Subordinating Conjunctions. A subordinating conjunction connects a subordinate clause with the clause on which

it depends.

1. I shall call Saturday, if you will be at home.

2. I was especially eager to go, because I wanted to see the horses. 3. It looks as if it would rain this afternoon.

4. He can run faster than I can.

In each of these sentences the conjunction connects the clause it introduces with the main clause on which it depends. We have learned that a sentence containing a subordinate clause is called a complex sentence; a subordinating conjunction, therefore, is always found in a complex sentence. The chief subordinating conjunctions are:

Relative pronouns, interrogative pronouns, and relative adverbs also introduce subordinate clauses. The relative

Transitional Conjunctions. Certain words that help the thought move from one sentence to another without actually connecting sentences and clauses may be classified as con

TRANSITIONAL CONJUNCTIONS

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junctions. But these transitional conjunctions do not connect clauses; they merely carry forward the thought from one sentence to another. Such words are: however, moreover, then, therefore, nevertheless, notwithstanding, and sometimes yet and still. These words usually stand at the beginning or near the beginning of a sentence, and serve to refer to the preceding sentence, as in the following examples:

1. All the people were poor; however, they were thrifty and industrious.

2. To every Roman citizen he gives seventy-five drachmas; moreover he hath left you all his walks, his private arbors, and newplanted orchards.

3. Then he said, "I pray thee, therefore, father, that thou wouldst send him to my father's house."

4. All these pleasures, then, and all these virtues, I repeat, you nationally despise.

In using coördinating conjunctions be very careful to see that both members connected are of the same construction.

The sentence "Chicago is on the lake and where the wind blows" is incorrect because the two modifiers connected by and are not of the same construction. The first modifier is a

phrase, on the lake, and the second is a clause, where the wind blows. If the and is left out, however, the sentence is correct: 66 Chicago is on the lake where the wind blows," for where the wind blows then modifies lake.

Right: He is my brother and he is going to school.

Wrong: He is my brother and going to school.

Right: He said we should go to the store and buy some meat. Wrong: He said to go to the store and that we should buy some meat. Right: The man elected is of high character, and will serve the

people well.

Wrong: The man elected is of high character and who will serve the people well.

Caution. Avoid the use of and who, and which, and that, unless who, which, or that has gone before in the sentence.

Avoid the use of like as a conjunction; never use like before a verb.

EXERCISE

Which of the following sentences are simple? Which are compound? Which are complex? In the complex sentences select the principal and the subordinate clause. Give the subject substantive and the predicate verb of each sentence and clause, and the modifiers of the subject substantive and of the predicate verb:

1. They passed the cup to the stranger, who drank of it heartily. 2. The old man smiled, and for a few moments sat buried in thought. 3. Only things of little worth can be got in a hurry.

4. The landscape which the billboard desecrates will give up its richest beauty only to those who look at it again and again. On Linden, when the sun was low,

5.

All bloodless lay the untrodden snow.

6. He had a fever when he was in Spain.

7. From fearful trip the victor ship comes in with object won. 8. If the glacier had occasioned a great deal of fatigue to his brothers, it was twenty times worse for him, who was not strong.

9. I will shoot down the first man who moves a foot.

10. There is a just God who presides over the destinies of nations. II. The next gale that sweeps from the north will bring to our ears the clash of resounding arms

12. Kings will be tyrants from policy when subjects are rebels from principle.

13. A lie which is part a truth is a hard matter to fight.

14. I was a stranger and ye took me in.

15. When the middle of the afternoon came, Tom Sawyer was

literally rolling in wealth.

XVII. WORDS WITHOUT ORGANIC CON

NECTION WITH THE SENTENCE

In the preceding sections we have studied the part that different words, such as the noun, the adjective, and the verb, play in the sentence. We have seen that the seven parts of speech studied have meaning only in their relation to other words. We are now to consider certain words and groups of words that stand outside the sentence, without grammatical connection with it.

Interjection. The italicized words below express strong feeling, and are called interjections. The word interjection means something thrown in."

Whoa! Where are you going?

Oh! I burnt my finger!

Alas! brave Yorick!

Swish, swish! went the wind among the branches of the trees.
Pshaw! I knew I would miss that ball.

Bravo! bravo! That was bravely done!

An interjection is a cry or other exclamatory sound expressing some strong feeling.

Exclamatory Expressions. Such expressions as those below are much like interjections in meaning, but as they are not cries, but words used in an unusual sense, it is better to call them exclamatory expressions. They have no grammatical relation to the sentence.

Good for you!

Fire! Fire!

Away with him!

O heartfelt raptures! Bliss beyond compare!
A horse! A horse! My kingdom for a horse!

Words of Address. - The italicized words in the sentences below could be omitted without changing the grammatical relations of the words in the sentence. These words are included merely to indicate to whom the sentence is addressed. They are called words of address or vocatives. They are always set off by commas from the rest of the

sentence.

My lords, attend to what I have to say.

Listen, mother, to that knocking.

What do you think it is, father?

I have told you, my friends, what I believe the outcome will be. A word of address or a vocative is a substantive used for the purpose of address and is not connected with any verb.

Parenthetical Expressions. The italicized words and groups of words in the sentences below are inserted as a mere comment, without bearing any definite relation to either subject or predicate. They are parenthetical expressions that could be omitted without materially changing the sense of the sentence. These parenthetical expressions are always set off from the rest of the sentence by commas:

The weather, indeed, was becoming very threatening.

At any rate, I shall look for you.

The old house, after all, was quite comfortable.

The roads at this time of year are, I admit, simply impassable.

A word or a group of words inserted in or attached to a sentence without having any grammatical relation to the subject or the predicate is a parenthetical expression.

Absolute Construction. In the following sentences a substantive used with a participle makes a phrase that in grammatical structure is independent of the rest of the sentence. That is to say, the phrase, while contributing to the meaning of the sentence, is not used as a modifier of the