What kind of clause then is When the cat's away? What verb does it modify?

What are the clauses in the sentence, "Cyrus Field was the man who laid the first Atlantic cable"?

Which of these clauses modifies a word in the other? What word does it modify? What kind of clause is it? Would it make complete sense if used alone?

A clause that does not make complete sense if used alone, but modifies the meaning of another clause, is called a dependent or subordinate clause.

What

Dependent clauses usually do the work of a single part of speech, as a noun, adjective, or adverb. names are given to them for this reason ?

The clause that is modified by a dependent clause is called the principal clause.

Name the principal and the dependent clauses in each of the following sentences, and tell whether each dependent clause is a noun, adjective, or adverbial clause:

"We never miss the water till the well runs dry.”

"If thine enemy hunger, feed him; if he thirst, give him drink."

"When the day has been well spent, the night brings pleasant dreams."

"When the beasts have eaten all they need, they know enough to stop."

"Where the fight was the thickest, there was always to be seen the waving plume of the Black Knight."

"If I shoot at the sun, I may hit a star."

Write or find three sentences containing clauses: one used as a noun, one as an adjective, and one as an adverb.

LXVII

THE SIMPLE SENTENCE

1. Longfellow wrote.

2. Henry Wadsworth Longfellow wrote the "The Children's Hour."

3. Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, the great and good American poet, wrote "The Children's Hour" for his own children.

What is the subject and what the predicate of the first sentence? Of the second? Of the third? Do you find more than one subject and one predicate in each sentence?

A sentence having but one subject and one predicate is called a simple sentence.

The subject may consist of two or more nouns or pronouns considered together, as "Jack and Billy were playing marbles." The predicate may consist of two or more verbs taken together, as "Jack got angry, took his marbles, and went home." Name the subject and the predicate of each of the sentences 1, 2, and 3.

Subjects consisting of more than one noun or pronoun, and predicates consisting of more than one verb, are called compound subjects and predicates.

It makes no difference how long a sentence is, or how many words or phrases modify the subject and the predicate, if it has but one subject and one predicate, it is a simple sentence.

Name the subjects and the predicates in the following simple sentences:

I came to bury Cæsar, not to praise him.

SHAKESPEARE.

I would rather be right than be president. CLAY. From yonder pyramids forty centuries look down upon you. - NAPOLEON.

And far in the hazy distance

Of that lovely night in June
The blaze of the flaming furnace
Gleamed redder than the moon.

- LONGFELLOW.

Write four simple sentences: one without modifiers, one with modifiers of the predicate, one with modifiers of the subject, and one with modifiers of both subject and predicate.

LXVIII

THE COMPLEX SENTENCE

1. Mr. Longfellow, who is sometimes called the Children's Poet, wrote "The Children's Hour."

2.

Between the dark and the daylight,

When the night is beginning to lower,
Comes a pause in the day's occupations,
That is known as the Children's Hour.
LONGFELLOW.

What are the clauses in the first sentence?

What are the clauses in the stanza from "The Children's Hour"?

Which are dependent clauses?

Which are principal clauses?

A sentence made up of a principal clause and one or more dependent clauses is called a complex sentence.

Name the principal clause and the subordinate clause or clauses in each of the following complex sentences:

A sharp tongue is the only edged tool that grows keener with constant use. - IRVING.

The evil that men do lives after them. — SHAKESPeare. Ill fares the land to hastening ills a prey

Where wealth accumulates and men decay. - GOLDSMITH. He shall deliver the needy when he crieth. - Bible.

Now when Darius reigned, he made a great feast unto all his subjects. -ESDRAS.

A great while ago, when the world was full of wonders, there lived an earth-born giant, named Antæus.

- HAWTHORNE.

Write three complex sentences: one with a clause modifying the subject, one with a clause modifying the object, and one with a clause modifying each, subject and object.

LXIX

THE COMPOUND SENTENCE

(1)

A wise son heareth his father's instruction: but a scorner heareth not a rebuke.

Hatred stirreth up strifes; but love covereth all sins.
Hear instruction, and be wise, and refuse it not.

The ants are a people not strong, yet they prepare their meat in the summer.

The conies are but a feeble folk, yet make they their houses in the rocks.

The locusts have no king, yet go they forth, all of them, by bands.

- THE BIBLE.

Name the clauses in each of the above sentences. Are they dependent or independent?

Test them by reading the sentences without the conjunctions.

A sentence containing two or more independent clauses is called a compound sentence.

In writing it is well to be careful not to make too many compound sentences. Unless the thoughts expressed in the clauses are so related to one another that the conjunction makes them clearer, it is better to made separate sentences.

Connect the following pairs of sentences by conjunctions, making compound sentences, and see which form you think is better: —

Do not pray for easy lives;

Pray to be stronger men. - PHILLIPS BROOKS.

Every day is a fresh beginning;

Every morn is the world made new.

Never lose an opportunity to see anything beautiful;
Beauty is God's handwriting. — KINGSLEY.

(2)

He that observeth the wind shall not sow; and he that regardeth the clouds shall not reap. PROVERBS.

Name the independent clauses in the above. Are there any dependent clauses?

It is a compound sentence, each clause of which is complex; that is, each independent clause consists of a principal and a subordinate clause.

A compound sentence composed of complex clauses is called a compound-complex sentence.