and you will have to exercise great care in order to avoid it. Some correct sentences are given below; show that they each contain two subordinate clauses joined by and.

1. He is a boy who recites well in school and who plays well on the playground.

2. The house which stands close to the street and which looks rather old and weatherbeaten, is my old home.

3. The book which I like best and which I read whenever I can, is Robinson Crusoe.

Consider this sentence: When we got to the top of the hill, a rabbit ran out of a bush. It is clear that “a rabbit ran out of a bush" is the principal idea, and that it is properly placed in the principal clause. Some very careless people arrange the sentence thus: We got to the top of the hill, when a rabbit ran out of a bush. That is to say, they put the principal idea in the subordinate clause and the subordinate idea in the principal clause. You must take care to avoid this mistake also, especially when you are criticizing your own compositions and those of your classmates. Some sentences in which principal ideas appear in principal clauses and subordinate ideas appear in subordinate clauses are given below:

1. When we reached the harbor, we saw that the ship was going out to sea.

2. When the train had come round the curve, the engineer saw that the switch was open.

3. Just as I finished studying my lessons, my brother came in..

Failure to express the subordinate idea in a

1

subordinate clause is a very frequent error with people who are fond of using the word so. They join their ideas with this word, making a succession of principal clauses, when they should use subordinate clauses for the subordinate ideas. For example, It was a very cold day, so I took my skates and went to the pond. As the coldness of the day is a subordinate idea (since it gives a reason for going to the pond), it should be expressed in a subordinate clause, thus: As the day was very cold, I took my skates and went to the pond. Show why the following sentences are correct in this respect:

1. As the day was warm, I did not wear my overcoat. 2. As it was Saturday, there was no school.

3. I did not recite very well, since I had not studied my lessons.

4. Since geography is easy for me, I do not have to study it very much.

169. If you are in the habit of stringing your sentences together with so, reread some of the compositions that you have written and determine whether you can change some of the sentences containing this word to sentences like those in the' preceding section. It would be a good exercise to write the correct forms of the sentences on the blackboard. If you find any mistakes in the use of and who or and which, or if you find cases where the subordinate idea is in the principal clause and the principal idea is in the subordinate clause, write the correct forms of the sentences on the blackboard with the others.

EXERCISE IN GRAMMAR

170. Study the following passage as you did the one from Cinderella (section 167). Look also for mistakes in the use of principal and subordinate clauses.

"This seemed to Alice a good opportunity for making her escape; so she set off at once, and ran till she was quite tired and out of breath, and till the puppy's bark sounded quite faint in the distance.

‘And yet what a dear little puppy it was!' said Alice, as she leant against a buttercup to rest herself, and fanned herself with one of the leaves. 'I should have liked teaching it tricks very much, if-if I'd only been the right size to do it! Oh, dear! I'd nearly forgotten that I've got to grow up again! Let me see-how is it managed? I suppose I ought to eat or drink something or other; but the great question is "What?""

"The great question certainly was 'What?' Alice looked all round her at the flowers and the blades of grass, but she could not see anything that looked like the right thing to eat or drink under the circumstances. There was a large mushroom growing near her, about the same height as herself; and, when she had looked under it, and on both sides of it, and behind it, it occurred to her that she might as well look and see what was on the top of it.

"She stretched herself up on tiptoe, and peeped over the edge of the mushroom, and her eyes immediately met those of a large blue caterpillar, that was sitting on the top, with its arms folded, quietly smoking a long hookah, and not taking the smallest notice of her or of anything else."

CARROLL, Alice's Adventures in Wonderland

The third sentence of the third paragraph of this passage begins with the word "There." Do not mistake this word for the subject; it is used in order to let the subject, "mushroom," come after the verb "was." This is a very common manner of expression in English. There is, indeed, another example in the same sentence-the word "it" that precedes "occurred"; the subject of "occurred" is a clause. What is it? Review section 40.

Do not fail to make a study of quotation marks in the passage quoted above.

A PUPIL'S COMPOSITION

171. There follows a composition by an elementary-school pupil. Read it aloud, and then study it as you did the passage in section 170. Be careful to note the connective words. In addition, criticize the paragraph as to completeness of sentences, accuracy of expression, the punctuation as far as you are able, the use of capitals, and any other particulars that occur to you. It would be a good exercise to rewrite the paragraph, making as many changes as you think necessary in order to avoid all kinds of errors.

"The hardest thing to make at home is Macaroni Italian Style. It was so hard because there are so many things to prepare. First you have to break the Macaroni in one inch pieces then put it on to boil with boiling hot salted water. Get a smaller pot ready for the white sauce by using flour, milk, salt and Paprica. While you are doing that you got to grate the cheese in the white.

Then when every

sauce and watch it so it don't burn and till the cheese is melted. You got to use two hands one for stirring the white sauce and the other for stirring the Macaroni. Then when the Macaroni is finished you take the white sauce off the fire and drain the water off the Macaroni. Then pour the white sauce in the large pot with the Macaroni and cook it till it is done. While you are doing that you can grate the boiled Ham. thing is done you put the Macaroni on a large platter with the boiled ham sprinkled over it. . It looks good when it's served on the table but oh the work. The recipe is for two people but when it comes to making a whole package, its so much by watching one thing and fixing another. I love to cook but when it comes to cooking a package full at home thats too much."

A DIFFICULT WORD

172. The pupil who wrote the composition quoted in section 171 used the clause, "you got to grate the cheese. She should have said, You have to grate the cheese, or simply Grate the cheese. You often hear people use such sentences as I've got a cold or I've got a motor car, when the meaning is merely I have a cold or I have a motor car. Get and got do not signify possession. You must not use these words unless you are trying to express the idea of getting, that is, of obtaining. If you should go to a store to buy a lead pencil and when you returned one of your friends should ask you if you had got it, you would be correct in saying, Yes, I got it. But if your friend should ask you whether you have a lead pencil, you should say,