CONTRACTED SENTENCES.

 

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."

 

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.