An English Grammar Part 80

368. A complex sentence is one containing one main or independent clause (also called the princ.i.p.al 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 princ.i.p.al, 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 princ.i.p.al 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 ill.u.s.trator of the immortal bard would have swelled the materials_."

Just as the object noun, p.r.o.noun, infinitive, etc., is retained after a pa.s.sive 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 p.r.o.nominal 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 ma.s.s 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 p.r.o.nouns _who_, _which_, _that_, _but_, _as_; sometimes by the conjunctions _when_, _where_, _whither_, _whence_, _wherein_, _whereby_, etc.

Frequently there is no connecting word, a relative p.r.o.noun being understood.

[Sidenote: _Examples of adjective clauses_.]