EXPANSION. A simple sentence may be converted into a complex sentence by changing some word or phrase into a clause. A complex sentence may be converted into a compound sentence by changing a clause into an independent member. The process by which these changes are made is called expansion. The following examples illustrate the method: Simple. The wise man is the man of years. Complex. The man that is wise is the man of years. Simple. The enemy, beaten at all points, surrendered. Complex. The enemy, which had been beaten at all points, surrendered. Simple.-Oppressed by the heat, we sought the cool shade. Complex. We sought the cool shade, because we were oppressed by the heat. Compound. We were oppressed by the heat, hence we sought the cool shade. EXERCISE XXVI. DIRECTION.-Expand the following simple sentences into complex, and state whether the clause thus introduced is adjectival, adverbial, or substantive: 1. My friend's account of the affair alarmed me. 2. An old man on horseback passed us on the road between Monticello and Charlottesville. 3. The most difficult tasks are overcome by perseverance. 4. Why have you kept this news from me so long? 5. A horseman wrapped in a huge cloak entered the yard. 6. And seeing the multitudes, he went up into the mountain. 7. Thus, after a siege of fifty-three days, was Constantinople irre trievably subdued by the arms of Mahomet the Second. 8. The Indians with surprise found the moldering trees of their forests suddenly teeming with ambrosial sweets. 9. Two of the bee-hunters now plied their axes vigorously at the root of the tree, to level it with the ground. 10. My heart was filled with a deep melancholy to see several dropping unexpectedly in the midst of mirth and jollity. II. Several of them in the act of striking at the enemy fell down from mere weakness. 12. The great qualities of Charlemagne were indeed alloyed by the vices of a barbarian and a conqueror. 13. Jerusalem has derived some reputation from the number and importance of her memorable sieges. 14. To form an adequate idea of the duties of this crisis, it will be necessary to raise your minds to a level with your station. EXERCISE XXVII. DIRECTION.-Expand the following simple sentences into complex, and then, if possible, into compound: I. Through this dismayed and bewildered multitude, the disconsolate family of their gallant general made their way silently to the shore. 2. My companion, climbing up alone, and already nearly asleep, laid himself down with his head upon the precious portmanteau. 3. At Athens, at once the center and capital of Greek philosophy and heathen superstition, takes place the first public and direct conflict between Christianity and Paganism. 4. At the same time, the good old knight, with a mixture of the father and the master of the family, tempered the inquiries after his own affairs with several kind questions relating to themselves. 5. At the top of the stair we saw a small tray, with a single plate and glasses for one solitary person's dinner. 6. Often in the narrations of history and fiction, an agent of the most dreadful designs compels a sentiment of deep respect for the unconquerable mind displayed in their execution. 7. Accordingly, they got a painter by the knight's directions to add a pair of whiskers to the face, and, by a little aggravation of the features, to change it into the Saracen's Head. 8. In the first chapter of Don Quixote, Cervantes, with a few strokes of a great master, sets before us the pauper gentleman, an Rhet.-6. early riser and keen sportsman, idle for the most part of the year, but fond of reading books of chivalry. 9. Of an idle, unrevolving man the kindest Destiny, like the most assiduous potter without a wheel, can bake and knead nothing other than a botch. 10. Then the road passing straight on through a waste moor, the towers of a distant city at length appear before the traveler. 11. Amid all the buzzing noise of the games and the perpetual passing in and out of people, he seemed perfectly calm and abstracted, without the smallest particle of excitement in his composition. 12. The stutterer had almost finished his travels through Europe and part of Asia, without ever budging beyond the liberties of the King's Bench, except in term-time, with a tip-staff for his companion. 13. He wore an ample cloak of black sheep's wool, faded into a dull brown, and recently refreshed by an enormous patch of the original color. 14. One window there was-a perfect and unpretending cottage window, with little diamond panes, embowered at almost every season of the year with roses; and, in the summer and autumn, with a profusion of jasmine and other fragrant shrubs. 15. The foremost, a somewhat tall young woman, with the most winning expression of benignity upon her features, advanced to me, presenting her hand with an air frank enough to dispel every shadow of embarrassment. EXERCISES IN COMPOSITION. REPRODUCTION III. THE INCHCAPE ROCK. No stir in the air, no stir in the sea, Without either sign or sound of their shock, The Abbot of Aberbrothok Had placed that bell on the Inchcape Rock; When the Rock was hid by the surge's swell, The sun in heaven was shining gay; The sea-birds screamed as they wheeled round, The buoy of the Inchcape Bell was seen, He felt the cheering power of spring; His eye was on the Inchcape float; And I'll plague the Abbot of Aberbrothok." The boat is lowered, the boatmen row, And he cut the bell from the Inchcape float. Down sunk the bell with a gurgling sound; The bubbles rose and burst around; Quoth Sir Ralph, "The next who comes to the rock Won't bless the Abbot of Aberbrothok." Sir Ralph the Rover sailed away; So thick a haze o'erspreads the sky, On the deck the Rover takes his stand; Quoth Sir Ralph, “It will be lighter soon, Canst hear,” said one, “the breakers roar? They hear no sound; the swell is strong; Sir Ralph the Rover tore his hair; The waves rush in on every side; But, even in his dying fear, One dreadful sound could the Rover hear- The Devil below was ringing his knell. ROBERT SOUTHEY. TOPICAL OUTLINE. Introduction.-The dead calm—no wind to stir a sail, nor wave to move the Inchcape Bell. The bell-placed where, how, by whom? |