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Complex Sentences - An English Grammar - W. M. Baskervill You are
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ANALYSIS OF SENTENCES.
CLASSIFICATION ACCORDING TO NUMBER OF STATEMENTS.
COMPLEX SENTENCES.
Noun Clauses.
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:
"I confess these stories, for a time, put an end to my fancies;"
(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 is 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."
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 mass of quackery and fatuity, begins
really to be no longer tenable to any one.
Adjective Clauses.
Adjective clauses may modify—
(1) The subject: "The themes it offers for contemplation are too vast for their
capacities;" "Those who see the Englishman only in town, are apt to form an
unfavorable opinion of his social character."
(2) The object: "From this piazza Ichabod entered the hall, which formed the center
of the mansion."
(3) The complement: "The animal he bestrode was a broken-down plow-horse, that
had outlived almost everything but his usefulness;" "It was such an apparition as is
seldom to be met with in broad daylight."
(4) Other words: "He rode with short stirrups, which brought his knees nearly up to
the pommel of the saddle;" "No whit anticipating the oblivion which awaited their
names and feats, the champions advanced through the lists;" "Charity covereth a
multitude of sins, in another sense than that in which it is said to do so in Scripture."
Exercise.
Pick out the adjective clauses, and tell what each one modifies;
i.e., whether subject, object, etc.
1. There were passages that reminded me perhaps too much of Massillon.
2. I walked home with Calhoun, who said that the principles which I had avowed
were just and noble.
3. Other men are lenses through which we read our own minds.
4. In one of those celestial days when heaven and earth meet and adorn each other, it
seems a pity that we can only spend it once.
5. One of the maidens presented a silver cup, containing a rich mixture of wine and
spice, which Rowena tasted.
6. No man is reason or illumination, or that essence we were looking for.
7. In the moment when he ceases to help us as a cause, he begins to help us more as
an effect.
8. Socrates took away all ignominy from the place, which could not be a prison
whilst he was there.
9. This is perhaps the reason why we so seldom hear ghosts except in our longestablished Dutch settlements.
10. From the moment you lose sight of the land you have left, all is vacancy.
11. Nature waited tranquilly for the hour to be struck when man should arrive.