Plain English Part 94

I like _to study_.

He asked _to go_.

I want _to learn_ all that I can.

In this last sentence, the infinitive, _to learn_, is the direct object of the verb _want_. The object of the infinitive, _to learn_, is _all that I can_. All of this taken together with the verb _want_, forms the complete predicate, _want to learn all that I can_.

+429.+ +The participle may also be used as the object of a verb+, thus:

We heard the _thundering_ of the cannon.

We enjoyed the _dancing_.

Do you hear the _singing_ of the birds?

In these sentences, the participles _thundering_, _dancing_, and _singing_ are the objects of the verbs _heard_, _enjoyed_ and _do hear_.

+430.+ +An adjective used as a noun may also be used as the object of a verb+, thus:

I saw the _rich_ and the _poor_ struggling together.

The struggle for existence crushes the _weak_.

Seek the _good_ and the _true_.

In these sentences the adjectives _rich_, _poor_, _weak_, _good_ and _true_, are used as nouns and are the objects of the verbs _saw_, _crushes_ and _seek_.

VERBS OF STATE OR CONDITION

We have found that with the incomplete verbs of state or condition, or copulative verbs, the predicate complement may be either a noun, as, _The man is a hero_; or an adjective, as, _The man is cla.s.s-conscious_; or a phrase, as, _The man is in earnest_.

The predicate complement may also be:

+431.+ +A p.r.o.noun+; as,

Who is she?

That was he.

This is I.

In these sentences the subjects of the verbs are _she_, _that_ and _this_, and the p.r.o.nouns _who_, _he_ and _I_ are used as predicate complements.

+432.+ +Infinitives may also be used as the predicate complement+, thus:

To remain ignorant is _to remain_ a slave.

_To remain ignorant_, is the subject of the copulative verb _is_, and the infinitive, _to remain_, with its complement, _a slave_, is the predicate complement.

+433.+ +A participle used as a noun may also be used as the predicate complement+, thus:

Society is the mingling of many elements.

_Mingling_, in this sentence is a participle of the verb _mingle_, but is used as a noun, the predicate complement of the verb _is_. _Society_ is the subject of the verb.

Where the present participle is used to form a verb phrase, the participle is part of the verb phrase, thus:

We are mingling in society.

Here, _are mingling_, is the present progressive verb phrase, and the participle _mingling_ is not used as a noun or adjective, but is part of the verb phrase _are mingling_.

If you will observe the different parts of speech carefully, you will not be easily confused as to whether the participle is a noun or a part of the verb phrase.

Exercise 2

In the following sentences the incomplete verbs, including infinitives and participles, are in italics. Mark the words, phrases or clauses which are used as objects or complements, to complete the meaning of these verbs.

There _is_ no such thing in America as an independent press, unless it _is_ in the country towns.

You _have_ and I _know_ it. There _is_ not one of you who _dares to write_ his honest opinions. If you did, you _know_ beforehand that it would never appear in print.

I _am paid_ $150.00 a week for _keeping_ my honest opinions out of the paper with which I am connected. Others of you _are paid_ similar salaries for similar things. Any one of you who _would be_ so foolish as _to write_ his honest opinions _would be_ out on the streets looking for another job.

The business of the New York journalist _is to destroy_ the truth, to lie outright, to pervert, to villify, to fawn at the feet of Mammon, and _to sell_ his race and his country for his daily bread.

You _know_ this and I _know_ it. So what folly _is_ this _to be toasting_ an "Independent Press."

We _are_ the tools and va.s.sals of rich men behind the scenes. We _are_ the jumping-jacks; they _pull_ the strings and we dance. Our talents, our possibilities and our lives _are_ all the property of other men.

We _are_ intellectual prost.i.tutes.--_John Swinton_.

MODIFIERS OF THE SIMPLE SENTENCE

+434.+ Remember that a simple sentence is one that contains a single statement, question or command. It is a clause, for it contains a subject and a predicate; but it contains only the one subject and the one predicate. A sentence containing two princ.i.p.al clauses, or a princ.i.p.al clause and a subordinate clause, would contain two complete statements, questions or commands, therefore it would not be a simple sentence, but compound or complex.

Remember, however, that the simple sentences may contain two or more subjects with the same predicate, or two or more predicates with the same subject, or both a compound subject and a compound predicate.

+435.+ The modifiers in a simple sentence are always words or phrases.

The modifiers of the subject are either adjectives or adjective phrases.

The modifiers of the predicate are either adverbs or adverb phrases. If an adjective or an adverb clause is used as a modifier, then the sentence is no longer a simple sentence, but becomes a _complex_ sentence, for it now contains a dependent clause.

ORDER OF ELEMENTS

+436.+ The usual order of the princ.i.p.al elements in the sentence is the subject, the predicate and the object or complement, thus:

_Subject_ _Predicate_ _Men_ _work_

_Subject_ _Predicate_ _Object_ _Men_ _build_ _houses_

_Subject_ _Predicate_ _Complement_ _Books_ _are_ _helpful_

This is called the natural or logical order. Logical means according to sense or reason.

Adjectives usually stand before the nouns they modify, thus: