SUMMARY
359. We have then adverb clauses introduced by subordinate conjunctions expressing:
1. Time. Answer the question when.
2. Place. Answer the question where.
3. Cause or reason. Answer the question why.
4. Manner. Answer the question how.
5. Comparison. Used to compare.
6. Condition. Answer the question on what condition.
7. Purpose. Answer the question for what purpose.
8. Result. Answer the question to what result.
Exercise 1
In the following sentences, mark the conjunctions and tell to what class they belong; ask the question when, where, why, how, on what condition, for what purpose, to what result. Underscore the subordinate clauses. The subjects of the subordinate clauses are printed in italics.
1. Speech was developed that we might be able to communicate with one another.
2. The International failed in the crisis because it had no definite war program.
3. We will fail if we have no definite program.
4. If labor were united, we could destroy wage slavery.
5. When the people understand, they will no longer submit.
6. Labor cannot win until it learns solidarity.
7. After the terrible war is over, the workers in all countries may come closer together.
8. We are convinced of the folly of nationalism since the war has been declared.
9. If we knew the facts we could not be misled.
10. Inform yourself before you seek to teach others.
11. We must unite in order that we may possess power.
12. It is more than the heart can bear.
13. May you have courage to dare ere you have ceased to dream.
14. If we remain ignorant, we shall remain enslaved.
15. We sometimes fear to trust our own thought because it is our own.
16. Though we should lose the strike we will not despair.
17. The battle waged so fiercely that thousands were slain.
PHRASE CONJUNCTIONS
360. There are certain phrases which have come to be used together as conjunctions so commonly that we may consider them as conjunctions. They are:
As if, as though, but also, but likewise, so that, except that, inasmuch as, notwithstanding that, in order that, as well as, as far as, so far as, as little as, provided that, seeing that, etc.
Exercise 2
Write sentences using these phrase conjunctions to introduce clauses.
NOUN CLAUSES
361. We have found that there are two kinds of clauses, principal clauses and subordinate clauses.
A principal clause is one that does not depend on any word.
A subordinate clause is one that depends upon some word or words in the principal clause.
We have found, also, that these principal clauses are always connected by co-ordinate conjunctions, for they are of equal rank and importance; neither is dependent upon the other.
Subordinate clauses are always connected with the principal clause by a subordinate conjunction. The subordinate clauses which we have been studying have all been adverb clauses which are used to describe the action expressed in the verb contained in the principal clauses.
The subordinate clause in a sentence may also be used as a noun. When the subordinate clause is used as a noun it is called a noun clause.
362. A noun clause is a clause used as a noun.
A noun clause may be used in any way in which a noun is used, except as a possessive. It may be used as a subject, an object, a predicate complement, or in apposition with a noun. These noun clauses may be introduced by either relative pronouns, interrogative pronouns or by conjunctions. For example:
I know who he is.
He asked, "what do you want?"
I know where it is.
In the first sentence, who he is, is a noun clause used as the object of the verb know. It tells what I know, and is the object of the verb know,—just as if I had said; I know the facts. In this sentence the noun, facts, is the object of the verb know.
In the second sentence, He asked, "what do you want?" the noun clause what do you want is the object of the verb asked, and is introduced by the interrogative pronoun what.
We will study in a subsequent lesson the use of noun clauses introduced by relative pronouns. In this lesson we are studying the conjunctions.
In the last sentence, I know where it is, the noun clause where it is, is the object of the verb know, and is introduced by the conjunction where.
363. Noun clauses are introduced by the subordinate conjunctions, where, when, whence, whither, whether, how, why, and also by the subordinate conjunction that. For example:
I know where I can find it.
I inquired when he would arrive.
We do not know whence it cometh nor whither it goeth.
Ask whether the train has gone.
I don't know how I can find you.
I cannot understand why he does so.
I believe that he is honest.
In all of these examples the noun clauses are used as the objects of the verb. Noun clauses may also be used as objects of prepositions. As, for example:
You do not listen to what is said.
He talked to me about what had happened.
He told me to come to where he was.
364. Noun clauses may also be used as the subject of a sentence. As for example:
That he is innocent is admitted by all.
That he was guilty has been proven.
Why he should do this is very strange.
How we are to live is the great problem.
In all of these sentences, the noun clause is used as the subject of the verb. You will note that most frequently the noun clause used as subject of the verb is introduced by the subordinate conjunction that. But quite often we write these sentences in a somewhat different way. For example:
It is admitted by all that he is innocent.
It has been proven that he was guilty.
You will notice in these sentences we have expressed practically the same thought as in the sentences where the noun clause was used as the subject of the verb.
But now we have this little pronoun it used as the subject, instead of the clause, which is the real subject of the sentence. It is simply used as the introductory word in the sentence. The noun clause is in reality the subject of the sentence.
365. Noun clauses may also be used as the predicate complement with a copulative verb. For example:
The general opinion is that he is innocent.
The problem is how we may accomplish this quickly.
The question was why any one should believe such statements.
In all of these sentences the noun clause is used as the complement of the incomplete verbs is and was, to complete the meaning, just as we use a noun as the predicate complement of a copulative verb in such sentences as, Socialism is a science. War is murder.
366. A noun clause may also be used in apposition to a noun to explain its meaning. Apposition means to place alongside of. Note in the following sentences:
The fact, that such a law had been passed, alters the situation.
His motion, that the matter should be laid on the table, was adopted.
In the first sentence, the clause, that such a law had been passed, is placed beside the noun fact and explains what that fact is. The clause, that the matter should be laid on the table, is in apposition to and explains the noun motion.
These noun clauses are used in apposition.
Exercise 3
Complete the following sentences by inserting the appropriate conjunctions and pronouns in the blank spaces:
1. Can you tell......Germany has a million fighting men?
2. Would you be pleased......the United States should intervene in Mexico?
3. The Mexican revolution will continue......the people possess the land.
4. No one may vote in the convention......he has credentials.
5. ......Debs was in Woodstock jail, he became in Socialist.
6. ......the treaty was signed, hostilities ceased.
7. We shall win......we have the courage.
8. ......we have lost this battle we shall not cease to struggle.
9. All are enslaved......one is enslaved.
10. Humanity will be free......labor is free.
11. Let us do our duty......we understand it.
12. Man will never reach his best......he walks side by side with woman.
13. We must struggle......we would be free.
14. ......we shout for peace, we support war.
15. All our sympathies should be with the man......toils,......we know......labor is the foundation of all.
16. ......all have the right to think and to express their thoughts every brain will give to all the best......it has.
17. ......man develops he places greater value upon his own rights.
18. ......man values his own rights he begins to value the rights of others.
19. ......all men give to all others the rights......they claim for themselves this world will be civilized.
Exercise 4
Note all the co-ordinate and subordinate conjunctions in the following verses from "The Ballad of Reading Gaol." Underscore the subordinate clauses. Are they adverb or noun clauses? Do the co-ordinate conjunctions connect words, phrases or clauses?
I know not whether Laws be right,
Or whether Laws be wrong;
All that we know who lie in gaol
Is that the wall is strong;
And that each day is like a year,
A year whose days are long.
But this I know, that every Law
That men have made for Man,
Since first Man took his brother's life,
And the sad world began,
But straws the wheat and saves the chaff
With a most evil fan.
This too I know—and wise it were
If each could know the same—
That every prison that men build
Is built with bricks of shame,
And bound with bars lest Christ should see
How men their brothers maim.
With bars they blur the gracious moon,
And blind the goodly sun:
And they do well to hide their Hell,
For in it things are done
That son of God nor son of Man
Ever should look upon!
In Reading gaol by Reading town
There is a pit of shame,
And in it lies a wretched man
Eaten by teeth of flame,
In a burning winding sheet he lies,
And his grave has got no name.
And there, till Christ call forth the dead,
In silence let him lie:
No need to waste the foolish tear,
Or heave the windy sigh:
The man had killed the thing he loved,
And so he had to die.
And all men kill the thing they love,
By all let this be heard,
Some do it with a bitter look,
Some with a flattering word,
The coward does it with a kiss,
The brave man with a sword.
—Oscar Wilde.
SPELLING
LESSON 21
In Lesson No. 17 we studied concerning abstract nouns derived from qualifying adjectives. We found that we formed these nouns expressing quality from adjectives that describe quality by the addition of suffixes.
Adjectives may likewise be formed from nouns and also from verbs by the addition of suffixes. There are a number of suffixes which may be used to form adjectives in this way; as, al, ous, ic, ful, less, able, ible, ary and ory. Notice the following words: nation, national; peril, perilous; reason, reasonable; sense, sensible; custom, customary; advise, advisory; hero, heroic; care, careful, careless.
To some words, more than one suffix may be added and an adjective of different meaning formed; for example, use, useless, useful; care, careless, careful.
Make as many adjectives as you can from the nouns and verbs given in the spelling lesson for this week by the addition of one or more of the following suffixes:
Al, less, ous, ic, ful, able, ible, ary, ory, and ly.
Monday
Accident
Danger
Origin
Commend
Element
Tuesday
Critic
Libel
Attain
Revolution
Contradict
Wednesday
Cynic
Injury
Respect
Station
Migrate
Thursday
Event
Parent
Order
Virtue
Marvel
Friday
Second
Fashion
Consider
Murder
Incident
Saturday
Constitution
Industry
Vibrate
Tribute
Compliment
PLAIN ENGLISH
LESSON 22
Dear Comrade:
We have practically finished the study of the different parts of speech. We are now in possession of a knowledge of the tools which we need to use in expressing ourselves. We are ready to make practical application of this knowledge in writing and speaking. We will find that with our increasing ability to express ourselves there comes also the power to think clearly. The analysis of language has meant a growing power to think on the part of the people.
We sometimes imagine that simplicity of language was a part of primitive life, but this is not true. Simplicity of language is the product of high civilization. Primitive life was marked, not by simplicity of language, but by the scarcity of language. They made one word stand for an entire sentence, and if they wished to express a little different meaning, an entirely different word had to be used, as for example, in the primitive language: I said to her, would be one word, and I said to him, would be another, entirely different, word.
But as the power of thought began to develop, we began to analyze our meaning and we found that this thought was identical except the him and the her. So as we analyzed our thought our expression of it became more simple. In most languages, the different meaning of the verb, for example, is expressed by an arbitrary change in the verb form. This is called the inflection of the verb. In English we would use several words to express the same thing. For example, the Latin word Fuissem requires four English words to express the same meaning; I should have been, we say in English. So instead of having to learn a great number of different changes in the verb form, we, by the use of auxiliary verbs, have, shall, do, be, etc., are able to express all these shades of thought much more simply and clearly.
Most other languages also have changes for gender. Every noun has a gender of its own and sometimes this form gives the wrong gender to living beings and attributes sex to sexless objects and the only way to know the gender of the noun is simply by memory. Then the adjectives, possessive pronouns and the articles a and the have gender also and have to be changed to suit the gender of the noun; this involves a great effort of memory. So while the English may seem somewhat involved to you, it is, after all, much simpler than other languages. It has been freed from many superfluous endings and unnecessary complications.
Take a little time each day to read something out of the best literature. The quotations given in each of these lessons are from our very best writers. A study of these will be a wonderful help and inspiration to you and bring you in touch with some of the great thinkers of the revolution. They are our comrades and are putting into words the thoughts and hopes and dreams of our lives.
Yours for the Revolution,THE PEOPLE'S COLLEGE.
ADJECTIVE CLAUSES
367. In our study of subordinate clauses, we have studied subordinate clauses used as adverbs and as nouns. We have found that adverb clauses can be used in the same way as adverbs, to describe the time, place, manner, cause, condition or purpose of the action expressed in the verb. We have found, also, that a noun clause may be used in any way in which a noun can be used, as the subject of the sentence, the object of a verb or preposition or as the predicate complement. But these are not the only uses to which the subordinate clause may be put. Note the following sentences:
Wealthy men desire to control the education of the people.
Men of wealth desire to control the education of the people.
Men who are wealthy desire to control the education of the people.
Do you see any difference in the words which are used to modify the noun men? In the first sentence, wealthy is an adjective, modifying the noun men. In the second sentence, of wealth is a prepositional phrase, used as an adjective modifying the noun men. In the last sentence, who are wealthy is a clause used in exactly the same way that the adjective wealthy and the adjective phrase of wealth are used, to modify the noun men.
We have expressed practically the same meaning in these three ways: by a word; by a phrase; by a clause.
368. A word used to describe and modify a noun is an adjective.
A phrase used to describe and modify a noun is an adjective phrase.
A clause used to describe and modify a noun is an adjective clause.
Note the difference between a phrase and a clause.
369. A prepositional phrase, used as an adjective, consists of the preposition and the noun which is its object, together with its modifiers. A phrase never has either a subject or a predicate. Who are wealthy, is a clause because it does contain a subject and a predicate. The pronoun who is the subject in the clause, and the predicate is the copulative verb are with the predicate complement, the adjective wealthy.
Exercise 1
In the following sentences change the adjective into a phrase and also into a clause, if possible. For example:
A fearless man always defends his rights.
A man without fear always defends his rights.
A man who is fearless always defends his rights.
1. The unemployed men are becoming desperate.
2. The uneducated masses are demanding equal opportunity.
3. The discovery of gold was an important discovery.
4. Unorganized labor is helpless.
5. The revolution needs intelligent rebels.
6. A few wealthy men are striving to control education.
7. This will be a progressive movement.
8. Labor-saving inventions throw men out of employment.
9. Scientific men prophesy a great advance for the mass.
THE INTRODUCING WORD
370. You will notice that these adjective clauses are introduced by the relative pronouns who, which and that. These relative pronouns fulfil something of the office of a conjunction, because they are serving as connecting elements; they join these subordinate clauses to the words which they modify. But you will note, also, that these relative pronouns not only serve as connecting elements, but they also play a part in the subordinate clause, as either the subject or object. For example:
The man who has no education is handicapped in the struggle.
Are these the books that you ordered?
In the first sentence, who has an education is an adjective clause modifying the noun man, introduced by the relative pronoun who, which is also the subject of the verb has.
In the second sentence, that you ordered is an adjective clause, modifying the noun books, introduced by the relative pronoun that, which is also the object of the verb ordered.
371. There is no need to be confused in this matter of clauses. If the clause is used as a noun, either as the subject or the object or in any other way in which a noun can be used, it is a noun clause. If it is used as an adverb and will answer any of the questions why, when, where, or how, etc., it is an adverb clause. If it is used as an adjective,—if it modifies a noun or pronoun,—it is an adjective clause.
You will note that the only way in which a noun is used that does not have its corresponding clause is as a possessive. We do not have possessive clauses. The clause used as an adjective always modifies a noun or pronoun.
372. An adjective clause is a clause used as an adjective and hence always modifies a noun or pronoun.
An adjective clause may be introduced by the relative pronouns, who, which or that. The use of this clause is a great help to us in the expression of our ideas, for it enables us to combine several sentences containing related thoughts into one sentence so we have it all presented to the mind at once.
Exercise 2
In the following sentences, note which are the noun clauses and which are the adjective clauses and which are the adverb clauses. The verb in the subordinate clause is in italics.
1. Life is what we make it.
2. We acquire the strength that we overcome.
3. While he slept the enemy came.
4. All that he does is to distribute what others produce.
5. When faith is lost, when honor dies, the man is dead.
6. Thrice is he armed who hath his quarrel just; he is naked though he be locked up in steel whose conscience with injustice is corrupted.
7. When strength and justice are true yoke fellows, where can we find a mightier pair than they?
8. You will gain a good reputation if you endeavor to be what you desire to appear.
9. Live as though life were earnest and life will be so.
10. He that loveth makes his own the grandeur that he loves.
11. Who does the best his circumstance allows does well; angels could do no more.
12. He is not worthy of the honeycomb that shuns the hive because the bees have stings.
13. We always may be what we might have been.
14. Rich gifts wax poor when givers prove unkind.
15. Let me make the songs of the people and I care not who makes the laws.
16. Attention is the stuff that memory is made of.
17. A great writer has said that grace is beauty in action; I say that justice is truth in action.
18. If we do not plant knowledge when young it will give us no shade when we are old.
19. You can no more exercise your reason if you live in constant dread of laughter than you can enjoy your life if you live in constant dread and terror of death.