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"The Egg"
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© Dr. Ed Vavra
May, 2005
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IInnttrroodduuccttiioonn..............................................................................................................................................................................................44
E
Exxeerrcciisseess......................................................................................................................................................................................................44
A Short Exercise on Prepositional Phrases ................................................. 4
A Short Exercise on Prepositional Phrases ...................................................................... 5
Analysis Key for KISS Level One (Prepositional Phrases) ........................................ 6
Analysis Key for KISS Level Two (S/V/C Patterns) + .................................................. 6
Sentences with Compound Verbs ................................................................ 7
Sentences with Compound Verbs -- Ex # 1 ....................................................................... 8
Analysis Key through KISS Level Three (Clauses) + .................................................. 9
Sentences with Compound Verbs -- Ex # 2 ..................................................................... 11
Analysis Key through KISS Level Three (Clauses) + ................................................ 12
Combining Sentences by Compounding Verbs ........................................ 14
Combining Sentences by Compounding Verbs -- Ex # 1 .............................................. 15
Combining Sentences by Compounding Verbs -- Ex # 2 .............................................. 16
Two Short Exercises on Passive Voice ...................................................... 16
An Exercise on Passive Voice (#1) .................................................................................. 17
Analysis Key through KISS Level Three (Clauses) + ................................................ 18
An Exercise on Passive Voice (#2) .................................................................................. 19
Analysis Key through KISS Level Three (Clauses) + ................................................ 20
Four Short Exercises on Compound Main Clauses .................................. 20
Exercise # 1 on Compound Main Clauses ....................................................................... 21
Analysis Key through KISS Level Three (Clauses) + ................................................ 22
Exercise # 2 on Compound Main Clauses....................................................................... 23
Analysis Key through KISS Level Three (Clauses) + ................................................ 24
Exercise # 3 on Compound Main Clauses ....................................................................... 25
Analysis Key through KISS Level Three (Clauses) + ................................................ 26
Exercise # 4 on Compound Main Clauses ....................................................................... 27
Analysis Key through KISS Level Three (Clauses) + ................................................ 28
Four Short Exercises on Adverbial Subordinate Clauses ........................ 29
Exercise # 1 on Adverbial Subordinate Clauses ............................................................ 30
Analsysis Key through KISS Level Three (Clauses) + .............................................. 31
Exercise # 2 on Adverbial Subordinate Clauses ............................................................ 32
Analysis Key through KISS Level Three (Clauses) + ................................................ 33
Exercise # 3 on Adverbial Subordinate Clauses ............................................................ 35
Analysis Key through KISS Level Three (Clauses) + ................................................ 36
Exercise # 4 on Adverbial Subordinate Clauses ............................................................ 37
Analysis Key through KISS Level Three (Clauses) + ................................................ 38
Seven Short Exercises on Adjectival Subordinate Clauses ..................... 38
Exercise # 1 on Adjectival Subordinate Clauses ............................................................ 39
Analysis Key through KISS Level Three (Clauses) + ................................................ 40
Exercise # 2 on Adjectival Subordinate Clauses ............................................................ 41
Analysis Key through KISS Level Three (Clauses) + ................................................ 42
Exercise # 3 on Adjectival Subordinate Clauses ............................................................ 43
Analysis Key through KISS Level Three (Clauses) + ................................................ 44
Exercise # 4 on Adjectival Subordinate Clauses ............................................................ 45
Analysis Key through KISS Level Three (Clauses) + ................................................ 46
Exercise # 5 on Adjectival Subordinate Clauses ............................................................ 47
Analysis Key through KISS Level Three (Clauses) + ................................................ 48
Exercise # 6 on Adjectival Subordinate Clauses ............................................................ 49
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Analysis Key through KISS Level Three (Clauses) + ................................................ 50
Exercise # 7 on Adjectival Subordinate Clauses ............................................................ 51
Analysis Key through KISS Level Three (Clauses) + ................................................ 52
Noun Clauses as Direct Objects ................................................................. 52
Exercise # 1 on Noun Clauses as Direct Objects ........................................................... 53
Analysis Key through KISS Level Three (Clauses) + ................................................ 54
Exercise # 2 on Noun Clauses as Direct Objects ........................................................... 55
Analysis Key through KISS Level Three (Clauses) + ................................................ 56
Exercise # 3 on Noun Clauses as Direct Objects ........................................................... 57
Analysis Key through KISS Level Three (Clauses) + ................................................ 58
Exercise # 4 on Noun Clauses as Direct Objects ........................................................... 59
Analysis Key through KISS Level Three (Clauses) + ................................................ 60
Mixed Subordinate Clauses......................................................................... 60
Mixed Subordinate Clauses (Exercise # 1) ...................................................................... 61
Analysis Key through KISS Level Three (Clauses) + ................................................ 62
Mixed Subordinate Clauses (Exercise # 2) ...................................................................... 63
Analysis Key through KISS Level Three (Clauses) + ................................................ 64
Mixed Subordinate Clauses (Exercise # 3) ...................................................................... 65
Analysis Key through KISS Level Three (Clauses) + ................................................ 66
Embedded Subordinate Clauses (L2 +) ...................................................... 66
Subordinate Clauses within Subordinate Clauses (Exercise # 1) ................................ 67
Analysis Key through KISS Level Three (Clauses) + ................................................ 68
Subordinate Clauses within Subordinate Clauses (Exercise # 2) ................................ 69
Analysis Key through KISS Level Three (Clauses) + ................................................ 70
Subordinate Clauses within Subordinate Clauses (Exercise # 3) ................................ 72
Analysis Key through KISS Level Three (Clauses) + ................................................ 73
Subordinate Clauses within Subordinate Clauses (Exercise # 4) ................................ 74
Analysis Key through KISS Level Three (Clauses) + ................................................ 75
Subordinate Clauses within Subordinate Clauses (Exercise # 5) ................................ 76
Analysis Key through KISS Level Three (Clauses) + ................................................ 77
Subordinate Clauses as Delayed Subjects and Sentences ...................... 77
Subordinate Clauses as Delayed Subjects (Ex # 1) ....................................................... 78
Analysis Key through KISS Level Three (Clauses) + ................................................ 79
Subordinate Clauses as Delayed Subjects (Ex # 2) ....................................................... 80
Analysis Key through KISS Level Three (Clauses) + ................................................ 81
A Semi-Reduced Clause .............................................................................. 82
Subordinate Clauses as Interjections ........................................................ 82
Interjection and/or Direct Object? ............................................................... 83
Subordinate Clauses as Interjections (Ex # 1) ................................................................ 84
Analysis Key through KISS Level Three (Clauses) + ................................................ 85
Subordinate Clauses as Interjections (Ex # 2) ................................................................ 86
Analysis Key through KISS Level Three (Clauses) + ................................................ 87
An Exercise on Gerundives ......................................................................... 88
Analysis Key through KISS Level Three (Clauses) + ................................................ 89
A Study in Ellipsis (and Appositives?) ....................................................... 91
A Note on Fragments ................................................................................... 92
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Introduction
As a general rule, students will do better with frequent short assignments. There is no
reason to have students struggle with ten sentences if they cannot do three or four. And, at the
other end, if students have mastered the skills, they can demonstrate that in three or four
sentences just as effectively as they can in ten. Thus most of the exercises in this book are very
short – three to five sentences. In one sense, that is a waste of paper, but teachers may want to
simply review some of these exercises in class, and thus simply print one overhead of the
exercise.
As a general rule, instructional materials are not included in the workbooks, simply because
several workbooks will use the same material. Thus the instructional material will be available in
separate books. But since this book is being prepared before the instructional books, I have
included a few instructional pages.
Anderson's "The Egg" is in grade eight because I selected it primarily for mid-level
exercises on subordinate clauses. I then noted that, in "The Egg" at least, Anderson regularly
bends the textbook rule about joining main clauses with a comma plus "and." He generally skips
the comma.
Sentences as Writing Models
If, as one of your objectives, you want to help students apply their developing analytical
ability to their writing, you can make additional assignments from any or all of the following
exercises simply by having students write a sentence modeled on the structure of one of the
sentences in the exercise. (You can let the students choose which sentence, or you can choose
the sentence for them.) This probably works best if the analytical exercise is assigned and
reviewed in class. The next assignment would then be to write a sentence based on one of the
"models." These assignments could easily and quickly be reviewed in class by, for example,
having three or four students write their versions on the board while the teacher is taking
attendance.
Exercises
A
AS
Shhoorrtt E
Exxeerrcciissee oonn P
Prreeppoossiittiioonnaall P
Phhrraasseess
These are just two sentences with a fair number of prepositional phrases that can
serve as a quick review exercise.
5
A Short Exercise on Prepositional Phrases
from Sherwood Anderson's "The Egg"
1. In the morning and in the evening busses came down to the station
along a road called Turner's Pike from the hotel on the main street of
Bidwell.
2. I went to school in the town and was glad to be away from the farm and
from the presence of the discouraged, sad-looking chickens.
6
A Short Exercise on Prepositional Phrases
from Sherwood Anderson's "The Egg"
Analysis Key for KISS Level One (Prepositional Phrases)
1.) {In the morning} [#1] and {in the evening} [#1] busses came down [#2] {to
the station} [#3] {along a road} [#3] called Turner's Pike {from the hotel} [#3]
{on the main street} [#4] {of Bidwell}. [#5]
2.) I went {to school} [#6] {in the town} [#6] and was glad to be away [#7] {from
the farm} [#8] and {from the presence} [#8] {of the discouraged, sadlooking chickens} [#9].
Notes
1. Adverbial (time) to "came."
2. Although "down" is most easily explained as an adverb here, one could also consider it a
preposition in an ellipsed phrase -- "down *the road*."
3. Adverbial (place) to "came."
4. Adjective to "hotel."
5. Adjective to "street."
6. Adverbial (place) to "went."
7. Adverb (space) to "to be."
8. Adverbial (space) to "away."
9. Adjective to "presence."
Analysis Key for KISS Level Two (S/V/C Patterns) +
1.) {In the morning} and {in the evening} busses came down {to the station} {along a
road} called Turner's Pike
[#1]
{from the hotel} {on the main street} {of Bidwell}.
/
2.) I went {to school} {in the town} and was glad (PA) to be [#2] away {from the
farm} and {from the presence} {of the discouraged, sad-looking chickens}.
/
Notes
1. "Called" is a gerundive that modifies "road"; "Turner's Pike" is a retained predicate noun after
the passive "called."
2. "To be" is an infinitive that functions as an adverb to "glad."
7
S
Seenntteenncceess w
wiitthh C
Coom
mppoouunndd V
Veerrbbss
If your students need practice in identifying subjects and finite verbs, you can, of
course, use these as typical identification exercises. If your students are beyond that,
you might want to use these either as sentence-combining exercises, or as decombining exercises. The noted educational psychologist Jean Piaget, for example, has
claimed that mental mastery involves the ability to reverse mental processes. Thus the
ability to combine sentences in specific ways, as students are asked to do in these
exercises, ultimately involves the ability to decombine them in the same way. Simply
give the students the exercise pages, but ask them to decombine the sentences such
that every compound finite verb is split into separate sentences.
8
Sentences with Compound Verbs -- Ex # 1
from Sherwood Anderson's "The Egg"
1.) He had then a horse of his own and on Saturday evenings drove into
town to spend a few hours in social intercourse with other farmhands.
2.) They moved into the town of Bidwell, Ohio and embarked in the
restaurant business.
3.) They rented ten acres of poor stony land on Griggs's Road, eight miles
from Bidwell, and launched into chicken raising.
4.) He put the pan of vinegar back on the stove, intending to reheat the
egg, then picked it up and burned his fingers.
5.) At ten o'clock father drove home along a lonely country road, made his
horse comfortable for the night and himself went to bed, quite happy in
his position in life.
6.) She talked of it for a year and then one day went off and rented an
empty store building opposite the railroad station.
9
Sentences with Compound Verbs -- Ex # 1
from Sherwood Anderson's "The Egg"
Analysis Key through KISS Level Three (Clauses) +
1. He had then a horse (DO) {of his own} and {on Saturday evenings} drove {into
town} to spend a few hours
[#1]
{in social intercourse} {with other farmhands}.
/
2. They moved {into the town} {of Bidwell, Ohio} [#2] and embarked {in the
restaurant business}.
/
3. They rented ten acres (DO) {of poor stony land} {on Griggs's Road}, eight
miles [#3] {from Bidwell}, and launched {into chicken raising [#4]}. /
4. He put the pan (DO) {of vinegar} back {on the stove}, intending to reheat
the egg [#5], then picked it (DO) up and burned his fingers (DO). /
5. {At ten o'clock} father drove home [NuA] {along a lonely country road}, made
his horse comfortable
[#6]
{for the night} and himself
[#7]
went {to bed}, quite
happy [#8] {in his position} {in life}./
6. She talked {of it} {for a year} and then one day [NuA] went off and rented an
empty store building (DO) {opposite [#9] the railroad station}.
/
Notes
1. "Hours" is the direct object of the infinitive "to spend"; the infinitive phrase functions as an
adverb (of purpose) to "drove."
2. I would also accept "of Bidwell" as the prepositional phrase. The construction is so common,
however, that there is little sense in having students explain the ellipsis in the full construction -"of Bidwell *which is a town in* Ohio."
3. "Miles" is a noun used as an adverb. To save class time, if we discuss something like this at
all, I normally leave it at that. Occasionally a student wants to know what it modifies. Perhaps
the easiest way to answer that question is to assume an ellipsed clause that modifies "land."
Thus: "land on Grigg's Road [*that was* eight miles from Bidwell]." Within the ellipsed clause,
"eight miles" functions as an adverb to "was."
4. I am fairly certain that grammarians will disagree as to whether "raising" is or is not a gerund.
10
For students, it really do not make any difference.
5. "Egg" is the direct object of the infinitive "to reheat"; the infinitive phrase is the direct object of
"intending"; and "intending" is a gerundive to "He."
6. Expect students to be confused here. I tell my students that I will accept either "horse" or
"horse comfortable" as the direct object of "made." When they get to infinitives, they will learn
that "horse" is the subject, and "comfortable" is the predicate adjective to the ellipsed infinitive
"to be." The entire infinitive phrase is the direct object of "made."
7. "Himself" is an appositive to "father."
8. "Happy" is a post-positioned adjective to "father."
9. "Opposite" is one of those interesting words that grammarians can spend hours on. It is not
normally considered a preposition, but since it means "across from," I would accept it as one
here. On the other hand, I would not expect students to get it. An alternative, but more complex
explanation is to consider it a post-positioned adjective followed by an ellipsed "to" -- "building
*which was* opposite *to* the railroad station."
11
Sentences with Compound Verbs -- Ex # 2
from Sherwood Anderson's "The Egg"
1.) We did not talk much, but in our daily lives tried earnestly to make
smiles take the place of glum looks.
2.) Then he laid it gently on the table beside the lamp and dropped on his
knees beside mother's bed.
3.) He bought a five-cent cigar and ordered a cup of coffee.
4.) He had a newspaper in his pocket and took it out and began to read.
5.) It is born out of an egg, lives for a few weeks as a tiny fluffy thing such
as you will see pictured on Easter cards, then becomes hideously
naked, eats quantities of corn and meal bought by the sweat of your
father's brow, gets diseases called pip, cholera, and other names,
stands looking with stupid eyes at the sun, becomes sick and dies.
12
Sentences with Compound Verbs -- Ex # 2
from Sherwood Anderson's "The Egg"
Analysis Key through KISS Level Three (Clauses) +
1.) We did not talk much, but {in our daily lives} tried earnestly to make smiles
take the place [#1] {of glum looks}. /
2.) Then he laid it (DO) gently {on the table} {beside the lamp} and dropped {on
his knees} {beside mother's bed}.
/
3.) He bought a five-cent cigar (DO) and ordered a cup (DO) {of coffee}. /
4.) He had a newspaper (DO) {in his pocket} and took it (DO) out and began
to read. [#2]/
5.) It is born (P) {out of an egg}, lives {for a few weeks} {as a tiny fluffy thing} such
[#3]
[Adv. to "such" as you will see pictured [#4] {on Easter cards},] then
becomes hideously naked (PA), eats quantities (DO) {of corn and meal}
bought [#5] {by the sweat} {of your father's brow}, gets diseases (DO) called
pip, cholera, and other names [#6], stands looking [#7] {with stupid eyes} {at
the sun}, becomes sick (PA) and dies.
/
Notes for KISS Levels Four and Five
1. In the phrase "to make smiles take the place," "place" is the direct object of the infinitive
"take," and "smiles" is the subject of that infinitive. The infinitive phrase "smiles take the place
..." is the direct object of the infinitive "to make." The "to make" phrase is the direct object of
"tried."
2. I would accept "began to read" as the finite verb here. Technically, it is probably better to
consider "to read" as an infinitive that functions as the direct object of "began." When they get to
infinitives, students may choose that option. [I do not remember seeing a grammar textbook that
addresses this question.]
3. "Such" is a post-positioned adjective to "thing" -- "thing *which is* such ...."
4. The explanation of "pictured" is rather complex, so before I begin let me note that students do
not really need to be able to explain it. By that I mean at least two things. First, no native
speaker has any problem in using this complex construction, and second, an explanation of it
does not add to one's ability to avoid errors or to discuss style. The primary purpose for
13
explaining it, therefore, is simple to demonstrate that it can be explained within the KISS
framework.
To begin the explanation, note that it involves the relatively frequent "such as" combination -"such as you will see pictured on Easter cards."
Most people will probably agree that there is an ellipsed "those" in the clause:
"such as *those* you will see pictured on Easter cards."
Having noted the ellipsis, we can now eliminate the subordination so that we can
examine the clause structure:
"Those you will see pictured on Easter cards."
The preceding is a completely acceptable sentence, but the more normal word order
would be:
"You will see those pictured on Easter cards."
We can now explain "pictured" as a gerundive to the ellipsed "those," the "those" functioning as
the direct object of "will see."
Note, by the way, what happens if we eliminate "you will see." Without those words, we
would have "such as those pictured on Easter cards." In this version, "as those" is a
prepositional phrase, and "pictured" is likewise a gerundive to "those."
5. "Bought" is a gerundive to "quantities."
6. "Pip," "cholera" and "names" are retained complements to the passive gerundive "called,"
which modifies "diseases." Technically, within KISS concepts, they are retained predicate
nouns. The active voice version of this construction is "Somebody calls these diseases pip,
cholera, and other names." KISS explains this as "Somebody calls these diseases *to be* pip,
cholera, and other names." In this explanation, "diseases" is the subject of the ellipsed infinitive
"to be," and "pip," "cholera" and "names" are predicate nouns after "to be." The infinitive phrase
is the direct object of "calls." If you do not like this explanation, you can try teaching the
traditional "objective" and "subjective" complements, but you will probably find that these
traditional concepts are even more confusing.
7. This is another of those cases that grammarians can devote hours to discussing without
coming to agreement. I would accept either "stands" or "stands looking" as the verb here, based
on the principle of palimpsest patterns. (It stands, and it is looking.) If one prefers to consider
just "stands" as the finite verb, then "looking" can be explained as a gerundive to the subject "It,"
i.e., the chicken," or as a gerund that functions as a noun used as an adverb.
14
The KISS Grammar Workbooks
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Seen
ntteen
ncceess b
byy
C
Co
om
mp
po
ou
un
nd
diin
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gV
Veerrb
bss
When two sentences in a row have the same meaningful subject,
they can usually be combined by deleting the subject of the second
sentence and attaching its verb to the verb in the first sentence with a
coordinating conjunction ("and," "or," or "but."):
Bill often went to the hobby shop. He bought most of his trains there.
Bill often went to the hobby shop and bought most of his trains there.
You may even find three or more sentences that share the same
subject such that you can combine several sentences into one:
Sarah wanted to go to the game. But she caught a cold. She had to stay
home.
Sarah wanted to go to the game, but caught a cold, and had to stay home.
When you combine sentences in this way, do not forget to adjust
the punctuation and capitalization to fit the revised sentence.
15
Combining Sentences by Compounding Verbs -- Ex # 1
from Sherwood Anderson's "The Egg"
Directions: Combine the sentences by compounding verbs.
1.) He had then a horse of his own. And on Saturday evenings he drove
into town to spend a few hours in social intercourse with other farmhands.
2.) They moved into the town of Bidwell, Ohio. They embarked in the
restaurant business.
3.) They rented ten acres of poor stony land on Griggs's Road, eight
miles from Bidwell. They launched into chicken raising.
4.) He put the pan of vinegar back on the stove, intending to reheat the
egg. Then he picked it up. He burned his fingers.
5.) At ten o'clock father drove home along a lonely country road. He
made his horse comfortable for the night. And he himself went to bed, quite
happy in his position in life.
6.) She talked of it for a year. And then one day she went off and rented
an empty store building opposite the railroad station.
16
Combining Sentences by Compounding Verbs -- Ex # 2
from Sherwood Anderson's "The Egg"
Directions: Combine the sentences by compounding verbs.
1.) We did not talk much. But in our daily lives we tried earnestly to
make smiles take the place of glum looks.
2.) Then he laid it gently on the table beside the lamp. He dropped on
his knees beside mother's bed.
3.) He bought a five-cent cigar. And he ordered a cup of coffee.
4.) He had a newspaper in his pocket. He took it out. And he began to
read.
5.) It is born out of an egg. It lives for a few weeks as a tiny fluffy thing
such as you will see pictured on Easter cards. Then it becomes hideously
naked. It eats quantities of corn and meal bought by the sweat of your
father's brow. It gets diseases called pip, cholera, and other names. It
stands looking with stupid eyes at the sun. It becomes sick. And it dies.
TTw
woo S
Shhoorrtt E
Exxeerrcciisseess oonn P
Paassssiivvee V
Vooiiccee
These are two short exercises that can be used as a review of passive voice.
17
An Exercise on Passive Voice (#1)
from Sherwood Anderson's "The Egg"
1.) It was not written for you.
2.) Most philosophers must have been raised on chicken farms.
3.) A show case was bought and filled with cigars and tobacco.
4.) After a second bath in the hot vinegar the shell of the egg had been
softened a little but not enough for his purpose.
18
An Exercise on Passive Voice (#1)
from Sherwood Anderson's "The Egg"
Analysis Key through KISS Level Three (Clauses) +
1.) It was not written [P] {for you}. /
2.) Most philosophers must have been raised [P] {on chicken farms}. /
3.) A show case was bought [P] and filled [P] {with cigars and tobacco}. /
4.) {After a second bath} {in the hot vinegar} the shell {of the egg} had been
softened [P] a little [#1] but not enough {for his purpose}. /
Notes
1. "Little" is normally an adjective, but "a" little implies "a little *bit*." Thus "little" here
functions as a noun used as an adverb.
19
An Exercise on Passive Voice (#2)
from Sherwood Anderson's "The Egg"
1.) Joe was left alone in the restaurant with father.
2.) They were preserved in alcohol and put each in its own glass bottle.
3.) His visitor was made a little ill by the sight of the body of the terribly
deformed bird floating in the alcohol in the bottle and got up to go.
20
An Exercise on Passive Voice (#2)
from Sherwood Anderson's "The Egg"
Analysis Key through KISS Level Three (Clauses) +
1.) Joe was left [P] alone {in the restaurant} {with father}. /
2.) They were preserved [P] {in alcohol} and put [P] each [#1] {in its own glass
bottle}.
/
3.) His visitor was made [P] a little [#2] ill [#3] {by the sight} {of the body} {of the
terribly deformed bird} floating
[#4]
{in the alcohol} {in the bottle} and got up
[#5]
to go [#6]. /
Notes
1. "Each" is an interesting appositive here. It functions as the opposite of "all" in sentences such
as "Bill, who went to Michigan, Bob, who went to Nevada, and Sally, who went to California, all
missed their parent." The "all" functions as an appositive of, we might say, summation -- it
brings the individual subjects (Bill, Bob, and Sally) together. In Sentence #2, on the other hand,
the "each" separates the items referred to in the plural subject "They" into individual units.
2. See the note for the first exercise.
3. "Ill" is a retained predicate adjective after the passive "was made." The active voice version
would be "Something made the visitor *to be* ill."
4. "Floating" is a gerundive to "bird," or, if one prefers, to "body." (They refer to the same thing.)
5. Since "got up" means "rose," it is probably better to consider "up" as part of the finite verb. I
would not, however, argue with a student who wanted to explain it as an adverb to "got." (Some
grammarians would make such an argument, but then grammarians love to argue about lots of
things that are not worth the time.
6. "To go" is an infinitive that functions as an adverb (of purpose) to "got up."
FFoouurr S
Shhoorrtt E
Exxeerrcciisseess oonn C
Coom
mppoouunndd M
Maaiinn C
Cllaauusseess
These five-sentence exercises contain no subordinate clauses, and thus may
help students master the connections between main clauses. Anderson, however, often
omits the comma before "and" when joining these main clauses. The sentences in the
first exercise are the simplest; the later exercises contain more verbals and/or other
complicating constructions.
21
Exercise # 1 on Compound Main Clauses
from Sherwood Anderson's "The Egg"
1.) The local freight train came in and the freight crew were fed.
2.) He stood the egg on the counter and it fell on its side.
3.) However, it began to rain and he did not fancy the long walk to town and
back.
4.) Vermin infest their youth, and fortunes must be spent for curative
powders.
5.) Mother sometimes protested but father was a rock on the subject of his
treasure.
22
Exercise # 1 on Compound Main Clauses
from Sherwood Anderson's "The Egg"
Analysis Key through KISS Level Three (Clauses) +
1.) The local freight train came in [#1] / and the freight crew were fed [P]. /
2.) He stood the egg (DO) {on the counter} / and it fell {on its side}. /
3.) However, it began to rain (DO) [#2] / and he did not fancy the long walk
(DO) {to town} and back. /
4.) Vermin infest their youth (DO), / and fortunes must be spent [P] {for
curative powders}.
/
5.) Mother sometimes protested / but father was a rock (PN) {on the subject}
{of his treasure}.
/
Notes
1. Note that "in" is a reduction of the implied prepositional phrase "into the station."
2. If the students have not studied infinitives, I would accept "began to rain" as the finite verb
here; otherwise "to rain" is an infinitive that functions as the direct object of "began."
[According to my word processor, "crew were fed" should be "crew was fed," but I'm not going to
correct Anderson. Sometimes we worry too much about subject/verb agreement errors.]
23
Exercise # 2 on Compound Main Clauses
from Sherwood Anderson's "The Egg"
1.) Downstairs the front door of our restaurant went shut with a bang and in
a few minutes father tramped up the stairs.
2.) He swore and the sweat stood out on his forehead.
3.) He worked and worked and a spirit of desperate determination took
possession of him.
4.) There had been a cider mill and pickle factory at the station, but before
the time of our coming they had both gone out of business.
5.) These he had carefully put into a box and on our journey into town it
was carried on the wagon seat beside him.
24
Exercise # 2 on Compound Main Clauses
from Sherwood Anderson's "The Egg"
Analysis Key through KISS Level Three (Clauses) +
1.) Downstairs the front door {of our restaurant} went shut (PA) {with a bang} /
and {in a few minutes} father tramped {up the stairs}. /
2.) He swore / and the sweat stood out {on his forehead}. /
3.) He worked and worked / and a spirit {of desperate determination} took
possession (DO) {of him}. /
4.) There [#1] had been a cider mill (PN) and pickle factory (PN) {at the
station},
/ but {before the time} {of our coming} they had both gone {out of
business}.
/
5.) These (DO) he had carefully put {into a box} / and {on our journey} {into town}
it was carried (P) {on the wagon seat} {beside him}. /
Notes
1. Alternatively, see Expletive "There."
25
Exercise # 3 on Compound Main Clauses
from Sherwood Anderson's "The Egg"
1.) In the early morning he came upstairs and got into bed with mother. She
woke and the two talked.
2.) The train was three hours late and Joe came into our place to loaf about
and to wait for its arrival.
3.) For ten years my father and mother struggled to make our chicken farm
pay and then they gave up that struggle and began another.
4.) The railroad did not run through the town and the station was a mile
away to the north at a place called Pickleville.
5.) Mother must have been doubtful from the first, but she said nothing
discouraging.
26
Exercise # 3 on Compound Main Clauses
from Sherwood Anderson's "The Egg"
Analysis Key through KISS Level Three (Clauses) +
1.) {In the early morning} he came upstairs and got {into bed} {with mother}. / She
woke / and the two talked. /
2.) The train was three hours [NuA] late (PA) / and Joe came {into our place} to
loaf [#1] about and to wait [#1] {for its arrival}. /
3.) {For ten years} my father and mother struggled to make (DO) [#2] our
chicken farm pay
[#2]
/ and then they gave up [#3] that struggle (DO) and
began another (DO). /
4.) The railroad did not run {through the town} / and the station was a mile
[NuA]
away {to the north} {at a place} called Pickleville
./
[#5]
5.) Mother must have been doubtful (PA) {from the first}, / but she said
nothing (DO) discouraging. [#6] /
Notes
1. "To loaf" and "to wait" are infinitives that function as adverbs (of purpose) to "came."
2. In "to make our chicken farm pay," "farm" is the subject of the infinitive "pay." That infinitive
phrase ("our chicken farm pay") is the direct object of the infinitive "to make," and "to make" is
the direct object of "struggled."
3. "Gave up" equals "abandoned."
4. Note that the absence of a comma before "and" makes it very easy for readers to misread
"station" as an additional object of the preposition "through." They then stumble over "was" and
have to reprocess "station" as its subject.
5. "Pickleville" is a retained predicate noun after the passive gerundive "called." "Called"
modifies "place."
6. Gerundive to "nothing."
27
Exercise # 4 on Compound Main Clauses
from Sherwood Anderson's "The Egg"
1.) Mother smiled at the boarders and I, catching the infection, smiled at
our cat.
2.) He began to cry like a boy and I, carried away by his grief, cried with
him.
3.) I cannot now remember his words, but he gave the impression of one
about to become in some obscure way a kind of public entertainer.
4.) Small chickens, just setting out on the journey of life, look so bright and
alert and they are in fact so dreadfully stupid.
5.) Father rode on top of the wagon. He was then a bald-headed man of
forty-five, a little fat and from long association with mother and the
chickens he had become habitually silent and discouraged.
28
Exercise # 4 on Compound Main Clauses
from Sherwood Anderson's "The Egg"
Analysis Key through KISS Level Three (Clauses) +
1.) Mother smiled {at the boarders} / and I, catching the infection [#1], smiled
{at our cat}.
/
2.) He began to cry (DO) [#2] {like a boy} / and I, carried [#3] away {by his grief},
cried {with him}. /
3.) I cannot now remember his words (DO), / but he gave the impression
(DO) {of one} about [#4] to become {in some obscure way} a kind [#4] {of public
entertainer}.
/
4.) Small chickens, just setting out [#5] {on the journey} {of life}, look so bright
(PA) and alert (PA) / and they are {in fact} [#6] so dreadfully stupid (PA). /
5.) Father rode {on top} {of the wagon}. / He was then a bald-headed man (PN)
{of forty-five}, a little
[NuA]
fat [PPA] / and [#7] {from long association} {with mother
and the chickens} he had become habitually silent (PA) and discouraged
(PA). /
Notes for KISS Levels Four and Five
1. "Infection" is the direct object of "catching," which is a gerundive that modifies "I."
2. "To cry" is an infinitive that functions as the direct object of "began."
3. "Carried" is a gerundive that modifies "I."
4. "About" here is the equivalent of "ready" -- "ready to become ... a kind ...." It modifies "one."
The infinitive "to become" functions as an adverb to "about," and "kind" is a predicate noun to
"become."
29
5. "Setting out" equals "starting." It functions as a gerundive to "chickens."
6. Note that "in fact" can be considered an adverb, but alternatively one may view it as an
interjection.
7. Note that the absence of "and" before "a little fat," combined with the lack of a comma before
this "and" will result in most readers expecting a third complement for "was." ("He was a baldheaded man, a little fat, and tired.") The following string of prepositional phrases adds to the
problem -- "He was a bald-headed man, a little fat, and from long association with mother and
the chickens tired." When no such complement appears, the reader has to go back, unhook the
string of prepositional phrases from the "was," reprocess "he" as a subject, and then connect
the string of prepositional phrases to "had become." Perhaps the main point here is that wellrecognized, professional writers publish sentences that are difficult to read. We can help
students understand how and why such sentences are awkward, and we can try to help them
write clearer sentences. But we also have to be understanding of students' problems in
controlling sentence structure.
FFoouurr S
Shhoorrtt E
Exxeerrcciisseess oonn A
Addvveerrbbiiaall S
Suubboorrddiinnaattee C
Cllaauusseess
The first exercise, with one exception, contains five relatively simple sentences comparable
to those you will find in many grammar textbooks. Some of the five sentences in the second set
have compound main clauses and thus will require more thought. The five sentences in the third
set are still more challenging and include the "as ... as" construction. The three sentences in the
last set are the most complicated.
30
Exercise # 1 on Adverbial Subordinate Clauses
from Sherwood Anderson's "The Egg"
1.) At Pickleville father and mother worked hard as they always had done.
2.) No one knows more about eggs than I do.
3.) You can take it about with you wherever you go.
4.) When, however, he got into the presence of mother something
happened to him.
5.) When the egg had been heated in vinegar father carried it on a spoon to
the counter and going into a back room got an empty bottle.
31
Exercise # 1 on Adverbial Subordinate Clauses
from Sherwood Anderson's "The Egg"
Analsysis Key through KISS Level Three (Clauses) +
1.) {At Pickleville} father and mother worked hard [Adv. to "wotked" as they
always had done.]
/
2.) No one knows more (DO) {about eggs} [Adv. [#1] to "more" than I do.] /
3.) You can take it (DO) about {with you} [Adv. to "can take" wherever you
go.] /
4.) [Adv. to "happened" When, however, he got {into the presence} {of mother}]
something happened {to him}. /
5.) [Adv. to "happened" When the egg had been heated (P) {in vinegar}] father
carried it (DO) {on a spoon} {to the counter} and going [#2] {into a back room}
got an empty bottle (DO). /
Notes
1. This is one of those things that tradtional textbooks usually avoid discussing -- an adverbial
clause that modifies a direct object. The explanation lies in the nature of "more," which is
essentially an adjective that functions as a noun, i.e., "knows more things ...." We regularly
ellipse the noun and use "more" as a pronoun. One could, of course, argue that since "more"
functions as a noun here, the "than" clause should be considered as an adjective. I would
accept that from students, but traditionally the "than" clause is considered adverbial.
2. "Going" is a gerundive to "father."
32
Exercise # 2 on Adverbial Subordinate Clauses
from Sherwood Anderson's "The Egg"
1.) Mother slept at night and during the day tended the restaurant and fed
our boarders while father slept.
2.) He held an egg in his hand and his hand trembled as though he were
having a chill.
3.) The freight crew had switching to do in Pickleville and when the work
was done they came to our restaurant for hot coffee and food.
4.) When he did so he blew out the light and after much muttered
conversation both he and mother went to sleep.
5.) I remember only my own grief and fright and the shiny path over father's
head glowing in the lamp light as he knelt by the bed.
33
Exercise # 2 on Adverbial Subordinate Clauses
from Sherwood Anderson's "The Egg"
Analysis Key through KISS Level Three (Clauses) +
1.) Mother slept {at night} and {during the day} tended the restaurant (DO)
and fed our boarders (DO) [Adv. to "tended" and "fed" while father slept.]
/
2.) He held an egg (DO) {in his hand} / and his hand trembled [Adv. to
"trembled" as though he were having
[#1]
a chill (DO).]
/
3.) The freight crew had switching to do [#2] {in Pickleville} / and [Adv. to "came"
when the work was done (P)] they came {to our restaurant} {for hot coffee
and food}.
/
4.) [Adv. to "blew" When he did so (DO)] he blew out the light (DO) / and
{after much muttered conversation} both
[#3]
he and mother went to sleep [#4].
/
5.) I remember only my own grief (DO) and fright (DO) and the shiny path
(DO) {over father's head} glowing [#5] {in the lamp light} [Adv. to "glowing" as
he knelt {by the bed}.] /
Notes
1. "Were having" is in the subjunctive mood.
2. This is an interesting little variation on sentence structure that I have never seen discussed in
grammar textbooks. As it stands, I would explain "switching" as a gerund that functions as the
direct object of "had," and "to do" as an infinitive that modifies "switching." If the students have
not yet studied gerunds and infinitives, I would be happy if they noted "had" as the finite verb
and "switching" as the direct object. Note that the structure is comparable to "They had chores
34
to do." Before the students study verbals (gerunds and infinitives), I would also accept "to do" as
part of the finite verb with "switching" as the direct object. This construction is, after all, a
variation of "They had to do switching."
3. "Both" can be considered as an adjective here, or it can be explained as part of the
conjunction -- "Both ... and..."
4. This "to sleep" is probably best explained as an infinitive that functions as an adverb to
"went." Some people, however, may interpret "sleep" as a noun and thus "to sleep" as a
prepositional phrase that functions as an adverb to "went." The point is not worth arguing.
5. Shortly before this sentence, the narrator refers to "the bald path that ran across the top of his
head." Technically, "glowing" is a gerundive that modifies "path," but in context it also modifies
"head."
35
Exercise # 3 on Adverbial Subordinate Clauses
from Sherwood Anderson's "The Egg"
1.) He was as I have said an uncommunicative man.
2.) That was as far as he got.
3.) For some unexplainable reason I know the story as well as though I had
been a witness to my father's discomfiture.
4.) They are so much like people they mix one up in one's judgments of life.
5.) When the egg is inside the bottle it will resume its normal shape and the
shell will become hard again.
36
Exercise # 3 on Adverbial Subordinate Clauses
from Sherwood Anderson's "The Egg"
Analysis Key through KISS Level Three (Clauses) +
1.) He was [ [#1] as I have said] an uncommunicative man (PN). /
2.) That was as far [#2] [Adv. to the preceding "as" as he got.] /
3.) {For some unexplainable reason} I know the story (DO) as well [Adv. to the
preceding "as" as though I had been a witness (PN) {to my father's
discomfiture}.
/
4.) They are so much {like people} [#3] [ [#4] they mix one (DO) up [#5] {in one's
judgments} {of life}.]
/
5.) [Adv. to "will resume" When the egg is {inside the bottle}] it will resume its
normal shape (DO)
/ and the shell will become hard (PA) again. /
Notes
1. Most traditional grammarians would probably explain this as an adverbial clause to "was,"
and I would certainly accept that. Note, however, how close this is to a subordinate clause that
functions as an interjection -- He was, [I have said], an uncommunicative man."
2. The grammarians will disagree on this one, and, as a result, a variety of explanations should
be accepted. Perhaps the easiest explanation is to assume an implied subject -- That *distance*
was as far as he got." That would make "far" a predicate adjective. Thus the first "as" would
function normally as an adverb that modifies an adjective. I would accept other explanations, but
many of them get technical. If you have the time and want to play with it, there is no harm in
having students discuss it, but note that ultimately any argument here is a tempest under a
toadstool. It really does not make much difference.
3. The phrase "like people" can be explained as an adverb that tells "how" they are, or it can be
explained as a predicate adjective.
4. Some grammarians claim that there is an ellipsed "that" here. Explaining the structure by
using the implied "that" probably helps students see the subordination, but either way the clause
functions as an adverb to "so."
5. "Mix up" here means "confuse."
37
Exercise # 4 on Adverbial Subordinate Clauses
from Sherwood Anderson's "The Egg"
1.) If disease does not kill them they wait until your expectations are
thoroughly aroused and then walk under the wheels of a wagon – to go
squashed and dead back to their maker.
2.) When we got to our destination the box was taken down at once and the
bottles removed.
3.) On the counter in the restaurant there was a wire basket kept always
filled with eggs, and it must have been before his eyes when the idea of
being entertaining was born in his brain.
38
Exercise # 4 on Adverbial Subordinate Clauses
from Sherwood Anderson's "The Egg"
Analysis Key through KISS Level Three (Clauses) +
1.) [Adv. to "wait" If disease does not kill them (DO)] they wait [Adv. to
"wait" until your expectations are thoroughly aroused
{under the wheels} {of a wagon} – to go
their maker}.
[#1]
(P)
] and then walk
squashed [#2] and dead [#2] back {to
/
2.) [Adv. to "was taken" When we got {to our destination}] the box was taken (P)
down
[#3]
{at once}
/ and the bottles *were* removed. /
3.) {On the counter} {in the restaurant} there [#4] was a wire basket (PN) kept [#5]
always filled
[#5]
{with eggs},
/ and it must have been {before his eyes} [Adv.
to "must have been" when the idea {of being entertaining
{in his brain}.]
[#6]
} was born
(P)
/
Notes
1. Ironic adverbial infinitive of purpose to "walk."
2. "Squashed" and "dead" are post-positioned adjectives after the infinitive "to go." In essence,
they are retained from the simpler "They go squashed and dead back to their maker."
3. I would not object to a student who wanted to consider "down" as part of the finite verb -"was taken down" means "was lowered."
4. Alternatively, see Expletive "There."
5. Gerundive to "basket."
6. The simplest way of explaining "being entertaining" is to consider the whole thing a gerund
that functions as the object of the preposition. If you want to break it down further, "being" is the
gerund, and "entertaining" is a gerundive that functions as a predicate adjective after "being."
S
Seevveenn S
Shhoorrtt E
Exxeerrcciisseess oonn A
Addjjeeccttiivvaall S
Suubboorrddiinnaattee C
Cllaauusseess
Like the exercises for adverbial clauses (above), these are roughly in the order of
increasing difficulty.
39
Exercise # 1 on Adjectival Subordinate Clauses
from Sherwood Anderson's "The Egg"
1.) That is one of the facts that make life so discouraging.
2.) I awoke at dawn and for a long time looked at the egg that lay on the
table.
3.) I do not mean to give the impression that father spoke so elaborately of
the matter.
4.) With trembling hands she lighted a lamp that stood on a table by her
head.
40
Exercise # 1 on Adjectival Subordinate Clauses
from Sherwood Anderson's "The Egg"
Analysis Key through KISS Level Three (Clauses) +
1.) That is one (PN) {of the facts} [Adj. to "facts" that make life [#1] so
discouraging. [#1] ] /
2.) I awoke {at dawn} and {for a long time} looked {at the egg} [Adj. to "egg" that
lay {on the table}.] /
3.) I do not mean to give [#2] the impression [#2] [Adj. to "impression" that
father spoke so elaborately {of the matter}.] /
4.) {With trembling hands} she lighted a lamp (DO) [Adj. to "lamp" that stood
{on a table} {by her head}.]
/
Notes
1. I would expect students working at Level Three to be confused by this. I would accept "life" as
a direct object of "make," but most students will probably see that the real direct object is "life so
discouraging." They will not, however, know how to explain it until they get to verbals at KISS
Level Four. There, "life" is explained as the subject of an ellipsed infinitive *to be* and
discouraging" is a gerundive that functions as the predicate adjective of the infinitive. The entire
infinitive phrase is the direct object of "male."
2. "To give" is an infinitive that functions as the direct object of "do mean"; "impression" is the
direct object of the infinitive.
41
Exercise # 2 on Adjectival Subordinate Clauses
from Sherwood Anderson's "The Egg"
1.) It is intended to be read by the gods who have just eaten of the tree of
the knowledge of good and evil.
2.) At any rate he saved all the little monstrous things that had been born
on our chicken farm.
3.) Father built a shelf on which he put tins of vegetables.
4.) They go quickly back to the hand of their maker that has for a moment
trembled.
42
Exercise # 2 on Adjectival Subordinate Clauses
from Sherwood Anderson's "The Egg"
Analysis Key through KISS Level Three (Clauses) +
1.) It is intended (P) to be read [#1] {by the gods} [Adj. to "gods" who have just
eaten {of the tree} {of the knowledge} {of good and evil}.] /
2.) {At any rate} he saved all the little monstrous things (DO) [Adj. to "things"
that had been born (P) {on our chicken farm}.] /
3.) Father built a shelf (DO) [Adj. to "shelf" {on which} he put tins (DO) {of
vegetables}.]
/
4.) They go quickly back {to the hand} {of their maker} [Adj. to "hand" that has {for
a moment} trembled.]
/
Note
1. "To be read" is an infinitive that functions as an adverb to "is intended."
43
Exercise # 3 on Adjectival Subordinate Clauses
from Sherwood Anderson's "The Egg"
1.) One unversed in such matters can have no notion of the many and
tragic things that can happen to a chicken.
2.) Father's eye lighted on the basket of eggs that sat on the counter and
he began to talk.
3.) He painted a sign on which he put his name in large red letters.
4.) The first venture into which the two people went turned out badly.
44
Exercise # 3 on Adjectival Subordinate Clauses
from Sherwood Anderson's "The Egg"
Analysis Key through KISS Level Three (Clauses) +
1.) One unversed [#1] {in such matters} can have no notion (DO) {of the many
and tragic things} [Adj. to "things" that can happen {to a chicken}.]
/
2.) Father's eye lighted {on the basket} {of eggs} [Adj. to "basket" that sat {on the
counter}
/ and he began to talk [#2]. /
3.) He painted a sign (DO) [Adj. to "sign" {on which} he put his name (DO) {in
large red letters}.]
/
4.) The first venture [Adj. to "venture" {into which} the two people went] turned
out badly. /
Notes
1. Although this looks like a gerundive, I doubt that "unversed" is ever used as a finite verb.
Thus it is probably better to consider this as a post-positioned adjective.
2. Technically, "to talk" is an infinitive that functions as the direct object of "began." From
students who have not yet studied infinitives, I would accept "began to talk" as the finite verb.
45
Exercise # 4 on Adjectival Subordinate Clauses
from Sherwood Anderson's "The Egg"
1.) People who have few possessions cling tightly to those they have.
2.) The wagon that contained our goods had been borrowed for the day
from Mr. Albert Griggs, a neighbor.
3.) In the long nights when there was little to do father had time to think.
4.) From the moment he came into our place the Bidwell young man must
have been puzzled by my father's actions.
46
Exercise # 4 on Adjectival Subordinate Clauses
from Sherwood Anderson's "The Egg"
Analysis Key through KISS Level Three (Clauses) +
1.) People [Adj. to "People" who have few possessions (DO)] cling tightly
{to those} [Adj. to "those" they have.]
/
2.) The wagon [Adj. to "wagon" that contained our goods (DO)] had been
borrowed (P) {for the day} {from Mr. Albert Griggs}, a neighbor [#1]. /
3.) {In the long nights} [Adj. to "wagon" [#2] when there was little (PN) to do [#3]]
father had time (DO) to think [#4]. /
4.) {From the moment} [Adj. to "moment" he came {into our place}] the Bidwell
young man must have been puzzled
(P)
{by my father's actions}.
/
Notes
1. "Neighbor" is an appositive to "Mr. Albert Griggs."
2. The psycholinguistic model suggests that readers will chunk this clause to "nights," but one
could easily argue that it also functions as an adverb to "had." Note that the "In the long nights"
chunks to "had," and also that if the prepositional phrase is deleted, the clause still makes
perfect sense.
3. "To do" is an infinitive that modifies "little."
4. "To think" is an infinitive that functions as an adjective to "time."
47
Exercise # 5 on Adjectival Subordinate Clauses
from Sherwood Anderson's "The Egg"
1.) The fact that the poor little things could not live was one of the tragedies
of life to father.
2.) In the evening I walked home from school along Turner's Pike and
remembered the children I had seen playing in the town school yard.
3.) He began to mumble words regarding the effect to be produced on an
egg by the electricity that comes out of the human body.
4.) He slept in the same bed mother had occupied during the night and I
went off to the town of Bidwell and to school.
48
Exercise # 5 on Adjectival Subordinate Clauses
from Sherwood Anderson's "The Egg"
Analysis Key through KISS Level Three (Clauses) +
1.) The fact [Adj. to "fact" that the poor little things could not live] was one
(PN) {of the tragedies} {of life} {to father}. /
2.) {In the evening} I walked home [NuA] {from school} {along Turner's Pike} and
remembered the children (DO) [Adj. to "children" I had seen] playing [#1]
{in the town school yard}.
/
3.) He began to mumble [#2] words [#2] regarding [#3] the effect [#3] to be
produced [#3] {on an egg} {by the electricity} [Adj. to "electricity" that comes
{out of the human body}.]
/
4.) He slept {in the same bed} [Adj. to "bed" mother had occupied {during the
night}]
/ and I went off {to the town} {of Bidwell} and {to school}. /
Notes
1. The easiest way to explain "playing" is as a gerundive to "children." Alternatively, one could
include "playing in the town school yard" in the subordinate clause, but this requires a
somewhat complex explanation. From that perspective, the clause has an ellipsed "whom" -"whom I had seen playing..." The main clause version of this would be "I had seen them
playing." Thus "playing" would be a gerundive to "them," or, in the subordinated version, to the
ellipsed "whom."
2. "To mumble" is an infinitive that functions as the direct object of "began"; "words" is the direct
object of the infinitive. Alternately, I would accept "began to mumble" as the finite verb and
"words" as its direct object.
3. "Regarding" is a gerundive to "words"; "effect" is the direct object of "regarding"; "to be
produced" is an infinitive that functions as an adjective to "effect."
49
Exercise # 6 on Adjectival Subordinate Clauses
from Sherwood Anderson's "The Egg"
1.) On a chicken farm where hundreds and even thousands of chickens
come out of eggs surprising things sometimes happen.
2.) He drank the cup of coffee that had been given him and began to read
his paper again.
3.) For a long time father, whom Joe Kane had never seen before,
remained silently gazing at his visitor.
4.) On that evening young Joe Kane, son of a merchant of Bidwell, came to
Pickleville to meet his father, who was expected on the ten o'clock
evening train from the South.
50
Exercise # 6 on Adjectival Subordinate Clauses
from Sherwood Anderson's "The Egg"
Analysis Key through KISS Level Three (Clauses) +
1.) {On a chicken farm} [Adj. to "farm" where hundreds and even thousands
{of chickens} come {out of eggs}] surprising things sometimes happen.
/
2.) He drank the cup (DO) {of coffee} [Adj. to "cup" [#1] that had been given
(P)
him (IO)] and began to read [#2] his paper [#2] again. /
3.) {For a long time} father, [Adj. to "father" whom (DO) Joe Kane had never
seen before,] remained silently gazing [#3] {at his visitor}. /
4.) {On that evening} young Joe Kane, son [#4] {of a merchant} {of Bidwell}, came
{to Pickleville} to meet
(P)
[#5]
his father
[#5]
, [Adj. to "father" who was expected
{on the ten o'clock evening train} {from the South}.]
/
Notes
1. This clause can also be seen as modifying "coffee," since the coffee and the cup refer to the
same thing. (He did not, obviously, drink the porcelain.)
2. "To read" is an infinitive that functions as the direct object of "began." Alternatively, "began to
read" is the finite verb. In either case, "paper" is the direct object.
3. Grammarians would probably have a variety of explanations for this, but the simplest is
probably to consider "gazing" as a gerundive that functions as a predicate adjective after
"remains." It would be comparable to, for example, "He remained silent."
4. "Son" is an appositive to "Joe Kane."
5. "To meet" is an infinitive that functions as an adverb (of purpose) to "came"; "father" is the
direct object of "to meet."
51
Exercise # 7 on Adjectival Subordinate Clauses
from Sherwood Anderson's "The Egg"
1.) Out of its sides stuck the legs of cheap chairs and at the back of the pile
of beds, tables, and boxes filled with kitchen utensils was a crate of live
chickens, and on top of that the baby carriage in which I had been
wheeled about in my infancy.
2.) By the time he had succeeded in calling Joe Kane's attention to the
success of his effort the egg had again rolled over and lay on its side.
3.) Below his name was the sharp command--"EAT HERE"--that was so
seldom obeyed.
52
Exercise # 7 on Adjectival Subordinate Clauses
from Sherwood Anderson's "The Egg"
Analysis Key through KISS Level Three (Clauses) +
1.) {Out of its sides} stuck the legs {of cheap chairs} / and {at the back} {of the pile}
{of beds, tables, and boxes} filled
chickens},
[#1]
{with kitchen utensils} was a crate {of live
/ and {on top} {of that} *was* the baby carriage [Adj. to "carriage"
{in which} I had been wheeled
(P)
about {in my infancy}.]
/
2.) {By the time} [Adj. to "time" he had succeeded {in calling [#2] Joe Kane's
attention [#2]} {to the success} {of his effort}] the egg had again rolled over
and lay {on its side}. /
3.) {Below his name} was the sharp command --"EAT HERE" [#3] -- [Adj. to
"command" that was so seldom obeyed
(P)
.] /
Notes
1. "Filled" is a gerundive that modifies "boxes."
2. "Calling" is a gerund that functions as the object of the preposition "in"; "attention" is the direct
object of "calling."
3. "EAT HERE" is, of course, a clause (*You* EAT HERE). It functions as an appositive to
"command."
N
Noouunn C
Cllaauusseess aass D
Diirreecctt O
Obbjjeeccttss
Exercise # 1 is fairly simple. Two of the three sentences in exercise #2 include clauses
that can be explained as either subordinate or main. Exercises 3 and 4 are complicated by
infinitives and gerunds.
53
Exercise # 1 on Noun Clauses as Direct Objects
from Sherwood Anderson's "The Egg"
1.) I do not know what he intended to do.
2.) Mother decided that our restaurant should remain open at night.
3.) "That Christopher Columbus was a cheat," he declared emphatically.
54
Exercise # 1 on Noun Clauses as Direct Objects
from Sherwood Anderson's "The Egg"
Analysis Key through KISS Level Three (Clauses) +
1.) I do not know [DO of "do not know" what [#1] he intended to do (DO) [#1].] /
2.) Mother decided [DO of "decided" that our restaurant should remain
open (PA) {at night}.] /
3.) [DO of "declared" "That Christopher Columbus was a cheat (PN),"] he
declared emphatically. /
Note
1. "What" functions here as both a subordinating conjunction and as the direct object of "to do"
which is an infinitive that functions as the direct object of "intended."
55
Exercise # 2 on Noun Clauses as Direct Objects
from Sherwood Anderson's "The Egg"
1.) I imagine he had some idea of destroying it, of destroying all eggs, and
that he intended to let mother and me see him begin.
2.) He noticed that the restaurant keeper was apparently disturbed by his
presence and he thought of going out.
3.) I suppose I went to sleep also, but my sleep was troubled.
56
Exercise # 2 on Noun Clauses as Direct Objects
from Sherwood Anderson's "The Egg"
Analysis Key through KISS Level Three (Clauses) +
1.) I imagine [DO of "imagine" he had some idea (DO) {of destroying it [#1]},
{of destroying all eggs
[#1]
}, and [DO of "imagine" that he intended to let
(DO) [#2] mother and me see [#2] him begin [#2]. ] /
2.) He noticed [DO of "noticed" that the restaurant keeper was apparently
disturbed (P) {by his presence}] / [#3] and he thought of going [#4] out. /
3.) I suppose [DO of "suppose" I went to sleep [#5] also,] but [#6] [DO of
"suppose" my sleep was troubled
.] /
(P) [#7]
Notes
1. "It" and "eggs" are direct objects of "destroying," which is a gerund that functions as the
object of the preposition "of." The second "of" phrase can be explained as an adjective to "idea,"
but it is also interesting to look at it as an appositive to the first "of" phrase.
2. I would expect 8th graders to recognize "to let" as the direct object of "intended," even though
they have not studied infinitives. When they get to infinitives, they will learn that "him" is the
subject of the infinitive "to begin." That infinitive phrase is the direct object of the infinitive "see,"
which has "mother and me" as its subject. The "see" phrase ("let mother and me see him
begin") functions as the direct object of the infinitive "to let," which functions as the direct object
of "intended."
3. The "he thought" clause could be subordinate if we read the sentence to mean that "He
noticed ... [he thought of going out]." In this case, I do not think that the restaurant keeper
thought of goiing out," so I marked it as a main clause. This is, by the way, a relatively frequent
phenomenon that grammar textbooks rarely, if ever, consider.
4. "Thought of" equals "considered." From this perspective, "going" is a gerund that functions as
the direct object. Alternately, one can consider "thought" as the finite verb and "of going out" as
a prepositional phrase. In this view, "going" is a gerund that functions as the object of the
preposition.
5. "To sleep" can be explained as a prepositional phrase or as an infinitive. In either case, it
funcitons as an adverb to "went."
6. In contrast to the preceding sentence (#2), I read the final clause here as subordinate
because if he supposed he went to sleep, then the statement that the sleep was troubled must
also be a supposition. I would not, however, argue with a student who wanted to view the "but"
as joining two main clauses.
7. Textbooks don't get into the question, and grammarians disagree, so I would not argue with a
student who wanted to explain "troubled" as a gerundive that here functions as a predicate
adjective. My guess, however, is that most grammarians would favor "was troubled" as the
passive finite verb.
57
Exercise # 3 on Noun Clauses as Direct Objects
from Sherwood Anderson's "The Egg"
1.) Did I say that we embarked in the restaurant business in the town of
Bidwell, Ohio?
2.) From father's words I gathered that something of the jolly inn-keeper
effect was to be sought.
3.) People will want to know how you got the egg in the bottle.
58
Exercise # 3 on Noun Clauses as Direct Objects
from Sherwood Anderson's "The Egg"
Analysis Key through KISS Level Three (Clauses) +
1.) Did I say [DO of "did say" that we embarked {in the restaurant business} {in
the town} {of Bidwell, Ohio [#1]}]?
/
2.) {From father's words} I gathered [DO of "gathered" that something {of the
jolly inn-keeper effect} was to be sought
[#2]
.] /
3.) People will want to know (DO) [#3] [DO of "to know" how you got the egg
(DO) {in the bottle}.] /
Notes
1. A more technical, but also much more time-consuming explanation would supply the ellipsed
clause "of Bidwell, *which is a town in* Ohio." The "city, state" construction is so common that it
is probably not worth the time to do the extra explaining.
2. One could analyze this is more detail, for example, by saying that "to be sought" is an
infinitive that functions here as a predicate adjective, but "was to be sought" means "was
wanted," so I see no reason for burdening students working primarily at the level of clauses with
explanations that involve infinitives.
3. "To know" is an infinitive that funcitons as the direct object of "will want."
59
Exercise # 4 on Noun Clauses as Direct Objects
from Sherwood Anderson's "The Egg"
1.) In later life I have seen how a literature has been built up on the subject
of fortunes to be made out of the raising of chickens.
2.) He declared that without breaking its shell and by virtue of rolling it back
and forth in his hands he could stand the egg on its end.
60
Exercise # 4 on Noun Clauses as Direct Objects
from Sherwood Anderson's "The Egg"
Analysis Key through KISS Level Three (Clauses) +
1.) {In later life} I have seen [DO of "have seen" how a literature has been
built up (P) {on the subject} {of fortunes} to be made [#1] {out of the raising [#2]}
{of chickens}.]
/
2.) He declared [DO of "declared" that {without breaking its shell [#3]} and {by
virtue} {of rolling it
[#4]
back and forth} {in his hands} he could stand the egg
(DO) {on its end}.] /
Notes
1. "To be made" is an infinitive that functions as an adjective to "fortunes."
2. Because it is preceded by "the," grammarians disagree as to whether "raising" is or is not a
gerund here. I would not tell a student who considered it to be one that he or she is wrong.
Note, however, that when we put a "the" before a gerund, we generally cut its ability to have a
complement. We would say "out of raising chickens," but "out of the raising of chickens."
These are the kinds of distinctions that grammarians love to discuss, but I'm not sure that they
have any practical importance to students.
3. "Shell" is the direct object of the gerund "breaking"; the gerund phrase functions as the object
of the preposition.
4. "It" is the direct object of the gerund "rolling"; the gerund phrase functions as the object of the
preposition.
M
Miixxeedd S
Suubboorrddiinnaattee C
Cllaauusseess
The sentences in these exercises all contain more than one type of clause. As a result,
students will have to do more thinking as they do these exercises.
61
Mixed Subordinate Clauses (Exercise # 1)
from Sherwood Anderson's "The Egg"
1.) When the contents spurted over his clothes, Joe Kane, who had
stopped at the door, turned and laughed.
2.) When after a half hour's effort he did succeed in making the egg stand
for a moment he looked up to find that his visitor was no longer
watching.
3.) During the long nights, while mother and I slept, father cooked meats
that were to go into sandwiches for the lunch baskets of our boarders.
62
Mixed Subordinate Clauses (Exercise # 1)
from Sherwood Anderson's "The Egg"
Analysis Key through KISS Level Three (Clauses) +
1.) [Adv. to "turned" and "laughed" When the contents spurted {over his
clothes},] Joe Kane, [Adj. to "Joe Kane" who had stopped {at the door},]
turned and laughed. /
2.) [Adv. to "looked up" When {after a half hour's effort} he did succeed {in
making the egg stand [#1]} {for a moment}] he looked up to find [#2] [DO of
"to find" that his visitor was no longer watching.]
/
3.) {During the long nights}, [Adv. to "cooked" while mother and I slept,] father
cooked meats (DO) [Adj. to "meats" that were to go [#3] {into sandwiches}
{for the lunch baskets} {of our boarders}.]
/
Notes
1. "Egg" is the subject of the infinitive "stand"; the infinitive phrase functions as the direct object
of the gerund "making" which is the object of the preposition "in."
2. "To find" is an infinitive (of result) that modifies "looked up." Note that most students will be
able, not only to understand, but also to recognize, clauses that function as objects or modifiers
of such infinitives, even though they have not yet studied infinitives. In this case, for example,
the "that" clause simply answers the question "to find what?" Thus, even though they may not
know that "to find" is called an infinitive, they will recognize it as a verb, and the clause as its
direct object.
3. Although I would accept "were to go" as the finite verb here, most grammarians would
probably want a more detailed explanation. Such an explanation entails ellipsis -- "that were
*intended* to go." In that form, the finite verb ("were intended") is passive, and passive verbs
have retained complements. In this case, the "to go" would be an infinitive that functions as the
retained direct object -- "He intended the meats to go into sandwiches." Such a detailed
explanation is probably not only unnecessary, but also confusing for most students, especially if
they are focussing on clauses.
63
Mixed Subordinate Clauses (Exercise # 2)
from Sherwood Anderson's "The Egg"
1.) Until he was thirty-four years old he worked as a farm-hand for a man
named Thomas Butterworth whose place lay near the town of Bidwell,
Ohio.
2.) The hens lay eggs out of which come other chickens and the dreadful
cycle is thus made complete.
3.) Go hunt for gold on the frozen hills of Alaska, put your faith in the
honesty of a politician, believe if you will that the world is daily growing
better and that good will triumph over evil, but do not read and believe
the literature that is written concerning the hen.
64
Mixed Subordinate Clauses (Exercise # 2)
from Sherwood Anderson's "The Egg"
Analysis Key through KISS Level Three (Clauses) +
1.) [Adv. to "worked" Until he was thirty-four years [NuA] old (PA)] he worked
{as a farm-hand} {for a man} named Thomas Butterworth
[#1]
[Adj. to "Thomas
Butterworth" and/or to "man" whose place lay {near the town} {of Bidwell,
Ohio}.]
/
2.) The hens lay eggs (DO) [Adj. to "eggs" {out of which [#2]} come other
chickens / and the dreadful cycle is thus made (P) complete [#3]. /
3.) *You* Go hunt [#4] {for gold} {on the frozen hills} {of Alaska}, / *You* put your
faith (DO) {in the honesty} {of a politician}, / *You* believe [ [#5] if you will]
[DO of "believe" that the world is daily growing better (PA)] and [DO of
"believe" that good will triumph {over evil}],
/ but *You* do not read and
believe the literature (DO) [Adj. to "literature" that is written (P)
concerning [#6] the hen [#6].] /
Notes
1. "Thomas Butterworth" is a retained predicate noun after the passive gerundive "named," which chunks
to "man." [Note that the active voice version is "They named him *to be* Thomas Butterworth."]
2. The "which" functions simultaneously as the object of the preposition and as a subordinating
conjunction.
3. "Complete" is a retained predicate adjective of an ellipsed infinitive after the passive "is made" -- "it
makes the cycle *to be* complete."
4. Technically, most grammarians would probably consider "hunt" to be an infinitive of purpose that
modifies "Go." If the students have not yet studied infinitives, I would simply accept "Go hunt" as the finite
verb.
5. This "if" clause could be considered as adverbial to "believe," but to me it rings more as an interjection.
See "Subordinate Clauses as Interjections."
6. Grammarians will probably offer a number of different explanations of "concerning." Within KISS, it can
be explained as a gerundive that modifies "that," which means "literature." This would make "hen" the
direct object of the gerundive. Note that "concerning" here can be replaced by "about." Thus it slides into
a preposition and a prepositional phrase, so I would accept either explanation.
65
Mixed Subordinate Clauses (Exercise # 3)
from Sherwood Anderson's "The Egg"
1.) Now that I am older I know that she had another motive in going.
2.) As he stood glaring at us I was sure he intended throwing the egg at
either mother or me.
3.) As so often happens in life he had thought so much and so often of the
situation that now confronted him that he was somewhat nervous in its
presence.
66
Mixed Subordinate Clauses (Exercise # 3)
from Sherwood Anderson's "The Egg"
Analysis Key through KISS Level Three (Clauses) +
1.) Now [Adv. to "now" that I am older (PA)] I know [DO of "know" that she
had another motive (DO) {in going}.] /
2.) [Adv. to "was" As he stood glaring [#1] {at us}] I was sure (PA) [ [#2] he
intended throwing (DO) [#3] the egg {at either mother or me}.] /
3.) [Adv. to 'had thought" As *it* [#4] so often happens {in life}] he had thought
so much and so often {of the situation} [Adj. to "situation" that now confronted
him (DO)] [Adv. to "so" that he was somewhat nervous (PA) {in its
presence}.]
/
Notes
1. "Glaring" can be considered as part of the finite verb, or as a gerundive modifying "he." See
"Palimpsest verbs."
2. Grammarians will love to argue about this one, but within KISS, this "he" clause can be
explained most easily as an adverb to "sure." Note that "was sure" means "knew" or "believed,"
so in essence the clause functions as the direct object of "was sure." I'd praise any student who
noted that, and then move on.
3. "Throwing" is a gerund that functions as the direct object of "intended"; "egg" is the direct
object of "throwing."
4. I would expect this ellipsed "it" to stump many students.
E
Em
mbbeeddddeedd S
Suubboorrddiinnaattee C
Cllaauusseess ((LL22 ++))
The sentences in these exercises all contain at least one subordinate clause within a
subordinate clause.
67
Subordinate Clauses within Subordinate Clauses (Exercise # 1)
from Sherwood Anderson's "The Egg"
1.) Joe Kane decided that the man who confronted him was mildly insane
but harmless.
2.) He was angry because his visitor did not watch him as he began to do
his trick, but nevertheless went cheerfully to work.
3.) It is a hopeful literature and declares that much may be done by simple
ambitious people who own a few hens.
68
Subordinate Clauses within Subordinate Clauses (Exercise # 1)
from Sherwood Anderson's "The Egg"
Analysis Key through KISS Level Three (Clauses) +
1.) Joe Kane decided [DO of "decided" that the man [Adj. to "man" who
confronted him (DO)] was mildly insane (PA) but harmless (PA).] /
2.) He was angry (PA) [Adv. to "was" because his visitor did not watch
him (DO) [Adv. to "did not watch" as he began to do [#1] his trick (DO)]],
but nevertheless went cheerfully to work [#2]. /
3.) It is a hopeful literature (PN) and declares [DO of "declares" that much
may be done (P) {by simple ambitious people} [Adj. to "people" who own a
few hens (DO).]]
/
Notes
1. Alternatively, "to do" can be considered an infinitive that functions as the direct object of
"began."
2. "To work" is most easily explained as an infinitive that functions as an adverb to "went."
69
Subordinate Clauses within Subordinate Clauses (Exercise # 2)
from Sherwood Anderson's "The Egg"
1.) When people, particularly young people from the town of Bidwell, came
into our place, as on very rare occasions they did, bright entertaining
conversation was to be made.
2.) I remember that as a child I used to sit looking at him when he had gone
to sleep in a chair before the stove on Sunday afternoons in the winter.
3.) He explained that the warmth of his hands and the gentle rolling
movement he gave the egg created a new centre of gravity, and Joe
Kane was mildly interested.
4.) When he thought that at last the trick was about to be consummated the
delayed train came in at the station and Joe Kane started to go
nonchalantly out at the door.
70
Subordinate Clauses within Subordinate Clauses (Exercise # 2)
from Sherwood Anderson's "The Egg"
Analysis Key through KISS Level Three (Clauses) +
1.) [Adv. to "was to be made" When people, particularly young people [#1] {from
the town} {of Bidwell}, came {into our place}, [Adv. to "came" as {on very rare
occasions} they did]], bright entertaining conversation was to be made
[#2]
./
2.) I remember [DO of "remember" that {as a child} I used to sit looking [#3] {at
him} [Adv. to "looking" and/or "used to sit" when he had gone to sleep
{in a chair} {before the stove} {on Sunday afternoons} {in the winter}.]]
[#4]
/
3.) He explained [DO of "explained" that the warmth {of his hands} and the
gentle rolling movement [Adj. to "movement" he gave the egg (DO)]
created a new centre (DO) {of gravity}], / and Joe Kane was mildly
interested (P). /
4.) [Adv. to "came" When he thought [DO of "thought" that {at last} the trick
was about (PA) [#5] to be consummated [#5] ]] the delayed train came in
{at the station}
door}.
/ and Joe Kane started to go [#6] nonchalantly out {at the
/
Notes
1. Appositive to the first "people." [Although most people will be happy simply to consider
"particularly" as an adverb, some might wonder about its function. If one wants to get that
technical, I would suggest that the appositive is the result of the partial reduction of two
subordinate clauses, one of which the "particularly" modifies -- "When people *came into our
71
place* ..., particularly *when* young people from the town of Bidwell, came to our place
...."
The function of "particularly" would probably be of interest to grammarians
2. This is another of those verb phrases that one rarely finds discussed in grammar textbooks.
The easiest thing to do is to consider it a finite verb phrase and leave it. There is no harm in so
doing, and little to be gained from extended analysis and debate. If one wants to analyze it, one
way would be to consider the "to be made" as an infinitive that functions as a predicate
adjective.
3. Gerundive to "I."
4. One could also explain "to sleep" as a prepositional phrase, or as an infinitive, either of which
would function as an adverb to "had gone."
5. Since it is the equivalent of "ready," the easiest way to explain this "about," is to consider it a
predicate adjective, which makes the infinitive "to be consummated" an adverb that modifies it.
Alternately, one could explain "about" as an adverb, meaning "almost," and then consider the
infinitive as functioning as a predicate adjective. Of more interest here than the explanation of
"about," which is something the grammarians love to get tied up in, is the absence of a comma
after "consummated." Most grammar textbooks call for one after adverbial clauses at the
beginning of a sentence, but Anderson didn't use one.
6. Alternately, "to go" can be explained as an infinitive that functions as the direct object of
"started."
72
Subordinate Clauses within Subordinate Clauses (Exercise # 3)
from Sherwood Anderson's "The Egg"
1.) He declared it was wrong to teach children that Christopher Columbus
was a great man when, after all, he cheated at the critical moment.
2.) I have forgotten what mother said to him and how she induced him to
tell her of what had happened downstairs.
3.) I wondered why eggs had to be and why from the egg came the hen
who again laid the egg.
73
Subordinate Clauses within Subordinate Clauses (Exercise # 3)
from Sherwood Anderson's "The Egg"
Analysis Key through KISS Level Three (Clauses) +
1.) He declared [DO of "declared" it was wrong (PA) to teach [#1] children [#1]
[DO of "to teach" that Christopher Columbus was a great man (PN)]
[Adv. to "was" when, {after all} [#2], he cheated {at the critical moment}.]] /
2.) I have forgotten [DO of "have forgotten" what [#3] mother said {to him}]
and [DO of "have forgotten" how she induced him [#4] to tell her [#4] {of
[Obj. of "of" what had happened downstairs]}.] /
3.) I wondered [DO of "wondered" why eggs had to be] and [DO of
"wondered" why {from the egg} came the hen [Adj. to "hen" who again laid
the egg (DO).]]
/
Notes
1. "To teach" is an infinitive that functions as a delayed subject -- 'To teach children ... was
wrong." "Children" is the indirect object of "to teach."
2. To me, this phrase functions as an interjection, although I would not argue with anyone who
wanted to consider it to be an adverb to "cheated."
3. This "what" functions simultaneously as a subordinating conjunction and as the direct object
of "said."
4. In "him to tell her," "him" is the subject of the infinitive "to tell," and "her" is its indirect object.
The infinitive phrase functions as the direct object of "induced."
74
Subordinate Clauses within Subordinate Clauses (Exercise # 4)
from Sherwood Anderson's "The Egg"
1.) He decided that he had in the past been an unsuccessful man because
he had not been cheerful enough and that in the future he would adopt
a cheerful outlook on life.
2.) He reached over the counter and tried to slap Joe Kane on the shoulder
as he had seen men do in Ben Head's saloon when he was a young
farm-hand and drove to town on Saturday evenings.
3.) It is ridiculous, but of the picture we made I can remember only the fact
that mother's hand continually stroked the bald path that ran across the
top of his head.
75
Subordinate Clauses within Subordinate Clauses (Exercise # 4)
from Sherwood Anderson's "The Egg"
Analysis Key through KISS Level Three (Clauses) +
1.) He decided [DO of "decided" that he had {in the past} been an unsuccessful
man (PN) [Adv. to "had been" because he had not been cheerful (PA)
enough]] and [DO of "decided" that {in the future} he would adopt a cheerful
outlook (DO) {on life}.] /
2.) He reached {over the counter} and tried to slap (DO) Joe Kane [#1] {on the
shoulder} [Adv. to "to slap" as he had seen men do
[#2]
{in Ben Head's
saloon} [Adv. to "had seen" when he was a young farm-hand (PN) and
drove {to town} {on Saturday evenings}.]] /
3.) It is ridiculous (PA), / but {of the picture} [Adj. to "picture" we made] I can
remember only the fact (DO) [Adj. to "fact" that mother's hand continually
stroked the bald path (DO) [Adj. to "path" that ran {across the top} {of his
head}.]]
/
Notes
1. "Joe Kane" is the direct object of the infinitive "to slap" which, in turn, functions as the direct
object of "tried."
2. "Men" is the subject of the infinitive "do"; the infinitive phrase functions as the direct object of
"had seen."
76
Subordinate Clauses within Subordinate Clauses (Exercise # 5)
from Sherwood Anderson's "The Egg"
1.) Father made a last desperate effort to conquer the egg and make it do
the thing that would establish his reputation as one who knew how to
entertain guests who came into his restaurant.
2.) He had some sort of notion that if he could but bring into henhood or
roosterhood a five-legged hen or a two-headed rooster his fortune
would be made.
3.) I fell into a half-sleeping, half-waking state and dreamed I was a tiny
thing going along the road into a far beautiful place where there were no
chicken farms and where life was a happy eggless affair.
77
Subordinate Clauses within Subordinate Clauses (Exercise # 5)
from Sherwood Anderson's "The Egg"
Analysis Key through KISS Level Three (Clauses) +
1.) Father made a last desperate effort (DO) to conquer [#1] the egg [#1] and
make [#1] it [#2] do [#2] the thing [#2] [Adj. to "thing" that would establish his
reputation (DO) {as one} [Adj. to "one" who knew how (DO) to entertain
[#3]
guests [#3] [Adj. to "guests" who came {into his restaurant}.]]] /
2.) He had some sort (DO) {of notion} [Adj. to "notion" that [Adv. to "would be
made" if he could but bring {into henhood or roosterhood} a five-legged hen
(DO) or a two-headed rooster (DO)] his fortune would be made (P).] /
3.) I fell {into a half-sleeping, half-waking state} and dreamed [DO of "dreamed" I
was a tiny thing (PN) going [#4] {along the road} {into a far beautiful place} [Adj.
to "place" where there were no chicken farms (PN)] and [Adj. to "place"
where life was a happy eggless affair (PN).]] /
Notes
1. "Egg" is the direct object of the infinitive "to conquer" "To conquer," and the following "make"
can be explained as adjectives to "effort" and/or adverbs to "made," depending on whether one
sees them as describing the "effort" and/or giving the cause for "made."
2. "It" is the subject of the infinitive "do," and "thing" is its direct object. The infinitive phrase is
the direct object of "make."
3. "To entertain" is an infinitive that functions as an adjective to the pronoun "how"; "guests" is
the direct object of "to entertain."
4. "Going" is a gerundive to "thing."
S
Suubboorrddiinnaattee C
Cllaauusseess aass D
Deellaayyeedd S
Suubbjjeeccttss aanndd S
Seenntteenncceess
The first set of four is relatively easy; the second set contains a level four embedding.
78
Subordinate Clauses as Delayed Subjects (Ex # 1)
from Sherwood Anderson's "The Egg"
1.) It was her idea that the restaurant would be profitable.
2.) It was father's idea that both he and mother should try to entertain the
people who came to eat at our restaurant.
3.) It was father's notion that a passion for the company of himself and
mother would spring up in the breasts of the younger people of the town
of Bidwell.
4.) It was in the spring of his thirty-fifth year that father married my mother,
then a country school-teacher, and in the following spring I came
wriggling and crying into the world.
79
Subordinate Clauses as Delayed Subjects and Sentences (Ex # 1)
from Sherwood Anderson's "The Egg"
Analysis Key through KISS Level Three (Clauses) +
1.) It was her idea (PN) [Del. Subj. that the restaurant would be
profitable (PA).] /
[That the restaurant would be profitable] was her idea..
2.) It was father's idea (PN) [Del. Subj. that both he and mother should try
to entertain [#1] the people [#1] [Adj. to "people" who came to eat [#2] {at our
restaurant}.]] /
[That both he and mother should try to entertain the people who came to eat at
our restaurant] was father's idea.
3.) It was father's notion (PN) [Del. Subj. that a passion {for the company} {of
himself and mother} would spring up {in the breasts} {of the younger people}
{of the town} {of Bidwell}.] /
[That a passion for the company of himself and mother would spring up in the
breasts of the younger people of the town of Bidwell] was father's notion.
4.) It was {in the spring} {of his thirty-fifth year} [Delayed Sentence that father
married my mother (DO), then a country school-teacher [#3],] / and {in the
following spring} I came wriggling [#4] and crying [#4] {into the world}. /
In the spring of his thirty-fifth year, father married my mother, then a country
school-teacher.
Notes
1. "To entertain" is an infinitive that functions as the direct object of "should try"; "people" is the
direct object of the infinitive.
2. "To eat" is an infinitive that functions as an adverb of purpose to "came."
3. "School-teacher" is an appositive to "mother." Note that the preceding "then," which appears
to have nothing to modify, is a remnant from the subordinate clause from which this appositive
derives -- "mother, *who was* then a country school-teacher."
4. Although I do not remember ever seeing "came" listed among helping or auxiliary verbs, one
could make an interesting argument that it so functions here. One could also argue that
"wriggling" and "crying" are part of the finite verb phrase in a palimpsest pattern, with "came"
overwriting the "was" in "was wriggling and crying." The final option, within the KISS framework,
is to consider "wriggling" and "crying" as gerundives to "I."
80
Subordinate Clauses as Delayed Subjects (Ex # 2)
from Sherwood Anderson's "The Egg"
1.) It was his notion that father was angry at him for hanging around.
2.) It was unlikely other children would be born and the wheels were
broken.
3.) It may have been that mother was responsible.
4.) It must have seemed to me that I was doing a thing that should not be
done by one who, like myself, had been raised on a chicken farm where
death was a daily visitor.
81
Subordinate Clauses as Delayed Subjects (Ex # 2)
from Sherwood Anderson's "The Egg"
Analysis Key through KISS Level Three (Clauses) +
1.) It was his notion (PN) [Del. Subj. that father was angry (PA) {at him}
{for hanging [#1] around}.] /
[That father was angry at him for hanging around] was his notion.
2.) It was unlikely [Del. Subj. other children would be born (P) ] / and the
wheels were broken (P). /
[That other children would be born] was unlikely . . . .
3.) It may have been [Del. Subj. that mother was responsible (PA).] /
[That mother was responsible] may have been *the case."
4.) It must have seemed {to me} [Del. Subj. that I was doing a thing (DO)
[Adj. to "thing" that should not be done (P) {by one} [Adj. to "one" who, {like
myself}, had been raised (P) {on a chicken farm} [Adj. to "farm" where death
was a daily visitor (PN).]]]] /
[That I was doing a thing that should not be done by one who, like myself, had
been raised on a chicken farm where death was a daily visitor] must have
seemed to me.
[Note that this version sounds totally unnatural, but if we ask what the "It" was that
"seemed," the answer is the "that" clause. Thus the "that" clause can be explained as a
delayed subject. I would not, however, argue with anyone who wanted to consider the
"that" clause to be functioning as an adverb to "must have seemed," explaining "how" it
must have seemed. That explanation, however, leaves the "it" meaningless.]
Note
1. "Hanging around" is, of course, idiomatic. "Hanging" is a gerund that functions as the object
of the preposition. One could explain the "around" as an adverb, or as the preposition in an
ellipsed prepositional phrase -- "around *the place*."
82
A
AS
Seem
mii--R
Reedduucceedd C
Cllaauussee
Semi-reduced clauses are relatively infrequent, but an occasional simple example will help
students to not be confused by them.
My tale does not primarily concern itself with the hen. If correctly told it will
centre on the egg.
My tale does not primarily concern itself (DO) {with the hen}.
centre" If *it is* correctly told] it will centre {on the egg}.]
/ [Adv. to "will
/
S
Suubboorrddiinnaattee C
Cllaauusseess aass IInntteerrjjeeccttiioonnss
The sentences in the first exercise are relatively simple, but they
illustrate the concept.
83
IInntteerrjjeeccttiioonn aanndd//oorr D
Diirreecctt O
Obbjjeecctt??
Consider the clauses in the
following sentences:
It was, I think, a big mistake.
Mr. McGregor was going, he said, to kill
a rabbit.
"Well," she said, "we shall see."
"The thing is this," said Merrylegs.
There are two fundamental ways in which we can analyze such
sentences. In one sense, the "contained" clause can be seen as the
core of the main S/V/C pattern:
I think [DO it was a big mistake]. /
He said [DO Mr. McGregor was going to kill a rabbit]. /
She said [DO "Well, we shall see."] /
Merrylegs said [DO "The thing is this."] /
But if we look at the way our brains process language, our
psycholinguistic model suggests that our brains will interpret the
initial subjects and verbs as those of the main clause. In order to
make our analysis reflect this, we can consider the "contained"
clauses as clauses that function as interjections:
It was, [Inj I think,] a big mistake. /
Mr. McGregor was going, [Inj he said,] to kill a rabbit. /
"Well," [Inj she said,] "we shall see." /
"The thing is this," [Inj said Merrylegs.] /
Although both explanations are acceptable, it is easier, in
analyzing sentences, to consider such clauses as interjections,
simply because you do not have to rewrite them.
84
Subordinate Clauses as Interjections (Ex # 1)
from Sherwood Anderson's "The Egg"
1.) The grotesques were, he declared, valuable.
2.) My father was, I am sure, intended by nature to be a cheerful, kindly
man.
3.) People, he said, liked to look at strange and wonderful things.
4.) The tufts of hair that grew above father's ears were, I thought, like
forests.
85
Subordinate Clauses as Interjections (Ex # 1)
from Sherwood Anderson's "The Egg"
Analysis Key through KISS Level Three (Clauses) +
1.) The grotesques were, [Inj. he declared,] valuable (PA). /
2.) My father was, [Inj. I am sure (PA),] intended (P) {by nature} to be [#1] a
cheerful, kindly man
[#1]
./
3.) People, [Inj. he said,] liked to look (DO) [#2] {at strange and wonderful
things}.
/
4.) The tufts {of hair} [Adj. to "tufts" that grew {above father's ears}] were, [Inj. I
thought,] {like forests}. /
Notes
1. "Man" is a predicate noun after "to be." The "to be" is the core of an infinitive construction that
functions as a retained direct object after the passive "was intended." The active voice version is
"Nature intended my father to be a ... man." In this version, "father" is the subject of, and "man"
is the predicate noun after, the infinitive "to be," and the infinitive phrase functions as the direct
object of "intended." Thus, in the passive, it is considered to be retained from the active.
2. "To look" is an infinitive that functions as the direct object of "liked."
86
Subordinate Clauses as Interjections (Ex # 2)
from Sherwood Anderson's "The Egg"
1.) We must have been a sad looking lot, not, I fancy, unlike refugees
fleeing from a battlefield.
2.) The question got into my blood. It has stayed there, I imagine, because I
am the son of my father.
3.) At any rate, the problem remains unsolved in my mind. And that, I
conclude, is but another evidence of the complete and final triumph of
the egg – at least as far as my family is concerned.
4.) She had, I presume, read of how Garfield, Lincoln, and other Americans
rose from poverty to fame and greatness and as I lay beside her – in
the days of her lying-in – she may have dreamed that I would some
day rule men and cities.
87
Subordinate Clauses as Interjections (Ex # 2)
from Sherwood Anderson's "The Egg"
Analysis Key through KISS Level Three (Clauses) +
1.) We must have been a sad looking lot (PN), not, [Inj. I fancy,] {unlike
refugees} fleeing
[#1]
{from a battlefield}.
/
2.) The question got {into my blood}. / It has stayed there, [Inj. I imagine,]
[Adv. to "has stayed" because I am the son (PN) {of my father}.] /
3.) {At any rate} [#2], the problem remains unsolved (PA) {in my mind}. / And
that, [Inj. I conclude,] is but another evidence (PN) {of the complete and
final triumph} {of the egg} – {at least}
[#2]
as far
[#3]
[Adv. to "as" as my family is
concerned (P).] /
4.) She had, [Inj. I presume,] read {of [Obj. of "of" how Garfield, Lincoln,
and other Americans rose {from poverty} {to fame and greatness} ]} / and
[Adv. to "may have dreamed" as I lay {beside her} – {in the days} {of her lying-in}
– ] [#4] she may have dreamed [DO of "may have dreamed" that I would
some day
[NuA]
rule men (DO) and cities (DO).] /
Notes
1. "Fleeing" is a gerundive that modifies "refugees."
2. The phrases "At any rate" and "at least" are probably best understood as interjections.
3. The function of "far" would probably provide grammarians with hours of unresolved
discussion. Note that "as far as" is idiomatic here and means "to the extent that." Perhaps the
easiest explanation is to consider it as adverbial to "conclude" -- "As far as my family is
concerned, I conclude ...." (Note that the dash suggests a break in the chunking, thus enabling
us to connect "as far as" to a clause that has technically already been closed.)
4. The two dashes make it possible to read "in the days of her lying-in" as either inside the "as I
lay" clause, or outside it. Compare it to "as I lay beside her in the days of her lying-in, she may
have dreamed ...." or "as I lay beside her, in the days of her lying-in she may have dreamed ...."
88
A
Ann E
Exxeerrcciissee oonn G
Geerruunnddiivveess
from Sherwood Anderson's "The Egg"
1.) For a long time he struggled, trying to get the egg to go through the
neck of the bottle.
2.) Grabbing another egg from the basket on the counter, he threw it, just
missing the head of the young man as he dodged through the door and
escaped.
3.) Then he took a pan and filling it with vinegar, taken from a jug that sat
beneath the counter, he declared himself about to do a new trick.
4.) Afire with the showman's passion and at the same time a good deal
disconcerted by the failure of his first effort, father now took the bottles
containing the poultry monstrosities down from their place on the shelf
and began to show them to his visitor.
89
An Exercise on Gerundives
from Sherwood Anderson's "The Egg"
Analysis Key through KISS Level Three (Clauses) +
This exercise consists of four sentences that are relatively simple in
structure.
1.) {For a long time} he struggled, trying to get the egg to go [#1] {through the
neck} {of the bottle}.
/
2.) Grabbing another egg [#2] {from the basket} {on the counter}, he threw it (DO),
just missing the head
[#3]
{of the young man} [Adv. to "missing" as he dodged
{through the door} and escaped.]
/
3.) Then he took a pan (DO) / and filling it [#4] {with vinegar}, taken [#5] {from a
jug} [Adj. to "jug" that sat {beneath the counter},] he declared himself about
[#6]
to do a new trick [#6]. /
4.) Afire [#7] {with the showman's passion} and {at the same time} a good deal [NuA]
disconcerted [#7] {by the failure} {of his first effort}, father now took the
bottles (DO) containing the poultry monstrosities [#8] down {from their place}
{on the shelf} and began to show (DO) them
[#9]
{to his visitor}.
/
Notes
1. "To go" is an infinitive and is modified by the following prepositional phrases. "Egg" is the
subject of the infinitive "to go." That infinitive phrase is the direct object of the infinitive "to get,"
and "to get" is the direct object of the gerundive "trying." The gerundive modifies "he."
2. "Egg" is the direct object of the gerundive "Grabbing," which modifies "he."
3. "Head" is the direct object of the gerundive "missing." which modifies "he."
4. "It" is the direct object of the gerundive "filling," which modifies "he."
5. "Taken" is a gerundive that modifies "vinegar."
6. "About" here means "ready" or "prepared," and thus functions as an adjective. In this case, it
functions as a predicate adjective after an ellipsed infinitive "to be." "Himself" is the subject of
90
that infinitive, and the infinitive phrase is the direct object of "declared" -- he declared himself *to
be* about to do a new trick." "Trick" is the direct object of the infinitive "to do," and "to do"
functions as an adverb to "about."
7. "Afire" and "disconcerted" function as adjectives to "father." Note that, as with gerundives,
they also have an adverbial function here in describing how he "took."
8. "Monstrosities" is the direct object of the gerundive "containing," which modifies "bottles."
9. "Them" is the direct object of the infinitive "to show"; "to show" functions as the direct object
of "began."
91
A
AS
Sttuuddyy iinn E
Elllliippssiiss ((aanndd A
Appppoossiittiivveess??))
from Sherwood Anderson's "The Egg"
Many appositives can be seen as reduced clauses that have been
embedded into another clause:
Billie is in good health. She is a tennis player.
Billie, a tennis player, is in good health.
From this perspective, the following sentence is interesting in the questions
it raises:
Mother and I walked the entire eight miles – she to be sure that
nothing fell from the wagon and I to see the wonders of the
world.
The first clause is easy enough, but questions arise about the functions of
"she" and "I." One explanation is to say that they are the subjects of
ellipsed finite verbs, each in its own main clause:
Mother and I walked the entire eight miles [NuA] / -- she *walked the entire
eight miles* to be sure [Adv. to "sure" that nothing fell {from the wagon}
/ and I *walked the entire eight miles* to see the wonders {of the world}. /
The ellipsis here is stylistically extremely important. A double repetition of
"walked the entire eight miles" would dull the readers' minds and obscure
the distinction expressed by the infinitives -- "to be sure..." as opposed to
"to see the wonders...
In terms of syntactic analysis, however, it might be preferable to
consider "she" and "I" as appositives to "Mother and I." Whereas in the
explanation using ellipsis, the infinitives are adverbial to "walked," when
"she" and "I" are viewed as appositives, the infinitives function as
adjectives -- to "she" and "I." The direct modification of "she" and "I" can be
seen as strengthening the distinction between mother's purpose, and the
writer's.
92
A
AN
Noottee oonn FFrraaggm
meennttss
from Sherwood Anderson's "The Egg"
As part of the KISS exploration of sentence fragments, we can look at
one in Anderson's "The Egg."
"As to what happened downstairs."
Three things, I would suggest, make this fragment "acceptable." First, it
appears at the beginning of a paragraph (about 3/4ths of the way into the
text).
As to what happened downstairs. For some unexplainable reason I
know the story as well as though I had been a witness to my father's
discomfiture. One in time gets to know many unexplainable things. . . . .
At the beginning of paragraphs, fragments tend to establish topics, and
thus are less confusing than are fragments in the middle of a paragraph.
Second, in this case, the fragment echoes several previous references to
what was happening "downstairs." Thus, in a sense, readers are prepared
for it, or at least recognize it as a connection to a topic previously noted.
Third, the tone of this story is very casual, almost conversational. In formal
writing, most educated readers would probably find this fragment
unacceptable, but we need to remember that not every fragment is "bad."
93
The Egg
Sherwood Anderson
(1876 - 1941)
My father was, I am sure, intended by nature to be a cheerful, kindly man. Until he was
thirty-four years old he worked as a farm-hand for a man named Thomas Butterworth whose
place lay near the town of Bidwell, Ohio. He had then a horse of his own and on Saturday
evenings drove into town to spend a few hours in social intercourse with other farmhands. In
town he drank several glasses of beer and stood about in Ben Head's saloon--crowded on
Saturday evenings with visiting farm-hands. Songs were sung and glasses thumped on the bar. At
ten o'clock father drove home along a lonely country road, made his horse comfortable for the
night and himself went to bed, quite happy in his position in life. He had at that time no notion of
trying to rise in the world.
It was in the spring of his thirty-fifth year that father married my mother, then a country
school-teacher, and in the following spring I came wriggling and crying into the world.
Something happened to the two people. They became ambitious. The American passion for
getting up in the world took possession of them.
It may have been that mother was responsible. Being a school-teacher she had no doubt read
books and magazines. She had, I presume, read of how Garfield, Lincoln, and other Americans
rose from poverty to fame and greatness and as I lay beside her – in the days of her lying-in – she
may have dreamed that I would some day rule men and cities. At any rate she induced father to
give up his place as a farm-hand, sell his horse and embark on an independent enterprise of his
own. She was a tall silent woman with a long nose and troubled grey eyes. For herself she
wanted nothing. For father and myself she was incurably ambitious.
The first venture into which the two people went turned out badly. They rented ten acres of
poor stony land on Griggs's Road, eight miles from Bidwell, and launched into chicken raising. I
grew into boyhood on the place and got my first impressions of life there. From the beginning
they were impressions of disaster and if, in my turn, I am a gloomy man inclined to see the
darker side of life, I attribute it to the fact that what should have been for me the happy joyous
days of childhood were spent on a chicken farm.
One unversed in such matters can have no notion of the many and tragic things that can
happen to a chicken. It is born out of an egg, lives for a few weeks as a tiny fluffy thing such as
you will see pictured on Easter cards, then becomes hideously naked, eats quantities of corn and
meal bought by the sweat of your father's brow, gets diseases called pip, cholera, and other
names, stands looking with stupid eyes at the sun, becomes sick and dies. A few hens, and now
and then a rooster, intended to serve God's mysterious ends, struggle through to maturity. The
hens lay eggs out of which come other chickens and the dreadful cycle is thus made complete. It
is all unbelievably complex. Most philosophers must have been raised on chicken farms. One
hopes for so much from a chicken and is so dreadfully disillusioned. Small chickens, just setting
out on the journey of life, look so bright and alert and they are in fact so dreadfully stupid. They
are so much like people they mix one up in one's judgments of life. If disease does not kill them
they wait until your expectations are thoroughly aroused and then walk under the wheels of a
94
wagon--to go squashed and dead back to their maker. Vermin infest their youth, and fortunes
must be spent for curative powders. In later life I have seen how a literature has been built up on
the subject of fortunes to be made out of the raising of chickens. It is intended to be read by the
gods who have just eaten of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. It is a hopeful literature
and declares that much may be done by simple ambitious people who own a few hens. Do not be
led astray by it. It was not written for you. Go hunt for gold on the frozen hills of Alaska, put
your faith in the honesty of a politician, believe if you will that the world is daily growing better
and that good will triumph over evil, but do not read and believe the literature that is written
concerning the hen. It was not written for you.
I, however, digress. My tale does not primarily concern itself with the hen. If correctly told
it will centre on the egg. For ten years my father and mother struggled to make our chicken farm
pay and then they gave up that struggle and began another. They moved into the town of
Bidwell, Ohio and embarked in the restaurant business. After ten years of worry with incubators
that did not hatch, and with tiny--and in their own way lovely – balls of fluff that passed on into
semi-naked pullethood and from that into dead hen-hood, we threw all aside and packing our
belongings on a wagon drove down Griggs's Road toward Bidwell, a tiny caravan of hope
looking for a new place from which to start on our upward journey through life.
We must have been a sad looking lot, not, I fancy, unlike refugees fleeing from a battlefield.
Mother and I walked in the road. The wagon that contained our goods had been borrowed for the
day from Mr. Albert Griggs, a neighbor. Out of its sides stuck the legs of cheap chairs and at the
back of the pile of beds, tables, and boxes filled with kitchen utensils was a crate of live
chickens, and on top of that the baby carriage in which I had been wheeled about in my infancy.
Why we stuck to the baby carriage I don't know. It was unlikely other children would be born
and the wheels were broken. People who have few possessions cling tightly to those they have.
That is one of the facts that make life so discouraging.
Father rode on top of the wagon. He was then a bald-headed man of forty-five, a little fat
and from long association with mother and the chickens he had become habitually silent and
discouraged. All during our ten years on the chicken farm he had worked as a laborer on
neighboring farms and most of the money he had earned had been spent for remedies to cure
chicken diseases, on Wilmer's White Wonder Cholera Cure or Professor Bidlow's Egg Producer
or some other preparations that mother found advertised in the poultry papers. There were two
little patches of hair on father's head just above his ears. I remember that as a child I used to sit
looking at him when he had gone to sleep in a chair before the stove on Sunday afternoons in the
winter. I had at that time already begun to read books and have notions of my own and the bald
path that led over the top of his head was, I fancied, something like a broad road, such a road as
Caesar might have made on which to lead his legions out of Rome and into the wonders of an
unknown world. The tufts of hair that grew above father's ears were, I thought, like forests. I fell
into a half-sleeping, half-waking state and dreamed I was a tiny thing going along the road into a
far beautiful place where there were no chicken farms and where life was a happy eggless affair.
One might write a book concerning our flight from the chicken farm into town. Mother and I
walked the entire eight miles--she to be sure that nothing fell from the wagon and I to see the
wonders of the world. On the seat of the wagon beside father was his greatest treasure. I will tell
you of that.
On a chicken farm where hundreds and even thousands of chickens come out of eggs
surprising things sometimes happen. Grotesques are born out of eggs as out of people. The
95
accident does not often occur – perhaps once in a thousand births. A chicken is, you see, born
that has four legs, two pairs of wings, two heads or what not. The things do not live. They go
quickly back to the hand of their maker that has for a moment trembled. The fact that the poor
little things could not live was one of the tragedies of life to father. He had some sort of notion
that if he could but bring into henhood or roosterhood a five-legged hen or a two-headed rooster
his fortune would be made. He dreamed of taking the wonder about to county fairs and of
growing rich by exhibiting it to other farm-hands.
At any rate he saved all the little monstrous things that had been born on our chicken farm.
They were preserved in alcohol and put each in its own glass bottle. These he had carefully put
into a box and on our journey into town it was carried on the wagon seat beside him. He drove
the horses with one hand and with the other clung to the box. When we got to our destination the
box was taken down at once and the bottles removed. All during our days as keepers of a
restaurant in the town of Bidwell, Ohio, the grotesques in their little glass bottles sat on a shelf
back of the counter. Mother sometimes protested but father was a rock on the subject of his
treasure. The grotesques were, he declared, valuable. People, he said, liked to look at strange and
wonderful things.
Did I say that we embarked in the restaurant business in the town of Bidwell, Ohio? I
exaggerated a little. The town itself lay at the foot of a low hill and on the shore of a small river.
The railroad did not run through the town and the station was a mile away to the north at a place
called Pickleville.There had been a cider mill and pickle factory at the station, but before the
time of our coming they had both gone out of business. In the morning and in the evening busses
came down to the station along a road called Turner's Pike from the hotel on the main street of
Bidwell. Our going to the out of the way place to embark in the restaurant business was mother's
idea. She talked of it for a year and then one day went off and rented an empty store building
opposite the railroad station.It was her idea that the restaurant would be profitable. Travelling
men, she said, would be always waiting around to take trains out of town and town people would
come to the station to await incoming trains. They would come to the restaurant to buy pieces of
pie and drink coffee. Now that I am older I know that she had another motive in going. She was
ambitious for me. She wanted me to rise in the world, to get into a town school and become a
man of the towns.
At Pickleville father and mother worked hard as they always had done. At first there was the
necessity of putting our place into shape to be a restaurant. That took a month. Father built a
shelf on which he put tins of vegetables. He painted a sign on which he put his name in large red
letters. Below his name was the sharp command – "EAT HERE" – that was so seldom obeyed. A
show case was bought and filled with cigars and tobacco. Mother scrubbed the floor and the
walls of the room. I went to school in the town and was glad to be away from the farm and from
the presence of the discouraged, sad-looking chickens. Still I was not very joyous. In the evening
I walked home from school along Turner's Pike and remembered the children I had seen playing
in the town school yard. A troop of little girls had gone hopping about and singing. I tried that.
Down along the frozen road I went hopping solemnly on one leg. "Hippity Hop To The Barber
Shop," I sang shrilly. Then I stopped and looked doubtfully about. I was afraid of being seen in
my gay mood. It must have seemed to me that I was doing a thing that should not be done by one
who, like myself, had been raised on a chicken farm where death was a daily visitor.
Mother decided that our restaurant should remain open at night. At ten in the evening a
passenger train went north past our door followed by a local freight. The freight crew had
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switching to do in Pickleville and when the work was done they came to our restaurant for hot
coffee and food. Sometimes one of them ordered a fried egg. In the morning at four they returned
north-bound and again visited us. A little trade began to grow up. Mother slept at night and
during the day tended the restaurant and fed our boarders while father slept. He slept in the same
bed mother had occupied during the night and I went off to the town of Bidwell and to school.
During the long nights, while mother and I slept, father cooked meats that were to go into
sandwiches for the lunch baskets of our boarders. Then an idea in regard to getting up in the
world came into his head. The American spirit took hold of him. He also became ambitious.
In the long nights when there was little to do father had time to think. That was his undoing.
He decided that he had in the past been an unsuccessful man because he had not been cheerful
enough and that in the future he would adopt a cheerful outlook on life. In the early morning he
came upstairs and got into bed with mother. She woke and the two talked. From my bed in the
corner I listened.
It was father's idea that both he and mother should try to entertain the people who came to
eat at our restaurant. I cannot now remember his words, but he gave the impression of one about
to become in some obscure way a kind of public entertainer. When people, particularly young
people from the town of Bidwell, came into our place, as on very rare occasions they did, bright
entertaining conversation was to be made. From father's words I gathered that something of the
jolly inn-keeper effect was to be sought. Mother must have been doubtful from the first, but she
said nothing discouraging. It was father's notion that a passion for the company of himself and
mother would spring up in the breasts of the younger people of the town of Bidwell. In the
evening bright happy groups would come singing down Turner's Pike. They would troop
shouting with joy and laughter into our place. There would be song and festivity. I do not mean
to give the impression that father spoke so elaborately of the matter. He was as I have said an
uncommunicative man. "They want some place to go. I tell you they want some place to go," he
said over and over. That was as far as he got. My own imagination has filled in the blanks.
For two or three weeks this notion of father's invaded our house. We did not talk much, but
in our daily lives tried earnestly to make smiles take the place of glum looks. Mother smiled at
the boarders and I, catching the infection, smiled at our cat. Father became a little feverish in his
anxiety to please. There was no doubt, lurking somewhere in him, a touch of the spirit of the
showman. He did not waste much of his ammunition on the railroad men he served at night but
seemed to be waiting for a young man or woman from Bidwell to come in to show what he could
do. On the counter in the restaurant there was a wire basket kept always filled with eggs, and it
must have been before his eyes when the idea of being entertaining was born in his brain. There
was something pre-natal about the way eggs kept themselves connected with the development of
his idea. At any rate an egg ruined his new impulse in life. Late one night I was awakened by a
roar of anger coming from father's throat. Both mother and I sat upright in our beds. With
trembling hands she lighted a lamp that stood on a table by her head. Downstairs the front door
of our restaurant went shut with a bang and in a few minutes father tramped up the stairs. He
held an egg in his hand and his hand trembled as though he were having a chill. There was a half
insane light in his eyes. As he stood glaring at us I was sure he intended throwing the egg at
either mother or me. Then he laid it gently on the table beside the lamp and dropped on his knees
beside mother's bed. He began to cry like a boy and I, carried away by his grief, cried with him.
The two of us filled the little upstairs room with our wailing voices. It is ridiculous, but of the
picture we made I can remember only the fact that mother's hand continually stroked the bald
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path that ran across the top of his head. I have forgotten what mother said to him and how she
induced him to tell her of what had happened downstairs. His explanation also has gone out of
my mind. I remember only my own grief and fright and the shiny path over father's head glowing
in the lamp light as he knelt by the bed.
As to what happened downstairs. For some unexplainable reason I know the story as well as
though I had been a witness to my father's discomfiture. One in time gets to know many
unexplainable things. On that evening young Joe Kane, son of a merchant of Bidwell, came to
Pickleville to meet his father, who was expected on the ten o'clock evening train from the
South.The train was three hours late and Joe came into our place to loaf about and to wait for its
arrival. The local freight train came in and the freight crew were fed. Joe was left alone in the
restaurant with father.
From the moment he came into our place the Bidwell young man must have been puzzled by
my father's actions. It was his notion that father was angry at him for hanging around. He noticed
that the restaurant keeper was apparently disturbed by his presence and he thought of going out.
However, it began to rain and he did not fancy the long walk to town and back. He bought a fivecent cigar and ordered a cup of coffee. He had a newspaper in his pocket and took it out and
began to read. "I'm waiting for the evening train. It's late," he said apologetically.
For a long time father, whom Joe Kane had never seen before, remained silently gazing at
his visitor. He was no doubt suffering from an attack of stage fright. As so often happens in life
he had thought so much and so often of the situation that now confronted him that he was
somewhat nervous in its presence.
For one thing, he did not know what to do with his hands. He thrust one of them nervously
over the counter and shook hands with Joe Kane. "How-de-do," he said. Joe Kane put his
newspaper down and stared at him. Father's eye lighted on the basket of eggs that sat on the
counter and he began to talk. "Well," he began hesitatingly, "well, you have heard of Christopher
Columbus, eh?" He seemed to be angry. "That Christopher Columbus was a cheat," he declared
emphatically. "He talked of making an egg stand on its end. He talked, he did, and then he went
and broke the end of the egg."
My father seemed to his visitor to be beside himself at the duplicity of Christopher
Columbus. He muttered and swore. He declared it was wrong to teach children that Christopher
Columbus was a great man when, after all, he cheated at the critical moment. He had declared he
would make an egg stand on end and then when his bluff had been called he had done a trick.
Still grumbling at Columbus, father took an egg from the basket on the counter and began to
walk up and down. He rolled the egg between the palms of his hands. He smiled genially. He
began to mumble words regarding the effect to be produced on an egg by the electricity that
comes out of the human body. He declared that without breaking its shell and by virtue of rolling
it back and forth in his hands he could stand the egg on its end. He explained that the warmth of
his hands and the gentle rolling movement he gave the egg created a new centre of gravity, and
Joe Kane was mildly interested. "I have handled thousands of eggs," father said. "No one knows
more about eggs than I do."
He stood the egg on the counter and it fell on its side. He tried the trick again and again,
each time rolling the egg between the palms of his hands and saying the words regarding the
wonders of electricity and the laws of gravity. When after a half hour's effort he did succeed in
making the egg stand for a moment he looked up to find that his visitor was no longer watching.
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By the time he had succeeded in calling Joe Kane's attention to the success of his effort the egg
had again rolled over and lay on its side.
Afire with the showman's passion and at the same time a good deal disconcerted by the
failure of his first effort, father now took the bottles containing the poultry monstrosities down
from their place on the shelf and began to show them to his visitor. "How would you like to have
seven legs and two heads like this fellow?" he asked, exhibiting the most remarkable of his
treasures. A cheerful smile played over his face. He reached over the counter and tried to slap
Joe Kane on the shoulder as he had seen men do in Ben Head's saloon when he was a young
farm-hand and drove to town on Saturday evenings. His visitor was made a little ill by the sight
of the body of the terribly deformed bird floating in the alcohol in the bottle and got up to go.
Coming from behind the counter father took hold of the young man's arm and led him back to his
seat. He grew a little angry and for a moment had to turn his face away and force himself to
smile. Then he put the bottles back on the shelf. In an outburst of generosity he fairly compelled
Joe Kane to have a fresh cup of coffee and another cigar at his expense. Then he took a pan and
filling it with vinegar, taken from a jug that sat beneath the counter, he declared himself about to
do a new trick. "I will heat this egg in this pan of vinegar," he said. "Then I will put it through
the neck of a bottle without breaking the shell. When the egg is inside the bottle it will resume its
normal shape and the shell will become hard again. Then I will give the bottle with the egg in it
to you. You can take it about with you wherever you go. People will want to know how you got
the egg in the bottle. Don't tell them. Keep them guessing. That is the way to have fun with this
trick."
Father grinned and winked at his visitor. Joe Kane decided that the man who confronted him
was mildly insane but harmless. He drank the cup of coffee that had been given him and began to
read his paper again. When the egg had been heated in vinegar father carried it on a spoon to the
counter and going into a back room got an empty bottle. He was angry because his visitor did not
watch him as he began to do his trick, but nevertheless went cheerfully to work. For a long time
he struggled, trying to get the egg to go through the neck of the bottle. He put the pan of vinegar
back on the stove, intending to reheat the egg, then picked it up and burned his fingers. After a
second bath in the hot vinegar the shell of the egg had been softened a little but not enough for
his purpose. He worked and worked and a spirit of desperate determination took possession of
him. When he thought that at last the trick was about to be consummated the delayed train came
in at the station and Joe Kane started to go nonchalantly out at the door. Father made a last
desperate effort to conquer the egg and make it do the thing that would establish his reputation as
one who knew how to entertain guests who came into his restaurant. He worried the egg. He
attempted to be somewhat rough with it. He swore and the sweat stood out on his forehead. The
egg broke under his hand. When the contents spurted over his clothes, Joe Kane, who had
stopped at the door, turned and laughed.
A roar of anger rose from my father's throat. He danced and shouted a string of inarticulate
words. Grabbing another egg from the basket on the counter, he threw it, just missing the head of
the young man as he dodged through the door and escaped.
Father came upstairs to mother and me with an egg in his hand. I do not know what he
intended to do. I imagine he had some idea of destroying it, of destroying all eggs, and that he
intended to let mother and me see him begin. When, however, he got into the presence of mother
something happened to him. He laid the egg gently on the table and dropped on his knees by the
bed as I have already explained. He later decided to close the restaurant for the night and to come
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upstairs and get into bed. When he did so he blew out the light and after much muttered
conversation both he and mother went to sleep. I suppose I went to sleep also, but my sleep was
troubled.
I awoke at dawn and for a long time looked at the egg that lay on the table. I wondered why
eggs had to be and why from the egg came the hen who again laid the egg. The question got into
my blood. It has stayed there, I imagine, because I am the son of my father. At any rate, the
problem remains unsolved in my mind. And that, I conclude, is but another evidence of the
complete and final triumph of the egg--at least as far as my family is concerned.
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S u g g e s t i o n s f o r W r i t i n g A s s i g n m e n ts
1. The first-person narrator in this story is evident from the opening "My father was, I am
sure, intended ...." What kind of judgments can you make about the personality and beliefs of
this narrator? Support your response with specific references to the text.
2. The "tone" of a story results from the emotional attitudes that are embedded in the text.
Among others, the tone can be happy, sad, thoughtful, or angry. What is the primary tone of this
story? Support your response with specific references to the text.
[One way to approach this question is to have the students list nouns, verbs, and
especially adjectives and adverbs in the story that have emotional connotations.
Their lists should lead them to their view of the theme. You might want to have
the students organize this paper by devoting one body paragraph to each of
these four parts of speech. The sequence of these body paragraphs should
probably go from the least important part of speech (in the development of tone)
to the most important. (Unless students have some other reason for making the
determination, the most important would be the one that has the most examples,
and, as a result, takes the most words to explain.)]
3. The extent to which people are in control of their own lives is a frequent topic of literature.
To what extent does the story suggest that the narrator's parents controlled their own lives? In
the fourth paragraph, for example, the narrator states that his parents "launched into chicken
raising." What are the connotations of "launched," and how do they relate to this question? What
else in the story supports your view?
4. Characterize the narrator's parents. In what ways are they similar? In what ways are they
different? Which of the two appears to have had the most influence on the narrator? Support
your response with specific references to the text.
5. Among other things, this is a story about ambition -- the desire to move upward in
society. The narrator specifically describes his mother's ambition, and then, later, his father's.
To develop this idea, the narrator uses a fair amount of "up," "down" and "sideways" symbolism.
Find as much of this symbolism in the story as you can, and then explain how it develops this
theme.
[Note that the desire to stand an egg on its end is, symbolically, an attempt to put
it in a launch-like position.]
6. What, in your opinion, is the primary theme (point) of this story? Support your response
with specific references to the text.
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A na l yz in g M y Ow n Writ in g
Don't forget that one of the most important, perhaps the most important, of the KISS
exercises is to have students analyze a sample of their own writing. Have them make a doublespaced final copy (in pen) of something they have written. Then have them analyze it (in pencil)
for the constructions that they have learned thus far. Finally, have them work in small groups to
check each other's analysis. This group work has the effect of letting students informally
compare their writing style with that of their peers. Finally, as part of this group work, you might
want to have them make suggestions to each other about the overall quality of the writing – its
organization, details, focus, etc.
By eighth grade, students who have been studying clauses since seventh should have a
fairly good command of clause structure, so this analysis should focus on clause structure. In
terms of errors, this analysis should not only help students who have problems (fragments,
comma-splices, etc.) recognize these problems, but it should also enable them to fix them. In
terms of style, you may want to have the students do a statistical analysis so that they can see
fairly precisely how their use of subordinate clauses, levels of embedding, etc. match the writing
of their classmates.