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CHAPTER XX.

CONJUNCTIONS AND INTERJECTIONS.

202. A Conjunction is a word, other than a relative pronoun or conjunctive adverb, which joins words and sentences.

All conjunctions can join sentences together, but all words which join sentences are not conjunctions. 'This is the man who stole the money' contains two clauses, 'This is the man: (he) stole the money'; the two clauses are united by the relative pronoun who and form one complex sentence. The reader will remember that the distinguishing mark of a relative pronoun is this, that it has the force of a conjunction. But it is not itself a conjunction. Again, 'I know where he lives' contains two clauses, 'I know (the fact) he lives there'; the two clauses are united by the conjunctive adverb where and form one complex

sentence.

203. What do Conjunctions join,-Sentences, or Words, or both?

Conjunctions usually connect sentences even when they appear to connect only words. 'John and Mary are good players' is an elliptical or abbreviated way of saying 'John is a good player,' 'Mary is a good player.' But in some cases and connects words only, and there is no contraction or abridgement of two separate sentences. 'John and Mary are a handsome couple' cannot be resolved into 'John

is a handsome couple,' 'Mary is a handsome couple.' 'Two and two make four' is not a compact way of saying 'Two makes four,' 'Two makes four.' With the exception however of the occasional use of and to join words, conjunctions join sentences. Thus 'He was poor but honest' contains two statements; 'He was poor: he was honest.' nor a fool' means 'He is not a

'He is neither a knave knave: he is not a fool.'

'He is either a knave or a fool'

means 'He is either a knave, or he is a fool.'

204. Conjunctions are classified as (1) Coordinating and (2) Subordinating.

(1) Co-ordinating Conjunctions join co-ordinate or independent clauses: e.g. and, but, either...or, neither...

nor.

(2) Subordinating Conjunctions join a dependent clause to the principal clause: e.g. that, after, till, because, though, if.

205. The reader must now prepare himself to grapple with a part of the subject which will present greater difficulties and call for the exercise of more intelligence than any of the problems which he has hitherto encountered in the study of grammar. Before going further, we must explain the meaning of the terms co-ordinate, dependent, clause, which have been introduced into the definitions of conjunctions and classes of conjunctions. The discussion of these words belongs indeed to syntax rather than to etymology. But we have reached the threshold of syntax and may cross the threshold without straying far beyond the strict limits of our present subject; for it is only by saying now some of the things which would more properly be said in the concluding chapters of the book, that we can hope to make the treatment of conjunctions intelligible.

A Sentence is a collection of words by which we say something about a thing. The word which stands for the

W. E. G.

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thing about which we make the assertion is called the Subject of the sentence. The word by which we make the assertion about the thing is called the Predicate.

If a sentence contains only one subject and one finite verb, it is a Simple sentence: "The general was knighted,' 'He told me this,' 'He gave me a contribution,' are simple

sentences.

If a sentence contains two or more independent clauses joined by co-ordinating conjunctions, it is a Compound sentence: 'The general was knighted and presented with the freedom of the city,' 'He neither told me this, nor did he hint it,' 'He gave me a contribution but he grudged it,' are compound sentences, each of which contains two parts entirely independent. These two parts might form separate sentences without affecting the sense of the compound

sentence.

But if a sentence contains two or more clauses, one of which is dependent on the other, it is a Complex sentence: 'The general who won the victory was knighted,' 'He told me that the prisoner had escaped,' 'He gave me a contribution because he approved of the object,' are complex sentences. The groups of words in italics contain, it is true, their own subjects and finite verbs. But they are not independent sentences they occupy the place of an adjective, a noun, or an adverb, in relation to the rest of the sentence of which they form a part. Hence they are called Subordinate Clauses.

Thus in the sentence 'The general who won the victory was knighted,' the clause 'who won the victory' is equivalent to victorious and limits the application of the noun 'general.' It is an adjectival clause.

In the sentence 'He told me that the prisoner had escaped,' the clause 'that the prisoner had escaped' occupies the same position as might be occupied by such words as 'the fact,' or 'the rumour.' The fact or the rumour is a

noun.

Hence the clause, as it takes the place of a noun, is a noun clause.

In the sentence 'He gave me a contribution because he approved of the object,' the clause 'because he approved of the object' modifies the application of the verb gave, stating why he gave it. The words by which we limit the application of verbs are adverbs: 'He gave me a contribution approvingly, or cordially, or readily,' would express, approximately though not exactly, the same thing as 'He gave me a contribution because he approved of the object.' Such a clause as this, since it takes the place of an adverb, is an adverbial clause.

The sentences which form parts of an entire sentence we shall call clauses. 'The general won the victory and was knighted' is a Compound sentence consisting of the two co-ordinate or independent clauses: 'The general won the victory,' 'The general was knighted.' 'The general who won the victory was knighted' is a Complex sentence consisting of a principal clause, 'The general was knighted,' and a subordinate adjectival clause, 'who won the victory,' referring to 'general' in the principal clause. "The general was knighted because he won the victory' is a Complex sentence consisting of a principal clause, 'The general was knighted,' and a subordinate adverbial clause, 'because he won the victory,' modifying 'was knighted.'

206. No rule of thumb can be supplied which shall enable the student to determine whether a subordinate clause is an adjective-clause, noun-clause, or adverb-clause, without the exercise of his wits. The same collection of words may be adjectival, substantival, or adverbial, in three different complex sentences. Take the words, 'where the battle was fought.' A beginner, recognising an adverb in the first word 'where,' might jump to the conclusion that a clause which begins with an adverb must be an adverbial clause. But the nature of the clause is not to be settled in this way: we must look at the clause in its relation to the principal clause and see what sort of work it does,-whether it does the work of an adjective, of a noun, or of an adverb. Observe its different functions in these three complex sentences:

I. 'The spot where-the-battle-was-fought is unknown.'

2.

3.

'Where-the-battle-was-fought is unknown.'

'I live where-the-battle-was-fought.'

In (1), where-the-battle-was-fought is adjectival, limiting 'spot'; in like manner we might say 'the exact spot is unknown.'

In (2), it is a noun-clause, equivalent to 'The spot is unknown,' "The fact is unknown,' 'It is unknown.'

In (3), it is adverbial, modifying the verb 'live,' just as an adverb would modify it in the sentence 'I live there.'

When the reader has mastered the distinction between compound and complex sentences and between the three kinds of subordinate clauses, one or other of which every complex sentence contains, analysis will present very few difficulties to him. But his analysis of complex sentences will generally be wrong, if he attempts the task without an intelligent grasp of the principles which have been stated above. From this digression into syntax we must now return to the subject of conjunctions from which we may seem to have wandered far.

207. The reader should now be able readily to grasp our meaning when we say that co-ordinating conjunctions are those which unite co-ordinate clauses; and that subordinating conjunctions are those which join subordinate clauses to the principal clause of a complex

sentence.

The subordinate clauses which a subordinating conjunction introduces are noun-clauses or adverbial clauses. Adjective-clauses are attached to the principal clause by a relative pronoun or by a relative adverb; as, 'The general who won the victory was knighted,' which is equivalent to 'The victorious general was knighted'; 'The house where nobody lives is to be pulled down,' which is equivalent to 'The empty house is to be pulled down.' Noun-clauses are generally introduced by that, and occur especially after verbs of saying, thinking, believing, asking, hoping, seeing, and others of similar import: 'I say that he did it,' 'I think that this is so.' But that is not essential to a noun-clause : thus the following clauses in italics are noun-clauses; ‘I see how you did it,' 'When he did it is not clear,' 'He asked if I did it,' 'We heard you had gone.'