Page:The grammar of English grammars.djvu/466

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The principal parts of a sentence are usually three; namely, the SUBJECT, or nominative,--the attribute, or finite VERB,--and the case put after, or the OBJECT[322] governed by the verb: as, "Crimes deserve punishment."

The other or subordinate parts depend upon these, either as primary or as secondary adjuncts; as, "High crimes justly deserve very severe punishments."

Sentences are usually said to be of two kinds, simple and compound.[323]

A simple sentence is a sentence which consists of one single assertion, supposition, command, question, or exclamation; as, "David and Jonathan loved each other."--"If thine enemy hunger."--"Do violence to no man."--"Am I not an apostle?"--1 Cor., ix, 1. "What immortal glory shall I have acquired!"--HOOKE: Mur. Seq., p. 71.

A compound sentence is a sentence which consists of two or more simple ones either expressly or tacitly connected; as, "Send men to Joppa, and call for Simon, whose surname is Peter; who shall tell thee words, whereby thou and all thy house shall be saved."--Acts, xi, 13. "The more the works of Cowper are read, the more his readers will find reason to admire the variety and the extent, the graces and the energy, of his literary talents."--HAYLEY: Mur. Seq., p. 250.

A clause, or member, is a subdivision of a compound sentence; and is itself a sentence, either simple or compound: as, "If thine enemy be hungry, give him bread to eat; if he be thirsty, give him water to drink."--Prov., xxv, 21.[324]

A phrase is two or more words which express some relation of different ideas, but no entire proposition; as, "By the means appointed."--"To be plain with you."--"Having loved his own."

Words that are omitted by ellipsis, and that are necessar