The structure of the English sentence

In the mind of every human being there are innumerable ideas, or mental pictures, gathered from previous experience. Whenever we perceive a relation between any two of these ide...

=How Propositions differ in Nature.=--In studying the human body we cannot help seeing that all the prominent members are not equally important. Some could exist independently o...

We have seen that a sentence may consist of one proposition or of several, and that all its propositions may be independent or one or more of them may be dependent. This freedom...

We have classified sentences according to their structure as simple, complex, compound, partially compound, and complex-compound. There is another classification made on the bas...

=Function.=--A common form of the dependent proposition is the adjective clause, so called not because it is equivalent to an adjective, but because it performs the office of an...

1. Study the sentence as to number and kind of propositions, to determine whether it is simple, partially compound, or complex. Determine also whether it is declarative, interro...

=Function.=--The substantive clause is one that performs some office of a noun. It is not a mere substitute for a noun, however, used for the sake of variety. On the contrary, i...

It is most convenient to analyze the noun clause last, even if it is the subject of the sentence. As soon as the clause is mentioned, however, as a sentence-element, its introdu...

=Function.=--All actions or events can be referred to some time--past, present, or future. Frequently the whole significance of an event depends upon either the time of its occu...

=Function.=--Just as all events occur at some time, so do they also occur in some place. We have not many adverbs of place in English, and few of these are very definite; for ex...

=Function.=--A common question in regard to activities is _how?_ This is oftenest answered by means of an adverb or a prepositional phrase; as, sew _neatly_, study _diligently_,...

It frequently happens that there is a clause within a clause. The first clause is then to be treated as if it were a complex sentence, and the second clause analyzed when the re...

=Function.=--In our daily experience we are continually meeting new conditions, discovering new truths. It is human nature to be curious as to the causes of these truths and con...

The preceding chapter treated of clauses bearing the relation of cause to the principal proposition and denoting something true or operative before the thought in the principal...

=Function.=--We are seldom able to make unqualified statements, because few facts are universally true. On the contrary, we must carefully hedge in our statements by certain res...

=Function.=--In the compound sentence,--“The whale is not a fish, but we speak of the ‘whale fishery,’” we have joined two thoughts which are opposed to each other, but we have...

=Function.=--In Chapter XI. we showed that the manner in which an action is performed is often denoted by an adverbial clause. Now, it may sometimes be denoted by an adverb, as...

In our study of dependent propositions, we have considered in the main the complex sentence. We shall now take up the compound sentence, whose distinguishing characteristic is t...

In our study of complex and compound sentences we have noted the office of conjunctions, both subordinating and coördinating, so far as they join propositions. But this is by no...

=Nature of the Infinitive.=--In the preceding lessons, we have studied but one element of the sentence; namely, the proposition. This combination of subject and predicate we hav...

The participle has been defined by grammarians as a verbal adjective. They do not mean that it limits or qualifies the meaning of a noun as an adjective does. Very few participl...

The gerund, or infinitive in _-ing_, is substantive in its nature, for like the root infinitive it _names_ the action or state asserted by the verb. It is not so easily identifi...

=Function.=--No other sentence-element is more frequently employed or more useful for the precise expression of thought than the prepositional phrase. By its aid we can define e...

=Function.=--As a means of avoiding a predication, perhaps no other sentence-element is oftener employed than the appositive phrase; as, “They have the genius for hard work--_th...

The direct object of a transitive verb is so familiar a sentence-element that it makes itself understood without much special investigation. It presents few peculiarities, and t...

=Function.=--When we wish to assert that a thing possesses a certain quality, we do it by a predicate made up of some form of the verb _be_ together with an adjective; as in the...

=Function.=--Sometimes an action performed upon an object makes a different thing of that object. Our desire to tell this as briefly as possible has given rise to sentences in w...

=Function.=--Many verbs are followed by two substantives, both of which are called objects; for example, “Abbot Samson read his monks a severe lecture.”--_Carlyle._ “I will tell...

=Function.=--Questions like _how long?_ _how far?_ _when?_ _where?_ are often answered by adverbs, phrases, or clauses; but they may be answered by nouns, as in the following se...

It is not uncommon to find words modified in what seems to us an ungrammatical way; for example, an article modifying an adjective, as in the phrase _all the same_, or an adverb...

In the chapters on the infinitive phrase and the participial phrase, we discussed those phrases used independently, that is, thrown loosely into the sentence and forming no part...

Closely allied to the independent elements discussed in the preceding chapter are certain adverbs and adverbial phrases, which seem to modify not any special part of the sentenc...

In preceding chapters we have spoken of the tendency in English speech and composition towards abridgment. Independent propositions become clauses, clauses become phrases, and p...