LESSON LXIII.
Reading edition
CLAUSES.
The leading thought of a sentence is called the principal clause.
A clause that has the function of a noun, an adjective, or an adverb, is called a subordinate clause.
Select the principal clauses and the subordinate clauses in the following sentences, and state the function of each subordinate clause:—
1.They knew who did it.
2.The book which you gave me, is here.
3.I shall go when he returns.
A clause that has the function of a noun, is called a noun clause; as, He said he knew his lesson. How I shall reach my destination is the question.
A noun clause may be used:—
1.As the object of a verb; as, He knew what I did.
2.As the subject of a verb; as, What course he pursued is seen now.
3.As the object of a preposition; as, My friend annoyed me by what he said.
4.As a predicate nominative; as, The end of it all is (that) he receives his choice.
A clause that has the use or function of an adjective, is called an adjective clause; as, He found the book which he lost.
A clause that has the use or function of an adverb, is called an adverbial clause; as, I shall go where they are. He will destroy it unless we hinder him.
A sentence that consists of one principal clause, and one or more subordinate clauses, is called a complex sentence; as, I have met the person of whom you speak.
A sentence that consists of two or more independent clauses, is called a compound sentence; as, James came home, but John remained there.
A compound sentence that is made up of complex sentences, or simple and complex sentences, is called a compound-complex sentence; as, We entered the building, and a man who was working there, gave us information about it.
EXERCISES.
Name the clauses in the following sentences, and state the kind and relation (if any) of each:—
1. Whilst I was thus musing, I cast my eyes towards the summit of a rock that was not far from me, where I discovered one in the habit of a shepherd, with a musical instrument in his hand.—Addison.
Model.—
Whilst . . . . musing is an adv. clause, mod. cast.
I cast . . . . a rock is a principal clause.
That . . . . . me is an adj. clause, mod. summit of a rock.
Where I . . . hand is an adj. clause, mod. summit of a rock.
2. King Harold had a rebel brother in Flanders, who was a vassal of Harold Hardrada, king of Norway.—Dickens.
3. Those who knew him best affirmed that this Mr. Toil was a very worthy character, and that he had done more good, both to children and grown people, than anybody else in the world.—Hawthorne.
4. Portia, when she returned, was in that happy temper of mind which never fails to attend the consciousness of having performed a good action; her cheerful spirits enjoyed everything she saw: the moon never seemed to shine so brightly before; and when that pleasant moon was hid behind a cloud, then a light which she saw from her house at Belmont as well pleased her charmed fancy.—Lamb.
5. Once upon a time, there lived a very rich man, and a king besides, whose name was Midas; and he had a little daughter, whom nobody but himself ever heard of, and whose name I either never knew, or have entirely forgotten. So, because I love odd names for little girls, I choose to call her Marygold.—Hawthorne.
6. I rose and prepared to leave the Abbey. As I descended the flight of steps which lead into the body of the building, my eye was caught by the shrine of Edward the Confessor, and I ascended the small staircase that conducts to it, to take from thence a general survey of this wilderness of tombs.—Irving.
7.All things that love the sun are out of doors;
The sky rejoices in the morning’s birth;
The grass is bright with rain-drops;—on the moors
The hare is running races in her mirth.—Wordsworth.
8.I thought of a mound in sweet Auburn
Where a little headstone stood;
How the flakes were folding it gently,
As did robins the babes in the wood.—Lowell.
9.Lightly they’ll talk of the spirit that’s gone,
And o’er his cold ashes upbraid him;
But little he’ll reck if they let him sleep on
In the grave where a Briton has laid him.—Wolfe.
10.The humble boon was soon obtained;
The Aged Minstrel audience gained.
But, when he reached the room of state,
Where she, with all her ladies, sate,
Perchance he wished his boon denied:
For when to tune his harp he tried,
His trembling hand had lost the ease
Which marks security to please.—Scott.