PART THREE
ANALYSIS
CHAPTER I
THE STRUCTURE OF SENTENCES
448. Analysis is a Greek word which means “the act of dissolving or breaking up.” In grammar it is applied to the separation of a sentence into its constituent parts, or elements. To dissect a sentence in this way is to analyze it.
The elements which make up a sentence are: (1) the simple subject; (2) the simple predicate; (3) modifiers; (4) the complements,—direct object, predicate objective, predicate adjective, predicate nominative; and (5) the so-called independent elements,—the interjection, the vocative (or nominative of direct address), the exclamatory nominative, and various parenthetical expressions (§ 501).
449. The absolute essentials for a sentence are a substantive as subject and a verb as predicate (§ 35). By combining these two indispensable elements, in various ways, with modifiers and complements, the sentence may be extended to any length desired. Indeed, the sole limits are the constructive skill of the writer and the hearer’s ability to follow the thought without losing the thread.
In the present chapter, we shall consider how sentences are built up, or constructed. Our starting point in this study will be the simple sentence.
SIMPLE SENTENCES
450. The following statement is a simple sentence, for it contains but one subject and one predicate (§ 46):—
The polar bear | lives in the Arctic regions.
The framework or skeleton of this simple sentence consists of the subject noun bear (the simple subject) and the predicate verb lives (the simple predicate). To make the complete subject, bear takes as modifiers the two adjectives the and polar; to make the complete predicate, lives takes as modifier the adverbial phrase in the Arctic regions.
By attaching another simple subject to bear we make a compound subject. Similarly, we make a compound predicate by adding another verb (§ 38).
The polar bear and the walrus | live and thrive in the Arctic regions.
The compound subject is bear and walrus; the compound predicate is live and thrive. Both verbs are modified by the adverbial phrase in the Arctic regions. The sentence itself is still a simple sentence.
In each of the following simple sentences either the subject or the predicate or both are compound:—
- Games and carols closed the busy day.—Rogers.
- The stars leap forth, and tremble, and retire before the advancing moon.—George Meredith.
- Madame Defarge knitted with nimble fingers and steady eyebrows, and saw nothing.—Dickens.
- Work or worry had left its traces upon his thin, yellow face.—Doyle.
- Crows flutter about the towers and perch on every weathercock.—Irving.
- He gained the door to the landing, pulled it open, and rushed forth.—Lytton.
- Countrymen, butchers, drovers, hawkers, boys, thieves, idlers, and vagabonds of every low grade, were mingled together in a dense mass.—Dickens.
- There stood the broad-wheeled wains and the antique plows and the harrows.—Longfellow.
- Both Augustus and Peters joined with him in his design and insisted upon its immediately being carried into effect.—Poe.
- Women and children, from garrets alike and cellars, through infinite London, look down or look up with loving eyes upon our gay ribbons and our martial laurels.—De Quincey.
COMPOUND SENTENCES
451. If we attach another simple sentence to that in § 450, the result is a compound sentence.
The polar bear | lives in the Arctic regions, || but || it | sometimes reaches temperate latitudes.
This is manifestly a compound sentence, for it consists of two coördinate clauses, joined by the conjunction but (§ 46).
The framework of the second clause consists of the subject it and the simple predicate reaches. To make the complete predicate, the verb reaches takes not only a modifier (the adverb sometimes), but a complement,—the direct object latitudes, which completes the meaning of the verb. This noun is itself modified by the adjective temperate. Both clauses are simple, for each contains but one subject and one predicate.
452. Obviously, almost any number of simple sentences may be joined (with or without conjunctions) to make one compound sentence.
The quiet August noon has come;
A slumberous silence fills the sky;
The fields are still, the woods are dumb,
In glassy sleep the waters lie.—Bryant.
- States fall, arts fade, but Nature does not die.—Byron.
- The court was sitting; the case was heard; the judge had finished; and only the verdict was yet in arrear.—De Quincey.
- He softly blushed; he sighed; he hoped; he feared; he doubted; he sometimes yielded to the delightful idea.—Thackeray.
- A mob appeared before the window, a smart rap was heard at the door, the boys hallooed, and the maid announced Mr. Grenville.—Cowper.
- His health had suffered from confinement; his high spirit had been cruelly wounded; and soon after his liberation he died of a broken heart.—Macaulay.
COMPLEX SENTENCES
453. The simple sentence in § 450 may be made complex by means of a subordinate clause used as a modifier (§ 47).
- The polar bear, which lives in the Arctic regions, sometimes reaches temperate latitudes.
- The polar bear sometimes reaches temperate latitudes when the ice drifts southward.
In the first example, the simple subject (bear), besides its two adjective modifiers (the and polar), takes a third, the adjective clause which lives in the Arctic regions (§ 47). The sentence, then, is complex: the main clause is the polar bear sometimes reaches temperate latitudes; the subordinate clause is which lives in the Arctic regions.
The second sentence is also complex. The main clause is the same as in the first (the polar bear sometimes reaches temperate latitudes). The subordinate clause is when the ice drifts southward, an adverbial modifier of the predicate verb reaches.
COMPOUND AND COMPLEX CLAUSES
454. Two or more coördinate clauses may be joined to make one compound clause.
- The polar bear, which lives in the Arctic regions and whose physical constitution is wonderfully adapted to that frigid climate, sometimes reaches temperate latitudes.
- The polar bear sometimes reaches temperate latitudes when the floes break up and when the ice drifts southward.
In the first example, the italicized words form a compound adjective clause, modifying the noun bear. It consists of two coördinate adjective clauses joined by and. These clauses are coördinate because they are of the same order or rank in the sentence (§ 46), each being (if taken singly) an adjective modifier of the noun.
In the second example, the predicate verb reaches is modified by a compound adverbial clause, similarly made up.
455. A clause is complex when it contains a modifying clause.
The polar bear, which lives in the Arctic regions when it is at home, sometimes reaches temperate latitudes.
Here the adjective clause which lives in the Arctic regions when it is at home is complex, for it contains the adverbial clause when it is at home, modifying the verb lives.
COMPOUND COMPLEX SENTENCES
456. Two or more independent complex clauses may be joined to make a compound complex sentence.
The brown bear, of which there are several varieties, is common in the temperate regions of the Eastern Hemisphere; || and || the polar bear sometimes reaches temperate latitudes when the ice drifts southward.
This is a compound complex sentence, for it consists of two complex clauses joined by the coördinate conjunction and. Each of these two clauses is independent of the other, for each might stand by itself as a complex sentence.
The first complex clause contains an adjective clause, of which there are several varieties, modifying bear; the second contains an adverbial clause, when the ice drifts southward, modifying reaches.
457. A sentence consisting of two or more independent clauses is also classed as a compound complex sentence if any one of these is complex.
- The brown bear is common in the temperate regions of the Eastern Hemisphere; || and || the polar bear sometimes reaches temperate latitudes when the ice drifts southward.
- The brown bear, of which there are several varieties, is common in the temperate regions of the Eastern Hemisphere; || and || the polar bear sometimes reaches temperate latitudes.
Both of these are compound complex sentences. In one, the first clause is simple (§ 451) and the second is complex. In the other, the first clause is complex and the second is simple.