Dear Comrade:

There are really two things which will come to us out of the study of grammar. One of these, which we discussed in our letter last week, is the power of logical thinking. The second is the ability to express our thoughts correctly; that is, according to accepted usage. So you can consider your spoken and written speech from two viewpoints. First, you can look to see if you have used the words correctly. We have noted these common errors especially in our study of the various parts of speech. There are certain errors we often make, as for example, using a plural noun with a singular verb, or using the past time form of the verb for the past participle.

We have noted a great many of these errors in our speech. We might make ourselves understood and express ourselves fairly accurately and still make these mistakes, but it is wise for us to try to eliminate them from our speech for several reasons. To those who understand the use of correct English, these mistakes mark us as ignorant and uneducated. No matter how important and absolutely accurate the thought we are expressing, if we make these grammatical errors, they very naturally discount our thought also. They feel that if we cannot speak correctly, in all probability we cannot think accurately, either.

Then, too, these words in our speech distract the attention of our hearers from the things which we are saying. It is like the mannerism of an actor. If he has any peculiar manner of walking or of talking and persists in carrying that into whatever character he is interpreting, we always see the actor himself, instead of the character which he is portraying. His mannerisms get in the way and interfere with our grasp of the idea.

So in music. You may be absorbed in a wonderful selection which some one is playing and if suddenly he strikes a wrong note, the discord distracts your attention and perhaps you never get back into the spirit of the music again.

So we must watch these common errors in our speech, but we must not let our study of English be simply that alone. The greatest benefit which we are deriving from this study is the analytic method of thought and the logical habit of mind, which the effort to express ourselves clearly and accurately and in well-chosen words will give us. Put as much time as you can possibly spare into this analysis of sentences. Take your favorite writer and analyze his sentences and find out what is his particular charm for you. If there is any sentence which gives you a little trouble and you cannot analyze it properly, copy it in your next examination paper and state where the difficulty lies. Rewrite the passages which please you most and then compare your version with the author's and see if you really grasped his meaning. In this way you will add quickly to your enjoyment of the writing of others and to your power of expressing yourself.

Yours for Freedom,

THE PEOPLE'S COLLEGE.

THE SIMPLE SENTENCE

440. We have been analyzing the simple sentence, which contains only words and phrases. We have found that there may enter into the simple sentence, the following elements:

1. The simple subject.
2. The simple predicate.
3. The modifiers of the subject.
4. The object of the verb.
5. The predicate complement.
6. The modifiers of the predicate.

This is not the order in which the elements will appear in the sentence, but this is the order of their importance. We first look for the simple subject and the simple predicate; then we can determine which words are the modifiers of the subject; then we find the object or predicate complement of the verb and the modifiers of the verb; and thus we have all of the elements which go into the construction of the simple sentence.

We may also have two nouns used as the subject or two verbs used in the predicate, connected by a co-ordinate conjunction, thus:

• Marx and Engels lived and worked together.

Here we have two proper nouns used as the subject, Marx and Engels. We have also two verbs used as the predicate, lived and worked. We call this a compound subject and compound predicate.

So in one simple sentence, that is a sentence which makes a single assertion, we may have every part of speech. For example:

• The most intelligent men and women think for themselves.

In this sentence, we have a noun, verb, pronoun, adjective, adverb, conjunction and preposition—every part of speech except the interjection, which is an independent element and does not enter into the construction of the sentence.

Exercise 1

Write simple sentences of your own containing:

1. A compound subject.
2. A compound predicate.
3. A noun as subject modified by one or more adjectives.
4. A noun as subject modified by a phrase.
5. An incomplete verb with a direct and an indirect object.
6. An incomplete verb with a predicate complement.
7. A predicate modified by one or more adverbs.
8. A predicate modified by an adverb phrase.

COMPLEX SENTENCES

441. The simple sentence is the unit of speech. It is a combination of words which makes a single statement, question or command. But many times a constant repetition of these short sentences would become tiresome, and our written and spoken speech would not flow as smoothly and rapidly as we desire. So we have evolved a way in which we may combine these sentences into longer statements. Let us take the two simple sentences:

• We are united.
• We shall succeed.

We may combine these into a single sentence by using the co-ordinate conjunction and. Then our sentence reads:

• We are united and we shall succeed.

This is a compound sentence, formed by uniting two simple sentences. Both of the clauses are independent and are of equal rank. Neither depends upon the other. They are united by the co-ordinate conjunction and. We can combine these sentences in a different way. For example, we may say:

• If we are united, we shall succeed.

Now we have a subordinate clause, if we are united, which is used to modify the verb of the main clause, succeed. We have used the subordinate conjunction if, and so we have a complex sentence formed by uniting the principal clause and a dependent clause.

442. The next step in sentence building, after the simple sentence, is the complex sentence. A complex sentence is a combination of two or more simple sentences, which are so united that one sentence remains the main sentence—the backbone, as it were—and the other sentence becomes subordinate or dependent upon it.

443. A complex sentence is one containing a principal clause and one or more subordinate clauses.

A principal clause is one which makes a complete statement without the help of any other clause or clauses.

A subordinate or dependent clause is one which makes a statement dependent upon or modifying some word or words in the principal clause.

KINDS OF DEPENDENT CLAUSES

444. Dependent clauses are of three kinds. They may be used either as nouns, adjectives or adverbs, and so are called noun clauses, adjective clauses or adverb clauses.

NOUN CLAUSES

445. Noun clauses are those which are used in place of a noun. They may be used in any way in which a noun may be used, except as a possessive.

1. The noun clause may be used as the subject of the sentence. For example:

• That he is innocent is admitted by all.

The clause, that he is innocent is used as a noun, the subject of the sentence. 2. The noun clause may be used as the object of a verb, thus:

• I admit that I cannot understand your argument.

The clause, that I cannot understand your argument, is in this sentence the object of the verb admit.

3. The noun clause may be used as the predicate complement, thus:

• The fact is that this policy will never win.

The clause, that this policy will never win, is here used in the predicate with the copulative verb is.

4. The noun clause may also be used in apposition, explaining the noun with which it is used, thus:

• The motion, that the question should be reconsidered, was carried.

That the question should be reconsidered, is here a noun clause, used in apposition with the noun motion, and explains the meaning of the noun.

5. The noun clause may also be used as the object of a preposition, thus:

• I now refer to what he claims.

The noun clause, what he claims, is here the object of the preposition, to.

Exercise 2

In the following sentences the noun clauses are printed in italics. Determine whether they are used as the subject, or object of the verb, as predicate complement, in apposition, or as the object of a preposition.

1. The fact is that I was not listening.
2. Whatever King Midas looked upon turned to gold.
3. He acknowledged what we had suspected.
4. We will never know what the real situation was.
5. The fact that the wage is insufficient can be easily proved.
6. He replied to what had been asked.
7. The claim was that he had made a speech inciting to riot.
8. The law that labor unions are in restraint of trade was upheld.
9. That we cannot win by compromise is readily apparent.
10. Labor demands that it shall have its full product.
11. Whoever controls education controls the future.
12. He came to where the militia was in camp.

Exercise 3

Write sentences containing noun clauses used:

1. As the subject of a verb.
2. As the object of a verb.
3. As a predicate complement.
4. In apposition.
5. As the object of a preposition.

ADJECTIVE CLAUSES

446. A dependent clause in a complex sentence may also be an adjective clause.

An adjective clause is a clause used as an adjective, and, hence, always modifies a noun or some word used as a noun, such as a pronoun or a participle. In Lesson 22, we studied adjective clauses and found that they could be introduced by the relative pronouns, who, which, that and as, and also by conjunctions such as, when, where, whither, whence, etc. An adjective clause may modify any noun or any word used as a noun in the sentence.

1. An adjective clause may modify the subject, thus:

• Men who have become class-conscious do not make good soldiers.

In this sentence the clause, who have become class-conscious, modifies the noun men, and is introduced by the relative pronoun who.

2. An adjective clause may modify the noun which is the object of the verb, as:

• The men supported the party which fought for their rights.

Here the clause, which fought for their rights, is an adjective clause introduced by the pronoun which, and it modifies the noun party, which is the object of the verb supported.

3. An adjective clause may also be used to modify the noun which is used in the predicate complement, as:

• That was the book which I enjoyed.

In this sentence the clause, which I enjoyed, is an adjective clause modifying the noun book, which is used as the predicate complement with the copulative verb was.

4. An adjective clause may also be used to modify the noun which is used as the object of a preposition, as:

• He arrived on the train which was late.

Here the adjective clause, which was late, modifies the noun train, which is the object of the preposition on.

Sometimes it is a little difficult to discover these adjective clauses, for frequently the connecting word is omitted, as for example:

• I could not find the man I wanted.

In this sentence, the pronoun whom is omitted; the complete sentence would read:

• I could not find the man whom I wanted.

Whom I wanted is an adjective clause modifying the noun man.

Exercise 4

In the following sentences the relative pronouns and the conjunctions introducing adjective clauses are omitted. Rewrite the sentences using the proper relative pronouns and conjunctions. The adjective clauses are in italics.

1. The people you are seeking are not here.
2. I have read the book you brought.
3. The articles you mentioned are not listed.
4. I will go to the place you say.
5. This is a book you should read.
6. Those are ideals the people will readily grasp.
7. We make Gods of the things we fear.
8. I listened to every word he said.
9. I should love the cause you love.
10. The things the people demand are just and right.

Exercise 5

In the following sentences the adjective clauses are all printed in italics. Determine whether they modify the subject or the object, the predicate complement or the object of the preposition.

1. In that moment when he saw the light he joined our cause.
2. Other men are lenses through which we read our own minds.
3. This is perhaps the reason why we are unable to agree.
4. He that loveth maketh his own the grandeur that he loves.
5. The other terror that scares us from self-trust is our consistency.
6. There is a popular fable of a sot who was picked up dead drunk in the street, carried to the Duke's house, washed and dressed and laid in the Duke's bed, and, on his waking, treated with all ceremony like a duke and assured that he had been insane.
7. He who would gather immortal palms must not be hindered by the name of goodness, but must explore if it be goodness.
8. Superstition, who is the mother of fear and faith, still rules many people.
9. We are looking for the time when the useful shall be the honorable.
10. He who enslaves another cannot be free.
11. He who attacks the right assaults himself.
12. The force that is in every atom and every star, in everything that grows and thinks, that hopes and suffers, is the only possible God.
13. He who adds to the sum of human misery is a blasphemer.
14. The grandest ambition that can enter the soul is the desire to know the truth.

ADVERB CLAUSES

447. The third kind of clause which we may use in a complex sentence is the adverb clause.

An adverb clause is a clause which takes the place of an adverb. It may modify a verb, an adjective, or an adverb. We studied adverb clauses in lesson 21 and we found eight classes of adverb clauses, expressing time, place, cause or reason, manner, comparison, condition, purpose and result. For example:

1. Adverb clause of time: No man is truly free until all are free.
2. Adverb clause of place: We must live where we can find work.
3. Adverb clause expressing cause or reason: We lost the strike because the men were not class-conscious.
4. Adverb clause of manner: We must work as if the result depended entirely upon us.
5. Adverb clause of comparison: The working class must become more class-conscious than it is today.
6. Adverb clause of condition: We will continue to be exploited if we do not demand our rights.
7. Adverb clause expressing purpose: We must read the labor press in order that we may know the truth concerning conditions.
8. Adverb clause expressing result: The battle raged so furiously that thousands were slain.

ANALYZING COMPLEX SENTENCES

448. To analyze a complex sentence; that is, to break it up into its different parts—treat the sentence first as a whole, then find the simple subject and the simple predicate. If a noun clause is the subject, treat it first as a noun. Treat adjective clauses as adjectives modifying certain words and the adverb clauses as adverbs modifying certain words.

In other words, analyze the sentence first as a simple sentence with dependent clauses considered as modifying words; then analyze each dependent clause as though it were a simple sentence. Make an outline like the following and use it in your analysis of the sentence. Let us take this sentence and analyze it:

• Conscious solidarity in the ranks would give the working class of the world, now, in our day, the freedom which they seek.

Simple subject, solidarity.

Simple predicate, would give.

Modifiers of the subject:

• Adjective, conscious.
• Adjective phrase, in the ranks.
• Adjective clause, (none).

Complete subject, Conscious solidarity in the ranks.

Modifiers of the predicate:

• Adverb, now.
• Adverb phrase, in our day.
• Adverb clause, (none).

Direct object, freedom.

Modifiers of direct object:

• Adjective, the.
• Adjective phrase, (none).
• Adjective clause, which they seek,

Indirect object, class.

Modifiers of indirect object:

• Adjectives, the, working.
• Adjective phrase, of the world.
• Adjective clause, (none).

Complete predicate, would give the working class of the world, now, in our day, the freedom which they seek.

Analyze the dependent clause, which they seek, just as a principal clause is analyzed. They is the simple subject, seek is the simple predicate, which is the direct object. The complete predicate is seek which.

449. Notice that the first two sentences given in the exercise below are imperative sentences,—the subject, the pronoun you, being omitted so that the entire sentence is the complete predicate. As for example: Take the place which belongs to you. The omitted subject is the pronoun you. Take the place which belongs to you is the complete predicate, made up of the simple predicate take; its object, the noun place; the adjective the, and the adjective clause, which belongs to you, both of which modify the noun place.

Exercise 6

Using the outline given above, analyze the following complex sentences.

1. Take the place which belongs to you.
2. Let us believe that brave deeds will never die.
3. The orator knows that the greatest ideas should be expressed in the simplest words.
4. Gratitude is the fairest flower that sheds its perfume in the human heart.
5. Children should be taught that it is their duty to think for themselves.
6. We will be slaves as long as we are ignorant.
7. We must teach our fellow men that honor comes from within.
8. Cause and effect cannot be severed for the effect already blooms in the cause.
9. Men measure their esteem of each other by what each has.
10. Our esteem should be measured by what each is.
11. What I must do is all that concerns me.
12. The great man is he who, in the midst of the crowd, keeps the independence of solitude.
13. The only right is what is after my constitution.
14. Whoso would be a man must be a non-conformist.
15. They who build on ideas build for eternity.

Exercise 7

We have studied all the parts of speech, and now our work is to combine these parts for the expression of thought. It will be good practice and very helpful to us to mark these different parts of speech in our reading. This helps us to grow familiar with their use. It also helps us to add words to our vocabulary and to learn how to use them correctly. In the following quotation, mark underneath each word, the name of every part of speech. Use n. for noun, v. for verb, pro. for pronoun, adv. for adverb, adj. for adjective, p. for preposition and c. for conjunction. Write v. p. under the verb phrases. For example:

The	workers	of	the	world	do	not	have,
adj.	n.	p.	adj.	n.	v.p.	adv.	v.p.
under	this	system,	very	many	opportunities
p.	adj.	n.	adv.	adj.	n.
for	rest	and	pleasure	for	themselves.
p.	n.	c.	n.	p.	pro.

Mark in this manner every part of speech in the following quotation:

The history of all hitherto existing society is the history of class struggles.

Freeman and slave, patrician and plebeian, lord and serf, guildmaster and journeyman,—in a word, oppressor and oppressed,—stood in constant opposition to one another, carried on an uninterrupted, now hidden, now open fight, a fight that each time ended, either in a revolutionary re-constitution of society at large, or in the common ruin of the contending classes.

In the earlier epochs of history, we find almost everywhere a complicated arrangement of society into various orders, a manifold gradation of social rank. In ancient Rome we have patricians, knights, plebeians, slaves; in the middle ages, feudal lords, vassals, guild-masters, journeymen, apprentices, serfs; in almost all of these classes, again, subordinate gradations.

The modern bourgeois society, that has sprouted from the ruins of feudal society, has not done away with class antagonisms. It has but established new classes, new conditions of oppression, new forms of struggle in place of the old ones. —Communist Manifesto.

Exercise 8

In the following quotation, mark all of the clauses and determine whether they are dependent or independent clauses. If they are dependent clauses, determine whether they are noun, adjective or adverb clauses. Mark all the sentences and tell whether they are simple or complex.

I see in the near future a crisis approaching that unnerves me, and causes me to tremble for the safety of my country. As a result of war, corporations have been enthroned, and an era of corruption in high places will follow. The money power of the country will endeavor to prolong its reign by working upon the prejudices of the people, until all the wealth is aggregated in a few hands, and the republic is destroyed. I feel at this moment more anxiety for the safety of our country than ever before, even in the midst of war. God grant that my forebodings may be groundless. Monarchy itself is sometimes hinted at as a refuge from the power of the people. In my present position I could scarcely be justified were I to omit to raise a warning voice against the approach of a returning despotism.... It is assumed that labor is available only in connection with capital; that nobody labors unless somebody else, owning capital, somehow, by the use of it, induces him to labor. Labor is prior to and independent of capital. Capital is only the fruit of labor, and could not have existed if labor had not first existed. Labor is the superior of capital, and deserves much the higher consideration. I bid the laboring people beware of surrendering the power which they possess, and which, if surrendered, will surely be used to shut the door of advancement for such as they, and fix new disabilities and burdens upon them until all of liberty shall be lost.

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In the early days of our race the Almighty said to the first of mankind, "In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread," and since then, if we except the light and air of Heaven, no good thing has been or can be enjoyed by us without first having cost labor. And inasmuch as most good things have been produced by labor, it follows that all such things belong of right to those whose labor has produced them. But it has so happened, in all ages of the world, that some have labored and others have without labor enjoyed a large portion of the fruits. This is wrong, and should not continue. To secure to each laborer the whole product of his labor, as nearly as possible, is a worthy object of any government.

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It seems strange that any man should dare to ask a just God's assistance in wringing bread from the sweat of other men's faces.

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This country, with its institutions, belongs to the people who inhabit it. —Lincoln.

Exercise 9

In the following poem find all of the assertive, interrogative and imperative sentences. Mark all of the simple sentences and all of the complex sentences. Mark all of the dependent clauses and determine whether each is used as a noun, adjective or adverb clause. The verbs and the verb phrases are in italics.

Shall you complain who feed the world,

Who clothe the world,

Who house the world?

Shall you complain who are the world,

Of what the world may do?

As from this hour you are the power,

The world must follow you.