The KISS Grammar Workbooks Back to April Menu
(Code and Color Key)

Exercise # 1 on Compound Main Clauses
from Sherwood Anderson's "The Egg"
Analysis Key

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."