up of a compound sentence and a complex-compound sentence.
The relation between these two members is that of cause and result,
the second being a consequence of the first, as is indicated by the
conjunction _therefore_. The first of these members is made up of two
simple sentences in the same line of thought, therefore joined by the
conjunction _and_. The second member is made up of a complex sentence
and a simple sentence, the second being an addition to the first and
therefore joined to it by _and_.
Exercise 21
Reduce the following sentences to their component members--simple,
partially compound, or complex. State whether these members are
declarative, interrogative, or imperative. State also the relation
existing between members, and point out the connective.
1. Occupy a youth early and wisely, in agriculture or business, in
science or in literature, and he will never think of war otherwise
than as a calamity.--_Ruskin._
2. One lackey carried the chocolate pot into the sacred presence; a
second milled and frothed the chocolate with the little instrument he
bore for that function; a third presented the favored napkin; a fourth
(he of the two gold watches) poured the chocolate out.--_Dickens._
3. There was not a nook or a corner in the whole house fit to lodge
any respectable ghost; for every part was as open to observation
as a literary man’s character and condition, his figure and
estate.--_Holmes._
4. The word lengthy has been charged to our American account, but it
must have been invented by the first reader of Gower’s works, the only
inspiration of which they were ever capable.--_Lowell._
5. Whenever and wherever we turned, a sudden “tinkle-tankle” would
show that we had nearly fallen over a prostrate cow; therefore after
half an hour of darkness, ditches, and cows, we returned to the hotel
and its comforts.--_Bolles._
6. Ye have quitted the ways of God or ye would not have been
unhappy.--_Carlyle._
7. Glossy hammock-cloths concealed the persons of those who were on
the deck, while the close bulwarks gave the brigantine the air of a
vessel equipped for war.--_Cooper._
8. The trees have formed their buds in autumn every year since trees
first waved; yet you will find that the great majority of persons
have never made that discovery, but suppose that nature gets up those
ornaments in spring.--_Higginson._
9. Marble columns may, indeed, moulder into dust, time may erase
all impress from the crumbling stone, but their fame remains; for
with American liberty it rose, and with American liberty only can it
perish.--_Webster._
10. Commit a crime, and the earth is made of glass.--_Emerson._
11. The first attempt of the season, I suspect, had failed in a more
secluded place under the hill, so the pair had come up nearer the
house for protection.--_Burroughs._
12. With a very few exceptions, both the red and the white coral
polyps are, in their adult state, firmly adherent to the sea-bottom;
nor do these buds naturally become detached and locomotive.--_Huxley._
13. But hospitality must be for service and not for show, or it pulls
down the host.--_Emerson._
14. The wide expanse of grassy upland stretched before them; overhead
the arch of heaven, chequered by the white clouds, was full of life
and light and motion; across the water of the lakes the church bells,
rung for amusement by the village lads, came to the ear softened
and yet enriched in tone; the spring air, fanned by a fresh breeze,
refreshed the spirits and the sense.--_Shorthouse._
15. Milton’s nature selected and drew to itself whatever was great and
good, while it rejected all the base and pernicious ingredients by
which those finer elements were defiled.--_Macaulay._
16. Let us drive her away or hide the pomeloes, else she will go and
tell her mother all about it, and that will be very bad for us.--_Old
Deccan Days._
17. As a matter of fact we find ourselves believing, we hardly know
how or why.--_Wm. James._
18. A man can have himself shot with cheerfulness, but it needs first
that he see clearly for what.--_Carlyle._
Exercise 22
Analyze the following compound, and complex-compound sentences. They
should first be separated into members, as was done with sentences in
Exercise 21.
1. A discovery results in an art; an art produces a comfort; a comfort
made cheaply accessible adds family on family to the population; and
a family is a new creation of thinking, reasoning, inventing, and
discovering beings.--_Everett._
2. All healthy people like their dinners, but their dinner is not the
main object of their lives.--_Ruskin._
3. Human nature has a much greater genius for sameness than for
originality, or the world would be at a sad pass shortly.--_Lowell._
4. They come together, not for exercise, but pleasure, and the more
they crowd and cram and struggle, and the louder they scream, the
greater the pleasure.--_Warner._
5. Each shrub and tree is eloquent of him;
For tongueless things and silence have their speech.--_Aldrich._
6. William had only a two-wheeled sulky, which could scarcely carry
three; so it was a relief to all of us when we saw, coming from
the bar, a youth in a wagon, driving a sprightly nag at a rattling
pace.--_Bolles._
7. Give man air, sun, proper food and clothing, ample and varied
exercise, and there is no curve of grace in ancient statuary which
would not be reproduced today.--_J. F. Clarke._
8. By Red Flower Bagheera meant fire, only no creature in the jungle
will call fire by its proper name.--_Kipling._
9. You must make it quite clear to your mind which you are most
bent upon--popularity or usefulness--else you may happen to miss
both.--_George Eliot._
10. Nature comes home to one most when he is at home; the stranger and
the traveler finds her a stranger and a traveler also.--_Burroughs._
11. A book without art is simply a commodity; it may be exceedingly
valuable to the consumer, very profitable to the producer, but it does
not come within the domain of pure literature.--_Higginson._
12. Either the well was very deep or she fell very slowly, for she had
plenty of time as she went down to look about her and to wonder what
was going to happen next.--_Lewis Carroll._
13. Nothing sooner inspires people with confidence in a business
man than punctuality, nor is there any habit which sooner saps his
reputation than that of being always behind time.
14. Three sisters they are, of one mysterious household; and their
paths are wide apart; but of their dominion there is no end.--_De
Quincey._
15. It is a blessed thing, indeed, that none of us can take our
rubbish to another world; for, if we could, some of the many mansions
would be little better than lumber rooms.--_Jean Ingelow._