Note all the co-ordinate and subordinate conjunctions in the following
verses from "The Ballad of Reading Gaol." Underscore the subordinate
clauses. Are they adverb or noun clauses? Do the co-ordinate
conjunctions connect words, phrases or clauses?
I know not _whether_ Laws be right,
Or _whether_ Laws be wrong;
All that we know who lie in gaol
Is _that_ the wall is strong;
_And that_ each day is like a year,
A year whose days are long.
_But_ this I know, _that_ every Law
That men have made for Man,
_Since_ first Man took his brother's life,
_And_ the sad world began,
But straws the wheat _and_ saves the chaff
With a most evil fan.
This too I know--_and_ wise it were
_If_ each could know the same--
_That_ every prison that men build
Is built with bricks of shame,
_And_ bound with bars _lest_ Christ should see
_How_ men their brothers maim.
With bars they blur the gracious moon,
_And_ blind the goodly sun:
_And_ they do well to hide their Hell,
_For_ in it things are done
That son of God _nor_ son of Man
Ever should look upon!
In Reading gaol by Reading town
There is a pit of shame,
_And_ in it lies a wretched man
Eaten by teeth of flame,
In a burning winding sheet he lies,
_And_ his grave has got no name.
_And_ there, _till_ Christ call forth the dead,
In silence let him lie:
No need to waste the foolish tear,
_Or_ heave the windy sigh:
The man had killed the thing he loved,
_And so_ he had to die.
_And_ all men kill the thing they love,
By all let this be heard,
Some do it with a bitter look,
Some with a flattering word,
The coward does it with a kiss,
The brave man with a sword.
--_Oscar Wilde_.