PHRASES

341. Co-ordinate conjunctions are used, not only to connect words, but also to connect phrases.

Verb Phrases

342. Verb phrases may be connected by conjunctions. For example:

In this last sentence the two verb phrases, have made and are making are connected by the co-ordinate conjunction and. Often in using verb phrases, we use phrases in which the same helping verb occurs in both phrases. When this is the case the helping verb is quite often omitted in the second phrase and only the participle is connected by the conjunction. As, for example:

In this sentence the helping verb is belongs in both the phrases but is omitted in the second phrase in order to make a smoother sounding sentence. In the second phrase, only the past participle controlled is used. It is understood that we mean,

The People's College is owned and is controlled by the working class.

Exercise 8

Note the use of the conjunction in the following sentences to connect the verb phrases. Supply the helping verb where it is omitted.

  1. Our system of education is rooted and grounded in outgrown dogmas.
  2. We have written but have received no answer.
  3. Will you come or stay?
  4. Man must struggle or remain in slavery.
  5. The workers are organizing and demanding their rights.
  6. We must arouse and educate our comrades.
  7. We have sought but have not found.

Prepositional Phrases

343. Co-ordinate conjunctions are used to connect prepositional phrases.

These phrases may be used as adjective phrases. For example:

These phrases may be used as adverb phrases. For example:

Exercise 9

Note in the following sentences, the prepositional phrases which are connected by co-ordinate conjunctions. Mark which are used as adjective and which as adverb phrases.

  1. Education is the road out of ignorance and into the light.
  2. The army charged over the plain and up the hill.
  3. The first men lived in groups and in clans.
  4. Democracy means government of the people and by the people.
  5. Shall we take the path toward progress or toward barbarism.
  6. They are not fighting for their country but for their king.
  7. Human rights are not protected by the law nor by the courts.
  8. The problem of the working class and of society is the problem of equitable distribution.
  9. They are deceived by their leaders and by their press.
  10. You can pay either by the week or by the month.
  11. Our government is not the rule of the majority but of the minority.

Infinitives and Participles

344. Co-ordinate conjunctions are also used to connect infinitives and participles.

Exercise 10

In the following sentences mark the infinitives and participles connected by co-ordinate conjunctions.

  1. Those words will inspire us to dream and to dare.
  2. We shall learn to produce and to distribute.
  3. To be or not to be, that is the question.
  4. Puffing and panting, the great engine pulled up to the station.
  5. A cringing and trembling coward fears to demand his own.
  6. The warped and twisted facts in the daily press deceive the masses.
  7. Singing and dancing should be enjoyed by all children.
  8. The exploiting and robbing of the people is made a virtue in ruling class ethics.

CLAUSES

345. Co-ordinate conjunctions are also used to connect clauses of equal rank. For example:

Each of these clauses is a complete sentence in itself, but they are combined into one compound sentence by the use of the co-ordinate conjunction, and. Clauses united in this way may have a compound subject and a compound predicate, but two complete clauses must be united by a co-ordinate conjunction in order to form a compound sentence. For example:

Here the first clause in the compound sentence, the rain and snow fell, contains a compound subject, rain and snow.

Here the first clause has a compound predicate, are running and shouting. The second and connects the two clauses forming the compound sentence.