Author Topic: Tough questions about sentence structure and pronoun usage  (Read 14745 times)

Joe Carillo

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Tough questions about sentence structure and pronoun usage
« on: August 29, 2010, 11:12:52 AM »
Question e-mailed by forces20, Forum member (August 27, 2010):

Good evening, Sir Joe, I again have questions in English grammar that I (we) find confusing.

First, according to its structure, what kind of sentence is the one below? 

“By taking the test, the students should make sure that everything is well prepared.”

We are confused whether that sentence is complex  or compound-complex. Either way, why is it so?

Secondly, what are the correct pronouns for the following sentences?

1. “She is not clever as_____(he,him).”
2  “No one could regret it more than __( I ,me).”

My reply to the questions raised by forces20:

“By taking the test, the students should make sure that everything is well prepared.”

Before I analyze this sentence structurally, let me say first that it is grammatically and semantically defective. To begin with, the preposition “by” is ill-chosen; it should more properly be the preposition “before” to make the modification logical. And then the use of the phrase “that everything is well prepared” gives the sentence a slippery, hard-to-grasp sense; indeed, it gives the wrong impression that the students are not the test-takers but are the ones administering the test. To make the sentence grammatically and semantically airtight, I would suggest rewriting it as follows:

“Before taking the test, the students should make sure that they are well prepared.”

Now, to make the analysis of the rewritten sentence easier, let’s render it in this equivalent form:

The students should make sure that they are well-prepared before taking the test.”

It’s clear now that the sentence is a complex sentence that consists of the following:

1. The main clause “the students should make sure”
2. The subordinate clause “that they are well-prepared”
3. The prepositional phrase “before making the test modifying the subordinate clause.

                                            IMAGE CREDIT: ENGLISHGRAMMARSOFT.COM


By definition, of course, a complex sentence is one that consists of a main or independent clause and one or more subordinate clauses. In the particular sentence in question here, the prepositional phrase “before taking the test” isn’t another subordinate clause but simply a phrase modifying the subordinate clause; as such, it’s actually an integral part of the subordinate clause.

In contrast, a compound-complex sentence is one that consists of two or more main or independent clauses and one or more subordinate clauses, as in the following example:

“As the semester draws to a close and the students get ready to graduate from college, they should make themselves well-prepared for the final examinations and they should get ready for the graduation ceremonies.”

The sentence above is compound-complex because it consists of two main clauses and two subordinate clauses, as follows:

1. The first main clause “(the students) should make themselves well-prepared for the final examinations”
2. The second main clause “(the students) should get ready for the graduation ceremonies”
3. The first subordinate clause “as the semester draws to a close”
4. The second subordinate clause “(as) the students get ready to graduate from college”

The first and second clauses, which are joined by the additive function word “and,” form the compound main clause; on the other hand, the first and second subordinate clauses, likewise joined by the function word “and,” form the compound subordinate clause. Together all of these grammatically elements form the compound-complex sentence.

Now let’s take up your two questions about which pronoun is correct in the following two sentences:

1. “She is not clever as_____ (he, him).”
2. “No one could regret it more than __ (I, me).”

In informal usage, people do tend to use the objective pronoun “him” in constructions like Sentence 1 above; they find it easier to articulate the sentence that way. But the strictly formal usage—and the one I would recommend when you take English grammar tests or write essays as part of your schoolwork—is the nominative pronoun “he”: “She is not as clever as he.” This construction is actually the elliptical form of the sentence “She is not as clever as he is clever,” with the verb “is” and the adjective “clever” dropped for conciseness and ease of articulation. (Note further that the correct construction of the comparative is “as + adjective + as,” not “adjective + as.”)

Now, in sentence constructions involving the form “more than + pronoun,” the choice between the nominative pronoun and objective pronoun remains contentious to this day. There are grammarians who think that “than” in that construction is a conjunction, so they insist that the pronoun after the word “than” should be in the nominative case “I”: “No one could regret it more than I.” However, other grammarians insist that “than” in that construction is a preposition, so the pronoun after the word “than” should be in the objective case “me”: “No one could regret it more than me.” In their view—and I must admit that I’m partial to that view—“me” is logically the object of the preposition “than,” so it’s but correct and proper for it to be in the objective form.

You could get burned if you take sides either way, though, particularly if the side you take isn’t the grammar camp of your English professor or of the HRD specialist in charge of English-proficiency testing. I would say that the better part of valor if you absolutely need to use that still-hotly-debated form is to eliminate the ambiguity of your usage of “than” by recasting the sentence this way: “No one could regret it more than I do.” This is the simplest, surest way to prevent this contentious grammar issue from adversely affecting your grade or test score or your chances of employment.
« Last Edit: April 08, 2022, 10:09:03 PM by Joe Carillo »