PART II

THE COMPLEX SENTENCE OF TWO CLAUSES

I. THE NOUN CLAUSE AND ITS EQUIVALENTS

▲ noun or an infinitive may be expanded into a Noun Clause. (I.) The noun, the infinitive, and their equivalent noun clause as Subject:

(a) Mercy becomes a monarch.'

= To be merciful becomes a monarch.

It becomes a monarch to be merciful.

= That he should be merciful becomes a monarch.

It becomes a monarch that he should be merciful.

It is obvious that the clause 'that he should be merciful' replaces and does the work of the noun 'mercy'; it is therefore called a noun clause or a noun sentence.

(b) Delay is dangerous.'

=

To delay is dangerous.

= It is dangerous to delay.

That one should delay is dangerous.

= It is dangerous that one should delay.

The clause that one should delay' replaces and does the work of the noun 'delay'; hence it is called a noun clause.

Placed at the head of the sentence, the forms 'to be merciful,' 'that he should be merciful,'' to delay,' 'that one should delay,' are felt to be stiff; hence, to give to a sentence of the type we are considering, a graceful poise, and to place the real subject

in what is for the subject the most emphatic position in the sentence, the pronoun 'it' is placed at the beginning and the real subject at the end of the sentence. This use of it,' to represent vaguely something specified at the end of the sentence, should be specially noted; this is often called the anticipatory ‘it.'

(c) The education of the people is in itself a good thing.' =To educate the people is in itself a good thing.

= It is in itself a good thing to educate the people.

= That the people should be educated is in itself a good thing.

=

It is in itself a good thing that the people should be educated.

Rule. For the sake of variety of construction the noun clause as subject should be placed sometimes at the beginning and sometimes at the end of the sentence. It should be borne in mind, however, that the end is generally the position of emphasis.

The last sentence is written by its author thus: "That the people should be educated is in itself a good thing.'

(II.) The noun clause as Object:

(a) 'Every one vowed to defend the slayers.'

Every one vowed that he would defend the slayers.

(b) The Commons resolved not to agree to the amendments.'

=The Commons resolved that they would not agree to the amendments.

(c) He knew how to deal with such men.'

=

= He knew how he ought to deal with such men. (d) 'I do not know the cause of your sadness.' = I do not know why you are sad.

=I do not know what has made you sad. (e) They have forgotten your place of residence.'

They have forgotten where you reside.

The usual place of the objective noun clause is after the word that governs it. To make the clause emphatic it is placed before the sentence containing its governing word, as:

(a) Why this was done Temple declares himself unable to compre

hend.'

'Why this was done,' noun clause objective, governed by 'to comprehend.' This is parsing the noun clause.

(b) What shame meant Wharton did not understand.'

'What shame meant,' noun clause objective, governed by 'did understand,'

(III.) The noun clause in Apposition :

(a) There was no danger of his being betrayed.' There was no danger that he would be betrayed.

(b) It was not easy to carry out the resolution never to approach the queen.'

It was not easy to carry out the resolution that he would never approach the queen.

'That he would be betrayed,' noun clause in apposition to 'danger.'

'That he would never approach the queen,' noun clause in apposition to 'resolution.'

(IV.) The noun clause as Predicate :

(a) My directions were that you should depart.'
(b) 'Your reply is that you were unable to go."

If in I., II., and III. we work backwards, we condense the clause into its equivalent noun or phrase. This interchange of equivalent constructions is obviously most useful as a device for attaining variety of expression in composition. It should be noted that the condensed sentence is more vigorous than the expanded sentence. 'Expanded sentence' is here used to denote the whole expression formed by the noun clause and the sentence to which this clause stands in the relation of a noun. The sentence to which the noun clause stands in the relation of a noun is called the principal sentence or the principal clause; the noun clause is sometimes called a subordinate sentence; and the two sentences taken together form what is called a Complex Sentence. A complex sentence is one that contains a principal clause and one or more subordinate clauses.

Subordinate clauses are of three kinds: Noun clauses, Adjective clauses, and Adverbial clauses.

EXERCISE I

1. Write the following sentences in as many equivalent forms as you can; expand, condense, substitute, or invert whereever you find it necessary :

It is scarcely possible to imagine anything more beautiful. Captain Fitz-Roy determined to take the boats no further. It was proposed to send off an express to summon his son to town. It would be useless waste of life to prolong the contest. That there are ten thousand thieves in London is a melancholy fact.

That such an event might happen cannot well be disputed by any one. The speech of these people scarcely deserves to be called a language. We do not see any reason for not making

a few more rules of the same kind. The circumstance of its being an arm of the sea was rendered evident by the presence of several whales. They had determined to discover what had been done. The captain mentions having set a party on shore. That many of these bishops have not been bishops by apostolic succession is quite certain. He found himself at liberty to follow. He resolved to enjoy himself. He considered himself safe. He wished to retire from the business. Temple received orders to repair instantly to England. He soon found himself excluded from their secrets. The king soon told the council of his resolve to prorogue the new Parliament. That a historian should not record trifles is perfectly true. We are

in no danger of being speared by the Thebans. I can't tell you the extent of my thought about this subject. The cause of his strange action was never known. The time of his coming no one can guess. We all desire happiness. The site of the city could not be discovered. They soon saw the reason for his prompt action. I cannot comprehend their refusing to work. I had not the least doubt of the man's honesty. His motive for behaving towards you in this manner is a complete puzzle to me. The queen's reasons for adopting so extraordinary a costume must be left to conjecture. Against so strong a current it was impossible to sail. There is not the slightest reason to believe the report. It deserves the praise of being a good book. How this stamping arose I cannot conjecture. War teaches men how they should die.

2. Parse the noun clauses in the following:

(N.B.—The clause is to be parsed as a single word. See the sentences parsed above.)

It must be owned that mere curiosity helped the success of these works. It was asked what was the writer's sex. We might say that the poet has written his own biography. He sees that our virtues have their absurd sides. It is difficult to imagine how irritating this trick becomes in the long-run. You will not suppose that I have any vulgar wish to fathom your secret.

You ask if I am ready to allow myself to be convinced.

The author used to tell how the thing was done. I think that the best books in existence have all been written simply to make money. What the workmen dislike they do not know; but what they want they do know.

II. THE ADJECTIVE CLAUSE AND ITS EQUIVALENTS Adjectives and adjective phrases may be expanded into equivalent clauses, and, conversely, adjective clauses may be condensed.

(I.) The adjective expanded into an adjective clause : (a) A wise man.'

A man of wisdom.

= A man possessing wisdom.
=A man that (or who) is wise.

A man that (or who) possesses wisdom.

'That (or who) is wise' and 'that (or who) possesses wisdom' replace and do the work of the adjective 'wise'; hence they are called adjective clauses, or adjective sentences. They are also called relative clauses.

'That (or which) is difficult' replaces and does the work of the adjective 'difficult'; it is therefore an adjective clause.

(II.) The possessive case expanded into an adjective clause :

(a) 'Byron's poems.'

The poems of Byron.

The poems written by Byron.

=The poems that (or which) were written by Byron.

'That (or which) were written by Byron' replaces and does the work of the possessive case 'Byron's,' and 'Byron's' does the work of an adjective; hence the clause 'that (or which) were written by Byron' is an adjective clause. Similar remarks apply

to the samples that follow.

(b) His crime.'

The crime of that man.

-The crime committed by that man.

=

=

The crime that (or which) was committed by that man.

The crime which that man committed.

The crime of which he was guilty.