Graded Lessons in English Part 23

LESSON 56.

a.n.a.lYSIS AND PARSING.

MISCELLANEOUS EXAMPLES IN REVIEW--CONTINUED.

1. We are never too old to learn.

2. Civility is the result of good nature and good sense.

3. The right of the people to instruct their representatives is generally admitted.

4. The immense quant.i.ty of matter in the Universe presents a most striking display of Almighty power.

5. Virtue, diligence, and industry, joined with good temper and prudence, must ever be the surest means of prosperity.

6. The people called Quakers were a source of much trouble to the Puritans.

7. The Mayflower brought to America [Footnote: One hundred and one may be taken as one adjective.] one hundred and one men, women, and children.

8. Edward Wingfield, an avaricious and unprincipled man, was the first president of the Jamestown colony.

9. John Cabot and his son Sebastian, sailing under a commission from Henry VII. of England, discovered the continent of America.

10. True worth is modest and retiring.

11. Jonah, the prophet, preached to the inhabitants of Nineveh.

LESSON 57.

COMPLEX SENTENCES.

THE ADJECTIVE CLAUSE.

+Hints for Oral Instruction+.--A word-modifier may sometimes be expanded into a phrase or into an expression that a.s.serts.

+T+.--_A wise man will be honored_. Expand _wise_ into a phrase, and give me the sentence. +P+.--A man _of wisdom_ will be honored. +T+.--Expand _wise_ into an expression that a.s.serts, join this to _man_, as a modifier, and then give me the entire sentence. +P+.--A man _who is wise_ will be honored.

+T+.--You see that the same quality may be expressed in three ways--A _wise_ man, A man _of wisdom_, A man _who is wise_.

Let the pupils give similar examples.

+T+.--In the sentence, _A man who is wise will be honored_, the word _who_ stands for what? +P+.--For the noun _man_. +T+.--Then what part of speech is it? +P+.--A p.r.o.noun.

+T+.--Put the noun _man_ in the place of the p.r.o.noun _who_, and then give me the sentence. +P+.--_A man, man is wise, will be honored_.

+T+.--I will repeat your sentence, changing the order of the words--_A man will be honored. Man is wise_. Is the last sentence now joined to the first as a modifier, or are they two separate sentences? +P+.--They are two separate sentences.

+T+.--Then you see that the p.r.o.noun _who_ not only stands for the noun _man_, but it connects the modifying expression, _who is wise_, to _man_, the subject of the sentence, _A man will be honored_, and thus there is formed what we call a +Complex Sentence+. These two parts we call +Clauses+. _A man will be honored_ is the +Independent Clause;+ _who is wise_ is the +Dependent Clause+.

Clauses that modify nouns or p.r.o.nouns are called +Adjective Clauses+.

+DEFINITION.--A _Clause_ is a part of a sentence containing a subject and its predicate+.

+DEFINITION.--A _Dependent Clause_ is one used as an adjective, an adverb, or a noun+.

+DEFINITION.--An _Independent Clause_ is one not dependent on another clause+.

+DEFINITION.--A _Simple Sentence_ is one that contains but one subject and one predicate, either or both of which may be compound+.

+DEFINITION.--A _Complex Sentence_ is one composed of an independent clause and one or more dependent clauses+.

a.n.a.lysis and Parsing.

+Model+.--

man | will be honored =========|================== A ` | ` ` who ` | is wise -------|------------ |

+Explanation of the Diagram+.--You will notice that the lines standing for the subject and predicate of the _independent clause_ are heavier than those of the _dependent clause_. This pictures to you the relative importance of the two clauses. You will see that the p.r.o.noun _who_ is written on the subject line of the dependent clause. But this word performs the office of a conjunction also, and this office is expressed in the diagram by a dotted line. As all modifiers are joined by _slanting_ lines, to the words they modify, you learn from this diagram that _who is wise_ is a modifier of _man_.

+Oral a.n.a.lysis+.--This is a _complex sentence_, because it consists of an _independent clause_ and a _dependent clause_. _A man will be honored_ is _the independent clause_; _who is wise_ is the _dependent clause_. _Man_ is the subject of the independent clause; _will be honored_ is the predicate.

The word _A_ and the clause, _who is wise_, are modifiers of the subject.

_A_ points out _man_, and _who is wise_ tells the _kind_ of man. _A man who is wise_ is the modified subject; the predicate is unmodified. _Who_ is the subject of the dependent clause, _is_ is the predicate, and _wise_ is the attribute complement. _Who_ connects the two clauses.

1. He that runs may read.

2. Man is the only animal that laughs and weeps.

3. Henry Hudson discovered the river which bears his name.

4. He necessarily remains weak who never tries exertion.

5. The meridians are those lines that extend from pole to pole.

6. He who will not be ruled by the rudder must be ruled by the rock.

7. Animals that have a backbone are called vertebrates.

8. Uneasy lies the head that wears a crown.

9. The thick mists which prevail in the neighborhood of Newfoundland are caused by the warm waters of the Gulf Stream.

10. The power which brings a pin to the ground holds the earth in its...o...b..t.

11. Death is the black camel which kneels at every man's gate.

12. Our best friends are they who tell us of our faults, and help us to mend them.

The pupil will notice that, in some of these sentences, the dependent clause modifies the subject, and that, in others, it modifies the noun complement.

+COMMA--RULE.--The _adjective_ or the _adverb clause_, when it does not closely follow and restrict the word modified, is generally set off by the comma+.

LESSON 58.

SENTENCE-BUILDING.

ADJECTIVE CLAUSES.

Expand each of the following adjectives into

1. A phrase; 2. A clause;

and then use these three modifiers in three separate sentences of your own construction.