 | I was a bad boy I admit (incidental) but no one ever paid any attention to me | ||
 | unless I was to be blamed for something wrong | ||
 | that I had done, or was accused of doing. (coordinate of second subordinate) |
In using this material, the child tears off the clause-slips using the analytical sentence-chart (Chart B). This gives him the classification of the clauses. The strips are then to be placed on the dependence chart (Chart C) according to the indications of the arrows. This brings out the mutual relation of the clauses.
Permutations
The preceding exercises have created in the child a notion of sentence construction and of the position of the clauses which make it up. Our material permits, of course, as an exercise supplementary to the analyses, dislocations and translocations of parts just as was true with the simple sentence. To derive the full benefit of this possibility, the teacher should have in mind the general rules for location of clauses:
Adjective clauses (relative, attributive) always follow, and most often directly, the noun they modify.
Subject subordinate clauses may stand either before or after the principal clause. If the subject clause follows, it is usually anticipated before the verb by the pronoun it (just as a following noun subject is anticipated by there).
(In Italian, if the object clause precedes the main clause, it is usually repeated before the noun by a conjunctive object personal pronoun.)
The position of the other clauses depends on considerations of emphasis.
The direct order for complex sentences is in general similar to that for simple sentences:
subject clause
principal clause
object clause
adverbial clauses.