Double or Multiple Sentence

A double sentence is made up of two, a multiple sentence of more than two coordinate clauses. (This definition is not quite complete, but it will suffice for the present.)

Clauses are said to be co-ordinate, when one can be separated from the other so that each makes an independent sentence and gives an independent sense, ex. The sun rose with power, and the fog dispersed. He called at my house, but I was not at home.

Note. – Observe the difference between Sentence, Clause, and Phrase:

(1) A sentence is a combination of words that contains at least one subject and one predicate. (If a subject as predicate is absent, but “implied”, the combination, though elliptical, is still a sentence.)

(2) A sentence, which is part of a larger sentence, is called a clause.

(3) A phrase is a combination of words that does not contain a predicate either expressed or understood, as “turning to

the left” (participial phrase), “on a hill” (adjective or adverb phrase), “because of” (preposition phrase).

Complex Sentence

A Complex sentence consists of a main clause (i.e. the clause containing (he verb of the sentence) with one or more subordinate or dependent clauses.

Complex A merchant, who had much property to sell,

caused all his goods

to be conveyed on camels, as there was no railway

in that country.

Simple A merchant, having much property to sell, caused all his goods

to be conveyed on camels, there being no railway in that country.

The two sentences mean precisely the same thing, and both have a Finite verb in common, “caused”. But in other respects they are very different. In the latter there is but one Finite verb, “caused”, and therefore the sentence is Simple. In the former, besides the Finite verb “caused”, there are two more Finite verbs, “had” and “was”, and therefore the sentence must be either Complex or Double, Which is it?

It is not Double, but Complex, because – (1) the clause “who had much property to sell” is connected with the noun “merchant”, which it qualifies as an adjective would do; and (2) the clause “as there was no railway in that country” is connected with the verb “caused”, which it qualifies as an adverb would do. Neither of these clauses can stand alone. So there is one Main or Containing clause and two Subordinate or Contained clauses.

There are three kinds of Subordinate clauses – the Noun-clause, the Adjective-clause, and the Adverb-clause; and these are defined as follows:

I. A Noun-clause is one which does (he work of a noun in relation to some wordin some other clause.

II. An Adjective-clause is one which does the work of an adjective in relation to some wordin some other clause.

III. An Adverb-clause is one which does the work of an adverb in relation to some wordin some other clause.

Note. – The same clause may be a Noun-clause in one context, an Adjective-clause in another, and an Adverb-clause in another.

Where Moses was buried is still unknown.

- Noun-clause, subject to the verb “is”.

No one has seen the place where Moses was buried.

- Adjective-clause, qualifying the noun “place”.

Without knowing it the Arabs encamped where Moses was buried.

- Adverb-clause qualifying the verb “encamped”.

I. The Noun-clause

A Noun-clause is subject to all the liabilities and duties of a noun proper. It may therefore be the subject to a verb, the object to a verb, the object to a preposition, the complement of a verb, or in apposition with a noun:

That he will come back soon is certain Subj. to verb.

I shall be glad to know when you will return Obj. to verb.

This will sell for what it is worth Obj. to prep.

This is exactly what I expected Compl. to verb.

The rumour that he is sick is false App. to noun.

Note 1. – From the above examples it will be seen that a Noun-clause can be introduced either by the Conjunction “that” or by a Relative pronoun or by a Relative adverb.

Note 2. – A clause containing the very words used by a speaker is not to be regarded as a Noun-clause but should be treated as a single word or phrase:

All that he said was “I have seen you before”. – Here the italicised clause is the complement to the verb “was”. The whole sentence is regarded as a simple sentence.

Ex.1. Pick out the Noun-clause or clauses in each of the following, and say whether it is the Subject to some verb, or the Object to some verb, or the Object to some preposition, or the Complement to some verb, or in Apposition to some noun expressed. Supply the Conjunction “that” whenever it has been left out:

1. No one knows when he will come, or whether he will come at all, or whether he is even alive.

2. How this came to pass is not known to any one.

3. What is sauce for the goose is sauce for the gander.

4. It is quite evident rain will fall to-day.

5. The Equator shows where days and nights are of equal length.

6. What is one man’s meat is another man’s poison.

7. You must know that the air is never quite at rest.

8. I think I shall never clearly understand this.

9. We heard the school would open in ten days’ time.

10. The name “Volcano” indicates the belief of the ancient Greeks, that the burning hills of the Mediterranean were the workshops of the divine blacksmith, Vulcan.

11. Even a feather shows which way the wind is blowing.

12. Whatever faculty man has is improved by use.

13. The fool has said in his heart, “There is no God”.

14. “Know thyself”, was the advice given us by a Greek sage.

15. He did not know that his father had been shot.

16. The fact that you have not signed your name to a letter shows that you lack moral courage.

17. It will be easily understood how useful even the simplest weapons were to the first dwellers on the earth.

18. The question first occurring to the mind of a savage is how is fire to be made.

19. Common sense soon taught him that fire could be produced by rubbing two sticks together.

20. In chipping their flint weapons men must have seen that fire occasionally flashed out.

21. We learn from travellers that savages can produce fire in a few seconds.

22. He shouted out to the thief, “Leave this house”.

23. We cannot rely on what he says.

24. It is quite evident you have made a mistake.

25. It was very unfortunate that you were taken ill.

26. He was a man of fine-character except that he was rather timid.

II. Adjective-Clause

An Adjective-clause has but one function, viz. to qualify some noun or pronoun belonging to some other clause. In doing this it simply does the work of an adjective roper. All Adjective-clause is introduced by a Relative pronoun or by a Relative adverb. The noun or pronoun that stands as antecedent to the Relative pronoun or Relative adverb, is the word qualified by the Adjective-clause.

A man who has just come inquired after you.

This is not the book that I chose.

This is not such a horse as I should have bought.

We found it in the place where we had left it.

Note. – The Relative pronoun (when the case would be Accusative) is sometimes left out. (It is never left out when the case is either Nominative or Genitive.)

The food (that or which) he needed was sent.

Ex.2. Pick out the Adjective-clause or clauses in each of the following examples and point out the noun or pronoun qualified by it in some other clause. If the Relative pronoun has been omitted anywhere, supply it:

1. Man has the power of making instruments which bring into view stars whose light has taken a thousand years to reach the earth.

2. The first thing that man needed was some sharp-edged tool.

3. The exact time when the theft was committed was never found out.

4. The man by whom the theft was committed has been caught.

5. The house we lived in has fallen down.

6. This is the same story that I heard ten years ago.

7. It’s an ill wind that blows no one any good.

8. This is not such a book as I should have chosen.

9. He made his living by the presents he received from the men he served.

10. All that glitters is not gold.

11. In ponds, from which but a week before the wind blew clouds of dust, men now catch the re-animated fish.

12. A river is joined at places by tributaries that swell its waters.

13. Of what use is a knowledge of books to him who fails to practise virtue?

14. Fortune selects him for her lord, who reflects before acting.

15. Springs are fed by rain, which has percolated through the rocks or soil.

16. Nuncoomar prepared to die with that quiet fortitude with which the Bengalee, so backward, as a rule, in personal conflict, often encounters calamities for which there is no remedy.

17. I have seen the house where Shakespeare was born.

18. The plan you acted on has answered well.

19. They accepted every plan we proposed.

20. Surely the story you are telling me is not true.

21. The night is long that never finds the day.