ENGLISH GRAMMAR. 



(<?.) The Adverb or Adjunct of the Predicate. 

 Instead of a simple adverb, as in, ' Time flies 

 rapidly] we may have an adverbial phrase ; as, 

 ' Time flies with great rapidity? An adverbial 

 phrase expresses any circumstance of time, place, 

 manner, cause, instrument, &c. connected with 

 the action. Ex., ' It happened long ago' ' The 

 city was taken by stratagem' He died of 

 fever.' 



II. COMPLEX SENTENCES SUBORDINATE 

 SENTENCES. 



The distinction between subordinate sentences 

 and principal sentences has been already ex- 

 plained (page 578). Subordinate sentences arise 

 out of transformations of the elements of the 

 simple sentence ; but transformations different 

 from those we have just been considering. None 

 of the phrases given in illustration of the expan- 

 sion of the simple sentence contained a finite 

 verb ; it is the introduction of a finite verb that 

 converts a phrase into a sentence. Subordinate 

 sentences may be classed, according to the part 

 of speech out of which they are supposed to 

 spring, as Noun-sentences, Adjective-sentences, 

 and Adverbial sentences. 



1. Noun-sentences. A noun, or phrase equiv- 

 alent to a noun, in any relation in a sentence, 

 may be converted into a sentence of itself. Ex., 

 ' The existence of God is denied by none' = ' That 

 God exists, is denied by none.' ' I wish the 

 happiness of all men ' = ' I wish that all men 

 should be happy' ' He went on speaking to who 

 would listen to him ' = He went on speaking to all 

 listeners! 



2. Adjective-sentences. Ex., ' Selfish men never 

 win our esteem ' = ' Men who are selfish never 

 win our esteem.' Whenever a sentence limits or 

 defines a noun or pronoun, it is of the nature of 

 an adjective, though there may be no adjective in 

 the language equivalent to it. Ex., ' I remember 

 the place that he occupied' We may here imagine 

 such an adjective as, the-by-him-occupied (place). 



3. Adverbial Sentences. Ex., ' He went away 

 after sunrise' = ' He went away after the sun had 

 risen! There is frequently no exactly equivalent 

 phrase for the adverbial sentence ; but it always 

 answers to some question put by an interrogative 

 adverb. Ex., ' The sea is as deep, as the moun- 

 tains are high ' (expresses how deep). Adverbial 

 sentences form the greater part of subordinate 

 sentences ; and they may be divided into as many 

 classes as adverbs. 



But the expansion of the sentence does not stop 

 here. The nouns, adjectives, and adverbs that 

 enter into a subordinate sentence, may, one or all 

 of them, be transformed in their turn into sen- 

 tences, which will thus be subordinate in a still 

 higher degree servants of a servant. Ex. (i.) 

 Europe rejoiced that Greece was delivered from 

 that oppressive power. (2.) Europe rejoiced that 

 Greece was delivered from the power that had 

 oppressed her. 



Here the adjective oppressive in (i) has in (2) 

 been converted into a sentence which is directly 

 dependent, not on the principal sentence, but on 

 the subordinate, and is therefore subordinate in 

 the second degree. If, after the manner of alge- 

 braists, we symbolise the principal sentence by A, 

 and the sentence immediately dependent on it 



by a, the structure of these complex sentences 

 might be visibly represented thus : (i) A + a; 

 (2) A + a + Of 



Subordination is seldom carried beyond the 

 second or third degree, as it becomes perplexing, 

 especially when the subordinate clauses are in- 

 closed the one within the other. In The House 

 that Jack built, it is carried to the ludicrous : 

 ' This is the dog (A), that worried the cat (a), that 

 killed the rat (<%), that ate the malt (0 3 ), &c.' 



III. COMPOUND SENTENCES 



consist of two or more co-ordinate sentences (see 

 page 578) united. In ' The sun went down, and 

 the moon rose,' the two sentences are merely put 

 in juxtaposition strung together rather than com- 

 pounded. But, when the separate sentences have 

 a common part, as in ' The sun gives light,' and 

 ' The sun gives heat ; ' by stating the common 

 part only once, a real combination takes place 

 ' The sun gives light and heat.' The following 

 has been compounded out of four co-ordinate 

 sentences : ' Frogs and seals live on land and in 

 water' = ' Frogs live on land,' ' Frogs live in water,' 

 ' Seals, &c.' Often the common part is a second- 

 ary sentence. Ex., 'The evil that men do lives 

 after them ; the good (that men do} is oft interred 

 with their bones.' Thus the same sentence is- 

 often compound, as containing two or more co- 

 ordinate sentences, and at the same time complex, 

 as containing one or more subordinate sentences 

 in addition ; and to discriminate all these, and 

 point out their relations, is to give the syntactical 

 analysis of the sentence. 



To resolve a compound sentence into the simple 

 or complex sentences of which it is composed,, 

 often enables us to detect a fault in its construc- 

 tion. Ex., ' Because he had committed a crime, 

 he was shut up in prison, and let out again only 

 yesterday.' As it stands, the sentence is resolvable 

 into these two : ' Because he had committed a 

 crime, he was shut up in prison ;'.and, ' Because 

 he had committed a crime, he was let out again 

 only yesterday.' It should be, ' Because he had 

 committed a crime, he was shut up in prison ; and 

 he was let out again only yesterday ; ' or ' and it 

 was only yesterday that he was let out again.' 



A sentence is not always made subordinate, 

 when in strict logic it ought to be. Ex., ' The 

 weather was good, and I went out.' Here the 

 assertions are grammatically co-ordinate. And 

 yet it is clear that the purpose of the sentence as 

 a whole is to inform us of the going out, and the 

 weather is only glanced at as the reason. Hence, 

 to make the grammar and the logic perfectly 

 accord, it should be, ' As the weather was good, 

 I went out.' In such a case as this, the absence 

 of subordination does no harm ; it rather gives 

 an ease and simplicity to the style, and the mind 

 readily makes the subordination for itself. But 

 sometimes the want of attention to it leads to con- 

 fusion. Compare these tv/o sentences : (i.) ' That 

 he was born and died, were the only /acts on record 

 concerning him.' (2.) ' That he had begun life in 

 obscure poverty, and was now an important man 

 in the state, was a subject of just pride.' Why the 

 difference ? Why is it not, were subjects, as many, 

 we suspect, would be inclined to make it ? The 

 first may be resolved into, ' That he was born, was 

 a fact, &c.,' and ' That he died, was a fact, c. ; ' 



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