VERB PHRASES
413. Note that in most of the sentences which we have used, we have used the simple form of the verb, the form that is used to express past and present time. In expressing other time forms we use verb phrases. Note the summary given in section 145, which gives the different time forms of the verb.
414. Sometimes in using the verb phrase you will find that other words may separate the words forming the phrase. When you analyze your sentence this will not confuse you. You will easily be able to pick out the verb phrase. For example:
I shall very soon find out the trouble.
Here the adverbs, very and soon, separate find from its auxiliary shall. The verb phrase is, shall find. The negative not very often separates the words forming a verb phrase. For example:
I will not go.
In this sentence, will go is the verb phrase.
When we use the auxiliary verb do to express emphasis, and also the negative not, not comes between the auxiliary verb do, and the principal verb. For example:
I do not obey, I think.
In this sentence, do obey is the verb phrase.
In interrogative sentences, the verb phrase is inverted and a part of the verb phrase is placed first and the subject after. For example:
Will you go with us?
You is the subject of this interrogative sentence and will go is the verb phrase; but in order to ask the question, the order is inverted and part of the verb phrase placed first. In using interrogative adverbs in asking a question, the same inverted order is used. For example:
When will this work be commenced?
In this sentence, work is the subject of the sentence and will be commenced is the verb phrase. If you should write this in assertive form, it would be:
This work will be commenced when?
By paying close attention we can easily distinguish the verb phrases even when they are used in the inverted form or when they are separated by other parts of speech.
LET US SUM UP
415. The elements of a sentence are the words, phrases or clauses of which it is composed.
A simple sentence is one which contains a single statement, question or command.
A simple sentence contains only words and phrases. It does not contain dependent clauses. The elements of a simple sentence are:
Exercise 6
In the following sentences, the simple subjects and the simple predicates of the principal clauses are printed in italics. Locate all the modifiers of the subjects and predicates, and determine the part of speech of each word in the sentence.
Sentences Nos. 1, 5, 6, 14, 15, 16, 18, 30, 31, 32 and 37 are simple sentences.
Sentences Nos. 2, 4, 7, 11, 13, 17, 19, 22, 26, 28, 33, 34 and 36 are complex.
Sentences Nos. 3, 10, 12, 21, 23, 24, 25, 29 and 35 are compound.
No. 8 is incomplete, having neither subject nor predicate.
No. 9 is incomplete, there being no predicate in the principal clause.
No. 20 is a simple sentence, with a complex sentence in parenthesis.
No. 27 consists of two dependent clauses.
In the complex sentences, draw a line under the dependent clauses.
"Br—r—r—r—r—r—r—r—r—."
1. What are the machines saying, a hundred of them in one long room?
2. They must be talking to themselves, for I see no one else for them to talk to.
3. But yes, there is a boy's red head bending over one of them, and beyond I see a pale face fringed with brown curly locks.
4. There are only five boys in all, on the floor, half-hidden by the clattering machines, for one bright lad can manage twenty-five of them.
5. Each machine makes one cheap, stout sock in five minutes, without seam, complete from toe to ankle, cutting the thread at the end and beginning another of its own accord.
6. The boys have nothing to do but to clean and burnish and oil the steel rods and replace the spools of yarn.
7. But how rapidly and nervously they do it—the slower hands straining to accomplish as much as the fastest!
8. Working at high tension for ten hours a day in the close, greasy air and endless whirr–
9. Boys who ought to be out playing ball in the fields or taking a swim in the river this fine summer afternoon.
10. And in these good times, the machines go all night, and other shifts of boys are kept from their beds to watch them.
11. The young girls in the mending and finishing rooms downstairs are not so strong as the boys.
12. They have an unaccountable way of fainting and collapsing in the noise and smell, and then they are of no use for the rest of the day.
13. The kind stockholders have had to provide a room for collapsed girls and to employ a doctor, who finds it expedient not to understand this strange new disease.
14. Perhaps their children will be more stalwart in the next generation.
15. Yet this factory is one of the triumphs of our civilization.
16. With only twenty boys at a time at the machines in all the rooms, it produces five thousand dozen pairs of socks in twenty-four hours for the toilers of the land.
17. It would take an army of fifty thousand hand-knitters to do what these small boys perform.
"Br—r—r—r—r—r—r—r—r—."
18. What are the machines saying?
19. They are saying, "We are hungry."
20. "We have eaten up the men and women. (There is no longer a market for men and women, they come too high)—
21. We have eaten up the men and women, and now we are devouring the boys and girls.
22. How good they taste as we suck the blood from their rounded cheeks and forms, and cast them aside sallow and thin and careworn, and then call for more.
23. Br—r—r—r—r—r—r—r! how good they taste; but they give us so few boys and girls to eat nowadays, although there are so many outside begging to come in—.
24. Only one boy to twenty of us, and we are nearly famished!
25. We eat those they give us and those outside will starve, and soon we shall be left almost alone in the world with the stockholders.
26. Br—r—r—r—r—r—r—r! What shall we do then for our food?" the machines chatter on.
27. "When we are piling up millions of socks a day for the toilers and then there are no toilers left to buy them and wear them.
28. Then perhaps we shall have to turn upon the kind stockholders and feast on them (how fat and tender and toothsome they will be!) until at last we alone remain, clattering and chattering in a desolate land," growled the machines.
29. While the boys went on anxiously, hurriedly rubbing and polishing, and the girls downstairs went on collapsing.
30. "Br—r—r—r—r—r—r—r!" growled the machines.
31. The devil has somehow got into the machines.
32. They came like the good gnomes and fairies of old, to be our willing slaves and make our lives easy.
33. Now that, by their help, one man can do the work of a score, why have we not plenty for all, with only enough work to keep us happy?
34. Who could have foreseen all the ills of our factory workers and of those who are displaced and cast aside by factory work?
35. The good wood and iron elves came to bless us all, but some of us have succeeded in bewitching them to our own ends and turning them against the rest of mankind.
36. We must break the sinister charm and win over the docile, tireless machines until they refuse to shut out a single human being from their benefits.
37. We must cast the devil out of the machines.—Ernest Crosby.
SPELLING
LESSON 24
Among the common suffixes in English are the suffixes or and er. These suffixes mean one who or that which. For example, builder, one who builds; actor, one who acts; heater, that which heats. But we are confused many times to know whether to add the suffix or or er to form these derivative words. There is no exact rule which can be given, but the following rule usually applies with but few exceptions:
To the shorter and commoner words in the language add the suffix er. For example, writer, boxer, singer, etc. To the longer and less common words, usually those derived from the Latin or the Greek, add the suffix or. For example, legislator, conqueror, etc.
There are a number of words in the English like honor, in which the last syllable used to be spelled our instead of or. You will probably run across such words as these in your reading. This mode of spelling these words, however, is being rapidly dropped and the ending or is being used instead of our. There are also a number of words in our language like center, which used to be spelled with re instead of er. The re ending is not used any more, although you may run across it occasionally in your reading. The proper ending for all such words as these is er. There are a few words, however, like timbre (a musical term) and acre, which are still properly spelled with the re ending.
The spelling lessons for Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday, contain words from which derivatives can be formed by adding er or or. Look these words up in the dictionary and be sure that you have added the proper suffix. The list for Friday consists of words which you may find in your reading spelled with the our ending. The list for Saturday contains words which you may find spelled with the re ending instead of the er.
Monday
Create
Produce
Profess
Debate
Govern
Tuesday
Edit
Consume
Consign
Legislate
Design
Wednesday
Solicit
Pay
Success
Observe
Invent
Thursday
Vote
Debt
Organize
Sail
Strike
Friday
Labor
Neighbor
Rumor
Valor
Candor
Saturday
Theater
Scepter
Fiber
Somber
Meager
PLAIN ENGLISH
LESSON 25
Dear Comrade:
In logic, we have two ways of reasoning, from the general to the particular and from the particular to the general. In other words, we may take a certain number of facts and reason to a conclusion; or we may go the other way about and start with our conclusion and reason back to the facts which produce the conclusion. Scientists use the former method. They gather together all the facts which they possibly can and from these facts they reach their conclusions.
This was what Karl Marx did for the social problems of his day. He analyzed these problems. He gathered together all of the facts which he could obtain concerning conditions of his day and from these facts he reached certain conclusions. He foretold the rise of capitalism and outlined present day conditions so perfectly that had he lived long ago among superstitious people, they would probably have called him a prophet.
This mastery of analysis, of marshaling our facts and from them reaching conclusions, is a wonderful power to possess, and this is exactly what we are doing in our English work. We are analyzing our sentences, finding the elements of which they are composed, and then building the sentence; and since neither the thought nor the sentence can be really studied except in connection with each other, this analysis of sentences gives us an understanding of the thought. The effort to analyze a difficult sentence leads to a fuller appreciation of the meaning of the sentence. This, in turn, cultivates accuracy in our own thought and in its expression.
So do not slight the analysis of the sentence or this work in sentence building. You will find it will help you to a quicker understanding of that which you are reading and it will also give you a logical habit of mind. You will be able to think more accurately and express yourself more clearly. After a little practice in analysis you will find that in your reading you will be able to grasp the author's meaning quickly. You will see at a glance, without thinking about it consciously, the subject and the predicate and the modifiers in the sentence. Then you will not confuse the meaning. You will not have to go back and reread the passage to find out just what the author was talking about; and when you come to write and speak yourself, you will have formed the habit of logical expression. In this way you will be able to put your thought in such a manner that your listener can make no mistake as to just what you mean.
Now, no habit comes without practice. You cannot do a thing unconsciously until you have done it consciously a great many times. So practice this analysis of sentences over and over. It really is an interesting game in itself, and the results which it will bring to you are tremendously worth while.
Nothing is too much trouble which will give us the power to think for ourselves and to put that thought into words.
Yours for Freedom,THE PEOPLE'S COLLEGE.
THE SUBJECT OF A SIMPLE SENTENCE
416. We have found that the two parts of a simple sentence are the complete subject and the complete predicate. The noun is most often used as the subject of a sentence. It may have a number of modifiers, but when we strip away these modifiers we can usually find a noun which is the subject of the sentence. Occasionally the subject is a pronoun or a participle or adjective used as a noun but most frequently the subject is a noun. As for example:
A wild piercing cry rang out.
Hopeless, helpless children work in the cotton mills.
The golden age of peace will come.
Little child lives are coined into money.
Defenseless, helpless children suffer most under capitalism.
Every neglected child smites my conscience in the name of humanity.
The thrilling, far-sounding battle-cry shall resound.
Note that in all of these sentences the word in italics is a noun, which is the simple subject of the sentence. All of the other words which comprise the complete subject are the modifiers of this noun, or modifiers of its modifiers.
But in our study of words, we have found that there are a number of other words which can be used in place of a noun and these may all be used as the subject of a sentence.
417. A pronoun may be used as the subject of a sentence, for the pronoun is a word used in place of the noun; and a pronoun used as the subject of a sentence may have modifiers just as a noun. It may be modified by adjectives or adjective phrases, as for example:
We are confident of success.
He, worried and out of employment, committed suicide.
She, heartsick and weary, waited for an answer.
She, with her happy, watchful ways, blessed the household.
They, victorious and triumphant, entered the city.
How can I, without money or friends, succeed?
"Out of the night that covers me,
Black as the pit from pole to pole,
I thank whatever Gods there be
For my unconquerable soul."
In all of these sentences the pronoun is the simple subject of the sentence, and the pronoun with all of its modifiers is the complete subject of the sentence.
418. The participle may be used as a noun, the subject of the sentence. For example:
Traveling is pleasant.
Here the present participle traveling is used as a noun, subject of the sentence.
Participle phrases may also be used as nouns, as for example:
Being prepared will not save us from war.
His having signed the note was the cause of the trouble.
In these sentences, being prepared and having signed are participle phrases used as nouns, the subjects of the verbs will save and was. Note the use of the participle used as the subject in the following sentences:
Painting is an art.
Making shoes is his work.
Being discovered seems to be the real crime.
His having joined his comrades was a brave act.
Your remaining here will be dangerous.
Note that when the participle is used as a noun, the possessive form of the pronoun is always used with it, as in the sentence above:
Your remaining here will be dangerous.
Notice that in some of these sentences the participle has an object; as, making shoes, his having joined his comrades. The participle still retains some of its verb nature in that it may take an object. The entire phrases, His having joined his comrades, and, Making shoes, are the subjects of the sentences.
419. The infinitive may also be used as a noun, the subject of the sentence. Note in the following sentences the use of the infinitive as the subject of the sentence:
To err is human; to forgive is divine.
To be or not to be is the question.
To toil all day is wearisome.
To aim is one thing; to hit the mark is another.
To remain ignorant is to remain a slave.
420. An adjective can also be used as the subject. You remember in our study of adjectives we found that an adjective may be used as a noun, as for example:
The strong enslave the weak.
Here the adjective strong is used as a noun, subject of the sentence. Note in the following sentences, the use of the adjectives as subjects:
The wise instruct the ignorant.
The dead were left upon the battlefields.
The rich look down upon the poor.
The mighty of the earth have forced this war upon us.
The poor are enslaved by their ignorance.
The wounded were carried to the hospitals.
PLACE OF THE SUBJECT IN A SENTENCE
The subject usually comes first in the sentence. If it has any modifiers, they alone precede the subject, as for example:
A wonderful, inspiring lecture was given.
The weary army slept in the trenches.
But occasionally we find the subject after the verb.
421. By simple inversion.
We will often find this use in poetry or in poetic prose, as for example:
Never have I heard one word to the contrary.
In this sentence I is the subject of the sentence, have heard is the verb, and never is an adverb modifying the verb phrase, have heard. But in order to place emphasis upon the word never, which is the emphatic word in the sentence, never is placed first, and the verb phrase inverted so that the subject I comes in between the two words which form the verb phrase. The sentence expressed in its usual order would be:
I have never heard one word to the contrary.
You will note that this statement does not carry the same emphasis upon the word never as the inverted statement.
422. In interrogative sentences, the subject comes after the helping verb or after the interrogative used to introduce the sentence. As for example:
Have you heard the news?
When will we hear from you?
How have the people been managing?
What will the children do then?
Will the students come later?
Can the work be accomplished quickly?
Must our youth end so quickly?
423. The real subject comes after the verb when we use the introductory word it. As for example:
It will not be safe to go.
To go is really the subject of the sentence. To go will not be safe.
It is sometimes the real subject of a sentence, as in the sentence; It is a wonderful story.
Here it is the subject of the sentence and a wonderful story is the predicate complement. But in the sentence:
It is wonderful to hear him tell the story.
To hear him tell the story is the real subject of the sentence. The first sentence, It is a wonderful story, could not be rewritten, but the second sentence could be rewritten, as follows:
To hear him tell the story is wonderful.
424. The introductory word there reverses the order of the sentence, just as the introductory word it. The real subject is used later in the sentence. As for example:
There were a great many people present.
This could be rewritten, omitting the introductory word there. We could say:
A great many people were present.
The noun people is the subject of the sentence.
Exercise 1
In the following sentences, underscore the complete subject with one line, and the simple subject with two lines, and decide whether the simple subject is a noun, pronoun, participle, infinitive or an adjective used as a noun:
1. A great man is universal and elemental.
2. To love justice was his creed.
3. A more inspiring and noble declaration of faith was never born of human heart.
4. The reading of good books should begin in childhood.
5. Dreaming of great things will not bring us to the goal.
6. The weary seek for rest.
7. To believe in yourself is the first essential.
8. He, speaking and writing constantly for the cause, has given his life to the movement.
9. To remain ignorant is to remain a slave.
10. A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds.
11. A great soul has simply nothing to do with consistency.
12. To be great is to be misunderstood.
13. Traveling is a fool's paradise.
14. It is not enough to be sincere.
15. We, seeking the truth, have found our own.
16. There are thousands of comrades with us.
THE COMPLETE PREDICATE
425. Look first in the predicate for your verb. It will always be the principal part of your predicate. It may be a verb or a verb phrase, but the first thing in analyzing the complete predicate of the sentence is to find the verb. The verb or verb phrase without any of its modifiers constitutes the simple predicate. If the verb is a complete verb, its only modifiers will be adverbs or adverb phrases. For example:
A splendid statue of Lincoln stands yonder in the park.
In this sentence, stands yonder in the park is the complete predicate. Stands is a complete verb. It requires no object, but it is modified by the adverb yonder and by the adverb phrase in the park.