--- -

-

,.,,.~

...._

__..

~~~.Y:~g~~{~\r~?-~~t;~t~~r~~~-#~~~~~~Yfi~rf~:.~. ~ ·,··. ,.

.·
OF

ENGLISH- COMPOSITION
THROUGH

ANALYSIS AND SYNTHESIS
A TEXT-BOOK FOR
THE SENIOR CLASSES OF ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS

\
• J •

•

•

.9

AND FOR PUPIL-TEACHERS

,,P~.
~JXA,..~
•

BY

-.

·l .

•'

\

\

:· :-:

..

~·

\

\ .

P.

OYEN

INS~ECT.Q;R

-OF SCHOOLS

. '. ! ,
I

' '.'

1L onbon
11ACMILLAN AND CO:
AN D NEW YORK

.

.

All rights resert•ed

..

~----

·-- - -,,J

. MR\'AHD COLLEGf lfBRARY
F1.1 ::: r -;;- rn r~o~ THE
I. ' . : Y U TilE
GHAUUA 11: '- U; -. v l OF llllJGATION
~\ ~

\

'.

~

-,..:,

.' '

,.

.·

.~I., ·

. '

·.,'

PREFA CE
As a. means .of _teaching composition .and t4e principles
·that govern sentence structure, analysis of sentences has
completely broken down and become, outside the teaching
profession, entirely discredited. Pupils parse and ·parse,
·analyse and analyse, for years of their school life, and in
the end are ·ignorant of what constitu_tes a good sentence
.and wholly without ability to write one. The cause of
this ·unsatisfactory result is not, I think, diffictilt ·to discover.
·Th~ parsing of. single words, however well done, can· be
made to bear only on the syntax of single words-quite a
trifle in sentence structure. Analysis, . however, includes
single· words, phrases, and clauses-the whole mechanism
of the sentence however complex, and, of course, ought to
. bear on the syntax of the whole mechanism ; but unfortunately it has been made by the boolis to concern
itself only with breaking down and classifying. Its sole
aim has been to dismember the sentence and to place the
disjecta membra.under their appropriate headings. This i~
all very well from the point of view that decomposition
and classi~cation are the sole end of grammar ; but ought
they to be so regarded 7 Is not synthesis as impor~nus
analysis 7 Is it not necessary that the young student
should be trained not only tq decompose and classify, but
also to compose, that is, to arrange words, phrases, and
clauses in their ·most effective setting 7 Analysis is purely
destructive; it destroys beauty of thought and ~~uty of

~

- - - ... -.ENGLISH OOMPOSITION .·:_' -. ·-

~- ! · ~

-----·
vii

. ...

form ; . synthesiS restores both ; it is the. ·complement of
analysis. This fact has b~en ignored by the -text-books,
and therefore analysis has become discredited. Analysis
is useful chiefly for purposes of synthesis. From analysis
the student learns to discern the parts and the function· of
the parts of the sentence; from synthesis an~ the rules of
placement he learns. to build- up the sentence by placing
the parts in' their most effective setting.
In th.is little book analysis ·is treated only as a means
to an end-the synthesis .of sentences and the principles
of sentence structure.
No distinction .is made between
'indirect object' and ' extension' ; for whatever helps the
predicate to express its meaning is an adjunct to the predicate, and it is not of the least consequence whether we
call it an 'object' or an 'extension.' The important thing
is to recognise it~ , f_unc~i~n .and to _kn~w its place. in the
. 1
senten~.
.
· ·
·
,. · · · ' . · ·. · -. t
It WW. be allowed by all competent judges that the · '
·
foundati~ of composition lies in ~he sentence, that no one
. _ . .'
can compose well who cannot write a good sentence, and
'
that no one can consciously write a good sentence who does
not understand the principles that govern sentence structure.
To . the exposition and exemplification . of these
principles a large part of this book is devoted ; accordingly
a prominent place is" assigned to ·synthesis, .to the placement of qualifying adjuncts-a most difficult part of composition-and to the devices · usually adopted to bring
emphatic words into positions of emphasis and related words
into proximity.
.
~
I ha.ve end~voured so to present this part of the subject as to induce in the young student a critical attitude of
mind-critica~ that is, as to h:ls choice of modes of
expression and as to the merits or the defects of this or
of that mode. In his excellent Companion to his Higher·
English Grammar, Professor. Bain says : 'In teaching
English the most effective course seems to me to be this :
having selected an exemplary passage, first to assign its
peculiar . excellence and its deficiency, and ne~t to point
It

.~

·-

'.

out ~hat things contribute to the one a~d what to the
other, and what are indifferent to both. '.(he pupils are
thus accustomed, to weigh ~v~y expression that cflmes befMe them,
and this I take to be the beginning of the art of Cflmposition.'
The spirit of this passage -~p.d .of · Bain's' teaching is the
governing spirit of this little manual;·which, however, does
not pretend to go beyond the elements of composition. It
deals with the structure of sentences of many forms and of
several degrees of complexity, but not with the paragraph
and the connectives that give movement to the paragraph
and the larger divisions of the paragraph. For a full and
masterly treatment of the whole subject the teacher is
referred to Bain's books on English.
v.-.~....;...,In ... connection with the pronoun and the complex
sentence of two clauses I have introduced the subject of
equivalent modes of expression. This part of composition
·is _pf · great interest and importance, . and Js..deserving .. Pf .
mucli fuller treatment than it has received in this book.
· For a very full and able treatment of it the teacher is
referred to Mr. A. F. Murison's First TVork in English,
published, )ike Professor Bain's books, by Messrs. Longmans and Co.
The exemplary passages, and · the passages for analysis
and synthesis, are, with a few unimportant exceptions,
selected by myself from our most idiomatic prose writers.
They are, with one or two exceptions, selecteq from prose
writings, for the obvious reason that prose composition can
be taught only from prose models. The language of the
examples and exercises, though not more di~cult ~han th~t
of the reading- books of the classes for which this book .1s
intended, is yet sufficiently difficult to ·make the pupils
respect it. It is my experience that ~~ny of th~ prose
examples iri most text-books of an.alys1s are so unlike ~he
sentences of the reading-books, so simple (not to say c~1ld­
ish) that boys and girls of average· ability despise t~em. ·
They do not see what· good can come from a .study of
them.
The analysed sentences furnish the pupils with a large

V1ll

amount of good material f.o~ putting into practice the
principles of composition expounded in the text. · The
synthesising of these examples should prove one of the
- most profitable as well as one ·. of the most interes~ing •
exercises in the book. For the assistance and convenience
of teachers a key to the synthesis is published separately.
Another very useful exercise is the correction of errors
in gra.m.ID.a.r and arrangement. Examples of such errors
are inserted here and there in: the book. Some of these
are of my own selecting, but most of them are taken from
the :fin~ collection of the late Dr. Hodgson, .whose book, ,
Errurs in the Use of English; · should be in the library of
every teacher.
On every page of his pupils' reading-books, the teacher
will find paS!!3-ges ~~~mplifying some of the principles explairloo and exemplified iri this book.' Such passages sh<;mld ., .
be ~~as supplementary exercises. Besides word-parsing . , .
for _co co~d ~d government, the teacher should give his · .
pupils . ~onsiderable :11I!-ount _of phrase- and clause-parsing
for: position. For this exercise the reading-books furnish
abundance of fine material. It is a good exercise to set
the pupils to search their reading lessons for examples of
this or of that construction.
The reading-books also fur~ish examples of paragraph
structure, ci. the elements of style, including figures of
speech, and of the phrases ~1!-d connectives that lare usually
employed to mark trans1t10ns of thought ind to giye
movement to paragraphs and the larger divi~ions of the
paragraph (see Bain's Rhetoric and 'Composition, Pt. I.)
In the sam~ ~ooks is to. be found plenty of gJod material
for exemplifying the difference. between the! diction of
.prose and t~t of poetry. It is unquestionable that, in the
hands of a competent. teacher, the reading-b~oks ·can be
made a most P_OWerful mstrument for teaching the essentials
o~ good form m prose composition. Even thell' errors can
be turned to ~ccount in t
i what to a void.
'I
m gram
.

.

.

I

'

P. GOYEN.

1

.•

-.-~

.........

. i'

"

. i

.-

,,

-

- .-

·...

-~.,.,..

.... ,_..

·- --

CONTENTS
PART I
THE SIMPLE SENTENCE
....,,,,.7.!'•

\

. I

r·.

1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.

7.
8.
9.
10.
11_.
12.
13.
14.

PAGE

Logical .Analysis
~rammatical .Analysis: Subject, .Predicate, _Object ~
Concord of Subject and Predicate
The Function of the .Adjective
Kinds of .Adjuncts to the N 01in
Placement of .Adjuncts to the Noun
Pronouns and Pronominal Couples .
.Adverbial .Adjuncts •
Placement of .Adverbial .Adjuncts
Order and Distribution of .Adverbial Adjuncts
Usual Placement of Subject, Predicate, and Object .
Departure. from the usual Order for the sa.ke of Emphasis
and Energy
.Analysis
Synthesis

1

~
4

8
10
11

12
18
19
21
26
27
28
28

PART II
THE COMPLEX: SENTENCE OF
",;;! '

••

Two CLAUSES

1. The Noun Clause : its Place and its Equivalents

39

2. The .Adjective (Relative) Clause and its Equivalents

43

:..

~:.._

.. •.

------ •

l

..- -·-

..

....

~

- -~

PAGE

46
48
50
54
56

3. The Adverbial Clause and its Equivalents •
4. In~ge of Adverb with Adverbial Ph~e
5. Placement of the Relative Clause
6. Note on the Relative Clause
7. Syntax of the Relative Pronotins
8. Placement of the Adverbial Clause •
9. Note on ' Do ' and ' So '
10•. Note on the Comparisons
11. Analysis
12. Synthesis
13. An Important Participial Construction: its Place and its
Equivalents
. 1
14. Absolute Phrases: their Plac.e and their Equivalents'

"'
~
~-

62
67
·~

68
70
73

...

. J.
PART I

4;6~·

...
.•.

84

89

..... : . if..· .··
+

.. PAl:t T III

.-

., :. ·

~

,-

.

...

~

THE SIMPLE SENTENCE

-

.........

;. .

LOGICAL ANALYSIS

. . A 'srnPLE sentence is a group of words' by which :
I. A statement is made, as : · · · · ., · ·

' r~
I

THE COMPOUND SENTENCE

'Birds fly.'
1.
2.
3.
4.

The Copulative or Cumulative Relation
The Disjunctive Rel_a tion
.
The Compound Subordinate Clause .
Mixed Sentences

92

'The fire burns.'

l~sons. •

II. A question is asked, as :

93

'Why do you run so fast !'

101
106

'Who bought these articles 1'

III. A command or a wish is expressed, as : ·
'Go (thou).'

PART IV

..

T~E COMPLEX SENTE:~rnE OF MORE THAN Two CLAUSES

1. Analysis of Complex Sentences of more than two Clauses .
2. Synthesis of Complex Sentences of more than two Clauses .

•The boy bas learnt his

109
112

'.

'Speak (you).'

'May you be hap~y.'

I

Every simple sentence contains at least two parts; the subject
and the predicate. . The subject is the word (or words) denoting
. the person about w:hom or the thing ab_o ut which something is
asserted. The predicate is the word (or words) by 'means of
which something is asserted of the subject.
These parts, the subject and the predicate, are the essential
parts of every sentence ; all other parts of the sentence group
themselves to the one or the other of these. Hence a sentence,
however long, may be regarded as consisting only of subject and ·
predicate.
A sentence broken up · into these two parts is said to be
. ' .analysed .
]E

B

