The structure of the english sentence

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Contents

The Proposition The Classification of Propositions

The Classification of Sentences according to Structure

The Classification of Sentences according to Form

Chapter I The Proposition

In the mind of every human being there are innumerable ideas, or mental pictures, gathered from previous experience. Whenever we perceive a relation between any two of these ideas, we form a judgment, or, in other words, have a thought. If we wish to communicate our thought we ordinarily express it in words, and this verbal expression of a thought we call a sentence.

For example, I have an idea of children and an idea of the activity called play; I see a relation between them, that of agent and thing done; I affirm this relation, and have the sentence, Children play. Or I detect a relation between flower and whiteness, and say, The flower 1s white. Or I fail to establish such a relation and so deny the former statement by saying, The flower is not white. In each case my sentence serves the great purpose of com- , municating thought; and it does this by calling up in the mind of the reader the same combination of ideas that exists in my mind.

Another name for sentences like those just formed, is proposition, a proposition being the expression of one thought. But since a proposition is the statement of a judgment, it must contain two ideas. One of these, de-

8 THE PROPOSITION noting that of which something is asserted, we call the subject; the other, denoting what is said of the subject, we call the predicate. The relation between these two ideas cannot always be expressed by means of two words. If we wish to assert a relation between water and freshness, we must use at least three words, Water is fresh; the word is contains little, if any, meaning, but is necessary for the grammatical expression of the thought.

Although a proposition must contain at least two ideas, it may contain any number of them. For example, I may expand the proposition, Children play, by additional ideas, telling (1) whose children, (2) a characteristic of the children, (3) what they play, (4) where they play, (5) when they play, —My neighbor’s little children play hide and seek in their yard every evening. Still I have only one proposition, for the number of propositions in a sentence depends on the number of judgments, or thoughts, expressed, — in other words, on the number of assertions made; and here there is but one, that made essentially by the verb play.

All sentences, however, are not single propositions, for in building sentences we often go a step further than seeing the relation between ideas, that is, we see the „relation between thoughts; and so, instead of combining mere words, we combine whole propositions into one sentence. Take, for example, the two propositions, Children play, and Children enjoy play. I may see that the second fact is a cause of the first, and, by combining the two so as to bring out this relation of cause and effect, get the sentence, Children play because they enjoy it, wherein I substitute the pronouns they and it for the already known words children and play.

COMPOSITION OF SENTENCES 9

Or take the two propositions, The lion roared, and The hyena laughed. I may wish to tell some one that these two actions were related in time, occurring simultaneously; I do this by saying, The lon roared and the hyena laughed, where I have one sentence, but made of two propositions, because conveying two thoughts. I might put in other thoughts, telling (1) which lion, (2) why he roared, (3) how long the hyena laughed, — The lion that was kept in the cage near the door roared because the keeper did not bring his food, and the hyena laughed till he had set all the amimals around him in an uproar. Here I have one sentence containing five thoughts, therefore made up of five propositions.

However, it is not with composition, the building up of sentences, that we are to concern ourselves, so much as with an examination into the structure of the finished product. Now, when we study the structure of the human body, we look upon it first as a symmetrical whole, then we separate it into its largest, most distinct members, — the head, the trunk, the arms, the legs. After we have noted the relations of these parts, we take up each part as a whole and proceed again in the same way. In analyzing sentences we shall pursue the same method.

Every sentence is a unit just as the body is; like the body, too, it is made up of smaller units. In studying its structure we should first of all find the units which compose the sentence-unit. If the sentence is a single proposition, the constituent units are, of course, the subject and the predicate. But if the sentence is a combination of propositions, as is oftener the case, then its chief units are these propositions. Therefore, as a foundation

IO THE PROPOSITION for the analysis of sentences, we must be able to determine readily how many propositions a given sentence contains. Our first exercise will be devoted to this end.

Resolve the following sentences into single propositions. Remember that the number of propositions depends on the number of assertions made.

1. There are thousands of years between the stone hatchet and the machine shop. — C. W. Eliot.

2. All along the Atlantic, the country is bordered by a broad tract, called the tierra caliente, or hot region, which has. the usual high temperature of equinoctial lands. — Prescott.

3. Times grew worse and worse with Rip Van Winkle as years of matrimony rolled on; a tart temper never mellows with age, and a sharp tongue is the only edged tool that grows keener with: constant use. — Irving.

4. Every thing around me wore that happy look which makes the heart glad. — Longfellow.

5. I came from India as a child, and our ship touched at an

island on the waythome, where my black servant took me a long

*walk over rocks and hills, until we reached a garden where we saw a man walking. — Thackeray.

46. Asa painter may draw a cloud so that we recognize its general truth, though the boundaries of real clouds never remain the same for two minutes together, so, amid the changes of feature and complexion, brought about by commingling of race,

\ there still remains a certain cast of physiognomy, which points back to some one ancestor of marked and peculiar character. — Lowell.

\ 7. Our eyes are holden that we cannot see things that stare us in the face, until the hour arrives when the mind is ripened. — Emerson.

‘g The burning sun of Syria had not yet attained its highest point in the horizon, when a knight of the Red Cross, who had

HOW PROPOSITIONS DIFFER II left his distant northern home and joined the host of the Crusaders in Palestine, was pacing slowly along the sandy deserts which lie in the vicinity of the Dead Sea,\where the waves of the Jordan pour themselves into an inland sea from which there is no discharge of waters. — Scott. y 9. Through the black Tartar tents he passed which stood, Clustering like bee hives on the low, flat strand Of Oxus, where the summer floods o’erflow When the sun melts the snow in high Pamere. — M. Arnold. to. On a fine, breezy forenoon I am audaciously skeptical, but, as twilight sets in, my credulity grows steadily, till it becomes equal to anything that could be desired. — De Quincey. 11. Although it was now well on towards dark, and the sun was down an hour or so, I could see the robbers’ road before me in a trough of the winding hills, where the brook plowed down from the higher barrows, and the coving banks were roofed with furze. — Blackmore. 12. In one place the poet describes a congregation gathered to listen to a preacher in a great unillumined cathedral at night. — Wm. James.

Chapter II The Classification Of Propositions

How Propositions differ in Nature. — In studying the human body we cannot help seeing that all the prominent members are not equally important. Some could exist independently of others, while some are joined directly to a more important part, and, if separated from it, would have no use or life. So, in studying a sentence, we notice that all the propositions are not equal in rank. Some are complete sentences in themselves; others would

12 THE CLASSIFICATION OF PROPOSITIONS not make sense if they were obliged to stand alone. Hence there arise two classes of propositions, — principal and subordinate, or independent and dependent.

In every sentence there is at least one primary thought which it is the author’s main purpose to communicate, and this will always be found in the principal proposition. There may be modifying circumstances of time, place, manner, condition, etc., which he wishes to embody in his sentence, but he brings these in by means of words and phrases, which are elements of the principal proposition, or else, if the language affords no adequate words and phrases, by means of subordinate propositions.

In the following sentence from Carlyle, — “ How true is that old fable of the Sphinx, who sat by the wayside propounding her riddle to the passengers,” there are plainly two propositions. It is also plain that the thought which the author wished most to convey is this, — The old fable of the Sphinx is true. In fact, it was the prime importance of this thought that led him to put it in the principal proposition. He chose to add the thought expressed in the second proposition, but he showed its minor importance by constructing the proposition so that it serves as a mere modifier of the word Sphinx. From a grammatical point of view the first proposition is complete, — it could stand alone and make sense ; hence it is called independent. On the other hand, the second proposition, if separated from the first, would lose its meaning; it is therefore said to be dependent.

Consider these sentences:

1. The Mohawk hardly feels the scalping-knife while he shouts his death song. — Macaulay.

INDEPENDENT AND DEPENDENT PROPOSITIONS ie

2. No success is worthy of the name unless it is won by honest industry and a brave breasting of the waves of fortune. — Huxley.

3. That country is the fairest which is inhabited by the noblest minds. — Emerson.

If we separate each of these sentences into its two propositions and apply the test, — which proposition is by itself grammatically complete? we shall see that the first proposition in each sentence is independent and the second dependent. But it may be said that in each case the dependent proposition is necessary for the truth of the sentence, that its thought must have been in the author’s mind not as an addition to the main thought but as something indispensable. This is perfectly true; logically the truth of the independent proposition does depend on the thought in the dependent proposition, but grammatically the dependence is the other way. Notice that in each of these sentences the second proposition denotes a modifying circumstance of the main thought, and therefore takes rank in the sentence merely as an idea, — telling in the first sentence when the Mohawk hardly feels the scalping knife, in the second under what condition success is unworthy, in the third which country jis the fairest. Now, had the author so chosen, these modifications might all have been expressed by phrases, though possibly not so clearly.

Tests for Independent and Dependent Propositions. — From the foregoing we may deduce the following tests for propositions.

1. For the independent proposition. — (a) It contains the main thought that the author wished to convey. (b)

14 THE CLASSIFICATION OF PROPOSITIONS

It is so expressed that it is grammatically complete when standing alone.

2. For the dependent proposition. — (a) It expresses a modifying thought of some word or words in the independent proposition. (b) It may be changed to a simpler element, a word or phrase, provided there is a word or phrase in the language to express the same meaning.. (c) It is not so expressed that it would make sense standing alone. ;

Function of the Dependent Proposition. — From what has already been said it may be inferred that the dependent proposition is employed (1) for variety, in the place of a word or phrase, (2) for the adequate expression of what we have no word or phrase capable of saying. But this is not all. Every dependent proposition can be changed into an independent proposition, and so might have been brought into the sentence in that form. For example, —

The Mohawk shouts his death song, and he hardly feels the scalping knife.

That country is inhabited by the noblest minds and it is the fairest.

Success should be won by honest industry and a brave breasting of the waves of fortune, and no other success is worthy of the name.

By comparing these recasted sentences with the originals we perceive why the authors employed the dependent proposition; by means of it they have shown what the recasted sentences do not show — (1) what is the main thought and what is subordinate; (2) the special relation existing between the principal and the subordinate

THE COMBINATION OF PROPOSITIONS 15 thought. This second point is very important. If we had to tell a story in sentences of one proposition each, how difficult it would be to give the reader an idea of the various relations between these propositions. Besides, how tedious is a succession of single propositions. Compare, for instance, the following six sentences with the one smooth, compact, clear sentence into which they may be combined.

The jay hoards up nuts for winter use.

This is a general belief among country people.

This belief has probably some foundation in fact.

Where can the jay safely place his stores?

One is at a loss to know this.

His stores are apt to be pilfered by the mice ang squirrels.

The general belief among country people that the jay hoards up nuts for winter use has probably some foundation in fact, though one is at a loss to know where he could place his stores so that they would not be pilfered by the mice and squirrels. — Burroughs.

The Combination of Independent Propositions. — This comes about when we wish to put related thoughts into one sentence in such a way as to show that they are equally important, and that, although they are related, neither is to be considered as denoting some modifying circumstance of any idea in the other. For example, —

1. There must be work done by the arms or none of us could live. — Ruskin.

2. Misfortune could not subdue him and prosperity could not spoil him. — Dickens.

3. You may talk of the tyranny of Nero and Tiberius; but the real tyranny is the tyranny of your next door neighbor. — Bagehot.

16 THE CLASSIFICATION OF PROPOSITIONS

Notice that the connectives in these sentences, while indicating a relation between the propositions as wholes, belong to one proposition no more than to the other, hence are not a grammatical part of either; also that neither proposition is a modifier of any idea in the other.

It has been well said that often when we combine two independent propositions into one sentence, we are really conveying three thoughts, — the thought in each proposition and the thought suggested by the relation between the two propositions. In sentence 3 just quoted, we have not only the two propositions expressed, but two more implied; viz., the tyranny of Nero and Tiberius is not the real tyranny; and, the real tyranny is not talked about.

We are now ready to take the second step in studying the structure of a given sentence, that is, to determine whether its component propositions are independent or dependent.

Select each proposition in the following sentences. State whether it is independent or dependent, and give the grounds for your decision.

. Children play the part in the household which the king’s ae who very often had a mighty long head under his cap a bells, used to play for a monarch. — Holmes.

2. Already I breathed gales of the everlasting mountains, that to my feelings blew fromthe garden of Paradise. — De Quincey. i

3. The waterfall is comparatively narrow at the top of the precipice; but it widens as it descends, and curves a little as it widens, so that it shapes itself, before it reaches the first bowl of granite, into the charming figure of the comet that glowed on our sky some years ago. — King.

EXERCISE fy be a great poet, must first become a little child. — Macaulay.

5. One has only to sit down in the woods or fields, or by the shore of the river or lake, and nearly everything of interest will come round to him, — the birds, the animals, the insects, — and presently, after his eye has got accustomed to the place and to the light and shade, he will probably see some plant or flower that he had sought in vain for, and that is a pleasant surprise to him. — Burroughs.

6. If their lantern had been in its place, they would scarce have failed to descry me, unless indeed I had seen the gleam before I turned the corner. — Blackmore.

7. The whole town knew and kindly regarded Miss Betsey Barker’s Alderney; therefore great was the sympathy and regret when, in an unguarded moment, the poor cow tumbled into a lime-pit. — Mrs. Gaskell.

8. That was the grandest funeral

That ever passed on earth, But no one heard the tramping, Or saw the train go forth.

g. There were rows of houses which he had never seen before, and those which had been his familiar haunts had disappeared. — Irving.

10. In the morning I arose with the lark, and at night I ‘slept where sunset overtook me. — Longfellow.

11. Kala Nag, which means Black Snake, had served the Indian Government in every way that an elephant could serve it for forty-seven years. — Kipling.

12. Your dull unhurried worker gets over a great deal of ground because he never goes backward or breaks down. — Wm. James.

4. He, who, in an enlightened and literary society, aspires to _

Chapter III The Classification Of Sentences According To Structure ™

We have seen that a sentence may consist of one proposition or of several, and that all its propositions may be ‘independent or one or more of them may be dependent. ‘This freedom of combination gives rise to three distinct types of sentences, classified according to the number and the kind of propositions they contain. These are simple, complex, and compound.

1. A simple sentence is one that consists of one independent proposition. — “ Lightness of touch is the crowning test of power.” — Higginson.

2. A complex sentence is one that contains at least one dependent proposition. It usually contains a complete independent proposition also, and it may contain any number of dependent propositions.

(a) With the independent proposition complete, — “What inspiration gilds his features as he descends the mount with the Tables in his hand.” — Lord. (b) With the independent proposition incomplete because the dependent proposition is its subject. — “ That

Chaucer, being at Milan, should not have found occasion to ride across so far as Padua for the sake of seeing the most famous literary man of the day, is incredible.” — Lowell.

3. A compound sentence is one that contains at least two independent propositions. It may also contain one or more dependent propositions. In that case it is often called complex-compound.

DIFFICULTIES i9

(a) Compound sentence, — “ It is a strange tale, but it hath the recommendation of brevity.” — Jerrold.

(b) Complex-compound. — “ Times of heroism are generally times of terror, but the day never shines in which this element may not work.” — Emerson.

Difficulty in Classifying Sentences. — It is sometimes: difficult for a beginner to determine whether a sentence is complex or compound, that is, whether a certain one of its propositions is independent or dependent. Take, for instance, two such sentences as the following: “ The ground is wet this morning because it rained last night ” ; and, “ The ground is wet this morning, hence it rained last night.” Out of each of these expressions we get a statement of cause and effect, but the two sentences are not therefore alike, for a sentence is to be considered not only logically but grammatically, before we can decide what kind it is. It is clear that in each sentence the first proposition is independent, so we shall examine only the second.

Now, in the first sentence the second proposition is intended to tell why the ground is wet, just as the words this morning tell when it is wet. Why a certain state exists may be told by a phrase as well as by a proposition, because it is only a modifying circumstance. It might be told here by the prepositional phrase from last night's rain. If this second proposition, then, is put into the sentence merely to tell something about some part of the independent proposition, it is clearly subordinate, and therefore dependent.

In the second sentence the second proposition does not express any modification of any idea in the first proposition. It states a conclusion drawn from the fact stated in the first proposition, and in the author’s mind the conclusion is of equal importance with the fact that supports it. We may even supply the conjunction and before hence, which shows.that the two propositions are coordinate, so if one is independent the other must be.

It may be said that if the conjunction hence is taken as a part of the following proposition, the proposition cannot stand alone any more than can the proposition introduced by because. But because must be taken as a part of its proposition because it indicates the special modifying circumstance — not time, or place, but cause — which the author intended that proposition to denote, whereas hence is not a part of the following proposition because that proposition is not intended, as we have shown, to be a modifier of any part of the preceding proposition, but a conclusion drawn from the whole of it. Because, indicating subordination is a subordinating conjunction and always a part of the proposition it introduces. Hence, indicating equality, or grammatical codrdination, is a coordinating conjunction and never a part of the proposition following it.

The Partially Compound Sentence. — Since there are three well defined types of sentences, it is natural that there should be forms lying in between any two of these types and partaking of the nature of both. One of these forms, the complex-compound sentence, we have already spoken of. Another form is found in the following sentence, — “ The diseases, the elements, fortune, gravity, lightning, respect no persons.” — Emerson.

Here there are several subjects but only one assertion

DIFFICULTIES 21 made, hence only one proposition. The sentence resembles both the compound sentence and the simple sentence, but is, strictly speaking, neither one. It is called partially compound, and may be considered a fifth kind of sentence. Sometimes it contains only one subject but two or more predicates, —“ He shook his head, shouldered the rusty firelock, and, with a heart full of trouble and anxiety, turned his steps homeward.” — Irving.

Classify the following sentences according to structure, giving in each case the grounds for your decision.

1. I could never fathom how a man dares to lift up his voice to preach in a cathedral. — Stevenson.

Fp Great feelings hath she of her own,

Which lesser souls may never know;

God giveth them to her alone,

And sweet they are as any tone

Wherewith the wind may choose to blow. — Lowell.

3. When you emerge from the portals of St. Mark’s, you enter upon spaces of such sunny length and breadth, set round with such exquisite architecture that it makes you glad to be living in this world. — Howells.

4. Education, to accomplish the ends of good government, should be universally diffused. — Webster.

5. If a country finds itself wretched, sure enough that country has been misguided. — Carlyle.

6. These winds in the winter season frequently freshen into tempests, and, sweeping down the Atlantic coast and the winding Gulf of Mexico, burst with the fury of a hurricane on its unprotected shores, and on the neighboring West India islands. — Prescott.

7. The Puritan prostrated himself in the dust before his

fi Maker ; but he set his foot on the neck of his king. — Macaulay.

8. You get entangled in another man’s mind, even as you lose yourself in another man’s grounds. — Lamb.

9. Not what we think, but what we do, Makes saints of us. — Alice Cary.

10. He reeled, and staggering back sank to the ground; And then the gloom dispersed, and the wind fell, And the bright sun broke forth, and melted all The cloud. — M. Arnold.

11. Only the learned, who were very few, could read Latin; hence there came to be great ignorance of the Bible, and all sorts of superstitions and false beliefs took possession of the people, and the Bible came to be almost a forgotten and unused book. — Munger.

12. Wherever the Anglo-Saxon race goes, there law, industry, and safety for life and property are certain to arise. — Dickens.

13. The islands of the lagoons seemed to rise and sink with the light palpitations of the waves like pictures on the undulating fields of banners. — Howells.

14. The heights by great men reached and kept Were not attained by sudden flight, But they, while their companions slept, Were toiling upward in the night. — Longfellow. 15. Sweet funeral bells from some incalculable distance, wailing over the dead that die before the dawn, awakened me as I slept in a boat moored to some familiar shore. — De Quincey.

16. Terror, not love, was the spring of education with the Aztecs. — Prescott.

17. As night set in, the wind whistled in a spiteful, falsetto key, and the rain lashed the old tavern as if it were a balky horse that refused to move on. — Aldrich.

18. Feudalism was an institution of the Middle Ages, which grew out of the miseries and robberies that succeeded the fall of the Roman Empire. — Lord.

19. Tennyson delights to sing of heroic deeds and to celebrate noble souls.

DECLARATIVE AND INTERROGATIVE SENTENCES . 23

Chapter IV The Classification Of Sentences According To Form

WE have classified sentences according to their structure as simple, complex, compound, partially compound, and complex-compound. There is another classification made on the basis of form, which gives us three kinds of sentences, — declarative, interrogative, imperative. These three forms arise from the fact that there are three modes of communicating thought; viz., by assertion, by question, by command.

The Declarative Sentence.— A declarati ence is one that states or ino, — “Aunt Celia has an intense desire to improve my mind.” — Mrs. Wiggin.

This is the commonest kind of sentence, especially in books, for it is the business of an author to inform his readers of his own thoughts, not to inquire after theirs. It is the style of sentence best fitted for relating events, describing objects, or making clear any difficult subject. Its order is usually the natural one, first the subject and then the predicate. Variations from this order will be taken up as they present themselves in connection with different sentence-elements.

The Interrogative Sentence. — An interrogative sentence is one that_ask uestion, — “ Who now reads the ancient authors? ” — F. Harrison.

This kind of sentence is used often in conversation, both oral and written. It is also common in addresses, such as sermons and lectures, where the speaker asks questions of his audience, not for the purpose of getting an answer, but that he may make a more direct appeal to them. In books we often meet such an interrogative sentence as this, — “ What courage can withstand the ever-during and all-besetting terrors of a woman’s tongue?” — Irving.

The purpose of this sentence is not to inquire, to ask a question of anybody, but to give emphatic expression to a thought. It is a rhetorical device for making an assertion forcible. The author of the sentence quoted was so positive of the truth of his thought that, instead of declaring it, he put it in the form of a question, meaning, however, — “ There is no courage that can withstand, etc.”

Interrogative sentences are of two kinds:

1. Those that can be answered by yes or no, — “ Can a man weigh off and value the glories of dawn against the darkness of hurricane? ” — De Quincey.

These sentences put in question the whole thought, and are usually in the inverted order, the auxiliary of the predicate verb coming before the subject.

2. Those that cannot be answered by yes or no, — “ Why should the trees be so lovely in Japan? ” — Hearn.

These sentences put in question only one point, either the subject, the object, an attribute of the subject or object, or some circumstance of time, manner, place, cause, etc. They usually begin with an interrogative word, such as the pronouns who, which, what, or the adverbs how, when, why, where.

Interrogative sentences have sometimes the same order and arrangement of words as declarative sentences. Itis only by hearing them spoken or noting their punctuation that we know they are interrogative; for example,