ill sung by the pines of the
forest.

40. In the Acadian land, on the shores of the Basin of Minas,
Distant, secluded, still, the little village of Grand-Pre
Lay in the fruitful valley.

41. Must we in all things look for the how, and the why, and the
wherefore?

CONTRACTED SENTENCES.

[Sidenote: _Words left out after_ than _or_ as.]

365. Some sentences look like simple ones in form, but have an
essential part omitted that is so readily supplied by the mind as not
to need expressing. Such are the following:--

"There is no country more worthy of our study than England [is
worthy of our study]."

"The distinctions between them do not seem to be so marked as
[they are marked] in the cities."

To show that these words are really omitted, compare with them the two
following:--

"The nobility and gentry are more popular among the inferior
orders than _they are_ in any other country."

"This is not so universally the case at present as _it was_
formerly."

[Sidenote: _Sentences with_ like.]

366. As shown in Part I. (Sec. 333). the expressions _of manner_
introduced by _like_, though often treated as phrases, are really
contracted clauses; but, if they were expanded, _as_ would be the
connective instead of _like_; thus,--

"They'll shine o'er her sleep, like [as] a smile from the west
[would shine].
From her own loved island of sorrow."

This must, however, be carefully discriminated from cases where _like_
is an adjective complement; as,--

"She is _like_ some tender tree, the pride and beauty of the
grove;" "The ruby seemed _like_ a spark of fire burning upon her
white bosom."

Such contracted sentences form a connecting link between our study of
simple and complex sentences.

COMPLEX SENTENCES.

[Sidenote: _The simple sentence the basis._]

367. Our investigations have now included all the machinery of the
simple sentence, which is the _unit of speech_.

Our further study will be in sentences which are combinations of
simple sentences, made merely for convenience and smoothness, to avoid
the tiresome repetition of short ones of monotonous similarity.

Next to the simple sentence stands the complex sentence. The basis of
it is two or more simple sentences, which are so united that one
member is the main one,--the backbone,--the other members subordinate
to it, or dependent on it; as in th