English grammar

66. We have seen that in both simple and compound sentences the clauses are independent. There is a third class of sentences, however, containing dependent clauses.

In the simple sentence, “At night his antelope skin was spread on the ground,” the prepositional phrase on the ground tells place, and modifies the verb was spread.

In the sentence, “At night his antelope skin was spread where the darkness overtook him,” the group of words where the darkness overtook him has the same use as the phrase on the ground, for it tells place and modifies the verb was spread.

But this group of words contains a subject and a predicate; hence it is a clause. It could not stand alone and make sense; hence it cannot be an independent clause. It could not be in the sentence at all unless the verb was spread were there too for it to modify. It is therefore dependent on the verb, and so we call it a dependent clause. It has the same use as an adverb, because it modifies a verb. We find many dependent clauses used in this way, because our language does not afford enough adverbs or even prepositional phrases to express our meaning.

67. When dependent clauses modify verbs, they answer such questions as these,—was spread where? was spread why? how? when? under what condition? for what purpose?

68. In the sentence, “They went into a small parlor, which smelt very spicy,” the parlor is described by the adjective small and by the group of words which smelt very spicy. What is this group of words? How do we know? What words does it modify? What, then, is the use of some dependent clauses? When dependent clauses modify nouns, they point out or describe objects just as adjectives do.

69. In the sentences that we have just been studying there is an independent clause as well as a dependent clause. A sentence of this kind is called a complex sentence.

A complex sentence may contain any number of dependent clauses, but only one independent clause, for as soon as a sentence contains two independent clauses it becomes a compound sentence.

Summary.—A dependent clause is one that is used like a part of speech and does not make sense when it stands alone.

A dependent clause may be used like an adjective to modify a noun, or like an adverb to modify a verb.

A complex sentence consists of one independent clause and one or more dependent clauses.

Exercise.—Select all the clauses in the following sentences, and classify them. Tell what the dependent clauses modify. Tell the subject and predicate of each clause.

Note.—Frequently a dependent clause modifies more than the verb. In the sentence, “The little boys wanted a house with a great many doors, so that they could go in and out often,” the dependent clause so that they could go in and out often tells the purpose of their wanting a house with a great many doors; hence, it modifies not merely the verb wanted, but the whole predicate wanted a house with a great many doors. Try to tell the exact truth about each sentence that you study.

1. He was always catching sculpins when every one else with the same bait was catching mackerel.

2. If we cross the Atlantic by one of the fast steamships, we shall make the voyage in about a week.

3. The Rotterdam quays, which stretch for more than a mile along the river, are busy and lively places.

4. Every Sunday morning the wash boiler was filled with water, and the largest tub was set in the middle of the kitchen floor, so that the three children might have their weekly scrubbing.

5. People who devote themselves too severely to study of the classics are apt to become dried up.

6. He charged upon the rows of the mullein stalks as if they were rebels in regimental ranks, and hewed them down without mercy.

7. Every boy who is good for anything is a natural savage.

8. Rude soldiers now eat, drink, and sleep, where popes and cardinals once moved about in state.

9. Mowgli, who had never known the meaning of real hunger, fell back on stale honey three years old.

10. Iron-clads are so called because their sides are covered with thick plates of iron or steel, capable of resisting very heavy shot.

11. Although many people ascend Mont Blanc every year, the undertaking requires a great deal of muscular as well as nervous strength.

12. If a boy repeats Thanatopsis while he is milking, that operation acquires a certain dignity.

13. The thrill that ran into my fingers’ ends then has not run out yet.

14. Even a dog, who is very far removed from the wild wolf, his ancestor, can be waked out of deep sleep by a cart wheel touching his flank, and can spring away unharmed before that wheel comes on.

15. The boys slipped off down the roadside to a place where they could dig sassafras or the root of the sweet flag.

16. The little company of Englishmen who, in 1620, exchanged Holland for America were not soldiers and traders like the men who had led and established the colony at Jamestown.

17. Miles Standish came with the Pilgrims to America because he liked both them and their enterprise.

18. The early settlers went to church in military array and laid their arms down close by them while they worshiped and heard the sermon.

19. The colonists chose for their place of settlement a high bluff, which rose upon the eastern bank of a little stream.

Tell the part of speech and use of always, sentence 1, Sunday 4, too and severely 5, now, once, and about 8.

Analyze the predicate was set in the middle of the kitchen floor.

What is the grammatical use of the group of words as well as in sentence 11?