Chapter XX: Dependent Clauses. Complex Sentences

=66.= We have seen that in both simple and compound sentences the clauses are independent. There is a third class of sentences, however, containing =dependent clauses=.

In the simple sentence, “At night his antelope skin was spread on the ground,” the prepositional phrase _on the ground_ tells place, and modifies the verb _was spread_.

In the sentence, “At night his antelope skin was spread _where the darkness overtook him_,” the group of words where the darkness overtook him has the same use as the phrase _on the ground_, for it tells place and modifies the verb _was spread_.

But this group of words contains a subject and a predicate; hence it is a clause. It could not stand alone and make sense; hence it cannot be an independent clause. It could not be in the sentence at all unless the verb _was spread_ were there too for it to modify. It is therefore dependent on the verb, and so we call it a =dependent clause=. It has the same use as an adverb, because it modifies a verb. We find many dependent clauses used in this way, because our language does not afford enough adverbs or even prepositional phrases to express our meaning.

=67.= When dependent clauses modify verbs, they answer such questions as these,—_was spread where?_ _was spread why?_ _how?_ _when?_ _under what condition?_ _for what purpose?_

=68.= In the sentence, “They went into a small parlor, which smelt very spicy,” the parlor is described by the adjective _small_ and by the group of words _which smelt very spicy_. What is this group of words? How do we know? What words does it modify? What, then, is the use of some dependent clauses? When dependent clauses modify nouns, they point out or describe objects just as adjectives do.

=69.= In the sentences that we have just been studying there is an independent clause as well as a dependent clause. A sentence of this kind is called a =complex sentence=.

A complex sentence may contain any number of dependent clauses, but only one independent clause, for as soon as a sentence contains two independent clauses it becomes a compound sentence.

=Summary.=—A =dependent clause= is one that is used like a part of speech and does not make sense when it stands alone.

A dependent clause may be used like an adjective to modify a noun, or like an adverb to modify a verb.

A =complex sentence= consists of one independent clause and one or more dependent clauses.

=Exercise.=—Select all the clauses in the following sentences, and classify them. Tell what the dependent clauses modify. Tell the subject and predicate of each clause.

NOTE.—Frequently a dependent clause modifies more than the
verb. In the sentence, “The little boys wanted a house with a
great many doors, so that they could go in and out often,” the
dependent clause _so that they could go in and out often_ tells
the purpose of their wanting a house with a great many doors;
hence, it modifies not merely the verb _wanted_, but the whole
predicate _wanted a house with a great many doors_. Try to tell
the exact truth about each sentence that you study.

1. He was always catching sculpins when every one else with the
same bait was catching mackerel.

2. If we cross the Atlantic by one of the fast steamships, we
shall make the voyage in about a week.

3. The Rotterdam quays, which stretch for more than a mile
along the river, are busy and lively places.

4. Every Sunday morning the wash boiler was filled with water,
and the largest tub was set in the middle of the kitchen floor,
so that the three children might have their weekly scrubbing.

5. People who devote themselves too severely to study of the
classics are apt to become dried up.

6. He charged upon the rows of the mullein stalks as if they
were rebels in regimental ranks, and hewed them down without
mercy.

7. Every boy who is good for anything is a natural savage.

8. Rude soldiers now eat, drink, and sleep, where popes and
cardinals once moved about in state.

9. Mowgli, who had never known the meaning of real hunger, fell
back on stale honey three years old.

10. Iron-clads are so called because their sides are covered
with thick plates of iron or steel, capable of resisting very
heavy shot.

11. Although many people ascend Mont Blanc every year, the
undertaking requires a great deal of muscular as well as
nervous strength.

12. If a boy repeats _Thanatopsis_ while he is milking, that
operation acquires a certain dignity.

13. The thrill that ran into my fingers’ ends then has not run
out yet.

14. Even a dog, who is very far removed from the wild wolf,
his ancestor, can be waked out of deep sleep by a cart wheel
touching his flank, and can spring away unharmed before that
wheel comes on.

15. The boys slipped off down the roadside to a place where
they could dig sassafras or the root of the sweet flag.

16. The little company of Englishmen who, in 1620, exchanged
Holland for America were not soldiers and traders like the men
who had led and established the colony at Jamestown.

17. Miles Standish came with the Pilgrims to America because he
liked both them and their enterprise.

18. The early settlers went to church in military array and
laid their arms down close by them while they worshiped and
heard the sermon.

19. The colonists chose for their place of settlement a high
bluff, which rose upon the eastern bank of a little stream.

Tell the part of speech and use of _always_, sentence 1, _Sunday_ 4, _too_ and _severely_ 5, _now_, _once_, and _about_ 8.

Analyze the predicate _was set in the middle of the kitchen floor_.

What is the grammatical use of the group of words _as well as_ in sentence 11?