part-1 - PHRASES, CLAUSES--COMPOUND AND COMPLEX SENTENCES.

SUBSTITUTES FOR PARTS OF SPEECH


PHRASES

  A group of words may take the place of a part of speech

   The Father of Waters  is the Mississippi.

  A girl  with blue eyes  stood  at the window .

  You  are looking  well.

   The Father of Waters  is used as a noun, since it names something.

   With blue eyes  takes the place of an adjective ( blue-eyed ), and   modifies  girl .

   At the window  indicates, as an adverb might, where the girl stood,   and modifies  stood .

   Are looking  could be replaced by the verb  look .

A group of connected words, not containing a subject and a predicate, is called a phrase. 

 A phrase is often equivalent to a part of speech. 

1. A phrase used as a noun is called a  noun-phrase .

2. A phrase used as a verb is called a  verb-phrase .

3. A phrase used as an adjective is called an  adjective phrase .

4. A phrase used as an adverb is called an  adverbial phrase .

  The Father of Waters  is a noun-phrase;    with blue eyes , an adjective phrase;  at the window , an adverbial

  phrase;  are looking , a verb-phrase.

  Many adjective and adverbial phrases consist of a  preposition and its object , with or without other words.

  Your umbrella is  in the corner .

  He has a heart  of oak .

  A cup  with a broken handle  stood  on the shelf .

  My house  of cards  fell  to the floor in a heap .

 Adjective or adverbial phrases consisting of a preposition and its object, with or without other words, may be called prepositional phrases. 

CLAUSES--COMPOUND AND COMPLEX SENTENCES

   Phrases must be carefully distinguished from  clauses . The difference is that a clause contains a subject and a predicate and a phrase does not.

   A clause is a group of words that forms part of a sentence and that contains a subject and a predicate. 

  The lightning flashed | and | the thunder roared.

  The train started | when the bell rang.

Each of these sentences contains two clauses; but the relation between the clauses in the first sentence is very different from that between

the clauses in the second.

In the first example, each of the two clauses makes a separate and distinct statement, and might stand by itself as a simple sentence,--that is, as a sentence having but one subject and one predicate. These clauses are joined by the conjunction  and , which is not a part of either. No doubt the speaker feels that there is some relation in thought between the two statements, or he would not have put them together as clauses in the same sentence. But there is nothing in the form of expression to show what that relation is. In other words, the two clauses are grammatically  independent , for neither of them modifies (or affects the meaning of) the other. The clauses are therefore said to be  co ördinate ,--that is, of the same “order” or rank, and the sentence is called  compound .

In the second example, on the contrary, the relation between the two clauses is indicated with precision. One clause ( the train started ) makes the main statement,--it expresses the chief fact. Hence it is called the  main  (or  principal )  clause . The other clause ( when the bell rang ) is added because the speaker wishes to  modify  the main verb ( started ) by defining the time of the action. This clause, then, is used as a  part of speech . Its function is the same as that of an adverb ( promptly ) or an adverbial phrase ( on the stroke of the bell ). For this purpose alone it exists, and not as an independent statement. Hence it is called a  dependent  (or  subordinate )  clause , because it  depends  (that is, “hangs”) upon the main clause, and so occupies a lower or “subordinate” rank in the sentence. When thus constructed, a sentence is said to be  complex .

  An ordinary  compound sentence  (as we have seen in § 44) is made by joining two or more simple sentences, each of which thus becomes an  independent coördinate clause .

In the same way we may join two or more  complex sentences , using them as clauses to make one compound sentence:--

The train started when the bell rang, | and | Tom watched until the   last car disappeared.

This sentence is manifestly  compound , for it consists of two  coördinate clauses  ( the train started when the bell rang ;  Tom watched until the last car disappeared ) joined by  and . Each of these two clauses is itself  complex , for each could stand by itself as a complex sentence.

Similarly, a  complex  and a  simple  sentence may be joined as coördinate clauses to make a compound sentence.

  The train started when the bell rang, | and | Tom gazed after it in   despair.

Such a sentence, which is  compound in its structure , but in which one or more of the coördinate clauses are  complex , is called a  compound complex sentence 

 A clause is a group of words that forms part of a sentence and that contains a subject and a predicate. 

 A clause used as a part of speech is called a subordinate clause. All other clauses are said to be independent. 

 Clauses of the same order or rank are said to be coördinate. 

 Sentences may be simple, compound, or complex. 

1.  A simple sentence has but one subject and one predicate, either or both of which may be compound. 

2.  A compound sentence consists of two or more independent coördinate clauses, which may or may not be joined by conjunctions. 

3.  A complex sentence consists of two or more clauses, one of which is independent and the rest subordinate. 

 A compound sentence in which one or more of the coördinate clauses are complex is called a compound complex sentence. 

I. SIMPLE SENTENCES

  Iron rusts.

  George V is king.

  Dogs, foxes, and hares are quadrupeds. [Compound subject.]

  The defendant rose and addressed the court. [Compound predicate.]

  Merton and his men crossed the bridge and scaled the wall. [Both   subject and predicate are compound.]

II. COMPOUND SENTENCES

  Shakspere was born in 1564; he died in 1616. [Two coördinate clauses;   no conjunction.]

  A rifle cracked, and the wolf fell dead. [Two clauses joined by the   conjunction  and .]

  You must hurry, or we shall lose the train. [Two clauses joined by    or .]

  James Watt did not invent the steam engine, but he greatly improved   it. [Two clauses joined by  but .]

  Either you have neglected to write or your letter has failed to reach   me. [Two clauses joined by  either  ...  or .]

The following conjunctions may be used to join coördinate clauses:  and  ( both  ...  and ),  or  ( either  ...  or ),  nor  ( neither  ...  nor ),  but ,  for .

III. COMPLEX SENTENCES

CLAUSES AS PARTS OF SPEECH

  Subordinate clauses , like phrases, are used as  parts of speech . They serve as substitutes for  nouns , for  adjectives , or for  adverbs .

1.  A subordinate clause that is used as a noun is called a noun (or substantive) clause. 

2.  A subordinate clause that modifies a substantive is called an adjective clause. 

3.  A subordinate clause that serves as an adverbial modifier is called an adverbial clause.