Higher Lessons in English Part 33

+Example+.--_When you are right_, go ahead = _When right_, go ahead.

+Direction+.--_Contract these adverb clauses_:--

1. Chevalier Bayard was killed while he was fighting for Francis I.

2. Error must yield, however strongly it may be defended.

+Explanation+.--_However_ modifies _strongly_, and connects a concessive clause.

3. Much wealth is corpulence, if it is not disease.

4. No other English author has uttered so many pithy sayings as Shakespeare has uttered.

(Frequently, clauses introduced by _as_ and _than_ are contracted.)

5. The sun is many times larger than the earth is large.

(Sentences like this never appear in the full form.)

6. This is a prose era rather than it is a poetic era.

An adverb clause may sometimes be changed to an adjective clause or phrase.

+Example+.--This man is to be pitied, _because he has no friends_ = This man, _who has no friends_, is to be pitied = This man, _having no friends_, is to be pitied = This man, _without friends_, is to be pitied.

+Direction+.--_Change each of the following adverb clauses first to an adjective clause and then to an adjective phrase_:--

1. A man is to be pitied if he does not care for music.

2. When a man lacks health, wealth, and friends, he lacks three good things.

LESSON 69.

a.n.a.lYSIS.

+Direction.+--_Tell the kind of adverb clause in each of the sentences in Lesson 68, and note the different positions in which these clauses stand.

Select two sentences containing time clauses; one, a place clause; two, degree; one, manner; two, real cause; two, evidence; two, purpose; two, condition; and two, concession, and a.n.a.lyze them_.

LESSON 70.

REVIEW.

+Direction.+--_Compose sentences ill.u.s.trating the different kinds of adverb clauses named in Lessons 63, 64, 65, and explain fully the office of each.

For connectives, see Lesson 100. Tell why the adverb clauses in Lesson 68 are or are not set off by the comma. Compose sentences ill.u.s.trating the different ways of contracting adverb clauses_.

+Exercises on the Composition of the Sentence and the Paragraph.+

(SEE PAGES 165-168.)

TO THE TEACHER.--See suggestions to the teacher, pages 30, 150.

LESSON 71.

THE COMPLEX SENTENCE-NOUN CLAUSE.

+Introductory Hints.+--In Lessons 40 and 41 you learned that an infinitive phrase may perform many of the offices of a noun. You are now to learn that a clause may do the same.

_Obedience_ is better than sacrifice = _To obey_ is better than sacrifice = _That men should obey_ is better than sacrifice. The dependent clause _that men should obey_ is equivalent to a noun, and is the +Subject+ of _is_.

_Many people believe that the beech tree is never struck by lightning_. The dependent clause, introduced by _that_, is equivalent to a noun, and is the +Object Complement+ of _believe_.

_The fact that mold, mildew, and yeast are plants is wonderful_. The clause introduced by _that_ is equivalent to a noun, and is +Explanatory+ of _fact_.

_A peculiarity of English is, that it has so many borrowed words_. The clause introduced by _that_ is equivalent to a noun, and is an +Attribute Complement+ relating to _peculiarity_.

_Your future depends very much on who your companions are_. The clause _who your companions are_ is equivalent to a noun, and is the +Princ.i.p.al Term+ of a +Phrase+ introduced by the preposition _on_.

A clause that does the work of a noun is a +Noun Clause+.

a.n.a.lysis.

The +noun clause+ may be used as +subject+.

1. That the earth is round has been proved.

That -------- '

earth | is ' round -------|-------------- the | | | / | has been proved =============|================= |

+Explanation+.--The clause _that the earth is round_ is used like a noun as the subject of _has been proved_. The conjunction _that_ [Footnote: "_That_ was originally the neuter demonstrative p.r.o.noun, used to point to the fact stated in an independent sentence; as, It was good; he saw _that_. By an inversion of the order this became, He saw _that_ (namely) it was good, and so pa.s.sed into the form _He saw that it was good_, where _that_ has been transferred to the accessory clause, and has become a mere sign of grammatical subordination."--_C. P. Mason._] introduces the noun clause.

This is a peculiar kind of complex sentence. Strictly speaking, there is here no princ.i.p.al clause, for the whole sentence cannot be called a clause, _i.e._, a part of a sentence. We may say that it is a complex sentence in which the whole sentence takes the place of a princ.i.p.al clause.

2. That the same word is used for the soul of man and for a gla.s.s of gin is singular.

3. "What have I done?" is asked by the knave and the thief.

4. Who was the discoverer of America is not yet fully determined by historians.

+Explanation+.--The subject clause is here an indirect question. See Lesson 74.

5. When letters were first used is not certainly known.

6. "Where is Abel, thy brother?" smote the ears of the guilty Cain.

7. When to quit business and enjoy their wealth is a problem never solved by some.