Test yourself 38.1

1. The servant accompanied His Lordship.

2. Jean participated in the Tour de France.

3. Such families have often preferred to travel in style.

4. They could do nothing except run.

5. Mr. Tower quietly explained all this to his son.

Test yourself 38.2

1. The Hotel Regina is an attractive place.

2. It became the best-known symbol of Paris.

3. The local merchants were on his side.

4. Charles looked thoughtful.

5. Christine seemed insecure.

Test yourself 38.3

1. The editor looked for new ideas for the magazine.

2. You can rely on the experts at that company.

3. Maggie usually goes berry picking in the summer.

4. Roger is happy with his new computer.

5. The workers went on strike for a couple of weeks.

As we mentioned in Lesson 46, a sentence can contain more than one sentence within it, for example:

1. Jane put the glass vase on the table and her mother picked it up.

This is an example of a compound sentence. It actually contains two sentences. The first is: Jane put the glass vase on the table. The second is: Her mother picked it up. Since a sentence within a sentence is called a clause, we can also say that sentence 1 contains two clauses. Just as a simple sentence must contain at least a subject and a verb phrase, each of the sentences (clauses) within a compound sentence must contain its own subject and verb phrase.

Recall from Lesson 18 that conjunctions, like and, or, and but, join things. In fact, the two sentences with in sentence 1 are joined by the conjunction and. Recall also that there are two kinds of conjunctions, coordinating and subordinating. The sentences in a compound sentence are joined together by a coordinating conjunction. As we discussed in Lesson 18, there are three common coordinating conjunctions; they are and, or, and but. Four less common ones are for, so, yet, and nor. (Remember FANBOYS, which contains the first letter of each.)

Our goal in this book is to help you learn about English grammar in as simple and straightforward a way as possible. The book was inspired by our students, most of whom panic when we say words like adjective, subject, and passive. We believe that panic will be replaced by knowledge and confidence as readers work their way through this user-friendly book.

Who is this book for? It's for anyone who needs or wants to understand English grammar. That includes readers who: (1) want to improve their writing; (2) are studying a foreign language; (3) are or want to be teachers; (4) are learning English as a second language; (5) are or want to be professionals such as speech–language pathologists and attorneys; (6) are interested in how English works. The book is self-guided and self-paced; it can be used alone or as part of a course.

The workbook approach used here will move you beyond simply labeling words to an understanding of how the different pieces of a sentence fit together. To help you achieve this understanding, we present information in small steps, with many opportunities to apply each newpiece of information in exercises before you move on to the next step.

Like all languages, English is a collection of dialects. While society views some of these dialects as having more social prestige than others, when we look at them objectively we find that all dialects are equal linguistically.