MODIFIERS OF THE SIMPLE SENTENCE

434. Remember that a simple sentence is one that contains a single statement, question or command. It is a clause, for it contains a subject and a predicate; but it contains only the one subject and the one predicate. A sentence containing two principal clauses, or a principal clause and a subordinate clause, would contain two complete statements, questions or commands, therefore it would not be a simple sentence, but compound or complex.

Remember, however, that the simple sentences may contain two or more subjects with the same predicate, or two or more predicates with the same subject, or both a compound subject and a compound predicate.

435. The modifiers in a simple sentence are always words or phrases. The modifiers of the subject are either adjectives or adjective phrases. The modifiers of the predicate are either adverbs or adverb phrases. If an adjective or an adverb clause is used as a modifier, then the sentence is no longer a simple sentence, but becomes a complex sentence, for it now contains a dependent clause.

ORDER OF ELEMENTS

436. The usual order of the principal elements in the sentence is the subject, the predicate and the object or complement, thus:

Subject Predicate
Men work
Subject Predicate Object
Men build houses
Subject Predicate Complement
Books are helpful

This is called the natural or logical order. Logical means according to sense or reason.

Adjectives usually stand before the nouns they modify, thus:

Adverbs may be placed either before or after the verbs they modify, thus:

The adverb then precedes the verb came, which it modifies; and the adverb quickly is placed after the verb.

Adverbs which modify adjectives or other adverbs are placed before the words which they modify, thus:

In this sentence, the adverb more is placed before the adjective industrious, which it modifies; and the adverb quite is placed before the adverb rapidly, which it modifies.

Adjective and adverb phrases usually follow the words which they modify, thus:

In this last sentence, the adjective phrase, of the mine, is placed after the noun manager, which it modifies, and the adverb phrase, with the men, is placed after the verb remained, which it modifies.

437. These sentences illustrate the logical order in which the elements of the sentence usually come. But this logical order is not strictly adhered to. Many times, in order to place the emphasis upon certain words, we reverse this order and place the emphasized words first, as:

The logical order of this sentence is:

But we want to place the emphasis upon your help, so we change the order of the words and place the phrase, without your help, first.

438. This inversion of the order helps us to express our thought with more emphasis. Our language is so flexible that we can express the same thought in different ways by simply changing the order of the elements in the sentence. Notice in the following sentences, the inversion of the usual order, and see what difference this makes in the expression of the thought.

To transpose these inverted sentences—that is to place the elements in their logical order, gives us an insight into the thought expressed in the sentence. It is worth a great deal to us to be able in our reading to see the live elements in the sentence at a glance, and in this way we can grasp at once the thought of the sentence. So you will find that this analyzing of the sentences is very helpful to us in our reading.

439. When we have learned to analyze a sentence quickly we will not be lost in the maze of words. A paragraph is often like a string of pearls. The author has a single thread of thought running through the different sentences which compose the paragraph and if we have trained ourselves well in sentence analysis, we will never lose this thread. It will be like a life line to which we cling while the breakers of thought and emotion roar about us.

Exercise 3

In the following poem, study carefully the inverted order of the sentences. Rewrite them, placing the elements in their logical order. As for example:

The elements of the sentence are inverted in this quotation. Rewritten in their logical order this would read:

You will note that this inversion is quite common in poetry.

HUNGER AND COLD

Sisters, two, all praise to you,

With your faces pinched and blue;

To the poor man you've been true,

From of old;

You can speak the keenest word,

You are sure of being heard,

From the point you're never stirred,

Hunger and Cold!

Let sleek statesmen temporize;

Palsied are their shifts and lies

When they meet your bloodshot eyes,

Grim and bold;

Policy you set at naught,

In their traps you'll not be caught,

You're too honest to be bought,

Hunger and Cold!

Let them guard both hall and bower;

Through the window you will glower,

Patient till your reckoning hour

Shall be tolled;

Cheeks are pale, but hands are red,

Guiltless blood may chance be shed,

But ye must and will be fed,

Hunger and Cold!

God has plans man must not spoil,

Some were made to starve and toil,

Some to share the wine and oil,

We are told;

Devil's theories are these,

Stifling hope and love and peace,

Framed your hideous lusts to please,

Hunger and Cold!

Scatter ashes on thy head,

Tears of burning sorrow shed,

Earth! and be by Pity led

To love's fold;

Ere they block the very door

With lean corpses of the poor,

And will hush for naught but gore,

Hunger and Cold!