first edition
American College Grammar
Compiled and edited by
Roumen D. Dinneff
Gramma Publishers
2000
Preface
To the Student
The best way to use this book is to keep it handy as a reference. From time to time, pick it up and browse through it at random. When your teacher refers you to a section of the handbook, study the section and do the exercises to fit the principles in your mind. Information in the present edition of this American grammar is easy to locate and the language used is quite understandable.
The ability to understand the grammatical structures of American English can give you both pleasure and power. You owe it to yourself to discover the excitement of expressing your ideas, your feelings, your thoughts, your discoveries, your arguments about everything from the daily events in your life to the demands of a perilous yet promising future. As you learn to express yourself well in English, you will find out that sitting for any American admission test—TOEFL, SAT, GMAT, or GRE—is not a difficult thing to do. As a matter of fact, there is nothing very unusual about American English grammar. However, it is advisable that you study all the grammatical structures, as given in this handbook, with great attention and precision. Try to be consistent in your linguistic pursuits and study the sections of the present edition every day.
No American English grammar has ever been published in Bulgaria before, and my efforts in compiling this handbook have been tremendous. Yet, its publication was worth all the sleepless nights.
Last but not least, I am greatly indebted to my wife, Valya, and my daughter, Antonia, for their patience, help, and understanding while I clacked away at my computer in a remote room. This book is for them. I would also like to thank and acknowledge my publisher, Mr. Panayot Parvanov, without whose goodwill this book would never become reality.
August, 2000 Roumen D. Dinneff
CHAPTER ONE
Basic Sentence Grammar
To write well, you must know how to use the elements of the English sentence—elements traditionally called grammar. Grammar is two things:
1. A collection of patterns that make sense in sentences
2. The language we use to talk about such patterns
The first definition of grammar is much more important than the second. We use grammar all the time as a set of patterns that make sense. Most of us use grammar well enough to make language do what we want it to do—help us communicate with other people. We learn the patterns of the English sentence when we learn to talk, and we use them every day all our lives.
The word patterns is essential to understanding grammar. We react to sentences as patterns. They happen to be patterns developed over several hundred years of use by English-speaking people, and they are not always logical. But then no special logic governs many of the patterns we encounter in daily life. For example, we encounter the familiar pattern of the stop sign almost every day. If instead of using white letters on a red octagon, we had been using blue letters on a gold, diamond-shaped sign for many years, the diamond shape would be the controlling pattern for all stop signs. But somebody decided some time ago that stop signs should have the pattern we now recognize as official. We don’t change the pattern just because some people believe that blue and gold are prettier colors than red and white.
The patterns of the English sentence are much the same. We are used to them. We cannot change them on whim. We learned these patterns from others, usually from our parents. We discovered early in life that they work because large numbers of people agree on their meaning.
We probably started by giving something a name that got results. “Milk!” we shouted, and somebody gave us milk. A little later we said, “Give me milk.” Still later we said, “Will you please give me some milk?” or “I prefer milk, please.” These are complicated sentences for children, no child can talk about them with a grammarian. But a child can make them work.
As we grow older, we learn to work all kinds of thoughts into the basic sentence patterns. If you hear somebody say “I picked up the telephone,” you know what the speaker means. The pattern is familiar. But if somebody says “Picked I the telephone up,” you run it through your mind again. What is this person trying to say? The pattern is not right. People don’t say “Drove I the car this morning to work” or “Stood bravely he resisting the last until.” If you wrestle with these sentence, you can probably make sense of them. But you wouldn’t want to do much of this wrestling because it is so opposed to what we regard as normal communication. The patterns are not right, and we dislike the surprise these unfamiliar patterns give us.
The sense of pattern is so strong in us that we can frequently understand a sentence even when we don’t know what every word in it means. If somebody says “Give me the phlumpis on the table,” we hear the pattern, recognize it as a request or a command, and look on the table to see what a “phlumpis” is. The pattern tells us to do something with something called a “phlumpis,” and we do it. The pattern is grammar in action.
There are only a few basic patterns, although as you will see later, you can make some changes in the basic form of any sentence. The most common pattern is the sentence that tells us that something does something to something else.
The man next door kills ants by spraying them with window cleaner.
This is a simple pattern. The man next door acts on the ants. It may seem odd to kill ants with window cleaner. But the sentence tells you that the man next door does it. You can imagine him pumping away with his bottle of window cleaner aimed at the ants.
You can substitute nonsense words in a pattern and still have an idea of what the sentence means.
The aardcam next door grinks ants by cooming them with dab.
Despite your confusion here, you know that something called an “aardcam” is the doer of the action in this sentence. You know that “grinks” expresses the main act and that “cooming” expresses a helping act to the main act. And “dab” is some kind of tool, some instrument, something used in this action. You know that something is doing something to the ants because you recognize a basic pattern of the English sentence.
There are other patterns, including the one that tells us that something acts but that nothing receives the action.
The telephone is ringing.
The telephone is not doing anything to anybody. It’s just ringing. Many sentences follow this same pattern.
The thermometer exploded.
The flowers bloom.
The child cried.
She arrives tomorrow.
The dog sat.
Another pattern describes state or condition of being. The doer of the action in the sentence simply exists in a certain way. There is no action but rather a statement that something is (or was or will be) something or that it exists with a certain quality.
The telephone is black.
The man was old and feeble but still witty and interesting.
My mother is an engineer.
Cousin Helga was a riverboat captain.
In the first sentence, you recognize from the pattern that the writer wants to make a statement about a telephone. The telephone isn’t doing anything to anybody; it isn’t doing anything at all in this sentence except existing as something black. And the man in the next sentence isn’t doing anything. He is described as being a certain way—old, feeble, witty, interesting.
Another pattern tells us that something is acted upon. When you read such a sentence, you expect to discover that from the viewpoint of the writer, the recipient of the action is the most important object or person in the sentence.
My brother was hit by a wheelbarrow this morning.
Obviously the most important person in this sentence is the recipient of the action—”my brother.” “My brother” didn’t act. He was acted upon. We recognize this pattern and understand its importance because we know that the normal pattern of expressing action in a sentence is different. Usually the doer of the action is the most important element in the sentence and goes first. When the recipient of the action goes first, we are alerted to expect an unusual emphasis.
The basic patterns help sentences make sense. That is what the word sentence means—a group of words that make sense. They make sense because they communicate by using patterns that we recognize and expect. We can all understand the sense of the following statements:
It rained last night.
The dust on the book made me sneeze.
Bicycle racing is becoming popular in the United States.
The Boston Red Sox lost the 1986 World Series.
She wrote three books before she was thirty.
Our knowledge of patterns tells us when we don’t have a sentence. When we don’t have a sentence, we don’t have a familiar pattern that communicates. We are not fooled by the words pretending to be sentences below. Each group of words looks like a sentence at first glance, but it is not.
Shafts of light into the misty mountain valleys.
Favor capital punishment.
The most frequently abused drugs.
Each group begins with a capital letter and ends with a period—just like a sentence. But by itself, not one group makes sense. None of the groups has a pattern we recognize as a sentence. To each group, we must add words to make a pattern that communicates a sensible statement.
The rising sun threw shafts of light into the misty mountain valley.
Polls show that most Americans favor capital punishment.
The most frequently abused drugs and therefore those most harmful to the general population are alcohol and tobacco.
To talk intelligently about these sentence patterns, you do not have to know grammatical terms such as subject, verb, participle, direct object, indirect object, and all the rest. But if you know the terms, your talk about language can be more precise. The rest of this chapter will introduce the most basic terms to you. But even so, you do not have to know grammatical language to recognize that something is wrong with an incomplete pattern, a group of words that does not communicate anything that makes sense.
Exercise 1. Some of the word groups below are sentences, and some are not. Mark each sentence with an S. Use an X to indicate an incomplete sentence. Discuss your decisions with other members of your class.
1. Soft steps in the hallway.
2. Riding along the edges of the reservoir and watching the birds in the water.
3. She spoke carefully.
4. After an introductory course, you.
5. Attempted to explain why the dinosaurs became extinct.
6. With a sly, cold smile.
7. Prices rose, but supplies remained plentiful.
8. When nothing else will help.
9. A terrible headache the morning after.
10. The dog barked as though asking us to remember her.
Exercise 2. In the preceding groups of words that are not sentences, add words that will make them sentences. Use your creativity to make the sentences interesting.
a Learn the basic structure of the English sentence.
Most sentences name something and then make some statement about the thing named. The part of the sentence that names what the sentence is about is called the subject. The part of the sentence that makes a statement about the subject is called the predicate.
Subject Predicate
The sun shines today.
Liberty prevails in the world.
Our love died last summer.
Charles is allergic to cigarette smoke.
Sarah repairs automobiles.
The students forgot their rough drafts.
Penn State went undefeated.
My car was stolen last night.
Rex is a huge dog.
All these sentences name something and make an assertion about it. Each sentence tells you that the subject does something or that something is done to the subject or that the subject exists in a certain way. Questions, of course, do not make statements. But they do name a subject and then ask something about it.
Is Charles allergic to cigarette smoke?
Does Sarah repair automobiles?
Was my car stolen last night?
Sentences that give commands or make requests often imply the subject. If the subject is implied, it is always the person spoken to. You can supply the subject by adding the word you. The word you, then, is the subject of a command or request that does not specifically name some other subject.
[You] Bring me the report.
[You] Pass the spaghetti.
Here are two necessary qualities of any sentence.
1. The boundaries of the sentence are clearly marked off by a capital letter at the beginning and a period, a question mark, or an exclamation point at the end.
2. Within these boundaries, every sentence contains at least one subject and one predicate that fit together to make a statement, ask a question, or give a command.
1 All sentences have a subject and a predicate and tell one of three things.
1. The subject does (or did or will do) something.
2. Something is done to the subject.
3. The subject exists in some state or condition.
The Subject
The subject and the words that describe it are often called the complete subject. Within the complete subject, the word (or words) serving as the focus of the sentence may be called the simple subject. To get to the simple subject, you remove all the describing words that may provide added information about the simple subject. Grammarians are not always consistent in the names they use for elements of the sentence. The word subject can be used for either the complete subject or the simple subject. The simple subject may be a thing, person, place, action, idea, name, or anything else that serves as the element the predicate makes a statement about.
The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog.
Buckner lost the game with his error in the last of the ninth.
The huge black clouds in the west told of the coming storm.
Sometimes a subject is compound; that is, a conjunction such as “and” or “but” connects two or more words that serve as subjects of the sentence.
Original thinking and bold design have distinguished her architectural career.
Two subjects, thinking and design, are joined by the conjunction “and.” The subject is compound.
The Predicate
The predicate asserts something about the subject. The predicate, together with all the words that help it make a statement about the subject, is called the complete predicate. In the complete predicate, the word (or words) that reports or states conditions, with all describing words removed, is called the simple predicate or the verb. Here, too, there is some overlap in terminology. The word predicate can be used for the complete predicate or for the simple predicate, and verb can be used instead of simple predicate.
In the following sentences, the complete predicates are underlined and the simple predicates (the verbs) are in boldface.
The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog.
Buckner lost the game with his error in the last of the ninth.
The huge black clouds in the west told of the coming storm.
Original thinking and bold design have distinguished her architectural career.
Like subjects, predicates may also be compound. In a compound predicate, two or more verbs are joined by a conjunction:
The huge black clouds in the west told of the coming storm and ended our picnic.
Two verbs, told and ended, are joined by the conjunction “and.” The predicate is compound.
Sometimes a verb combines with an auxiliary verb (also called a helping verb) to form a verb of more than one word. A helping verb aids a main verb by adding a sense of time or progression to the sense of the main verb. When a main verb combines with a helping verb in a sentence, we call the resulting element a verb phrase.
Original thinking and bold design have distinguished her architectural career and have made her rich.
Gold was discovered in California in 1848.
He might have seen that film before.
The oldest building on campus would have been demolished if not for her generous contribution to save it.
2 Learn to recognize subjects and predicates.
Being able to locate subjects and predicates in your own sentences helps you check on their logic, clarity, and correctness. One way to find the two sentence components is to look at what the sentence says and to ask two questions about its meaning:
1. Who or what is the sentence about? (subject)
2. What statement is the sentence making about the subject? (predicate)
Consider the sentence.
Some harmless snakes imitate poisonous snakes in color and behavior.
Who or what is the sentence about? Some harmless snakes (subject)
What statement is the sentence making about the subject? Imitate poisonous snakes in color and behavior (predicate)
Simple Predicates
Perhaps the best way to find these basic sentence components is to start by looking for the verb (the simple predicate).
Remember that verbs express action or state of being.
Churchill spoke to England.
action
The hippopotamus was beautiful.
state of being
You can identify verbs by finding the action words or the words that show state of being.
But it is even easier to find verbs if you remember that they may change their form according to the different ways they may be used in a sentence. Because verbs can change their forms to show time, or tense, you can locate verbs easily by forcing such a change in a sentence. If you use a word like yesterday, today, or tomorrow at the start of a sentence whose verb you are trying to identify, the word that changes will be the verb. Only the verb will change in the sentence.
I eat green vegetables.
Yesterday, I ate green vegetables.
“Eat” changed to “ate”; “eat,” therefore, is the verb in the original sentence.
Mr. Smith goes to Washington.
Tomorrow, Mr. Smith will go to Washington.
The word “goes” changed to “will go”; “goes” is the verb in the original sentence.
Another way to locate verbs is to memorize the verbs that serve as auxiliaries, that is, helpers, to other verbs. There are only a few of them. These auxiliaries are always verbs and never anything else. They often signal the presence of another part of the verb phrase close by in the sentence. Or they serve alone as verbs in sentences. The most common helping verbs are am, is, are, was, were, shall, will, could, would, have, has, had, do, does, did, be, been, might, can, may, and must.
Another good way to test a word you think may be a verb is to use I, he, she, you, we, or they before the word. If you make sense with this combination, the word you are testing is a verb.
Word Test Verb?
try I try
she tries yes
olive I olive (?)
they olive (?) no
laughingly they laughingly (?) no
laugh he laughs yes
laughing we laughing (?)
you laughing (?) no
FINDING AND TESTING VERBS
1. Change a sentence by using yesterday, today and tomorrow at the beginning. The word that changes is a verb.
He played shortstop.
Tomorrow he will play shortstop.
Today he plays shortstop.
The word that changes is “play.” “Play” is the dictionary form—the form you find listed in alphabetical order in the dictionary—of the verb.
2. Learn the most familiar helping verbs.
3. Use I, she, it, you, we, or they before the word you think is a verb.
Verb: Swim I swim
Not a Verb: thing I thing
Simple Subjects
Once you find the verb, you can find the subject easily. Just put the verb in a question asking who or what does the action of a verb. Say the word who or what; then say the verb. The answer to your question will be the subject of the sentence. Note how the questions work for the following sentences.
We have been working all night.
Who has been working all night? “We” is the subject of the sentence.
Trout fishing is a popular sport in northern New England.
What is a popular sport in northern New England? Trout fishing. “Trout fishing” is the subject of the sentence.
Lee invaded the north twice during the Civil War.
Who invaded the north twice during the Civil War? “Lee” is the subject of the sentence.
He was looking for his car.
Who was looking for his car? “He” is the subject.
Generally, subjects of verbs are nouns or pronouns, words that name persons, places, things, ideas, or objects. But other words may sometimes be subjects.
Exercise 3. Write five sentences. Draw a dividing line between the complete subject and the complete predicate. Then draw a line under the simple subject and the simple predicate.
Example:
My writing assignments in school/have always caused me much difficulty.
Other Predicate Parts
The verb is the most important word in the predicate because we have to have a verb to make a statement about a subject. In a very simple sentence, a verb can be a predicate all by itself. But in more complicated sentences, complete predicates may also include objects, complements, and various words called modifiers that help describe other elements. All these elements work like interlocking parts to make a sentence convey an understandable thought.
Direct Objects
Catholic missionaries established the school.
The word “missionaries” is the subject of the sentence. The missionaries acted through the verb “established.” What did they establish? They established a school. The word “school” is the direct object of this sentence.
The direct object tells who or what receives the action done by the subject and expressed by the verb. Not every sentence has a direct object, but many verbs require one to complete their meaning. Such verbs are called transitive verbs from the Latin trans- meaning “across”. A transitive verb carries action from the subject across to the direct object.
So if there is a direct object in a sentence, a subject is doing something to it. You can begin to think about direct objects by imagining sentences that express a vigorous action. Direct objects are in italics; verbs are in boldface.
Snopes burned barns all over the county.
William Faulkner wrote many books.
The Jets beat the Colts in famous Super Bowl III.
But some direct objects receive action that is not so vigorous.
The children crossed the street.
I have read the story.
We heard the distant voice.
In every example above, the verb is transitive. It reports an action done by the subject to the direct object.
A verb that does not carry action to a direct object is an intransitive verb. An intransitive verb reports action done by a subject, but it is not action done to anything. In the following sentences, the verbs are intransitive:
The ship sank within three hours after collision.
Our dog died in the summer.
She jogs to keep fit.
In looking for direct objects in sentences, ask what after the verb. The answer to the question will be the direct object.
The children crossed the street.
Crossed what? Crossed the street. The word “street” is the direct object.
Indirect Objects
Many times a verb will report an action on a direct object and will tell for whom the action is done. Someone may say, “My partner brought me a hamburger.” The direct object is hamburger, which receives the action of the verb brought. But the purpose for the action is expressed by me. The hamburger was brought for me. So me is the indirect object. If you ask to whom or for whom, you can find the indirect object. As a matter of fact, the indirect object is always a person (and the question to it is whom) whereas the direct object is always a thing (and the question to it is what). Indirect objects occur fairly infrequently and are usually used with verbs such as give, ask, tell, sing, and write.
He sang me a song.
He sang a song for whom? The answer is me. The indirect object is “me.”
I wrote Amelie a letter.
I wrote a letter to whom? The answer is Amelie. “Amelie” is the indirect object.
The Miss Liberty celebration gave us pride in America.
Ask the teacher your question.
Jack told George the whole funny story.
Direct and indirect objects, like subjects, are generally nouns or pronouns, or they are word groups that act like nouns or pronouns.
Complements
Complements complete descriptions of subjects and objects.
Subject complements are located on the other side of the verb from the subject and add to the description of the subject. The verb that joins a subject and its complement is called a linking verb. A linking verb does not express an action from subject to object; it links or joins a subject to some further description of itself not included in the subject.
The most common linking verbs are the “to be” verbs—is, are, was, and were. But there are many others. Observe the subject complements after the linking verbs in the following sentences.
My father is a welder.
“Welder” describes the subject “father.” The subject and its complement are linked by the verb is.
America looked good to me after my long absence.
“Good” completes the meaning of the subject, America, by describing it. The verb “looked” links the subject and the subject complement.
The university was a large and frightening place.
The parking permit was a hunting license.
I became frustrated when I could never find a parking place.
I was often late to class.
My professors were impatient with me for my tardiness.
Object complements come immediately after direct or indirect objects and help complete the description of the direct or indirect object by the verb. Object complements are always nouns or adjectives, and they are never separated from the direct or indirect object by a comma.
She called me a bonehead.
She said I drove her crazy.
My aunt dyed her hair blue.
I liked my eggs scrambled.
He got all the answers right.
We shut the door tight.
Like subject complements, object complements add to the description of the object. Complements may be nouns, pronouns, or adjectives.
Exercise 4. Write five sentences with subject complements and five sentences with object complements. Discuss your sentences in class or in small groups with other students to see if they agree with your understanding of these terms.
b Learn the basics of English grammar by becoming familiar with the eight parts of speech.
The eight parts of speech are verbs, nouns, pronouns, adjectives, adverbs, conjunctions, prepositions, and interjections.
When we say that each word in English can be classified as a part of speech, we mean that it can do some things in a sentence but not other things.
Words are like actors, able to play some roles but not others. For example, an eighty-year-old man cannot play Peter Pan or Superman and convince his audience. But he can play King Lear or the grandfather in a television soap opera. In a similar way, every word plays at least one part of speech, and some words can play several parts, just as some actors can play several roles. For example, the word act can be a noun or a verb. If you say “The second act begins in five minutes,” act is a noun. On the other hand, if you say “We act as if we know what we are doing,” act is a verb.
But although a word may play two or even three parts of speech, no word can play all the parts, and some can play only one. You will puzzle people if you say “Her dog was much more act than mine.” In this sentence, act tries to play the part of an adjective, and it cannot do the job. But you can add -ive to act and get the word active, which is an adjective and a different part of speech from act. Then you can say easily, “Her dog was much more active than mine.”
You can classify words according to the function they perform in sentences. Subject, predicate and direct object are classifications based on sentence function.
Or you can classify words according to their part of speech. Noun, verb, and pronoun are examples of classifications based on parts of speech. Sometimes the parts of speech and the parts of the sentence are called by the same word. A conjunction is both a part of speech and a part of a sentence. So is a preposition. But the classification is useful. In the following sentence, compare the two systems of classification.
December brought us icy streets and heavy snow.
We can classify the words in this sentence in two different ways, by the function each word performs in the sentence and by the part of speech each word plays. If we classify the function, “December” is the subject, “brought” is the simple predicate, “us” is the indirect object, “icy” is an adjective, “streets” is a direct object, “and” is a conjunction, “heavy” is an adjective, and “snow” is a noun. Notice that we have some overlap between function and part of speech. The words “icy” and “heavy” function as adjectives within the sentence and as adjectives among parts of speech.
Exercise 5. Fill in the blanks in the following sentences with any words that make sense. The word in parentheses at the end of each sentence tells you the part of speech that will go in the blank. But don’t worry about that. Look at the names of the parts of speech, but use your own intuition to fill in the blanks. The exercise will prove that you have a feel for the parts of speech even if you don’t readily come up with the names of them. You will then build your confidence as you study the other sentences. Later in this chapter, you will learn the names of the various parts of speech.
1. The dinosaurs .......... extinct millions of years ago. (verb)
2. Emma bought .......... a hamburger for lunch. (pronoun or noun)
3. The .......... broke on the car. (noun)
4. The leaves on the maple tree in the yard .......... red. (verb)
5. The English poet Coventry Patmore .......... many poems about young love. (verb)
6. “..........,” he cried. “That hurt.” (interjection)
7. The English troops retreated .......... from Lexington. (adverb)
8. Collecting guidebooks was .......... hobby. (pronoun)
9. I had to buy textbooks .......... supplies on the first day of the semester. (conjunction)
10. Alcohol is one of the .......... dangerous common drugs. (adverb)
11. He wanted me to stay, .......... I had to go. (conjunction)
12. Our arrival was delayed .......... we had a flat tire. (conjunction)
13. The .......... that he found in his driveway turned out to be stolen. (noun)
14. Come .......... my house for the party. (preposition)
15. It rained all .......... the game. (preposition)
16. France .......... California produce some of the finest wines on earth. (conjunction)
17. The buffalo .......... the wide green plains of the West. (verb)
18. The .......... problem was how to buy a car without going into debt. (adjective)
19. The .......... bicycle is much more complicated than its ancestors. (adjective)
20. His father bought him a .......... coat for his birthday. (adjective)
21. We painted the house .......... . (adjective)
22. The game turned into a .......... . (noun)
23. The New York Mets began playing baseball .......... 1962. (preposition)
1 Verbs
Verbs report action, condition, or state of being. There are three kinds of verbs: action verbs, linking verbs, and auxiliary verbs.
Verbs are the controlling words in predicates, but verbs themselves are controlled by subjects in that the subject determines the person and number of its verb.
Verbs have three persons. In the first person singular, I speak of myself.
I love music.
I am absolutely tired of sitting at this computer.
I feel good.
I enjoy writing.
In the first person plural, we speak or write of ourselves:
We watched the movie last night.
We sang very well at the concert.
We like to go out together.
We used to be friends once before.
In the second person singular and plural (the forms are the same), you are addressed.
You told me the truth about him.
You look happy today.
You are going to England next year.
You have always loved cars.
You can do it.
In the third person singular, someone speaks or writes about somebody who is not being addressed or, respectively, about something which is not being addressed.
He promised to do his share of the work.
He exploits people by his grin and his flattery.
She was taken in by him for a while.
She learned to mistrust him.
It is raining right now.
It makes Lucy feel good.
In the third person plural, someone speak or writes about more than one person or about more than one object.
They tried to calm him down.
They walked along the beach.
They ate supper together.
The form of the verb changes according to the person and number of the subject. If a subject mentions only one thing, we say that it is singular. If it mentions more than one thing, we say that it is plural. “A dog” is singular. The plural form is “the dogs.” Verbs must reflect these differences in subjects by having a singular or a plural form.
Verbs also show whether the action of the sentence is taking place now, took place in the past, or will take place in the future.
Action Verbs
An action verb describes the behavior or action of someone or something. Action verbs may express physical actions or mental activities.
Hans Holbein painted a famous portrait of Thomas More.
“Painted” refers to a physical action.
Henry VIII ordered Thomas More beheaded for treason.
“Ordered” refers to a physical action.
More believed that he should serve God first and the king second.
“Believed” refers to a mental activity.
Linking Verbs
A linking verb connects a noun or a pronoun with a word or words that identify or describe the noun or pronoun. Many linking verbs are verbs of being, which you form from the word be.
William Roper, More’s son-in-law, was the first of many to write a biography of this remarkable man.
The word “first” identifies William Roper.
English politics was turbulent during the time of the Reformation.
The word “turbulent” describes English politics.
There are several linking verbs in addition to be.
appear grow seem stay
become look smell taste
feel remain sound turn
Anne Boleyn grew impatient as she waited for Thomas More to recognize her as Henry VIII’s lawful wife and queen.
“Grew” links the adjective “impatient” to Anne Boleyn.
This tale sounds fictitious, but it is true.
“Sounds” links the adjective “fictitious” to “tale”; “is” links the adjective “true” to “it.”
Some verbs can be either action verbs or linking verbs, depending on their use in a sentence.
ACTION Thomas More remained at the king’s court no longer.
LINKING Henry VIII remained determined to divorce his present wife.
Exercise 6. On your paper, write the verbs in the following sentences. Label each verb Action or Linking.
SAMPLE Although Christopher Columbus was Italian, he lived many years in Portugal.
ANSWER was—Linking; lived—Action
1. Christopher Columbus, an Italian, married a Portuguese woman and joined the Portuguese Navy.
2. At first his plan for exploring the ocean looked possible to the Portuguese king.
3. The king, however, eventually rejected Columbus’s plan; it also sounded unfeasible to the Florentines and the Venetians.
4. Eight years later the Spanish monarchs Ferdinand V and Isabella I gave Columbus the necessary financial backing.
5. Ironically, Henry VII of England grew interested in Columbus’s plans soon after Spain had funded the voyage.
6. On April 17, 1492, Columbus signed an agreement that gave to Spain any land that he discovered during his exploration.
7. Little knowledge of geography existed at the time of Columbus’s voyage; maps outlined less than one fourth of Earth’s surface.
8. On October 12, 1492, Columbus’s patience paid off, and his three ships reached Watling Island in the Bahamas.
9. Columbus’s voyage greatly influenced people’s ideas about the shape of Earth, and these ideas grew more popular in succeeding years.
10. After Columbus returned with evidence of newly discovered lands, Spain made him an admiral and governor general of the new lands.
11. The next year, he sailed with seventeen ships to Puerto Rico and became leader of a colony in Hispaniola.
12. When Columbus explored Venezuela five years later, he tasted fresh water and realized that this land was a continent.
13. Columbus remained governor of Hispaniola for several years before he returned to Spain.
14. By a freak of fortune, Amerigo Vespucci, a merchant who visited the lands discovered by Columbus and wrote accounts of his adventures, became in the public’s eyes the discoverer of the American continents.
15. England and France soon followed Spain’s lead and initiated their own voyages across the Atlantic Ocean; soon the battle for the possession of the American continents became a heated one.
Auxiliary Verbs
Sometimes a verb needs the help of another verb, called an auxiliary verb (AV) or a helping verb. The verb that it helps is called the main verb (MV). Together, a main verb and an auxiliary verb form a verb phrase. A verb phrase may have more than one auxiliary verb. Common auxiliary verbs appear in the following list.
am, are, be, been, is, was, were may, might
can, could must
do, does, did shall, should
have, has, had will, would
AV AV MV AV MV
The plane will have left before we can get to the airport.
AV AV MV AV MV
He had been walking for hours before he was found.
AV MV
He is biking to Vermont from Boston.
AV MV
They will arrive in time for the game.
AV MV
Contrary to his opinion, he does not have any imagination.
AV AV MV
Cy Young has always been considered one of the best pitchers in baseball history.
Like any other adverbs, “still” and “not” are not part of the verb phrase.
Thomas More must have known that the king would not let him simply resign his post.
He was probably waiting to be arrested.
Exercise 7. On your paper, write the verb phrases in the following sentences.
SAMPLE The madrigal can be considered two different forms of music, although both forms did begin in Italy.
ANSWER can be considered; did begin
1. Fourteenth-century madrigal performers would sing with three voices as background and one voice for the melody.
2. Madrigals of the sixteenth century should sound completely different from those of the fourteenth century.
3. These later madrigals might seem unrelated because they adapted the fourteenth-century form rather loosely.
4. Giovanni Gabrielli and Orlando di Lasso were composing classic madrigals during the Renaissance.
5. Orlando di Lasso, a Dutch composer, is often named as the Renaissance composer who must be studied.
6. Di Lasso could work as choirmaster as well as singer, and he had published his first books of madrigals by 1555.
7. Because of the quality of di Lasso’s music, he should receive credit for his contribution to Flemish music.
8. Claudio Monteverdi, who should stand with di Lasso as a madrigal specialist, must also be considered as a great figure in the history of opera.
9. Monteverdi’s first opera, Orfeo, which is not often seen these days, is still mentioned in any study of opera.
10. His opera The Coronation of Poppaea was written in 1642, and students should know that the work was completed the year before Monteverdi’s death.
Exercise 8. On your paper, rewrite the following sentences, replacing each blank with an auxiliary verb.
SAMPLE The Medici grand duke ..... asked Galileo Galilei, a professor in Padua, Italy, to return to his native Florence.
ANSWER The Medici grand duke had asked Galileo Galilei, a professor in Padua, Italy, to return to his native Florence.
1. Galileo’s mind was such that he ..... construct an effective telescope after having only heard that one existed.
2. When he used his new telescope to explore the sky, Galileo discovered that celestial bodies, which ..... thought to be smooth, had mountains.
3. ..... the discovery of the moon’s ruggedness convince Galileo to write a book called The Message of the Stars?
4. Galileo ..... told that his findings contradicted the traditional view that Earth and celestial bodies were very different.
5. Galileo ..... also ..... remembered as a student of mechanics who had great mathematical skills.
6. He ..... decided to tackle the problem of explaining the movement of falling and thrown bodies.
7. His theory differed from that of the Greek philosopher Aristotle, who ..... lived some eighteen hundred years earlier.
8. Because his contemporaries thought that Galileo ..... not ..... tampered with Aristotle’s beliefs, the scientist’s ideas met with furious opposition.
9. Although the Renaissance ..... seem enlightened compared with the centuries before it, suspicion of new ideas was still rampant.
10. Ignoring the disapproval he ..... ..... noticed, Galileo continued to experiment.
11. Strange as it ..... seem to today’s students, experimentation was not common in Galileo’s day.
12. Although previous scientists ..... ..... checked their theories against reality, few did.
13. Galileo, who ..... been instrumental in explaining Copernicus’s theories, ..... finally called by Church authorities to answer for his beliefs.
14. He ..... told that if he ..... not stop his discussion of the Copernican system, he ..... ..... sent to jail.
15. Galileo ..... ..... decided that his beliefs ..... ..... taught anyway, because he persisted in championing Copernicus.
16. Galileo ..... ..... been able to continue teaching if his teachings ..... been less threatening to the important powers of the age.
17. Finally, the man who ..... ..... ..... considered a precious resource in nearly any other culture ..... condemned and told that he ..... renounce all his beliefs.
18. Galileo, who probably ..... ..... explained the important scientific problems of his day, ..... finally silenced; even so, his contributions ..... still remembered for their brilliance and scope.
Characteristics of Verbs
Verbs have several characteristics that you need to understand in order to use them correctly.
Transitive Verbs and Intransitive Verbs. All action verbs are either transitive or intransitive. A transitive verb directs its action toward someone or something, which is called the object of the verb (direct or indirect object).
verb obj.
King Henry VIII married Catherine of Aragon shortly after his accession in 1509.
“Catherine of Aragon” is the object of the verb “married.” “Married” is a transitive verb.
verb obj. obj.
Henry VIII executed Anne Boleyn and Catherine Howard in 1536 and 1542, respectively.
“Anne Boleyn” and “Catherine Howard” are the objects of the verb “executed.” “Executed” is a transitive verb.
The performer of the action of an intransitive verb does not direct that action toward anyone or anything. In other words, an intransitive verb does not have a receiver of the action. Some action verbs, such as go, are intransitive. All linking verbs are intransitive.
Although Mary Stuart knew about her cousin Elizabeth Tudor’s attitudes, she behaved as if she did not.
The verbs “knew” and “behaved” do not have objects. Therefore, they are intransitive.
The Tudors seem larger than life.
“Seem” is a linking verb. It is intransitive.
Many verbs can be either transitive or intransitive, depending on whether there is a receiver of the action.
TRANSITIVE
Study Sir Francis Bacon’s Essays tonight!
The object of “study” is “Essays.”
INTRANSITIVE
Renaissance scribes copied manuscripts and studied.
“Studied” has no object; therefore it is intransitive.
Exercise 9. On your paper, copy each verb or verb phrase and label it Transitive or Intransitive.
SAMPLE Francisco Pizarro, the Spanish conquistador, was the conqueror of Peru.
ANSWER was—Intransitive
1. Francisco Pizarro traveled the world as an explorer.
2. In 1524, with Diego de Almagro, Pizarro searched the coasts of Ecuador and Peru for the famous Inca Empire.
3. In 1532 Pizarro was the guest of the Incan emperor, Atahualpa.
4. Pizarro offered Atahualpa friendship and then overthrew the Peruvian ruler.
5. Pizarro’s actions toward Atahualpa seem underhanded to students today.
6. When the mountain town of Cuzco fell, Pizarro’s conquest was complete.
7. Pizarro successfully defended Cuzco when the new Incan emperor, Manco Capac, fought back.
8. Pizarro wanted Chile under his rule, so he promised Diego de Almagro territory and money in return for its acquisition.
9. When Pizarro cheated him out of the promised territory, Almagro was furious.
10. Almagro seized the town of Cuzco, but his attempt at revenge eventually failed.
11. Almagro’s followers, who hated Pizarro for his treachery, later deposed the explorer.
12. Although Pizarro had been a conquistador of resourcefulness and cunning, his greed and ambition overshadowed his admirable qualities.
13. Pizarro’s brothers suffered similar fates because of greed.
14. Juan Pizarro died in an attack against the Incan fortress Sacsahusman, and Gonzalo was ousted as governor of Quito, Ecuador, in 1539, by the Spanish viceroy in 1541.
15. Hernando Pizarro, Francisco’s half brother, tried to curry favor for his family at the Spanish court but found himself imprisoned instead.
Active Voice and Passive Voice. A verb is in the active voice when the subject performs the action of the verb. The active voice is generally a more effective way to express action.
The Medici governed Florence for generations.
A verb is in the passive voice when the subject receives the action of the verb. Use the passive voice only when you want to emphasize the receiver of the action, or when the person or thing performing the action is unknown, or occasionally when there is no other way to write the sentence. Overuse of the passive voice is tedious and weakens your writing.
Rule! To form the passive voce, use a form of the verb “be” and the past participle of the main verb.
Florence was governed by the Medici for generations.
Emphasizes the subject, Florence.
Only transitive verbs can be changed into the passive voice. Intransitive verbs cannot be in the passive voice because they do not have receivers of the action, that is indirect, direct, or prepositional objects. When a verb in the active voice is changed to the passive voice, its direct object becomes the subject of the sentence (or more precisely, the logical subject of the sentence), and the subject becomes the object of the preposition by.
Subj. D.O.
ACTIVE VOICE Machiavelli used Cesare Borgia as the model for the ruler in The Prince.
Subj. Obj. of prep.
PASSIVE VOICE Cesare Borgia was used by Machiavelli as the model for the ruler in The Prince.
Exercise 10. For each verb listed, write a sentence using the verb in the active voice. Then rewrite the sentence, changing the verb to the passive voice.
SAMPLE travel
ANSWER Vasco da Gama traveled the southwestern coast of India./The southwestern coast of India was traveled by Vasco da Gama.
explore see
navigate speak
urge end
reach greet
Changes in Verb Form. An important characteristic of the verb is that the way it is used determines its form. A verb form changes in order to agree in person and number with its subject. It also changes to express tense and mood. The basic forms of a verb are its principal parts.
Exercise 11. Step 1: On your paper, write the verb or verb phrase in each of the following sentences. Step 2: Label it Action or Linking. Step 3: If the verb is an action verb, label it Transitive or Intransitive. Step 4: If the sentence is in the passive voice, label it Passive.
SAMPLE For fourteen years Niccolo Machiavelli was employed by the Florentine government as a minor official.
ANSWER was employed—Action, Transitive, Passive
1. Machiavelli was an original thinker.
2. He spent his childhood in the Italian city of Florence.
3. The government employed Machiavelli as secretary of defense.
4. Through diplomatic missions, Machiavelli was introduced to powerful world leaders such as Cesare Borgia.
5. As defense secretary, Machiavelli became well known for his role in planning a citizens’ militia.
6. Machiavelli was dismissed from his official position by the Medici family in 1512.
7. After his dismissal, Machiavelli suffered a brief imprisonment.
8. Machiavelli appeared undaunted by his experience and retired to his country estate.
9. Once he was in the country, Machiavelli wrote his famous books on politics.
10. Machiavelli’s reputation was gained by the ideas that he discussed in The Prince.
11. To most scholars, Machiavelli’s contributions to history are the views of power and leadership that were outlined by him in The Prince.
12. The Prince, a tract that has remained controversial, is based on the theory that success in political action is paramount.
13. The term Machiavellian now refers to someone who can justify dishonest methods as a means to an end.
14. The result of such tactics was seen by Machiavelli as necessary for the peace of the country; in other words, the successful ruler must be ruthless.
15. Many rulers since Machiavelli’s time have pointed to Machiavelli’s precepts as justification for ruthless methods.
Using Verbs Effectively
Verbs can make the difference between an ordinary piece of writing and one that stirs the reader’s imagination. For this reason, good writers use verbs that tell how something happened. Consider the verb fought and a more specific verb in the following example.
Don Quixote fought a windmill.
Don Quixote tilted at a windmill.
When we read the verb “tilted,” we form a definite image of Don Quixote thrusting his lance at the windmill.
The following extract is from the novel Don Quixote, written by Miguel de Cervantes between 1605 and 1615. Note how Cervantes uses specific verbs to describe the action.
This said, [Don Quixote] clapped spurs to his horse Rozinante, without giving ear to his squire Sancho, who bawled out to him, and assured him that they were windmills, and no giants. But he was so fully possessed with a strong conceit of the contrary, that he did not so much as hear his squire’s outcry, nor was he sensible of what they were, although he was already very near them.... [C]overing himself with his shield, and couching his lance, he rushed with Rozinante’s utmost speed upon the first windmill he could come at, and, running his lance into the sail, the wind whirled about with such swiftness, that the rapidity of the motion presently broke the lance into shivers, and hurled away both knight and horse along with it.
Miguel de Cervantes (1547-1616)
from Don Quixote
With the verb “bawled,” Cervantes tells us how Sancho sounded. The verbs “rushed,” “whirled,” and “hurled” depict the action more specifically and vividly than would the verbs “rode,” “moved,” “and pushed.”
Exercise 12. The passage that follows contains ineffective verbs. On your paper, rewrite the passage so that the verbs are more effective.
SAMPLE The people of Europe had very few industries during the Renaissance.
ANSWER The people of Europe developed very few industries during the Renaissance.
Most people during the Renaissance were farmers, even in northern Italy, where there was some industry. The people in industry were clothmakers, shoemakers, and armor makers. Those who made these items still used their hands and simple tools, although some used power-driven machines. Water mills and windmills made grain; some pumps in mines used water mills.
The most common of the forms of mass manufacturing was the putting-out system. In this method, employers gave raw materials to workers, who made finished goods at home. The employee’s pay was on a piecework basis; he or she was the producer, and the employer came and got the finished items, which would then be sold. The wages of these workers, even though their children and their wives usually worked too, were very low. Home workers used vegetables from garden plots around their cottages to make up for their low wages.
There were very few large-scale businesses industries during the Renaissance. Enterprises that used many workers under one roof, the way a modern factory would, were rare. There were some of these factories after the mid-fifteenth century. Such businesses were primarily forges or printers that made books after the invention of the movable-type printing press.
2 Nouns
Nouns are the names we use for people, places, animals, things, ideas, actions, states of existence, and so forth.
PERSONS merchant explorer Piero
PLACES Florence palace Flanders
THINGS motet Mona Lisa caravel
IDEAS humanism scientific method conquest
Dates and days of the week are also classified as nouns.
A.D. 1500
Friday
November 29, 1455
Changes in Noun Form
Number A noun is either singular or plural. A singular noun refers to only one person, place, thing, or idea and a plural noun to more than one. Adding -s or -es to the singular noun is the usual way of forming the plural; however, English has many irregular plurals.
SINGULAR prince medium
PLURAL princes (regular) media (irregular)
Possessive Form Although in the past English nouns had many forms, in modern English nouns change their form only in the possessive. To form the possessive of a singular noun or of a plural noun that does not end in -s, add -’s to the nominative form.
NOMINATIVE pope Erasmus Medici
POSSESSIVE pope’s Erasmus’s Medici’s
The pope’s visit to the island was postponed.
Erasmus’s most famous work is The Praise of Folly.
Giovanni di Bicci de’ Medici’s descendants were powerful figures in the history of Italy.
To form the possessive case of a plural noun that ends in -s, add the apostrophe only.
NOMINATIVE explorers doges
POSSESSIVE explorers’ doges’
Explorers’ lives were difficult in the fifteenth century.
The doges’ palace in Venice faces the Grand Canal.
Common and Proper Nouns
A common noun names a class of people, places, things, or ideas. Do not capitalize a common noun unless it begins a sentence. A proper noun gives the name or title of a particular person, place, thing, or idea, and it always begins with a capital letter.
COMMON NOUN Often palaces were built in cities.
PROPER NOUN The Pitti Palace commands a hillside in Florence.
Compound Nouns
A compound noun consists of two or more words used together to form a single noun. There are four kinds of compound nouns. One kind is formed by joining two or more words: stonework. A second kind consists of words joined by hyphens: city-state. A third kind consists of two words that are often used together: sea level. The fourth kind is a proper noun that consists of more than one word: Loire River.
Collective Nouns
A collective noun refers to a group of people, places, things, or ideas. These nouns are singular in form and may take singular or plural verbs.
A swarm of new ideas enticed the Renaissance mind.
A society was formed to oversee the maintenance of the park.
Concrete and Abstract Nouns
Concrete nouns refer to material things, to people, or to places. Some concrete nouns name things that you can perceive with your senses: architecture, music, manuscripts. Other concrete nouns name things that can be measured or perceived only with the aid of technical devices. Although you cannot see a proton, proton is a concrete noun because it names a material substance.
If you work for the government, you will meet politicians.
Renaissance scholars and artists throughout Europe studied the literature and art of ancient Greece and Rome.
The central Renaissance country was Italy, and the quintessential Renaissance city was fifteenth-century Florence.
Abstract nouns name ideas, qualities, emotions, or attitudes.
Scholars consider naturalism and the pursuit of beauty to be important Renaissance characteristics.
Galileo Galilei defended the freedom to pursue truth.
The change in the itinerary created agitation among the tourists.
Pollution is a major concern of the citizens.
Exercise 13. On your paper, rewrite each of the following sentences, replacing each blank with the kind of noun noted in parentheses.
SAMPLE The Hundred Years’ War is an .......... (abstract) of the kinds of conflicts fought by .......... (proper) during the Renaissance.
ANSWER The Hundred Years’ War is an example of the kinds of conflicts fought by Europeans during the Renaissance.
1. Between 1337 and 1453, England and France were two .......... (common) at war over the region of southwestern France.
2. That area of .......... (proper) was called “Guienne,” and it was held as a fiefdom under English .......... (abstract).
3. When France tried to bring .......... (proper) under its rule, a .......... (collective) of inhabitants decided they would resist the French.
4. The local inhabitants protested France’s .......... (abstract) because they preferred a .......... (common) who was distant to one who close by and could collect taxes.
5. The invading English, whose longbows were a strong .......... (abstract) over the heavy armor worn by the French .......... (concrete), found themselves winning many .......... (concrete).
6. Despite all these .......... (abstract), England could not destroy the resistance in France, even as the French saw each .......... (collective) of cattle dwindling and each .......... (collective) suffering.
7. Eventually, the .......... (common) of Guienne decided to rally to the French, even though their .......... (concrete), Charles VII, was a weak .......... (common).
8. The new .......... (abstract) of patriotism in France was embodied by Joan of Arc, who led an .......... (common) for .......... (proper; compound).
9. The international .......... (common) had ended, but a .......... (compound) broke out in England between the .......... (collective) supporting Henry VI and the party led by Richard, Duke of York.
10. Centuries later, this .......... (abstract) in English history from 1453 to 1485 became known as the “War of the Roses” because the symbols of the warring factions were .......... (concrete).
Using Nouns Effectively
In writing, you usually need to use both concrete nouns and abstract nouns. Abstract nouns are necessary in most forms of writing. However, if you link them with details and examples that include concrete nouns, your writing will be clearer and more interesting.
Read the following paragraph from the Decameron by Italian Renaissance writer Giovanni Boccaccio. Notice how Boccaccio uses concrete nouns to describe the scene.
The place was somewhere on a little mountain, at some distance away from the roads, full of various shrubs and plants with rich, green foliage—most pleasant to look at; at the top there was a country mansion with a beautiful large inner courtyard with open colonnades, halls, and bedrooms, all of them beautiful in themselves and decorated with cheerful and interesting paintings; it was surrounded by meadows and marvelous gardens, with wells of fresh water.... And the group discovered, to their delight, that the entire palace had been cleaned and the beds made in the bedchambers, and that fresh flowers and rushes had been strewn everywhere.
Giovanni Boccaccio (1313-1375)
from the Decameron
Boccaccio relies on concrete nouns to evoke a certain feeling about the place that he describes. Mansion, courtyard, colonnades, and palace convey a sense of the regal. Shrubs, plants, meadows, gardens, flowers, and rushes create a sense of the natural lushness of the scene. Note that Boccaccio does not completely avoid abstract nouns; “delight” is abstract.
Exercise 14. On your paper, write the nouns used in each sentence. Label each noun Proper, Collective, Concrete, or Abstract.
SAMPLE The love of books during the Renaissance was embodied in the literary quest of many writers.
ANSWER love—Abstract; books—Concrete; Renaissance—Proper; quest—Abstract; writers—Concrete
1. Some knowledge of the beliefs of Latin and Greek writers and philosophers can help us understand the progress of western civilization.
2. For years, scholars ignored the works of these authors.
3. During the Renaissance, an Italian writer Francesco Petrarch became curious about ancient manuscripts.
4. Petrarch and a group of writers who shared his interest began to search libraries throughout Italy for the forgotten treasures.
5. Lawyers read the old books with great zeal in preparation for their cases.
6. This research revived an interest in the life of ancient Rome.
7. Poets began to imitate the forms used by ancient Roman authors such as Catullus and Horace.
8. Petrarch wrote a series of famous sonnets dedicated to a woman named “Laura.”
9. Another writer of the Italian Renaissance, Giovanni Boccaccio, wrote a book called the Decameron.
10. For centuries, other writers borrowed many of the plots from Boccaccio’s book for their own creations.
3 Pronouns
A pronoun is a word that is used in place of a noun. A pronoun identifies persons, places, things, or ideas without renaming them. The noun that a pronoun replaces is the antecedent of that pronoun. Like nouns, pronouns serve as subjects, objects, and complements in sentences.
Most pronouns stand for nouns and help us avoid the monotony of repeating the same noun over and over again. Without pronouns, we could not express some thoughts. We say this: “Lanier Smythe bought the house, measured it, drew up a floor plan for it, and then redesigned it. She hired a carpenter, but she did much of the labor herself, and at the end she had demonstrated her architectural talents to herself and anybody who cared to look.”
Without pronouns, we would have to say something like this: “Lanier Smythe bought the house, measured the house, drew up a floor plan for the house, and then redesigned the house. Lanier Smythe hired a carpenter, but Lanier Smythe did much of the labor, and at the end Lanier Smythe demonstrated Lanier Smythe’s architectural talents to Lanier Smythe and to many others.”
Such sentences would be unbearably dull, clumsy, and confusing. Without the use of the pronoun anybody, we could not even express the idea we find in the words “anybody who cared to look” in the first version.
Most pronouns refer to nouns that have already appeared in the text. In the sentence above, the name Lanier Smythe is a proper noun, and the word she, used several times later, is the pronoun. “Lanier Smythe” is therefore the antecedent of the pronoun she. In the same sentence, house is a noun antecedent of the pronoun it. Always be sure your readers know what nouns your pronouns stand for. Pronouns that lack a clear antecedent cause great confusion. Failure to have a clear antecedent is a little like making your readers shop in a supermarket where someone has torn all the labels off the cans.
“I’ve got it,” he said. It moved slowly as he held it by the neck. We looked at it, and we all agreed that we had never seen anything like it before. It was ugly and big but sluggish and seemingly did not want to bite.
When we read a text like this one, we all immediately ask, “What is the it?” Until we know the antecedent to it, we don’t know what is being talked about. Other cases of the missing antecedent may be a little easier to solve. But any time the antecedent is missing when we need it, our reading suffers, and we become confused and sometimes cross.
There are seven kinds of pronouns: personal, demonstrative, reflexive, intensive, interrogative, relative, and indefinite.
Personal Pronouns
Personal pronouns require different forms to express persons, number, and gender. Person refers to the relationship between the speaker or writer (first person), the individual or thing spoken to (second person), and the individual or thing spoken about (third person). The number of a personal pronoun indicates whether the antecedent is singular or plural. The gender of a personal pronoun indicates whether the antecedent is masculine, feminine, or neuter.
Tricia and Annette will not soon forget Machiavelli’s The Prince, for it greatly astonished them.
“It” replaces “The Prince,” and “them” replaces “Tricia and Annette.”
Critics who try to interpret The Prince are perplexed because they find inconsistencies and contradictions. “They” replaces “critics.”
Possessive Pronouns
Possessive pronouns are personal pronouns that show ownership or belonging.
Copies of The Courtier have arrived at the bookstore, and we can pick up ours at any time.
“Ours” replaces “copies.”
Georgina is doing her term paper on Sir Francis Bacon.
“Her” refers to “Georgina.”
The following chart shows the common personal pronouns; the possessive pronouns are in parentheses.
Personal Pronouns
Singular Plural
First Person I, me (my, mine) we, us (our, ours)
Second Person you (your, yours) you (your, yours)
Third Person he, him (his) they, them (their, theirs)
she, her (her, hers)
it (its)
Demonstrative Pronouns
Demonstrative pronouns specify the individual or the group that is being referred to. The demonstrative pronouns are this, that, these, and those.
This is a more interesting collection of Florentine paper than that.
These are the antique editions of Montaigne’s Essais; those are the modern editions.
Reflexive Pronouns
Reflexive pronouns indicate that people or things perform actions to, for, or on behalf of themselves. To form a reflexive pronoun, add the suffix -self or -selves to the personal pronouns.
Reflexive Pronouns
First Person myself, ourselves
Second Person yourself, yourselves
Third Person himself, herself, itself, oneself, themselves
Cervantes’s Don Quixote convinces himself that the world is like the romances he reads. He rides out to find adventure for himself.
Intensive Pronouns
Intensive pronouns are the same words as the reflexive pronouns, but they draw special attention to a person or a thing mentioned in the sentence. Intensive pronouns usually come immediately after the nouns or pronouns that they intensify.
President Harding himself played poker and drank whiskey in the White House at a time when the United States Constitution prohibited the sale and use of alcoholic drinks.
The pronoun “himself” draws special attention to President Harding.
Don Quixote chases his dream and the dream itself becomes reality.
The pronoun “itself” draws special attention to the word “dream.”
Cervantes himself believed that the world could be a better place.
The pronoun “himself” draws special attention to the word “Cervantes.”
Interrogative Pronouns
Interrogative pronouns introduce questions. The most frequently used interrogative pronouns are who, whom, which, what, and whose.
Who sailed to eastern Canada in 1497? John Cabot, of course.
We have biographies of many explorers. Which would you like to read?
Whose is this Renaissance Reader?
Relative Pronouns
Relative pronouns introduce adjective clauses, which modify nouns and pronouns. The relative pronouns are who, whom, which, whose, and that.
Sir Thomas More’s home in Chelsea, which was known as the “Great House,” was a center of political and scholarly inquiry.
“Home” is the antecedent of “which.”
We read some writings by More that were commissioned by Henry VIII.
“Writings” is the antecedent of “that.”
Erasmus, whose The Praise of Folly is well known, was a member of More’s circle.
“Erasmus” is the antecedent of “whose.”
Indefinite Pronouns
Indefinite pronouns refer to people, places, or things in general. Often you can use these pronouns without antecedents. The following chart contains commonly used indefinite pronouns.
Indefinite Pronouns
all either most other
another enough much others
any everybody neither plenty
anybody everyone nobody several
anyone everything none some
anything no one somebody something
both many nothing someone
each more one few
Margaret More Roper’s learning astonished everyone! Few thought women capable of intellectual endeavors.
Anyone with an interest in political science should read More’s Utopia.
For a time Henry VIII respected none of his statesmen more than he did Lord Chancellor Thomas More.
Exercise 15. On your paper, write the following sentences, replacing the blanks with suitable pronouns. Use the kind of pronoun indicated in parentheses.
SAMPLE Nicholas Copernicus .......... (intensive) did not think of his contributions as revolutionary, but .......... (personal) were.
ANSWER Nicholas Copernicus himself did not think of his contributions as revolutionary, but they were.
1. Copernicus, .......... (relative) we credit with starting a revolution in astronomy, was born in Poland.
2. .......... (personal) was interested in mathematically describing the movements of the sun, the moon, and the stars.
3. The consequences of .......... (possessive) discovering that the center of the universe is not the Earth but the sun were far reaching.
4. .......... (interrogative) would have thought his decision would transform our understanding of .......... (possessive) place in the universe?
5. The problem .......... (relative) Copernicus faced was explaining the movement of the planets across the sky.
6. Unfortunately, .......... (indefinite) except Copernicus .......... (intensive) thought that the old hypothesis, .......... (relative) stated that the Earth was the center of the universe, was wrong.
7. Copernicus noticed that the “wandering stars,” as the Greeks called .......... (personal), did not remain fixed in relation to the other stars in the sky.
8. .......... (demonstrative) inspired him to hunt through ancient texts for an explanation of the strange, wandering stars.
9. .......... (interrogative) of the ancient theories was the one .......... (relative) Copernicus used?
10. The system .......... (relative) Aristarchus of Samos had suggested in the third century B.C. was rejected by ancient astronomers because .......... (indefinite) could find any evidence to support .......... (personal).
11. Copernicus found .......... (reflexive) attempting to describe mathematically the system .......... (relative) Aristarchus of Samos had developed to explain the planetary motion that .......... (personal) saw.
12. .......... (demonstrative) had been rejected by ancient astronomers because .......... (indefinite) believed that the theory was mathematically superior to any of the theories .......... (relative) stressed the Earth’s importance.
13. Copernicus, .......... (relative) spent enormous amounts of time calculating the movement of the Earth in space, found .......... (reflexive) with a theory that .......... (personal) believed.
14. .......... (indefinite) .......... (relative) respected Copernicus were nonetheless slow to adopt .......... (possessive) new calculations.
15. Almost .......... (indefinite) thought that Copernicus’s theory described the motions of the planets any more accurately than Ptolemy’s older theory, .......... (relative) placed the Earth at the center of the universe.
Exercise 16. The following paragraphs need pronouns in order to make them read more smoothly and less repetitiously. On your paper, rewrite the entire passage, replacing nouns with pronouns where suitable. Use any of the kinds of pronouns studied in this section.
SAMPLE The Medicis belonged to an Italian family. The Medici family was very powerful in Florence for three centuries.
ANSWER The Medicis belonged to an Italian family that was very powerful in Florence for three centuries.
The Medicis, although the Medicis were poor in the beginning, soon established the Medicis as merchants and bankers. Through marriage the Medicis became affiliated with the most important families of Europe, and the affiliation between the Medicis and the most important families of Europe produced three popes and two queens. The popes and the queens played a major role in the Renaissance. Although the Florentines had adopted a democratic constitution, the democratic constitution was a sham. The Medicis found that the Medicis were able to control the government, although the Medicis often held no official governmental position.
The first important member of the Medicis was Giovanni di Bicci de’ Medici. Giovanni di Bicci de’ Medici lived from 1360 to 1429; Giovanni di Bicci de’ Medici’s sons founded the two branches of the Medici family. Giovanni di Bicci de’ Medici’s elder son, Cosimo de’ Medici, was the first Medici of the Medici family to rule Florence. The heirs of Giovanni di Bicci de’ Medici’s younger son, Lorenzo de’ Medici, became grand dukes. Those grand dukes are the grand dukes who ruled Tuscany for many years. In addition to being powerful in Italian government and finance, the Medicis were also notable patrons of the arts. The Medicis helped to make Florence a haven for artists. These artists in turn made Florence famous internationally for Florence’s culture.
4 Adjectives
An adjective is a word that modifies a noun or a pronoun. To modify means to change; an adjective modifies a word by describing or limiting it. In some sentences, nouns and certain pronouns are used as adjectives. In such cases, consider them adjectives. Adjectives answer the question Which? What kind? or How many?
WHICH? Charles V ruled several European countries. [Which countries? European countries.]
WHAT KIND? As Holy Roman emperor and king of Spain, Charles had extraordinary power. [What kind of power? Extraordinary power.]
HOW MANY? Charles’s empire had numerous financial problems, however. [How many problems? Numerous.]
Articles
The most frequently used adjectives are the articles a, an, and the. A and an are indefinite articles because they do not specify a particular person, place, thing, or idea. The is called the definite article because it always specifies a particular person, place, thing, or idea.
INDEFINITE Ferdinand and Isabella cooperated in a plan for peace and prosperity in Spain.
DEFINITE Ferdinand is famous for the foreign policy decisions that he made.
Placement of Adjectives
Adjectives usually appear directly before the nouns or pronouns that they modify. Sometimes a comma separates adjectives from the words that they modify.
Isabella’s influence led to the popular conquest of Granada and the momentous discovery of the Americas.
Aloof and clever, Ferdinand was praised by Machiavelli in The Prince.
Adjectives may follow linking verbs and modify the subjects of sentences.
Gresham’s Law remains useful to monetary experts today. [“Remains” is a linking verb.]
Sometimes adjectives follow the words that they modify and are separated from them by commas.
Sir Thomas Gresham, successful and influential, advised Queen Elizabeth I on her loans.
Proper Adjectives
A proper adjective is an adjective formed from a proper noun. Proper adjectives are usually capitalized.
To create many proper adjectives, you use the suffixes -n, -an, -ian, -ese, -ish, or -al, changing the spelling of the noun as needed.
PROPER NOUN PROPER ADJECTIVE
Florence Florentine
Flanders Flemish
Sometimes the proper noun is used unchanged as a proper adjective.
Last evening we saw a Monteverdi opera.
The London stage was a lively place in Elizabethan times.
Nouns Used as Adjectives
Some words that usually function as nouns can function as adjectives without changing form, as in the following examples.
The office contained mahogany paneling and tables with glass tops.
The invention of the jet airplane has diminished the need for passenger trains but freight trains have had an increase in business.
Possessive Nouns Possessive nouns are nouns that show possession or ownership; they function as adjectives because they modify nouns or pronouns.
The tunnel’s lights suddenly went out, plunging us into darkness.
Everyone admired the actor’s costumes.
Pronouns Used as Adjectives
A pronoun functions as an adjective when it modifies a noun or a pronoun. Indefinite pronouns, demonstrative pronouns, interrogative pronouns, the relative pronoun whose, and the possessive pronouns in the following chart may serve as adjectives.
Possessive Pronouns Used as Adjectives
Singular Plural
First Person my our
Second Person your your
Third Person his, her, its their
Your map of the United States ultimately owes its existence to Amerigo Vespucci, the Italian explorer who first applied the name continent to the Americas.
Note that the possessive pronoun “its” is spelled without an apostrophe.
The words in the preceding chart are called possessive pronouns in this textbook, but some people call them pronominal adjectives.
The following chart contains examples of the other kinds of pronouns that can function as adjectives.
Other Pronouns Used as Adjectives
Indefinite few, many, several, some
Demonstrative that, this, these, those
Interrogative what, which, whose
Relative whose
Few families are more famous than the Medicis, whose members included monarchs, statesmen, and popes as well as beggars, thieves, and murderers.
I wonder which family member was considered most brilliant.
Exercise 17. On your paper, write the adjectives in the following passage. Next to each adjective, write the word or words that it modifies.
SAMPLE The Renaissance artist enjoyed filling the canvases of his magnificent paintings with beautiful women.
ANSWER The—artist; Renaissance—artist; the—canvases; his—paintings; magnificent—paintings; beautiful—women
(1) Raphael, an important Renaissance painter, was born in the flourishing Italian town of Urbino in 1483. (2) During his early years, he studied with the influential artist Perugino. (3) Perugino’s influence can be seen in one of Raphael’s first masterpieces, Marriage of the Virgin.
(4) In 1504 young Raphael went to live in Florence, where he studied the incomparable paintings of Leonardo da Vinci. (5) Leonardo’s glorious figures and balanced compositions had a strong impact on Raphael.
(6) Four years later Pope Julius II invited Raphael to join a group of renowned artists working in Rome. (7) The pope, ambitious and forward looking, wanted to rebuild the ancient city with the finest workmanship available. (8) One of Raphael’s monumental tasks was to complete a group of frescoes in the Vatican quarters of the pope. (9) Confident and assured, the artist created some brilliant scenes on the arched walls and curved ceilings of these private rooms. (10) A striking example is School of Athens, a wall painting that covers an entire side of one chamber. (11) A careful examination of this work reveals not only several leading Greek philosophers, but also a small portrait of the artist himself. (12) A seated figure in the foreground is thought to be the legendary Michelangelo.
(13) The succeeding pope, Leo X, was so happy with Raphael that he treated the artist royally. (14) Raphael lived in a splendid palace, wore expensive clothes, and had numerous servants. (15) The great artist, cultured and generous, attracted a large following of loyal students and created a highly organized painting workshop.
(16) Raphael fell in love with a lovely woman named Margherita Luti, whom he immortalized in many radiant pictures. (17) In La Fornarina she wears an elegant bracelet with the telling words Raphael Urbinas on it. (18) Some scholars believe he painted the comely Margherita’s face into the popular Sistine Madonna.
Using Adjectives Effectively
Adjectives provide the means for creating a mood or a lasting impression of a person, a place, or a thing. To create a mood, use adjectives that appeal to the senses. Examples of such adjectives include white, black, gigantic, minuscule, tepid, and frigid. However, you can also use adjectives that refer to emotional states and abstract qualities. Innocent, angry, confusing, and hopeful are examples of such adjectives.
The following passage is a somewhat humorous description of himself that Cervantes wrote in the prologue to his Three Exemplary Novels. Notice how Cervantes uses mainly adjectives that appeal to the sense of sight since he wants us to “see” him.
This man you see here with the aquiline countenance, the chestnut hair, the smooth, untroubled brow, the bright eyes, the hooked yet well-proportioned nose, the silvery beard that less than a score of years ago was golden, the big mustache, the small mouth, the teeth that are scarcely worth mentioning (there are but half a dozen of them altogether, in bad condition and very badly placed, no two of them corresponding to another pair), the body of medium height, neither tall nor short, the high complexion that is fair rather than dark, the slightly stooping shoulders, and the somewhat heavy build—this, I may tell you, is the author of La Galatea and Don Quixote de la Mancha... as well as other works that are straying about in these parts—without the owner’s name, likely as not.
Most of Cervantes’s adjectives appeal to the senses: aquiline, chestnut, hooked, big, small, fair, stooping, and so on. “Untroubled,” on the other hand, refers to an abstract quality.
Exercise 18. The paragraphs that follow need adjectives to make them more descriptive. Rewrite the paragraphs, using adjectives to make the setting more vivid.
SAMPLE Sailors returned to Spain and told tales about the land that they had seen.
ANSWER Excited sailors returned to Spain and told fascinating tales about the beautiful, new land that they had seen.
Vasco Nunez de Balboa lived in the port of Moguer on the coast of Spain. In 1501 ships stopped there before heading west to explore the Americas. Captains took aboard supplies, and they also hired sailors. Balboa joined one expedition. Like other explorers, he hoped to find wealth and fame in the Americas.
Balboa’s party sailed to the coast of South America, where they spent days exploring. The sailors marveled at the land. However, they had to settle on the island of Hispaniola, which was the Spanish base in the Americas. There Balboa tried to make a living by raising pigs.
By 1510 Balboa had returned to the mainland of South America. He led a group of settlers to a site on the Gulf of Uraba, where he established the town of Darien. Balboa befriended Indians in the area and was soon rewarded for his efforts. His guides told him about a sea on the other side of the isthmus. He also learned about a land of riches farther south. These reports referred to the Inca Empire in Peru.
Balboa set out with a group of Spaniards and Indians across the isthmus. From the peak of a mountain, he looked down on an ocean. It stretched to the horizon. Balboa was the first European to see the eastern shore of the Pacific Ocean.
5 Adverbs
Like adjectives adverbs are modifiers. They add shades of meaning to words or sentence elements that cannot be modified by adjectives.
Since adjectives can modify only nouns and pronouns, adverbs are left to modify anything else in the sentence that can be modified. They most commonly modify verbs, adjectives, and other adverbs, but they sometimes modify prepositions, phrases, clauses, and even whole sentences.
Adverbs answer one of five questions about the word or phrase that they modify: How? When? Where? How often? or To what extent?
HOW? Ferdinand Magellan persisted courageously in his search for a passage from the Atlantic to the Pacific.
WHEN? Magellan found the strait and eventually reached his goal, the Philippines.
WHERE? He died there, falling short of circumnavigating the globe.
HOW OFTEN? Sometimes Magellan’s sailors had deserted him.
TO WHAT EXTENT? Magellan seemed entirely devoted to his quest.
Adverbs such as rather, really, certainly, indeed, and truly are adverbs of extent and are used for emphasis.
Leonardo da Vinci was a truly remarkable man in both the breadth and the depth of his interests.
To what extent was Leonardo da Vinci remarkable? Truly remarkable.
The words “not” and “never” are adverbs. They tell to what extent (not at all) and when (never).
Leonardo da Vinci is not easily categorized.
He never finished his painting Battle of Anghiari.
Noun or Adverb? Many sentences contain words that, while customarily nouns, sometimes function as adverbs. Such adverbs usually tell when or where.
Yesterday I found a book on da Vinci at the library.
Adverbs That Modify Verbs
Adverbs often modify verbs. An adverb does not have to appear next to the verb that it modifies. Notice the different positions of the adverb gradually in the following sentences.
BEGINNING Gradually, Renaissance ideals influenced all of Europe.
MIDDLE Renaissance ideals gradually influenced all of Europe.
END Renaissance ideals influenced all of Europe gradually.
Adverbs That Modify Adjectives
Adverbs may modify adjectives. An adverb usually comes directly before the adjective that it modifies.
In spite of da Vinci’s very numerous writings and art works, we have comparatively little information about Leonardo the man.
Mona Lisa always draws an enormously varied audience.
Adverbs That Modify Other Adverbs
Adverbs can modify other adverbs. Such adverbs usually precede the adverbs that they modify.
Da Vinci is fascinating because he imagined so accurately solutions to a variety of problems.
“So” emphasizes “accurately.”
Da Vinci performed extremely brilliantly with little formal education.
“Extremely” emphasizes “brilliantly.”
Compendium
The simplest expansion of sentences occurs when we add modifying words to describe or limit the noun and verbs. Modifying words add details.
Recently, the earth trembled.
The earthquake nearly destroyed the old city.
The frantic citizens quickly declared the earthquake a complete disaster.
The added words do not all act the same way. Old, frantic, and complete modify nouns, but recently, nearly, and quickly do not. We don’t speak of a recently earthquake or a quickly citizen. Nor do we say frantic declared or complete destroyed. We are dealing with two different parts of speech. Adjectives (such as old, frantic, complete, heartless, friendly) describe or modify nouns and pronouns. Adverbs (such as recently, nearly, quickly, never, always) describe the action of verbs and also modify adjectives, other adverbs, and whole groups of words.
We cannot always identify adjectives and adverbs by their form. Although an -ly ending often signals and adverb, many adverbs—never and always, for example—have a different form. Moreover, some adjectives end in -ly: in likely candidate and lovely breeze, likely and lovely clearly modify nouns and are thus adjectives. Therefore, to determine whether a word is an adjective or an adverb, we must identify the word or words it modifies.
Adjectives modify only nouns and pronouns. Adverbs may modify verbs, but they may also modify adjectives and other adverbs: extremely happy (adverb-adjective); bitterly cold (adverb-adjective); very quickly (adverb-adverb). Adverbs may also modify whole sentences or groups of words within a sentence. In Unfortunately, we have no money, for example, unfortunately modifies the whole sentence that follows it. In She ran almost to the end of the street, the adverb almost modifies to the end of the street.
Adverbs usually indicate where, when, how, or to what extent, as in the following sentences.
Send all mail here.
Here is where the mail is to be sent.
Fred will arrive tomorrow.
Tomorrow is when Fred will arrive.
Jeremy answered angrily.
Angrily is how Jeremy answered.
We are completely satisfied.
“Completely” indicates to what extent we are satisfied.
Adjectives and adverbs appear in three forms distinguished by degree. The positive form is the basic form, the one listed in the dictionary: good, green, angry; badly, quickly, angrily. The comparative form indicates a greater degree of the quality named by the word: better, greener, angrier; worse, more quickly, more angrily. The superlative form indicates the greatest degree of the quality named: best, greenest, angriest; worst, most quickly, most angrily.
Exercise 19. On your paper, write the adverbs in the following paragraphs. Next to each adverb, write the verb, adjective, or adverb that it modifies.
SAMPLE Titian is certainly considered a brilliantly talented giant of the High Renaissance.
ANSWER certainly—is considered; brilliantly—talented
(1) Tiziano Vecelli (Titian) studied diligently under the guidance of several masters. (2) Of these, Giorgione was possibly most influential. (3) From him Titian first learned to use vibrant color as an instrument of a rather romantic approach to portraiture.
(4) This influence can be seen quite clearly in Titian’s remarkable painting A Man in Blue. (5) Here, the rendering of the subject’s sensuous silk sleeve greatly enhances the visual poetry of the painting.
(6) Titian usually worked in Venice and in 1516 was aptly named the official painter of the Venetian state. (7) He was a productive artist who often worked very hard on several paintings simultaneously. (8) Sometimes this approach made him slightly late in delivering a commissioned work, but his finished pieces were worth the wait.
(9) One of Titian’s really dedicated fans was Charles V. (10) The emperor so admired Titian’s work that he would not allow any other artist to paint his portrait. (11) Portrait of Charles V with His Dog is one the most opulently painted masterpieces that resulted from this highly beneficial relationship. (12) Other well-placed persons also came eagerly to Titian’s door. (13) Dukes and kings from many parts of Europe were always flattered to have their portraits done by Titian.
(14) Clearly, Titian loved the grand and dazzling life of Venice in this period. (15) The artist lived magnificently in a fine house nearby and traveled occasionally to accept commissions. (16) He produced truly splendid altarpieces, beautifully expressed religious paintings, and many works with mythological themes. (17) Although Titian was ardently admired during his time, he was not universally respected: Michelangelo, for one, thought that the artist drew carelessly. (18) Today, students carefully note both Titian’s prodigious talent and his relatively few flaws.
Exercise 20. The following paragraphs need adverbs to make them more descriptive. Rewrite the paragraphs. For variety, use adverbs that modify verbs, adjectives, and other adverbs.
SAMPLE Many explorers sailed from Europe to North America in the 1500s.
ANSWER Many explorers courageously sailed from Europe to North America in the 1500s.
Jacques Cartier grew up in a French seaport and studied navigation in Dieppe. He was respected in his profession. Some historians believe that Cartier sailed to Newfoundland with a fishing fleet in the early 1500s. He may have traveled to the Americas in the 1520s with Giovanni da Verrazano of Italy. He went to North America in 1534 at the request of King Francis I of France. The king hoped that Cartier would find gold and other riches on this expedition.
Cartier and his crew landed in what is Canada today. They met some Iroquois and were able to befriend them. In a true test of this friendship, the head of the Iroquois nation sent his two sons back to France with Cartier. The Iroquois told the French about precious metals that they could find farther north.
The king sent Cartier on a second expedition. The explorer reached Gaspe Peninsula and pushed on into a large gulf. From the gulf Cartier discovered the mouth of a wide river. Since it was the feast day of Saint Lawrence, he named both the gulf and the river after the saint. The explorers sailed up the river until they came to a mountain. This would become the site for the city of Montreal.
6 Prepositions
Prepositions are connecting words. Unlike nouns, verbs, and modifiers, which may change form according to their meaning and use in a sentence, prepositions never change form. We use many prepositions with great frequency, but the entire list is relatively short. Here are the most common ones:
about, above, across, after, against, along, amid, among, around, as, at, before, behind, below, beneath, beside, besides, between, beyond, by, concerning, despite, down, during, except, excepting, excluding, following, for, from, in, inside, into, like, near, of, off, on, onto, out, outside, over, past, regarding, round, since, through, throughout, till, to, toward, under, underneath, unlike, until, up, upon, via, with, within, without
A compound preposition is a preposition that consists of more than one word.
according to, along with, apart from, as of, as well as, aside from, because of, by means of, except for, in addition to, in case of, in front of, in place of, in regard to, in spite of, instead of, next to, on account of, out of, prior to, up to, with regard to, with reference to, with respect to
A preposition always connects a noun, a pronoun, or a word group functioning as a noun to another word in the sentence: Robins nest in trees. The noun, pronoun, or word group so connected (trees) is called the object of the preposition. The preposition plus its object and any modifiers is called a prepositional phrase.
Preposition Object
of spaghetti
on the surface
with great satisfaction
upon entering the room
from where you are standing
Prepositions normally come before their objects. But sometimes the preposition comes after its object, particularly in speech.
What do you want to see him about?
She pointed to the house she lives in.
Prepositional phrases usually function as adjectives (modifying nouns) or as adverbs (modifying verbs, adjectives, or other adverbs). As modifiers, they add details that make sentences clearer and more interesting for readers.
Prepositional Phrases as Adjectives
Terry is the boy in the pink shirt.
“In the pink shirt” describes “boy.”
Life on a raft in the Mississippi was an opportunity for adventure.
“On a raft” describes “life”; “in the Mississippi” describes “raft”; and “for adventure” describes “opportunity.”
Prepositional Phrases as Adverbs
She had driven steadily for four hours from Baltimore.
Both prepositional phrases describe “had driven.”
Our Great Dane Joshua buries his bones behind the garage.
“Behind the garage” describes “buries.”
Occasionally, prepositional phrases also function as nouns, though rarely in writing.
Prepositional Phrase as Noun
Across the river is too far to go for ice cream.
“Across the river” functions as sentence subject.
Punctuating Prepositional Phrases
Since a prepositional phrase lacks a subject and a predicate, it should not be punctuated as a complete sentence. If it is, the result is a sentence fragment:
Fragment: Toward the sun.
The phrase must be attached to another group of words containing both a subject and a predicate:
Revised: The plant turned toward the sun.
A prepositional phrase that introduces a sentence is set off with punctuation, usually a comma, unless it is short.
According to the newspaper and other sources, the governor has reluctantly decided to veto the bill.
In 1865 the Civil War finally ended.
A prepositional phrase that interrupts or concludes a sentence is not set off with punctuation when it restricts the meaning of the word or words it modifies.
Nothing about him surprises me.
We saw her riding in Sandy’s car.
When an interrupting or concluding prepositional phrase does not restrict meaning, but merely adds information to the sentence, then it is set off with punctuation, usually a comma or commas.
The governor, according to the newspaper and other sources, has reluctantly decided to veto the bill.
The governor has reluctantly decided to veto the bill, according to the newspaper and other sources.
As all the preceding examples illustrate, a preposition and its object are not separated by a comma.
Exercise 21. On your paper, list the prepositional phrases in the following sentences.
SAMPLE The term utopia, which was first used by Thomas More, refers to any imaginary place with ideal political, social, and economic conditions.
ANSWER by Thomas More; to any imaginary place; with ideal political, social, and economic conditions
1. Thomas More was born in London and went to Oxford University.
2. He embarked on a legal career in 1494 and for several years was an undersheriff of the city.
3. More soon came to the attention of King Henry VIII.
4. He fulfilled a number of duties for the king from 1518 to 1529.
5. Prior to his years in service to the king, More had written Utopia, an influential book about justice and equality.
6. This book, which discusses More’s views on government, is written partly in the form of a dialogue.
7. In the book a Portuguese sailor named Raphael Hythlodaye travels along to North America with Amerigo Vespucci.
8. Hythlodaye recounts tales of his travels through many wild lands.
9. On the island of Utopia, Hythlodaye discovers an ideal society where the divisions between rich and poor do not exist.
10. Those who live in More’s Utopia are concerned for the health and happiness of their fellow human beings.
7 Conjunctions
A conjunction is a word that joins elements within a sentence. These elements may be words, or they may be groups of words like clauses or phrases. There are three kinds of conjunctions: coordinating conjunctions, correlative conjunctions, and subordinating conjunctions.
Coordinating Conjunctions
A coordinating conjunction (or simply a coordinator) connects individual words or groups of words that perform the same function in a sentence. The coordinating conjunctions are and, but, for, nor, or, so, and yet.
Shylock in The Merchant of Venice is accused, arrested, and then saved by his daughter Portia.
connects words
King Lear, hoping to divest himself of responsibilities, but not expecting to be stripped of all of his powers, gives up his throne.
connects phrases
Romeo and Juliet cannot openly express their love, nor can they live without each other.
connects clauses
Exercise 22. On your paper, combine each pair of sentences into one sentence using the coordinating conjunction in parentheses. Rewrite the sentence so that the conjunction connects the sentence parts indicated.
SAMPLE Jan Vermeer was born in 1632 in Delft, Holland. Little else is known about him. (but; clauses)
ANSWER Jan Vermeer was born in 1632 in Delft, Holland, but little else is known about him.
1. Jan Vermeer has been mistaken for a painter named Vermeer from Utrecht. He has been mistaken for a Vermeer from Haarlem. (and; phrases)
2. Jan Vermeer completed only forty paintings in his lifetime. He was a painstaking artist. (for; clauses)
3. Vermeer married in his hometown. He painted in his hometown. He died in his hometown. (and; words)
4. When Vermeer died at the age of forty-three, his widow was left with only paintings. She was also left with debts. (and; words)
5. The paintings quickly passed out of the family’s hands. His wife could not survive without selling them. (for; clauses)
6. In the next 150 years, little was heard about Vermeer. Art dealers found it more advantageous to attribute his work to better-known artists. (for; clauses)
7. It took a French writer twenty-four years to research Vermeer. In 1866 he published three articles about the artist whom he called “The Sphinx of Delft.” (but; clauses)
8. You can see a Vermeer at the Frick Collection in New York City. You can see a fine example of his work at the National Gallery in London. (or; phrases)
9. Vermeer paintings show quiet scenes of domestic life. They have a radiant quality of an immortal nature. (yet; clauses)
10. Vermeer’s works are admired for their incandescent light. They are also admired for their control of space. (and; phrases)
11. One of Vermeer’s paintings is The Artist in His Studio. Fame and the Artist is another name for the painting. (or; phrases)
12. Adolf Hitler bought his painting many years after the artist’s death for a sum equivalent to $660,000 in today’s currency. It was still a bargain. (yet; clauses)
13. The painting was among those hidden as World War II drew to an end. Soldiers from General Patton’s Third Army discovered it in a salt mine near Salzburg in 1945. (but; clauses)
14. The painting did not legitimately belong to Hitler. It didn’t belong to the United States. (nor; clauses)
15. The picture is now in the Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna. It is a prized possession there. (and; clauses)
Correlative Conjunctions
A correlative conjunction is a conjunction that consists of two or more words that function together. Like coordinating conjunctions, correlative conjunctions connect words that perform equal functions in a sentence. The following list contains correlative conjunctions.
both. . . and neither. . . nor
either. . . or not only. . . but also
whether. . . or
Michelangelo both painted and sculpted.
connects words
Not only did Michelangelo paint and sculpt but he also produced quite creditable poetry.
connects clauses
Exercise 23. On your paper, combine each pair of sentences into one sentence using a correlative conjunction.
SAMPLE Henry the Navigator was not English. Henry was not Spanish.
ANSWER Henry the Navigator was neither English nor Spanish.
1. Henry was a Portuguese prince. He was a student of mathematics.
2. Henry’s older brothers wanted to be worthy of knighthood. Henry himself wanted to be worthy of knighthood.
3. They took over a town in Morocco. They fought with valor.
4. Henry governed the town. He sent out exploring parties along the African coast.
5. In Henry’s time Europeans did not know much about the Atlantic Ocean. They did not sail far out into it.
6. He was interested in trade routes. He was interested in geography.
7. Henry established a school for navigation that brought mapmakers together. It brought navigators together.
8. Henry welcomed astronomers if they came from Portugal. Henry welcomed astronomers if they did not come from Portugal.
9. Shipbuilders made many advances in their knowledge. Instrument makers made many advances in their knowledge.
10. The astrolabe did not exist before Henry’s school was started. The caravel did not exist before Henry’s school was started.
11. Henry raised money for expeditions. Henry planned routes for expeditions.
12. Henry sent out forty expeditions. He may have sent out fifty expeditions.
13. Portuguese explorers sailed into the Atlantic Ocean. They sailed along the coast of Africa.
14. He did not sail on any of these voyages. He did not ever see the lands he helped others to reach.
15. Henry’s navigational knowledge opened the way for the later explorations of Vasco da Gama. Henry’s navigational knowledge opened the way for the later explorations of Bartholomeu Dias.
Subordinating Conjunctions
A subordinating conjunction introduces a subordinate clause, which is a clause that cannot stand by itself as a complete sentence. The subordinating conjunction connects the subordinate clause to an independent clause, which can stand by itself.
Although Shakespeare and Milton are perhaps better known, Edmund Spenser was also one of England’s greatest poets.
The subordinating conjunction “although” introduces the subordinate clause and connects it to the independent clause.
Subordinating conjunctions usually express relationships of time, manner, cause, condition, comparison, or purpose.
TIME after, as, as long as, as soon as, before, since, until, when, whenever, while
MANNER as, as if, as though
CAUSE because
CONDITION although, as long as, even if, even though, if, provided that, though, unless, while
COMPARISON as, than
PURPOSE in order that, so that, that
If you read Spenser’s The Faerie Queene, you will enter a world in which fantasy and reality mirror one another.
“If” expresses condition.
When you read The Faerie Queene, use a companion book to explain its allusions and the language.
“When” expresses time.
Conjunction or Preposition? Certain words can function as either conjunctions or prepositions. However, there are two important differences between a word used as a preposition or one used as a conjunction. First, a preposition always has an object, and a conjunction never has one.
PREPOSITION Before me is a book of Renaissance poetry. [The pronoun “me” is the object of the preposition “before.”]
CONJUNCTION Before we read it, we should learn something about Renaissance poets’ use of myth and allegory. [“Before” has no object. Instead, it introduces the subordinate clause “Before we read it.”]
Second, a preposition introduces a prepositional phrase. A conjunction, on the other hand, connects words or groups of words.
PREPOSITION After much preparation, Renaissance poets made classical allusions with ease. “After” introduces the prepositional phrase “After much preparation.”
CONJUNCTION Spenser’s literary career flourished after Sir Walter Raleigh presented him to Queen Elizabeth I. “After” connects the subordinate clause “after Sir Walter Raleigh presented him to Queen Elizabeth I” to the preceding independent clause.
Conjunctive Adverbs
A conjunctive adverb is an adverb that functions somewhat like a coordinating conjunction because it usually connects independent clauses. A semicolon precedes the conjunctive adverb, and a comma usually follows it.
CONJUNCTIVE ADVERB The poetry and drama of the English Renaissance are glorious; nevertheless, they are enjoyed by relatively few modern readers.
COORDINATING CONJUNCTION The poetry and drama of the English Renaissance are glorious, but they are enjoyed by relatively few modern readers.
The following list contains frequently used conjunctive adverbs:
also furthermore later still
besides however moreover then
consequently indeed nevertheless therefore
finally instead otherwise thus
Exercise 24. On your paper, rewrite the following paragraphs, combining sentences by using conjunctions and conjunctive adverbs whenever appropriate to connect ideas and to provide variety. You may make other changes so that the passage reads smoothly.
SAMPLE Ferdinand Magellan was born in about 1480 in Portugal. His parents were well-to-do. They were of the nobility.
ANSWER Ferdinand Magellan was born in about 1480 in Portugal. His parents were well-to-do; moreover, they were of the nobility.
Europeans knew little of Earth’s geography in the 1400s. Few had ever left their own continent to see what the rest of the world was like. The voyages of Christopher Columbus changed that. Vasco da Gama’s expeditions helped. Magellan was intrigued by the news of these voyages. He, too, became interested in navigation. He became interested in exploration. The lure of finding wealth was great. The challenge of adventure on the high seas was enticing. The challenge of adventure in new lands was enticing.
Magellan was ambitious. He was intelligent. He was somewhat ruthless. He made several sea voyages with different Portuguese fleets in the early 1500s. These took him to faraway places such as India. He went to Malaysia. He learned about the Spice Islands from the letters of a friend.
Magellan was determined to go to the Spice Islands. He thought that he could get there by sailing around the tip of South America. It seemed to him that this would be a shorter route than going around the tip of Africa and across the Indian Ocean. King Manuel I of Portugal would not agree to Magellan’s proposal. A few years later, Magellan got the king of Spain to support the trip. King Charles I insisted that Magellan take mostly Spanish sailors on this voyage.
The expedition began on September 20, 1519. It left from Spain. Magellan had five ships. He led 241 sailors. They sailed to Brazil. They spent the winter in what is now Argentina. Trouble broke out. One ship’s crew rebelled. Magellan put down the mutiny. On October 18, 1520, the expedition found a passage around the tip of the continent. The strait became known as the Strait of Magellan. By the time the fleet had sailed through it, another ship’s crew had mutinied. That ship returned to Spain. Magellan called the calm waters he saw the “Pacific Ocean.” The word pacific means “peaceful.” His journey back was not peaceful. It took ninety-eight days to cross the Pacific. The sailors got sick. They had no food. Their water wasn’t clean. Many died. Magellan was killed in a battle in the Philippines.
8 Interjections
An interjection is an exclamatory word or phrase that can stand by itself, although it may also appear in a sentence. Many interjections express strong emotions. They are followed by exclamation marks.
Oh! Giotto’s frescoes are exquisite!
When an interjection appears within a sentence, you should set it off with a comma or commas.
So, you didn’t find what you were looking for at the Vatican Museum.
My, these della Robbia reproductions are truly excellent!
Exercise 25. On your paper, write an interjection for each blank of the following paragraph. Choose the interjections from the following list, and use each only once. Be sure to punctuate the interjections correctly and to add capital letters if necessary.
of course good grief say oh
my goodness indeed well alas
SAMPLE .......... The wives of Henry VIII had a difficult time.
ANSWER My goodness! The wives of Henry VIII had a difficult time.
.......... did Henry VIII really have six wives? .......... he did! He had to establish a new religion to divorce Catherine of Aragon, his first wife. Later, he beheaded Anne Boleyn, his second bride. .......... Jane Seymour (number three) .......... died in childbirth. Henry next married Anne of Cleves, a woman whom he had never met. This marriage didn’t work out either. .......... how could it? Henry then had Catherine Howard executed; however, his sixth wife, Catherine Parr, outlived him. .......... good for her!
c Learn to recognize the grammatical structure of familiar sentence patterns.
We learn to talk not by studying grammar but by hearing patterns in action and then learning to use these patterns to make “sentence sense.” Look at the following sentences.
N V
1. The earth trembled.
N V N
2. The earthquake destroyed the city.
N V N
3. The result was chaos.
N V N N
4. The government sent the city aid.
N V N N
5. The citizens declared the earthquake a disaster.
These five sentences typify the five basic patterns on which we build all our sentences, even the most complex. The subjects of the sentences are similar, consisting only of a noun and an article or marker. But each predicate (that is, verb) is different because the relation between the verb and the remaining words is different. We will examine each pattern in turn.
Pattern 1: The earth trembled.
In the simplest pattern the predicate consists only of the verb. Verbs in this pattern do not require following words to complete their meaning and thus are called intransitive (from Latin words meaning “not passing over”).
Subject Predicate
Intransitive verb
The earth trembled.
Mosquitoes buzz.
Spring will come.
We have been swimming.
Pattern 2: The earthquake destroyed the city.
In sentence 2 the predicate consists of a verb followed by a noun. The noun completes the meaning of the verb by identifying who or what receives the action of the verb. This noun is a direct object (DO). Verbs that require direct objects to complete their meaning are called transitive (“passing over”).
Subject Predicate
Transitive Direct
verb object
The earthquake destroyed the city.
The man stubbed his toe.
The people wanted peace.
Pattern 3: The result was chaos.
In sentence 3 the predicate also consists of a verb followed by a single noun. But here the verb was serves merely to introduce a word that renames or describes the subject. We could write the sentence “The result=chaos.” The noun following the verb in this kind of sentence is subject complement (SC), or a predicate noun. Verbs in this pattern are called linking verbs because they link their subjects to the description that follows.
Subject Predicate
Linking Subject
verb complement
The result was chaos.
Jenn is an engineer.
The man became an accountant.
Subject complements in this sentence pattern may also be adjectives, words such as tall, hopeful, large, and kind. Adjectives serving as complements are often called predicate adjectives.
Subject Predicate
Linking Subject
verb complement
The result was chaotic.
The house seemed expensive.
Pattern 4: The government sent the city aid.
In sentence 4 the predicate consists of a verb followed by two nouns. The second noun is a direct object, identifying what was sent. But the first noun, city, is different. This noun is an indirect object (IO), identifying to or for whom or what the action of the verb is performed.
Subject Predicate
Transitive Indirect Direct
verb object object
The government sent the city aid.
Neighbors gave the dog a bone.
The boys asked their teacher a question.
George tossed me an apple.
Pattern 5: The citizens declared the earthquake a disaster.
In sentence 5 the predicate again consists of a verb followed by two nouns. But in this pattern the first noun is a direct object and the second noun renames or describes it. Here the second noun is an object complement (OC).
Subject Predicate
Transitive Direct Object
verb object complement
The citizens declared the earthquake a disaster.
The manager made him an assistant.
The class elected Joan O’Day president.
Notice that the relation between a direct object and an object complement is the same as that between a subject and a subject complement in pattern 3. Just as the subject complement renames or describes a subject, so an object complement renames or describes a direct object. And just as we can use either nouns or adjectives in pattern 3, so we can use either nouns or adjectives as object complements in this last pattern.
Subject Predicate
Transitive Direct Object
verb object complement
The citizens declared the earthquake disastrous.
The people considered the building beautiful.
The five sentence patterns above are the basic framework for most written English sentences. However long or complicated a sentence is, one or more of these basic patterns forms its foundation. A question may change the order of the subject and verb (Is she a doctor?), a command may omit the subject entirely (Be quiet!), and the order of the parts may be different in some statements, but the same basic sentence parts will be present or clearly understood.
d Learn the difference between phrases and clauses.
Different types and uses of phrases and clauses can help you vary sentence structure in your writing. This section explains the functions of both phrases and clauses.
Phrases
A phrase is a group of related words that functions as a single part of speech but lacks a subject, a predicate, or both. This section deals with three common kinds of phrases: prepositional phrases, appositive phrases, and verbal phrases.
Prepositional Phrases
A prepositional phrase consists of a preposition and its object, including any modifiers of that object.
Flemish artists of the fifteenth century liked to paint scenes with rich textures and reflections in mirrors.
The second prepositional phrase has a compound object of the preposition, textures and reflections. In addition, the prepositional phrase “in mirrors” modifies “reflections.”
obj. prep.
Which artist are you thinking of?
Think: Of which artist are you thinking?
Prepositional Phrases Used as Adjectives A prepositional phrase that modifies a noun or a pronoun functions as an adjective. Such a phrase is sometimes called an adjective phrase.
MODIFIES NOUN The round, convex mirrors in these paintings reflect things in miniature.
MODIFIES PRONOUN One of these paintings is a van Eyck portrait.
Prepositional Phrases Used as Adverbs A prepositional phrase functions as an adverb if it modifies a verb, an adjective, or another adverb. This kind or prepositional phrase is sometimes called an adverb phrase.
MODIFIES VERB The Dutch and Flemish portraitists painted lace, velvet, and brocade with great skill.
MODIFIES ADJECTIVE They were curious about reflections too.
MODIFIES ADVERB They painted various textures down to the smallest detail.
A prepositional phrase can modify the object in another prepositional phrase.
There is a mirror in the middle of the portrait by Jan van Eyck.
Appositives and Appositive Phrases
An appositive is a noun or a pronoun placed near another noun or pronoun to explain it or identify it.
The Italian explorer, Giovanni da Verrazano, was employed by King Francis I of France.
Will we tourists get a chance to see the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge?
Verrazano, navigator and pirate, visited New York harbor in 1524.
The sentence has a compound appositive, navigator and pirate.
Appositive Phrases Like an appositive, an appositive phrase explains or identifies a noun or a pronoun. It includes all the words or phrases that modify an appositive.
The Verrazano-Narrows Bridge, a beautiful sight, connects Brooklyn and Staten Island.
Even we native New Yorkers did not know who Verrazano was.
A successful enterprise, Verrazano’s expedition of 1524 explored the North American coast.
Essential and Nonessential Appositives An essential appositive or an essential appositive phrase is an appositive that is necessary to the meaning of the sentence. This kind of appositive should not be separated from the rest of the sentence with a comma.
New York City’s landmark the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge is longer than the nearby George Washington Bridge.
New York City has more than one landmark. The appositive is necessary to identify which landmark.
A nonessential appositive or a nonessential appositive phrase is an appositive that is not necessary to the meaning of the sentence. Such an appositive should be set off with a comma or commas.
The Verrazano-Narrows Bridge, a New York City landmark, is longer than the nearby George Washington Bridge.
The appositive is not necessary to identify the bridge being discussed.
Exercise 26. Number your paper from 1 to 15. Next to each number, write a prepositional or an appositive phrase to complete the sentence. Use the kind of phrase that is indicated.
SAMPLE The Renaissance, (1) (appositive phrase), brought changes (2) (prepositional phrase) as well as in large ones.
ANSWER 1. a time of great originality
2. in small things
Our most common table utensil, (1) (appositive phrase), first appeared in the sixteenth century. Before that, people ate with the “utensils” everyone had at hand, (2) (appositive phrase). Diners simply sat around a big bowl or platter and pulled from it chunks (3) (prepositional phrase). The only artificial aid, (4) (appositive phrase), was used for slicing or spearing choice morsels. Since few hosts could afford a whole set of knives, guests usually brought their own knives (5) (prepositional phrase).
The third member of the table trio, (6) (appositive phrase), began to be used widely around the same time as forks and knives did. Spoons, which were set (7) (prepositional phrase) with the other utensils, were most useful (8) (prepositional phrase). Earlier, such dishes were sopped up (9) (prepositional phrase). As an alternative, the guests might pass a single, large spoon (10) (prepositional phrase). Even with individual spoons, most diners still ate soups or stews (11) (prepositional phrase), taking turns. Individual bowls, like individual knives, were affordable only (12) (prepositional phrase).
Even the highest levels of society, (13) (appositive phrase), were slow to adopt such implements. Centuries passed before the modern table setting—(14) (appositive phrase)—filtered down to ordinary people. Even today, we still eat sandwiches and many other foods the old-fashioned way—(15) (prepositional phrase).
Verbals
Verbals are verb forms that function as nouns, adjectives, or adverbs but retain some of the properties of verbs. For instance, they express action or being, and they may take complements. There are three kinds of verbals: participles, gerunds, and infinitives.
Participles A participle is a verb form that can function as an adjective while still keeping some of the properties of a verb. It expresses action or being, and it may take a complement.
Annoyed, Pablo missed the guided tour through Rembrandt’s house in Amsterdam.
Both “annoyed” and “guided” are participle.
There are two kinds of participles: present participle and past participle. They are two of the four principle parts of a verb. To form a present participle, add -ing to the infinitive form of a verb.
Did he finally figure out those puzzling directions?
“Puzzling” is a present participle that consists of the verb “puzzle” and the ending -ing.
To form a past participle, first determine whether the verb is regular or irregular.
1. Regular verbs. To form the past participle of a regular verb, add either -d or -ed to the infinitive form of the verb.
INFINITIVE PAST PARTICIPLE
exhaust exhausted
2. Irregular verbs. To form the past participle of an irregular verb, use a special form of the verb.
INFINITIVE PAST PARTICIPLE
freeze frozen
tear torn
As you recall, besides functioning as adjectives, present participles and past participles can form part of a verb phrase. When a participle functions as a verb, it is not a verbal. This section deals with present participles and past participles that function as adjectives.
A participle used as an adjective may have one or more auxiliary verbs. The auxiliary verb and the participle function as a unit to modify a noun or a pronoun.
Having been lost, Pablo vowed never to drive in Amsterdam again without a map.
“Having” and “been” are the auxiliary verbs, and “lost” is the participle.
Participial Phrases A participial phrase consists of a participle and its modifiers and complements. The participial phrase functions as an adjective to modify a noun or a pronoun. Both present participles and past participles may be used to form participial phrases.
There is Pablo waiting in line to see Rembrandt’s house.
Exasperated by his difficulty finding the house, Pablo felt that his perseverance had been worthwhile.
Notice that in the preceding sentences, the participial phrases are near the words that they modify. If they were placed differently, the meaning of the sentence could change or become unclear.
Having finally seen the small museum, his perseverance had been worthwhile to Pablo.
Another kind of phrase that is formed with participles is the absolute phrase. An absolute phrase modifies the entire independent clause of the sentence; it does not have a direct grammatical connection with any single word in the independent clause. An absolute phrase contains both a participle and the noun or pronoun that is modified by the participle. Consequently, the phrase is “absolute,” or complete within itself.
The museum being full of Rembrandt’s works and other belongings, Pablo spent a long time there.
The absolute phrase modifies the entire independent clause by telling why Pablo spent a long time there.
Exercise 27. On your paper, combine each of the following pairs of sentences by rewriting one sentence as a participial phrase. You may use absolute phrases.
SAMPLE We are accustomed to modern comforts. Most of us would dislike many aspects of Renaissance life.
ANSWER Being accustomed to modern comforts, most of us would dislike many aspects of Renaissance life.
1. The house of a poor peasant was a rough wooden structure with a thatched roof. Such a dwelling was more hut than house.
2. The house consisted of a single room. This room served as living room, kitchen, and bedroom for the whole family.
3. Houses had few furnishings. They usually consisted of a bench or two, a table, perhaps a cupboard, and a few pots and pans.
4. Feather mattresses had not yet reached the masses. The bed often was no more than a pile of straw on the packed-dirt floor.
5. Candles were luxuries. The only light after sunset came from the fire on the brick hearth.
6. The house of a middle-class farmer or artisan might have several rooms. It provided privacy unknown to the peasant.
7. The floor was inset tile. Wooden floors did not become popular until later.
8. The windows might have the newly available glass. Thus they improved on the crude shutters of the peasant’s hovel.
9. The house would look rather bare to us. The furniture was better but not much more plentiful than in poorer homes.
10. Nightfall might or might not bring candlelight. It depended on the owner’s willingness to spend money.
11. We have heard of the wealth of families like the Medicis. We might expect their dwellings to be luxurious even by today’s standards.
12. True, these palaces had many rooms, countless candles, great art, and fine furniture. The furniture included down mattresses.
13. However, they were limited like all other homes by their times. They would have seemed uncomfortable to people today.
14. The only heat came from very inefficient fireplaces. This left even palaces bitterly cold in winter.
15. Consider all of this. Would you trade central heating for a chance to meet Michelangelo?
Gerunds A gerund is a verbal that ends in -ing and functions as a noun while keeping some of the properties of a verb. It expresses action or being, and it may take a complement such as a direct object or an indirect object.
USED AS SUBJECT
Reading was not a widespread skill during the Renaissance.
USED AS DIRECT OBJECT
Don’t forget exploring when you think of Renaissance achievements.
USED AS INDIRECT OBJECT
Historians give printing credit for changing Renaissance life.
USED AS OBJECT OF PREPOSITION
Many lessons in drawing can be learned from the sketchbooks of Leonardo da Vinci.
USED AS PREDICATE NOMINATIVE
The was most Renaissance people spent their time was working.
USED AS APPOSITIVE
My favorite pastime, reading, is how I learned about the Renaissance.
Be sure that you can distinguish between gerunds and participles. They are identical in form, but participles can function as adjectives, while gerunds always function as nouns.
Gerund Phrases A gerund phrase consists of a gerund and its modifiers and complements.
The pushing of the crowd all but prevented us from buying our tickets to the Rembrandt exhibit.
Like gerunds, gerund phrases may perform as a noun.
USED AS SUBJECT
Taking photographs is not permitted at the Rembrandt exhibit.
USED AS DIRECT OBJECT
Notice how Rembrandt emphasized depicting textures in both light and shadow.
USED AS INDIRECT OBJECT
He also gave illustrating biblical stories a high priority.
USED AS OBJECT OF PREPOSITION
Rembrandt was extraordinarily skilled at revealing the personalities of his subjects.
USED AS PREDICATE NOMINATIVE
A way to increase your appreciation of a Rembrandt painting is stepping back and looking from a distance.
USED AS APPOSITIVE
This experience, seeing so many Rembrandts in one exhibit, is a rare opportunity.
Exercise 28. On your paper, combine each of the following pairs of sentences, using gerund phrases. Label each gerund phrase Subject, Direct object, Indirect object, Object of a preposition, Predicate nominative, or Appositive.
SAMPLE In Renaissance times, people traveled the European countryside. It was a slow, difficult, and dangerous endeavor.
ANSWER Traveling the European countryside in Renaissance times was a slow, difficult, and dangerous endeavor.—Subject
1. Until about 1500, land travelers had only two options. They walked or rode horseback.
2. Only the wealthy rode horseback. Only they could afford it.
3. Most people had no alternative. They went on foot.
4. People covered twenty or thirty miles a day by horse. Any more than that was unusual, except in emergencies.
5. Some covered nearly as much ground on foot. It was not uncommon for a good walker.
6. In the 1500s, a third travel option became available. People could go by coach.
7. Most people still made their journeys on foot. They preferred it to the slow and miserably uncomfortable early coaches.
8. People met danger on the rough, trail-like roads. It was something every traveler expected in those days.
9. Some people were robbed by bandits. This was at least as common as flat tires or other car problems today.
10. Travelers grouped together whenever possible. It was their best defense against “highway robbery.”
11. Hostels or inns were built along the main roads. Even kings gave this high priority.
12. People stayed at these inns. It was better than a night in the forest, but hardly a pleasant experience.
13. People slept in the same shed as the animals. This was more the rule than the exception.
14. Some people had an actual bed. This did not guarantee a good night’s sleep.
15. People faced such hardship. It was not unusual then but simply part of normal life.
Infinitives An infinitive is a verbal that consists of the first principal part of the verb (or the verb word). The word “to” usually, though not always, precedes the infinitive. An infinitive may function as a noun, an adjective, or an adverb. Like a participle and a gerund, an infinitive has some of the characteristics of a verb. It expresses action or being and may take a complement.
NOUN FUNCTION
To explore was one of the goals of Renaissance monarchs. subject
Because they could claim the lands they discovered, Renaissance monarchs wanted to explore. direct object
The purpose of many expeditions was to explore and to conquer. predicate nominative
ADJECTIVE FUNCTION
Many navigators went to various Renaissance monarchs seeking a chance to explore.
What kind of chance? The chance to explore.
ADVERB FUNCTION
Finding gold was another goal of those who went to explore.
Why did the people go? They went to explore.
Being robbed by pirates was a risk for treasure-laden ships that were too slow to escape.
To what extent were the ships slow? They were too slow to escape.
You may form an infinitive with one or more auxiliary verbs and a past participle. Such infinitives indicate the time of the action.
The place to have been in the 1400s was the city of Florence.
Much of the art to be studied in our Renaissance art class is still in Florence today.
Note: Do not confuse infinitives and prepositional phrases. “To” followed by a verb is an infinitive; but “to” followed by a noun or a pronoun is a prepositional phrase.
Infinitive Phrases An infinitive phrase consists of an infinitive and its modifiers and complements. An infinitive phrase can function as a noun, an adjective, or an adverb.
NOUN FUNCTION
To visit the city of Florence is my dream.
ADJECTIVE FUNCTION
Florence is the best place to get the “flavor” of the Italian Renaissance.
Which place? The place to get the flavor of the Italian Renaissance.
ADVERB FUNCTION
Many tourists come to see the art treasures of Florence.
Why do the tourists come? They come to see the art treasures of Florence.
Sometimes an infinitive phrase may be used without the word “to.”
Will you help plan my trip to Florence?
Think: help to plan my trip to Florence.
My parents’ travel agent helped choose our itinerary.
Think: helped to choose our itinerary.
Exercise 29. On your paper, combine each of the following sets of sentences, using at least one infinitive phrase.
SAMPLE People have always welcomed a good story. It entertained them.
ANSWER People have always welcomed a good story to entertain them.
1. Today we have television, movies, books, and other media. They provide us with stories.
2. Someone writes these books and scripts. It is someone’s job.
3. During the Renaissance most people, even kings and queens, did not read stories or anything else. They did not know how.
4. Courts often hired storytellers. The storytellers entertained the royal family and their court.
5. In general, priests could read. They were the only ones so able, although the language they used was Latin.
6. Perhaps the new interest in learning in the Renaissance inspired Giovanni Boccaccio. He began his great Decameron in 1350.
7. Not only was the Decameron a book of stories rather than a priestly text, but Boccaccio also made a landmark decision. He used everyday Italian instead of Latin.
8. The tale begins with ten young aristocrats fleeing the city of Florence. They are escaping the plague of 1348.
9. Like most wealthy city dwellers in plague years, the group travels to a country estate. They wait out the epidemic.
10. They pass the long days and nights. They decide that each of them must tell ten stories—a total of one hundred.
11. The stories’ natural style and down-to-earth content persuaded readers. They snapped up copies as fast as they could be printed.
12. Boccaccio’s success may have influenced England’s Geoffrey Chaucer. He tried something similar with his Canterbury Tales.
13. Chaucer’s storytellers were people who had gathered together from all walks of life. They were making a pilgrimage.
14. Like Boccaccio, Chaucer wrote in the common language of his country, and he carefully selected each tale. The tale fit the personality of the storyteller.
15. He intended a long work like the Decameron, but his health did not allow him. He did not complete all of the intended tales.
Clauses
A clause is a group of related words that contains both a subject and a predicate. There are two kinds of clauses: independent clauses and subordinate clauses.
Independent Clauses
An independent clause can stand by itself as a sentence. The following sentences contain two independent clauses, which are in boldface type. Notice that each clause has a subject and a predicate and that each could be a separate sentence. The subject is underlined once, and the predicate is underlined twice.
Albrecht Durer is best known as a painter and printmaker, but he was also an author and scholar.
A comma and the coordinating conjunction “but” join the clauses in the preceding sentence. “But” is not part of either clause. Rather, it coordinates, or connects, the independent clauses. The other coordinating conjunctions are and, or, nor, for, and yet.
You can also join independent clauses with either a semicolon alone or a semicolon and a conjunction adverb.
Durer’s diary, letters, and memoirs of his family survive today; scholars know more about him than about many other Renaissance artists. [semicolon]
Durer’s diary, letters, and memoirs of his family survive today; therefore, scholars know more about him than about many other Renaissance artists. [semicolon and conjunctive adverb]
Subordinate Clauses
A clause that cannot stand by itself is a subordinate clause. This kind of clause is called a dependent clause more often than not. Although a subordinate clause has both a subject and a predicate, it cannot stand alone because it does not express a complete thought.
Which is one of Durer’s self-portraits
While he was painting in the Alps
Although his prints are more famous
Notice that the preceding subordinate clauses begin with the words which, while, and although. Which is a relative pronoun, and while and although are subordinating conjunctions or subordinators. The latter always come at the beginning of subordinate clauses. Like prepositions, subordinating conjunctions are few and never change in form in any way. The following are the most common subordinating conjunctions.
after, although, as, as if, as soon as, as though, because, before, even after, even if, even though, even when, for as much as, if, in order that, in that, once, rather than, since, so that, sooner than, than, that, though, till, unless, until, when, whenever, where, wherever, while
Such introductory words are part of the subordinate clause, and they join the subordinate clause to an independent clause.
Most critics admire this 1500 painting, which is one of Durer’s self-portraits.
Durer kept a travel diary while he was painting in the Alps.
Although his prints are more famous, Durer was one of the first artists to paint water colors from nature.
The second kind of connecting word is the relative pronoun. It also introduces a subordinate clause and links it with an independent clause. The relative pronouns are as follows:
which that what who whose whom whatever whoever whomever
Like subordinating conjunctions, these words link one clause with another. But unlike subordinating conjunctions, relative pronouns also usually act as subjects or objects in their own clauses, and two of them (who and whoever) change form accordingly.
Subordinate clauses function as adjectives, adverbs, and nouns and are described as adjective, adverb, or noun clauses according to their use in a particular sentence. Only by determining its function in a sentence can we identify a particular clause.
Adjective Clauses A subordinate clause functions as an adjective if it modifies nouns and pronouns thus providing necessary information about them. Such clauses are called adjective clauses. Most adjective clauses begin with a relative pronoun such as that, which, who, whom, and whose.
Many of the paintings that Durer did early in his career are self-portraits.
Which paintings? The paintings that Durer did early in his career.
I can’t think of an artist whose prints are more famous than Durer’s.
Which artist? The artist whose prints are more famous than Durer’s.
You may also begin adjective clauses with relative adverbs. Some of the relative adverbs are after, before, since, when, and where.
The years since Durer first experimented with etching have brought many changes in printmaking.
Which years? The years since Durer first experimented with etching.
Sometimes the introductory word in an adjective clause is implied.
The woodcuts Durer did are often of religious scenes.
Think: woodcuts that Durer did.
Essential and Nonessential Clauses An adjective clause that is necessary to identify a noun or a pronoun is an essential clause. An essential clause is not separated from the rest of the sentence by commas.
ESSENTIAL CLAUSE
Durer wrote books that deal with perspective, geometry, the theory of art, and civil defense.
The clause is essential in order to identify the books.
A nonessential clause is an adjective clause that is not necessary to identify a noun or a pronoun. It is set off by commas.
NONESSENTIAL CLAUSE
Praying Hands, which was engraved in 1508, was a study for a church altarpiece.
The clause is nonessential because without it, the reader would still know which painting is being discussed.
Exercise 30. On your paper, combine the following sets of sentences by writing one or more of the sentences as adjective clauses.
SAMPLE Renaissance education was vastly different from our system. It definitely was not for everyone or even for most people. Our system tries to reach all potential students.
ANSWER Renaissance education, which definitely was not for everyone or even for most people, was vastly different from our system, which tries to reach all potential students.
1. The Italian city of Florence was the wellspring of the Renaissance. It had as good an educational system as any other in Europe.
2. In the 1340s a study was made of Florentine schools. There were about ten thousand students in the system.
3. These ten thousand students all were boys. They represented about ten percent of the city’s population. This was a very high figure for the time.
4. They learned basic reading and writing skills. These skills would enable them to do most of the ordinary jobs in Florence’s complex society.
5. Of the ten thousand there were only about one thousand lucky ones. They went on to the higher education. This education was needed for the complicated and profitable merchant life.
6. These one thousand learned arithmetic, bookkeeping, and how to use the abacus. The abacus was the computer of its day.
7. When they were about eighteen years old, a final five hundred were chosen. They would go to the university. There, they would study Latin and other skills needed for professions such as law.
8. In all cases, rote learning was the main teaching method. It required a great deal of repetition and memorization.
9. Often, the teacher simply read aloud from a book. This was perhaps natural before the invention of printing. There was rarely more than one copy of any book available.
10. Girls were not part of the system. They did receive some education. It was aimed mainly at making them good homemakers.
11. Most girls learned “feminine” skills and a few learned basic literacy. The former included sewing, weaving, and dancing. The latter was helpful in running a large household.
12. A very few girls received a more formal education. It required private tutors. Such girls probably did not number more than a dozen in a century.
13. Florence was the richest city of its time. It had a great need for educated people. They could run its elaborate commerce and plot its tricky state policies.
14. Other Italian cities promoted education somewhat less. These cities trailed Florence but were far ahead of the rest of Europe.
15. France and England had not yet begun their Renaissance. In those countries, even the highest nobles had almost no formal learning. Their Renaissance would begin in the next century.
16. Even young children were treated like small adults in these countries. They went to work in the fields at a young age. They would labor there all their lives.
17. A few were more fortunate. They were apprenticed to craftspeople such as blacksmiths or millers. These people taught them a trade in return for work.
18. Of course, the people of these countries were products of their time and place. They might have wondered why they needed more education. They had always done without it before.
Adverb Clauses A subordinate clause functions as an adverb when it modifies a verb, an adjective, or another adverb. Such clauses are called adverb clauses.
MODIFIES VERB
The Spaniards called Domenikos Theotokopoulos “El Greco” because he came from Greece.
The adverb clause “because he came from Greece” modifies the verb “called.”
MODIFIES ADJECTIVE
I’m sure that El Greco’s famous landscape is of Toledo, Spain.
The adverb clause “that El Greco’s famous landscape is of Toledo, Spain” modifies the adjective “sure.”
MODIFIES ADVERB
For my research paper, I studied the influence of the style called “mannerism” on El Greco’s painting more thoroughly than the teacher had expected.
The adverb clause “than the teacher had expected” modifies the adverb “thoroughly.”
An adverb clause always begins with a subordinating conjunction, which is a word that shows the relationship between the subordinate clause and the independent clause. Adverb clauses tell how, when, where, to what extent, and why.
HOW?
El Greco sometimes painted as though he were religiously inspired.
The adverb clause “as though he were religiously inspired” gives us information how El Greco painted.
WHEN?
While he lived in Toledo, El Greco painted many portraits.
The adverb clause “While he lived in Toledo” tells us when he painted many portraits.
WHERE?
I will meet you where the El Greco portraits are displayed.
The adverb clause “where the El Greco portraits are displayed tells the reader where the action is going to take place.
TO WHAT EXTENT?
I find El Greco so fascinating that I am going to do my paper about him.
To what extent do I find El Greco fascinating? So fascinating that I am going to do my paper about him.
WHY?
Because they are distorted in color and form, some of his figures have an unearthly appearance.
Why do some of his figures have an unearthly appearance? Because they are distorted in color and form.
Elliptical Clauses An elliptical clause is an adverb clause in which part of the clause is omitted. Even though the clause is incomplete, its meaning is clear; therefore, it is still classified as a clause.
Miriam knows more about El Greco than I.
Think: Miriam knows more about El Greco than I know. [The adverb clause “than I” modifies “more.”
While visiting Spain, she had a chance to see many El Greco originals.
Think: while she was visiting Spain.
Exercise 31. On your paper, combine the following sets of sentences by rewriting one or more of the sentences as an adverb clause.
SAMPLE Everyone recognizes the development of the printing press as a great Renaissance breakthrough. Not much attention is given to advances in paper making.
ANSWER While everyone recognizes the development of the printing press as a great Renaissance breakthrough, not much attention is given to advances in paper making.
1. Suppose that paper had not been invented. The printing press would have been like a car without gasoline.
2. Paper’s predecessor, parchment, was both beautiful and strong. These qualities made it ideal for important manuscripts.
3. Parchment was also expensive. It was made of sheepskin.
4. Besides, parchment’s surface was very uneven. It was useless for the early printing presses.
5. Paper was cheap and smooth. It was a more logical material for large quantities of printed matter.
6. Paper making was already reasonably advanced. Then the first printing presses came along.
7. Basically, early paper making involved pounding cloth rags in a solution of water and chemicals. The fibers were tightly bound together.
8. The mixture was pressed to the desired thickness. Then it was dried into a flat sheet.
9. Almost any cloth fiber was suitable for this process. Rags and other such low-cost materials produced a very long-lasting paper.
10. Today’s quickly degraded, wood-pulp paper might have been invented first. We would have few books from the last century, let alone from the Renaissance.
11. Paper mills required water both as an ingredient and for power. They were invariably built beside rivers.
12. Furthermore, the water had to be pure and clear. It would not discolor or otherwise harm the paper.
13. For this reason, mills were located upstream of towns. At these locations there was less risk of pollution.
14. Today, the mill would be considered the polluter. The situation would be reversed.
15. The printing industry boomed in the late Renaissance. Demand for raw materials for paper making exceeded the supply.
Noun Clauses A subordinate clause that functions as a noun is called a noun clause. A noun clause may function as a subject, a predicate nominative, a direct object, an indirect object, an object of preposition, or an appositive.
SUBJECT
How the invention of gunpowder changed Renaissance life is the topic of today’s lecture.
“How the invention of gunpowder changed Renaissance life” is the noun clause.
PREDICATE NOMINATIVE
The turning point was when cannon became powerful enough to destroy the protective walls around cities. “...when cannon became powerful enough to destroy the protective walls around cities” is the noun clause of the sentence.
DIRECT OBJECT
City dwellers found that their stone walls no longer protected them from their enemies.
“...that their stone walls no longer protected them from their enemies” is the noun clause.
INDIRECT OBJECT
The walls did not give whoever lived within the city better protection than they did to those who moved outside to the new “suburbs.”
“...whoever lived within the city” is the noun clause.
OBJECT OF A PREPOSITION
Victory in a war now went to whichever side had better artillery.
“...whichever side had better artillery” is the noun clause.
APPOSITIVE
Larger cannon required larger and stronger carriages, whatever could support the tremendous weight.
“...whatever could support the tremendous weight” is the noun clause.
You may introduce a noun clause with a relative pronoun or a subordinating conjunction.
RELATIVE PRONOUNS
who, whom, whose, which, what, whoever, whomever, whatever, whichever
SUBORDINATING CONJUNCTIONS
how, that, when, where, whether, why
Sometimes you may omit the introductory word in a noun clause.
Did you know improvements in gun carriages led to improvements in road building?
Think: know that improvements in gun carriages caused improvements in road building.
One particular kind of noun clause is the infinitive clause. It consists of an infinitive that has a subject. If the subject of the infinitive is a pronoun, that pronoun is in the objective case as if it were the direct object of the preceding verb. Thus, the complete infinitive clause is grammatically categorized as accusativus cum infinitivo (from Latin “objective case as the subject of an infinitive”). However, if it is not, the entire infinitive clause serves as the direct object of the preceding verb. As a matter of fact, the latter grammatical structure is generally known as nominativus cum infinitivo (from Latin “nominative case as the subject of an infinitive”).
They built roads to be wider and stronger.
The infinitive clause is “roads to be wider and stronger.” “Roads” is the subject of the infinitive—nominativus cum infinitivo.
They designed them to support the weight of the heavier wagons and artillery.
The infinitive clause is “them to support the weight of the heavier wagons and artillery.” “Them” is the subject of the infinitive; however, it is in the objective case. Thus, it is categorized as accusativus cum infinitivo.
Exercise 32. On your paper, copy each of the following sentences and write how the noun clause is used in the sentence.
SAMPLE What did most of the work in Renaissance society was horsepower, in the literal sense of the word.
ANSWER What did most of the work in Renaissance society was horsepower, in the literal sense of the word. (subject)
1. Horses and oxen were what powered the Renaissance.
2. How important these animals were is obvious from an analysis of energy use in Renaissance times.
3. In terms of energy expended, animal power accounted for over half of what was done.
4. As for the next greatest energy source, you can guess what it was.
5. What part wood played is indicated by the fact that its burning made up twenty-five percent of the entire energy picture of Renaissance Europe.
6. Water mills accounted for the largest part of what remains of this energy picture.
7. Since people worked very hard during the Renaissance, let’s see what their energy contributed.
8. What human beings did amounted to about one twentieth of the total energy output.
9. What animals did, by comparison, represents about ten times the work put out by their human masters.
10. Before we start thinking of Renaissance people as lazy, consider how much stronger animals are.
11. Compared with horsepower, the average person can do only about one twelfth of what a horse can do.
12. Match up the figures from the Renaissance and see how people and animals compared regarding work.
13. Did you know that people in the Renaissance seem to have worked considerably harder than their animals?
14. What remains of the energy picture besides animal power, woodburning, water mills, and human work is insignificant.
15. However, one other energy source did provide power in a somewhat unpredictable way; think of a windmill or a sailboat and you will guess that this energy source was the wind.
Sentences Classified by Structure
We describe and classify sentences in two different ways: by function (statement, question, command, exclamation, and so forth) or by structure. The sentences under discussion in this section are classified according to the number and kinds of clauses that they contain. The four kinds of sentences are simple, compound, complex, and compound-complex.
Simple Sentences A sentence containing one independent clause and no subordinate clauses is a simple sentence. It may have any number of phrases, and it may have a compound subject, a compound predicate, or both. However, it has only one clause.
Biblical stories, classical scenes, and portraits were all popular subjects for painting during the Renaissance.
Renaissance artists studied Greek and Roman statuary, taking much of their inspiration from it.
Compound Sentences A sentence consisting of two or more independent clauses but no subordinate clauses is a compound sentence. The independent clauses are usually joined with a comma and one of the coordinating conjunctions: and, but, nor, or, for, or yet.
Giotto painted many church frescoes, but he was also an architect.
Independent clauses may also be joined with a semicolon or with a semicolon and a conjunctive adverb such as nonetheless, consequently, or still. A comma usually follows the conjunctive adverb.
His figures are not painted in the flat, decorative medieval manner; they are solid and natural-looking.
Giotto is the first important Italian painter to break away from the medieval style; consequently, he is sometimes called the “first Renaissance artist.”
Complex Sentences A sentence consisting of one independent clause and one or more subordinate clauses is a complex sentence.
Although they have been damaged by time, Giotto’s frescoes can still be seen in Florence.
The subordinate clause is “Although they have been damaged by time” and the independent clause is “Giotto’s frescoes can still be seen in Florence.”
The frescoes, which are painted directly into plaster walls, are badly in need of restoration.
The sentence contains one independent clause: The frescoes are badly in need of restoration. That clause contains a subordinate clause: which are painted directly into plaster walls.
Compound-Complex Sentences A sentence consisting of two or more independent clauses and one or more subordinate clauses is a compound-complex sentence.
While many of Giotto’s later works are well known, it is not certain that he worked on the frescoes of Assisi, and much about his early life is also unknown.
There are two independent clauses in the above sentence: “it is not certain that he worked on the frescoes of Assisi” and “and much about his early life is also unknown.” The subordinate clause is: While many of Giotto’s later works are well known.
Though he was born into poverty, Giotto became successful as an artist, and his work, which greatly influenced later Renaissance painters, is still prized today.
There are two subordinate clauses in the sentence: “Though he was born into poverty” and “which greatly influenced later Renaissance painters.” There are also two independent clauses: “Giotto became successful as an artist” and “his work is still prized today.” The second independent clause, his work is still prized today, is interrupted by the subordinate clause “which greatly influenced later Renaissance artists.”
Exercise 33. Each of the following items consists of a set of sentences. Combine each set to make one sentence, and write that sentence on your paper. Label the sentence that you write Simple, Compound, Complex, or Compound-Complex.
SAMPLE Most of us today take running water, and plenty of it, for granted. People in the Renaissance could not and did not.
ANSWER Most of us today take running water, and plenty of it, for granted, but people in the Renaissance could not and did not.—Compound
1. Even the smallest village had its nearby stream, river, or other water supply. Otherwise, the village would not have existed.
2. Availability of water is one thing. Access to it is another. Getting enough water during the Renaissance usually meant hard work.
3. Someone in each family had to carry water. He or she made as many trips as necessary with buckets or jars.
4. Large riverside cities went through the same process. They did it on a much larger scale.
5. For example, Paris at one time had some thirty thousand professional water carriers. Their job was to haul water from the Seine River.
6. A carrier might deliver sixty buckets of water, two at a time, to the fifth floor of a building. There were no elevators. The pay was pocket change.
7. Even worse, from our point of view, was the quality of the water. It was polluted at best. At the worst, it was deadly.
8. London’s Thames River was equally filthy. Water from it was sent through wooden pipes three times a week to private houses. There it stagnated in storage tanks.
9. Segovia, Spain, was luckier. It had repaired an old Roman aqueduct. Its supply of clean water was the envy of visitors.
10. Venice had an unusual water system. This city is surrounded by water. Unfortunately, all of it is salt water.
11. Visitors often commented on Venice’s many wells. They were not wells, however, but cisterns.
12. Each cistern was a huge ceramic bowl. It was set in the earth and filled with fine sand. It had a hollow shaft in the middle.
13. Rainwater seeped down through the sand. The sand helped to purify it. It was later drawn up through the shaft.
14. Despite its cisterns, Venice often had to bring in fresh water by barge. The cisterns ran dry in droughts. They became fouled with salt water during storms.
15. Some towns on high riverbanks raised their water with pumps. The pumps, in turn, were driven by water wheels in the current. Water was being used to get water.
16. Cities near mountains had snow melt or snow itself. Someone had to fetch the snow from the peaks. This form of water was used mainly to cool the midsummer drinks of the rich.
17. Perhaps sailors had the worst lot. Barreled shipboard water almost always went bad. No one could find a way to save it.
18. Water was harder to get in the Renaissance than now. People used less of it. They probably didn’t think much about this fact.
19. Most people considered bathing positively unhealthy. They avoided it as long as possible. This, for many people, meant all winter.
20. The modern custom of watering a lawn might have amused people of the Renaissance. Grass, in Renaissance times, was a weed. No one would water a weed.
Review
Parts of Speech
A. Identifying Specific Kinds of Nouns On your paper, label each noun Common, Proper, Compound, Collective, Possessive, Concrete, or Abstract. Some nouns may fall into more than one category.
1. Although many think that Shakespeare had a mysterious life, it was actually well documented, considering the times in which he lived.
2. The documentation of Shakespeare’s life consists mainly of everyday items such as business letters and property records.
3. However, the importance of Shakespeare was not in the way he lived his life but in what he produced.
4. In fewer than twenty-five years, the playwright wrote thirty-eight plays.
5. His home town was Stratford-on-Avon, where a crowd of tourists can often be seen trying to find the house in which Shakespeare was born.
6. Stratford-on-Avon, a picturesque farming village, was an important connection for the playwright throughout his life.
7. Shakespeare’s father was a leather worker who provided a comfortable life for his family and was a member of the town council.
8. Since the children of those involved in city government received free tuition, Shakespeare was able to join a class at the local grammar school.
9. As a student, Shakespeare probably studied the classics; however, he did not go on to attend a university.
B. Identifying Pronouns On your paper, write the pronouns in the following sentences. Then label each Personal, Demonstrative, Reflexive, Intensive, Interrogative, Relative, or Indefinite.
10. Shakespeare, who studied Latin in school, later taught himself French.
11. Although he did not know the classics as well as certain playwrights of his day, Shakespeare probably thought that his knowledge was sufficient.
12. One who reads Shakespeare’s plays cannot fail to realize that he or she is reading the work of a master.
13. Not everyone believes that Shakespeare himself had much to do with the writing of the plays we attribute to him.
14. Shakespeare’s general knowledge of legal matters often makes lawyers who read his works believe that Shakespeare himself had been a lawyer.
15. Shakespeare must have decided for himself that his worldly knowledge, which encompassed everything from ships to botany to war, was more important than classical schooling.
16. That is a copy of Shakespeare’s first published play; I promised to give it to my cousin, who is reading Shakespeare for the first time.
C. Verb Phrases On your paper, write the verb phrases in the following sentences, underlining the auxiliary verbs once and the main verbs twice. Label the verb phrases Action or Linking. Then label the action verbs Transitive or Intransitive.
17. At the beginning of his career in the theater, Shakespeare was residing in the town of Stratford.
18. By 1592 Shakespeare was traveling back and forth between London and his home in Stratford.
19. The troupe in which Shakespeare worked as an actor must have provided regional tours as well as work in London.
20. Shakespeare may also have begun his career as a playwright during these early years.
21. Shakespeare’s practical knowledge of the theater must have grown because of his experience as a stage manager.
22. Did Shakespeare really play the ghost in Hamlet and the servant Adam in As You Like It?
23. You should know that during 1592, after the plague had hit London and the theaters, Shakespeare was working, but as a poet not as a playwright.
D. Modifiers Step 1: On your paper, write the adjectives and adverbs in the following sentences. Step 2: Label each Adjective or Adverb. Step 3: Write the word or words that each modifies.
24. Shakespeare met many members of royalty through his theater work.
25. Shakespearean scholars now believe that the writer dedicated several early poems to a patron.
26. A young earl was flatteringly portrayed in two poems.
27. By 1597 Shakespeare had truly arrived; he bought New Place, one of the very largest houses in Stratford.
28. His interests had gradually changed almost entirely from acting to writing.
29. By his late forties, Shakespeare was living exclusively in retirement in his palatial house.
30. His friends often described the playwright as being gentle and self-effacing.
31. When he died at a relatively early age, he remembered his theater colleagues in his will.
32. The Elizabethan Age of drama may never be equalled; Shakespeare was not the only timeless playwright of that era.
Sentence Structure
A. Writing Sentences On your paper, write four sentences for each of the following word groups. Make the first sentence in each group declarative, the second interrogative, the third imperative, and the fourth exclamatory. The first one has been done for you as a model.
1. of the Renaissance
There was a new awakening of curiosity and study during the time of the Renaissance.
What were the achievements of the Renaissance?
Tell me the major achievements of the Renaissance.
Bravo to the scholars, artists, and explorers of the Renaissance!
2. exploring unknown lands
3. who discovered the Americas
4. painting and sculpture
5. around the sun
6. the path
7. move faster
8. time it took
9. about the planets
10. worked with
11. tried to find
12. artists and artisans
13. a time of learning
14. great works of art
B. Combining Sentences Using Compound Subjects On your paper, combine each pair of sentences by making the two simple subjects into a compound subject. Underline the compound subjects that you write.
15. Johannes Kepler made important advances in astronomy. Tycho Brahe did, too.
16. Kepler’s father was a poor man who moved to the city of Weil, Germany, before Kepler’s birth. His mother was also poor.
17. Science fascinated Kepler when he attended school. Mathematics fascinated him as well.
18. Political persecution in Germany was one reason Kepler moved to Czechoslovakia in 1599. An invitation from a friend was another.
19. Tycho Brahe studied the planets and made observations about them. So did his assistant Kepler.
20. The planet Mars was visible in the night sky. The stars were also visible in the night sky.
21. Brahe tried to determine the exact orbit of Mars. So did Kepler.
22. Circles had been considered by earlier astronomer trying to describe the paths the planets took around the sun. Combinations of circles had also been considered.
23. Brahe’s observations could be confirmed only by an elliptical orbit. Kepler’s observations could too.
24. Telescopes were studied by Kepler to see how curved glass reflected light. Eyeglasses were similarly studied.
25. The laws of planetary motion were a discovery of Kepler’s. So were improved lenses for telescopes.
26. Tycho Brahe served as imperial mathematician to Rudolph II of the Holy Roman Empire. Johannes Kepler did too.
27. Kepler was one of the greatest astronomers of all time. Galileo was also a great astronomer.
C. Subjects, Predicates, and Objects Step 1: Copy the following sentences on your paper. Step 2: Underline the simple subjects once and the simple predicates twice. Step 3: Write D.O. over the direct objects and I.O. over the indirect objects.
28. Christopher Columbus first asked King John II of Portugal to finance the explorer’s voyage to the Indies.
29. Columbus requested many privileges as well as financial support from the king.
30. The king refused Columbus’s requests.
31. So Columbus visited Queen Isabella and King Ferdinand in the kingdom of Granada in Spain.
32. He requested ships and sailors for a voyage to the Spice Islands of the East Indies.
33. Columbus received permission from the queen to search for a new, shorter route to the Indies.
34. Isabella and her councilors offered the explorer three boats and a crew of sailors.
35. The royal couple saw in Columbus’s voyage an opportunity to extend Christianity to a new land.
36. What other benefits would a shorter sea route to the East Indies bring?
D. Distinguishing Complements On your paper, list the complements in the following paragraph. Label each complement Direct object, Indirect object, Objective complement, Predicate nominative, or Predicate adjective.
(37) The Spanish fought the Moors in Granada in a ten-year war. (38) The Moors were Muslims who had settled In Spain during the eighth century. (39) The center of Moorish wealth and culture was Granada. (40) By the late 1200s, the Moors had lost their land and made Granada their last stronghold in Spain. (41) Isabella and Ferdinand were determined to drive out the remaining Moors. (42) The royal couple considered nearby Santa Fe their headquarters and remained a force there until Granada fell. (43) During this long war, Isabella built the soldiers a hospital close to the battleground. (44) The Spaniards finally routed the Moors and drove them out of Spain.
Phrases and Clauses
A. Identifying Phrases On your paper, write the phrases in each sentence. Then label each phrase Prepositional, Appositive, Participial, Gerund, or Infinitive.
1. Comparing the Renaissance to the ages that preceded it, we see an age of enlightenment, achievement, and fresh ideas.
2. To view the Renaissance this way may distort reality.
3. After all, the groundwork for the Renaissance was laid in the preceding centuries, the so-called Dark Ages.
4. Based on this fact, the name Dark Ages is no longer considered a true reflection of those pre-Renaissance times.
5. Besides, the Renaissance was not without its own problems.
B. Identifying Verbal Phrases On your paper, write the verbal phrase or phrases for each sentence. Then label each phrase Participial, Gerund, or Infinitive.
6. Looking back at the Renaissance, we can single out the major developments and events of the period.
7. The ability of Renaissance artists to create great sculpture and painting remains impressive today.
8. Discovering the American continents was the culmination of many other great voyages of exploration.
9. Gutenberg’s development of the printing press, giving everyone access to books, revolutionized education.
10. Having access to books and other printed material also had tremendous political repercussions.
11. In England, the writing of poetry and drama reached a high point in Shakespeare’s plays and sonnets.
12. The rise of cities, leading to modern Paris, London, and Rome, began in the Renaissance.
13. Discoveries in astronomy gave educated people, and eventually everyone, a new way to look at the universe.
C. Independent and Subordinate Clauses On your paper, write the following clauses and label each one Independent or Subordinate. Capitalize and punctuate the independent clauses correctly.
14. the Renaissance voyages of discovery did not come out of nowhere
15. they could not have happened without the magnetic compass
16. which was invented as early as the eleventh century
17. neither did voyagers such as Columbus prove that the world is round
18. that idea was widely accepted by educated people long before the year 1492
19. having been calculated by Greek mathematicians in ancient times
D. Adjective and Adverb Clauses Step 1: On your paper, write the adjective and adverb clauses in the following sentences and label them Adjective or Adverb. Step 2: Underline the subordinating conjunction that introduces each clause. Step 3: Beside each clause write the word or phrase that it modifies.
20. Renaissance, which means “rebirth,” aptly describes the age.
21. The Renaissance was a time when many old ideas were rediscovered by writers and scholars.
22. Some of the most important of these ideas were ones that had originated in ancient times.
23. Many of those ideas had been forgotten until inquisitive minds sought them out.
24. For example, Renaissance sculpture started where the ancient Greeks had left off.
25. As you probably know, it was the Chinese who actually invented gunpowder.
26. Similarly, although Europe refined the process, printing came from China, where it had been developed centuries earlier.
E. Classifying Sentences Step 1: On your paper, copy the sentences in the following paragraph. Step 2: Underline each independent clause. Step 3: Put brackets around each subordinate clause. Step 4: Label each sentence Simple, Compound, Complex, or Compound-Complex.
Someone who has broad interests is often called a “Renaissance man” or a “Renaissance woman.” People today sometimes think that the men and women of the Renaissance did everything or knew everything. Of course, there were geniuses like Leonardo da Vinci, but we must remember that the average person was deeply ignorant. This person was sure that the world was flat. He or she also feared witchcraft, the evil eye, and had similar superstitions. Even the educated minority held many ideas that most people reject today. For example, there were many nobles who held astrologers in high esteem, and almost everyone believed that mice could grow from grains of wheat.
Review
Parts of Speech
A. Identifying Specific Kinds of Nouns On your paper, label each noun Common, Proper, Compound, Collective, Possessive, Concrete, or Abstract. Some nouns may fall into more than one category.
1. Although many think that Shakespeare had a mysterious life, it was actually well documented, considering the times in which he lived.
2. The documentation of Shakespeare’s life consists mainly of everyday items such as business letters and property records.
3. However, the importance of Shakespeare was not in the way he lived his life but in what he produced.
4. In fewer than twenty-five years, the playwright wrote thirty-eight plays.
5. His home town was Stratford-on-Avon, where a crowd of tourists can often be seen trying to find the house in which Shakespeare was born.
6. Stratford-on-Avon, a picturesque farming village, was an important connection for the playwright throughout his life.
7. Shakespeare’s father was a leather worker who provided a comfortable life for his family and was a member of the town council.
8. Since the children of those involved in city government received free tuition, Shakespeare was able to join a class at the local grammar school.
9. As a student, Shakespeare probably studied the classics; however, he did not go on to attend a university.
B. Identifying Pronouns On your paper, write the pronouns in the following sentences. Then label each Personal, Demonstrative, Reflexive, Intensive, Interrogative, Relative, or Indefinite.
10. Shakespeare, who studied Latin in school, later taught himself French.
11. Although he did not know the classics as well as certain playwrights of his day, Shakespeare probably thought that his knowledge was sufficient.
12. One who reads Shakespeare’s plays cannot fail to realize that he or she is reading the work of a master.
13. Not everyone believes that Shakespeare himself had much to do with the writing of the plays we attribute to him.
14. Shakespeare’s general knowledge of legal matters often makes lawyers who read his works believe that Shakespeare himself had been a lawyer.
15. Shakespeare must have decided for himself that his worldly knowledge, which encompassed everything from ships to botany to war, was more important than classical schooling.
16. That is a copy of Shakespeare’s first published play; I promised to give it to my cousin, who is reading Shakespeare for the first time.
C. Verb Phrases On your paper, write the verb phrases in the following sentences, underlining the auxiliary verbs once and the main verbs twice. Label the verb phrases Action or Linking. Then label the action verbs Transitive or Intransitive.
17. At the beginning of his career in the theater, Shakespeare was residing in the town of Stratford.
18. By 1592 Shakespeare was traveling back and forth between London and his home in Stratford.
19. The troupe in which Shakespeare worked as an actor must have provided regional tours as well as work in London.
20. Shakespeare may also have begun his career as a playwright during these early years.
21. Shakespeare’s practical knowledge of the theater must have grown because of his experience as a stage manager.
22. Did Shakespeare really play the ghost in Hamlet and the servant Adam in As You Like It?
23. You should know that during 1592, after the plague had hit London and the theaters, Shakespeare was working, but as a poet not as a playwright.
D. Modifiers Step 1: On your paper, write the adjectives and adverbs in the following sentences. Step 2: Label each Adjective or Adverb. Step 3: Write the word or words that each modifies.
24. Shakespeare met many members of royalty through his theater work.
25. Shakespearean scholars now believe that the writer dedicated several early poems to a patron.
26. A young earl was flatteringly portrayed in two poems.
27. By 1597 Shakespeare had truly arrived; he bought New Place, one of the very largest houses in Stratford.
28. His interests had gradually changed almost entirely from acting to writing.
29. By his late forties, Shakespeare was living exclusively in retirement in his palatial house.
30. His friends often described the playwright as being gentle and self-effacing.
31. When he died at a relatively early age, he remembered his theater colleagues in his will.
32. The Elizabethan Age of drama may never be equalled; Shakespeare was not the only timeless playwright of that era.
Sentence Structure
A. Writing Sentences On your paper, write four sentences for each of the following word groups. Make the first sentence in each group declarative, the second interrogative, the third imperative, and the fourth exclamatory. The first one has been done for you as a model.
1. of the Renaissance
There was a new awakening of curiosity and study during the time of the Renaissance.
What were the achievements of the Renaissance?
Tell me the major achievements of the Renaissance.
Bravo to the scholars, artists, and explorers of the Renaissance!
2. exploring unknown lands
3. who discovered the Americas
4. painting and sculpture
5. around the sun
6. the path
7. move faster
8. time it took
9. about the planets
10. worked with
11. tried to find
12. artists and artisans
13. a time of learning
14. great works of art
B. Combining Sentences Using Compound Subjects On your paper, combine each pair of sentences by making the two simple subjects into a compound subject. Underline the compound subjects that you write.
15. Johannes Kepler made important advances in astronomy. Tycho Brahe did, too.
16. Kepler’s father was a poor man who moved to the city of Weil, Germany, before Kepler’s birth. His mother was also poor.
17. Science fascinated Kepler when he attended school. Mathematics fascinated him as well.
18. Political persecution in Germany was one reason Kepler moved to Czechoslovakia in 1599. An invitation from a friend was another.
19. Tycho Brahe studied the planets and made observations about them. So did his assistant Kepler.
20. The planet Mars was visible in the night sky. The stars were also visible in the night sky.
21. Brahe tried to determine the exact orbit of Mars. So did Kepler.
22. Circles had been considered by earlier astronomer trying to describe the paths the planets took around the sun. Combinations of circles had also been considered.
23. Brahe’s observations could be confirmed only by an elliptical orbit. Kepler’s observations could too.
24. Telescopes were studied by Kepler to see how curved glass reflected light. Eyeglasses were similarly studied.
25. The laws of planetary motion were a discovery of Kepler’s. So were improved lenses for telescopes.
26. Tycho Brahe served as imperial mathematician to Rudolph II of the Holy Roman Empire. Johannes Kepler did too.
27. Kepler was one of the greatest astronomers of all time. Galileo was also a great astronomer.
C. Subjects, Predicates, and Objects Step 1: Copy the following sentences on your paper. Step 2: Underline the simple subjects once and the simple predicates twice. Step 3: Write D.O. over the direct objects and I.O. over the indirect objects.
28. Christopher Columbus first asked King John II of Portugal to finance the explorer’s voyage to the Indies.
29. Columbus requested many privileges as well as financial support from the king.
30. The king refused Columbus’s requests.
31. So Columbus visited Queen Isabella and King Ferdinand in the kingdom of Granada in Spain.
32. He requested ships and sailors for a voyage to the Spice Islands of the East Indies.
33. Columbus received permission from the queen to search for a new, shorter route to the Indies.
34. Isabella and her councilors offered the explorer three boats and a crew of sailors.
35. The royal couple saw in Columbus’s voyage an opportunity to extend Christianity to a new land.
36. What other benefits would a shorter sea route to the East Indies bring?
D. Distinguishing Complements On your paper, list the complements in the following paragraph. Label each complement Direct object, Indirect object, Objective complement, Predicate nominative, or Predicate adjective.
(37) The Spanish fought the Moors in Granada in a ten-year war. (38) The Moors were Muslims who had settled In Spain during the eighth century. (39) The center of Moorish wealth and culture was Granada. (40) By the late 1200s, the Moors had lost their land and made Granada their last stronghold in Spain. (41) Isabella and Ferdinand were determined to drive out the remaining Moors. (42) The royal couple considered nearby Santa Fe their headquarters and remained a force there until Granada fell. (43) During this long war, Isabella built the soldiers a hospital close to the battleground. (44) The Spaniards finally routed the Moors and drove them out of Spain.
Phrases and Clauses
A. Identifying Phrases On your paper, write the phrases in each sentence. Then label each phrase Prepositional, Appositive, Participial, Gerund, or Infinitive.
1. Comparing the Renaissance to the ages that preceded it, we see an age of enlightenment, achievement, and fresh ideas.
2. To view the Renaissance this way may distort reality.
3. After all, the groundwork for the Renaissance was laid in the preceding centuries, the so-called Dark Ages.
4. Based on this fact, the name Dark Ages is no longer considered a true reflection of those pre-Renaissance times.
5. Besides, the Renaissance was not without its own problems.
B. Identifying Verbal Phrases On your paper, write the verbal phrase or phrases for each sentence. Then label each phrase Participial, Gerund, or Infinitive.
6. Looking back at the Renaissance, we can single out the major developments and events of the period.
7. The ability of Renaissance artists to create great sculpture and painting remains impressive today.
8. Discovering the American continents was the culmination of many other great voyages of exploration.
9. Gutenberg’s development of the printing press, giving everyone access to books, revolutionized education.
10. Having access to books and other printed material also had tremendous political repercussions.
11. In England, the writing of poetry and drama reached a high point in Shakespeare’s plays and sonnets.
12. The rise of cities, leading to modern Paris, London, and Rome, began in the Renaissance.
13. Discoveries in astronomy gave educated people, and eventually everyone, a new way to look at the universe.
C. Independent and Subordinate Clauses On your paper, write the following clauses and label each one Independent or Subordinate. Capitalize and punctuate the independent clauses correctly.
14. the Renaissance voyages of discovery did not come out of nowhere
15. they could not have happened without the magnetic compass
16. which was invented as early as the eleventh century
17. neither did voyagers such as Columbus prove that the world is round
18. that idea was widely accepted by educated people long before the year 1492
19.having been calculated by Greek mathematicians in ancient times
D. Adjective and Adverb Clauses Step 1: On your paper, write the adjective and adverb clauses in the following sentences and label them Adjective or Adverb. Step 2: Underline the subordinating conjunction that introduces each clause. Step 3: Beside each clause write the word or phrase that it modifies.
20. Renaissance, which means “rebirth,” aptly describes the age.
21. The Renaissance was a time when many old ideas were rediscovered by writers and scholars.
22. Some of the most important of these ideas were ones that had originated in ancient times.
23. Many of those ideas had been forgotten until inquisitive minds sought them out.
24. For example, Renaissance sculpture started where the ancient Greeks had left off.
25. As you probably know, it was the Chinese who actually invented gunpowder.
26. Similarly, although Europe refined the process, printing came from China, where it had been developed centuries earlier.
E. Classifying Sentences Step 1: On your paper, copy the sentences in the following paragraph. Step 2: Underline each independent clause. Step 3: Put brackets around each subordinate clause. Step 4: Label each sentence Simple, Compound, Complex, or Compound-Complex.
Someone who has broad interests is often called a “Renaissance man” or a “Renaissance woman.” People today sometimes think that the men and women of the Renaissance did everything or knew everything. Of course, there were geniuses like Leonardo da Vinci, but we must remember that the average person was deeply ignorant. This person was sure that the world was flat. He or she also feared witchcraft, the evil eye, and had similar superstitions. Even the educated minority held many ideas that most people reject today. For example, there were many nobles who held astrologers in high esteem, and almost everyone believed that mice could grow from grains of wheat.
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