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Title: The structure of the English sentence

Author: Lillian Kimball Stewart

Release date: January 10, 2025 [eBook #75077]

Language: English

Original publication: New York: American Book Company, 1900

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*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE STRUCTURE OF THE ENGLISH SENTENCE ***

THE STRUCTURE

OF THE

ENGLISH SENTENCE

BY

LILLIAN G. KIMBALL

INSTRUCTOR IN ENGLISH, STATE NORMAL SCHOOL, OSHKOSH, WISCONSIN

NEW YORK CINCINNATI CHICAGO

AMERICAN BOOK COMPANY

COPYRIGHT, 1900

BY LILLIAN G. KIMBALL

Eng. Sentence

E-V 20

PREFACE

IT has long seemed to me both unfortunate and wrong that many pupils leave school with no keen delight in the study of English grammar, and with the mistaken idea that it is mainly a study of rules and definitions based upon the forms of mere words. Far from this, it should be from the beginning a study of thought. Words should be examined solely from the point of view of their function in the sentence, the part they play in the communication of thought. Always the sentence should be the unit of study, and it should be looked at, not primarily as expressing a thought that was once in the mind of its author, but rather as forever communicating thought to the minds of its readers. For men would neither speak nor write without an audience. Their aim is not to get their thought into words for satisfaction to themselves, but to convey thought by means of words to their fellow-men. Therefore it is that in all language study, in all language teaching, the governing idea should be, not expression, but communication, of thought.

It is now universally conceded that the purposes of grammar study are three; namely, and in the order of their importance and their realization,—1. to discipline the mind; 2. to aid in the interpretation of speech and literature; 3. to facilitate the correct expression of thought. It cannot, then, be denied that a rational investigation of the structure of English sentences is far more important than any other phase of grammar study, and for three reasons:—1. it is a study of thought, and as such must discipline the mind; 2. it trains the student through practice, which is the most effective way, to interpret the thought of others; 3. by presenting to him the best models for imitation, it aids him in communicating clearly his own thoughts.

Believing this, and knowing from much experience that not until students have examined the structure of sentences in relation to the thought embodied, do they have any vital or useful knowledge of etymology and syntax, I have long thought that a book was needed which should deal only with the analysis of sentences, the culminating phase of grammar study, for which all previous work is a preparation. The book that I have prepared is not intended to supplant any text-book in grammar, but rather to provide for a profitable continuation of grammar study in high schools and normal schools. It is based upon the English sentence as it has been written during the present century. No attempt has been made to criticize any form or variation of sentence structure. Instead, sentences are examined as they have been constructed by reputable authors, with a view to determining the adequacy of their structure to the communication of thought.

My highest aim and my sincerest hope have been to present worthy matter in such a way as to require and stimulate good thinking on the part of students, and to make them marvel and rejoice at the perfect adaptability of the English sentence to the noble burden that it bears, that of communicating thought.

L. G. K.

OSHKOSH, WIS., May, 1900.

CONTENTS

CHAPTER

PAGE

I.

The Proposition

7

II.

The Classification of Propositions

11

III.

The Classification of Sentences according to Structure

18

IV.

The Classification of Sentences according to Form

23

V.

The Adjective Clause

28

VI.

The Analysis of Simple, Partially Compound, and

Complex Sentences

38

VII.

The Substantive Clause

42

VIII.

Analysis of Sentences containing Noun Clauses

51

IX.

The Adverbial Clause of Time

53

X.

The Adverbial Clause of Place

59

XI.

The Adverbial Clause of Manner

62

XII.

The Analysis of Sentences

66

XIII.

The Adverbial Clause of Cause

68

XIV.

Clauses of Purpose and Result

73

XV.

The Adverbial Clause of Condition

78

XVI.

The Adverbial Clause of Concession

82

XVII.

The Adverbial Clause of Degree or Comparison

87

XVIII.

The Compound Sentence

97

XIX.

The Conjunction in some of its Uses

105

XX.

The Infinitive Phrase

113

XXI.

The Participial Phrase

129

XXII.

The Gerund

139

XXIII.

The Prepositional Phrase

146

XXIV.

The Appositive Phrase

161

XXV.

The Direct Object

169

XXVI.

The Subjective Complement

175

XXVII.

The Objective Complement

179

XXVIII.

The Indirect Object

188

XXIX.

The Adverbial Noun

189

XXX.

Peculiar Modifications

193

XXXI.

Independent Elements

201

XXXII.

Sentence Modifiers

209

XXXIII.

Elliptical Sentences

214

MISCELLANEOUS SENTENCES FOR ANALYSIS

228

INDEX

241

THE

STRUCTURE OF THE ENGLISH SENTENCE

CHAPTER I

THE PROPOSITION

IN the mind of every human being there are innumerable ideas, or mental pictures, gathered from previous experience. Whenever we perceive a relation between any two of these ideas, we form a judgment, or, in other words, have a thought. If we wish to communicate our thought we ordinarily express it in words, and this verbal expression of a thought we call a sentence.

For example, I have an idea of children and an idea of the activity called play; I see a relation between them, that of agent and thing done; I affirm this relation, and have the sentence, Children play. Or I detect a relation between flower and whiteness, and say, The flower is white. Or I fail to establish such a relation and so deny the former statement by saying, The flower is not white. In each case my sentence serves the great purpose of communicating thought; and it does this by calling up in the mind of the reader the same combination of ideas that exists in my mind.

Another name for sentences like those just formed, is proposition, a proposition being the expression of one thought. But since a proposition is the statement of a judgment, it must contain two ideas. One of these, denoting that of which something is asserted, we call the subject; the other, denoting what is said of the subject, we call the predicate. The relation between these two ideas cannot always be expressed by means of two words. If we wish to assert a relation between water and freshness, we must use at least three words, Water is fresh; the word is contains little, if any, meaning, but is necessary for the grammatical expression of the thought.

Although a proposition must contain at least two ideas, it may contain any number of them. For example, I may expand the proposition, Children play, by additional ideas, telling (1) whose children, (2) a characteristic of the children, (3) what they play, (4) where they play, (5) when they play,—My neighbor’s little children play hide and seek in their yard every evening. Still I have only one proposition, for the number of propositions in a sentence depends on the number of judgments, or thoughts, expressed,—in other words, on the number of assertions made; and here there is but one, that made essentially by the verb play.

All sentences, however, are not single propositions, for in building sentences we often go a step further than seeing the relation between ideas, that is, we see the relation between thoughts; and so, instead of combining mere words, we combine whole propositions into one sentence. Take, for example, the two propositions, Children play, and Children enjoy play. I may see that the second fact is a cause of the first, and, by combining the two so as to bring out this relation of cause and effect, get the sentence, Children play because they enjoy it, wherein I substitute the pronouns they and it for the already known words children and play.

Or take the two propositions, The lion roared, and The hyena laughed. I may wish to tell some one that these two actions were related in time, occurring simultaneously; I do this by saying, The lion roared and the hyena laughed, where I have one sentence, but made of two propositions, because conveying two thoughts. I might put in other thoughts, telling (1) which lion, (2) why he roared, (3) how long the hyena laughed,—The lion that was kept in the cage near the door roared because the keeper did not bring his food, and the hyena laughed till he had set all the animals around him in an uproar. Here I have one sentence containing five thoughts, therefore made up of five propositions.

However, it is not with composition, the building up of sentences, that we are to concern ourselves, so much as with an examination into the structure of the finished product. Now, when we study the structure of the human body, we look upon it first as a symmetrical whole, then we separate it into its largest, most distinct members,—the head, the trunk, the arms, the legs. After we have noted the relations of these parts, we take up each part as a whole and proceed again in the same way. In analyzing sentences we shall pursue the same method.

Every sentence is a unit just as the body is; like the body, too, it is made up of smaller units. In studying its structure we should first of all find the units which compose the sentence-unit. If the sentence is a single proposition, the constituent units are, of course, the subject and the predicate. But if the sentence is a combination of propositions, as is oftener the case, then its chief units are these propositions. Therefore, as a foundation for the analysis of sentences, we must be able to determine readily how many propositions a given sentence contains. Our first exercise will be devoted to this end.

Exercise 1

Resolve the following sentences into single propositions. Remember that the number of propositions depends on the number of assertions made.

1. There are thousands of years between the stone hatchet and the machine shop.—C. W. Eliot.

2. All along the Atlantic, the country is bordered by a broad tract, called the tierra caliente, or hot region, which has the usual high temperature of equinoctial lands.—Prescott.

3. Times grew worse and worse with Rip Van Winkle as years of matrimony rolled on; a tart temper never mellows with age, and a sharp tongue is the only edged tool that grows keener with constant use.—Irving.

4. Every thing around me wore that happy look which makes the heart glad.—Longfellow.

5. I came from India as a child, and our ship touched at an island on the way home, where my black servant took me a long walk over rocks and hills, until we reached a garden where we saw a man walking.—Thackeray.

6. As a painter may draw a cloud so that we recognize its general truth, though the boundaries of real clouds never remain the same for two minutes together, so, amid the changes of feature and complexion, brought about by commingling of race, there still remains a certain cast of physiognomy, which points back to some one ancestor of marked and peculiar character.—Lowell.

7. Our eyes are holden that we cannot see things that stare us in the face, until the hour arrives when the mind is ripened.—Emerson.

8. The burning sun of Syria had not yet attained its highest point in the horizon, when a knight of the Red Cross, who had left his distant northern home and joined the host of the Crusaders in Palestine, was pacing slowly along the sandy deserts which lie in the vicinity of the Dead Sea, where the waves of the Jordan pour themselves into an inland sea from which there is no discharge of waters.—Scott.

9.

Through the black Tartar tents he passed which stood,

Clustering like bee hives on the low, flat strand

Of Oxus, where the summer floods o’erflow

When the sun melts the snow in high Pamere.

—M. Arnold.

10. On a fine, breezy forenoon I am audaciously skeptical, but, as twilight sets in, my credulity grows steadily, till it becomes equal to anything that could be desired.—De Quincey.

11. Although it was now well on towards dark and the sun was down an hour or so, I could see the robbers’ road before me in a trough of the winding hills, where the brook plowed down from the higher barrows, and the coving banks were roofed with furze.—Blackmore.

12. In one place the poet describes a congregation gathered to listen to a preacher in a great unillumined cathedral at night.—Wm. James.

CHAPTER II

THE CLASSIFICATION OF PROPOSITIONS

How Propositions differ in Nature.—In studying the human body we cannot help seeing that all the prominent members are not equally important. Some could exist independently of others, while some are joined directly to a more important part, and, if separated from it, would have no use or life. So, in studying a sentence, we notice that all the propositions are not equal in rank. Some are complete sentences in themselves; others would not make sense if they were obliged to stand alone. Hence there arise two classes of propositions,—principal and subordinate, or independent and dependent.

In every sentence there is at least one primary thought which it is the author’s main purpose to communicate, and this will always be found in the principal proposition. There may be modifying circumstances of time, place, manner, condition, etc., which he wishes to embody in his sentence, but he brings these in by means of words and phrases, which are elements of the principal proposition, or else, if the language affords no adequate words and phrases, by means of subordinate propositions.

In the following sentence from Carlyle,—“How true is that old fable of the Sphinx, who sat by the wayside propounding her riddle to the passengers,” there are plainly two propositions. It is also plain that the thought which the author wished most to convey is this,—The old fable of the Sphinx is true. In fact, it was the prime importance of this thought that led him to put it in the principal proposition. He chose to add the thought expressed in the second proposition, but he showed its minor importance by constructing the proposition so that it serves as a mere modifier of the word Sphinx. From a grammatical point of view the first proposition is complete,—it could stand alone and make sense; hence it is called independent. On the other hand, the second proposition, if separated from the first, would lose its meaning; it is therefore said to be dependent.

Consider these sentences:

1. The Mohawk hardly feels the scalping-knife while he shouts his death song.—Macaulay.

2. No success is worthy of the name unless it is won by honest industry and a brave breasting of the waves of fortune.—Huxley.

3. That country is the fairest which is inhabited by the noblest minds.—Emerson.

If we separate each of these sentences into its two propositions and apply the test,—which proposition is by itself grammatically complete? we shall see that the first proposition in each sentence is independent and the second dependent. But it may be said that in each case the dependent proposition is necessary for the truth of the sentence, that its thought must have been in the author’s mind not as an addition to the main thought but as something indispensable. This is perfectly true; logically the truth of the independent proposition does depend on the thought in the dependent proposition, but grammatically the dependence is the other way. Notice that in each of these sentences the second proposition denotes a modifying circumstance of the main thought, and therefore takes rank in the sentence merely as an idea,—telling in the first sentence when the Mohawk hardly feels the scalping knife, in the second under what condition success is unworthy, in the third which country is the fairest. Now, had the author so chosen, these modifications might all have been expressed by phrases, though possibly not so clearly.

Tests for Independent and Dependent Propositions.—From the foregoing we may deduce the following tests for propositions.

1. For the independent proposition.—(a) It contains the main thought that the author wished to convey. (b) It is so expressed that it is grammatically complete when standing alone.

2. For the dependent proposition.—(a) It expresses a modifying thought of some word or words in the independent proposition. (b) It may be changed to a simpler element, a word or phrase, provided there is a word or phrase in the language to express the same meaning. (c) It is not so expressed that it would make sense standing alone.

Function of the Dependent Proposition.—From what has already been said it may be inferred that the dependent proposition is employed (1) for variety, in the place of a word or phrase, (2) for the adequate expression of what we have no word or phrase capable of saying. But this is not all. Every dependent proposition can be changed into an independent proposition, and so might have been brought into the sentence in that form. For example,—

The Mohawk shouts his death song, and he hardly feels the scalping knife.

That country is inhabited by the noblest minds and it is the fairest.

Success should be won by honest industry and a brave breasting of the waves of fortune, and no other success is worthy of the name.

By comparing these recasted sentences with the originals we perceive why the authors employed the dependent proposition; by means of it they have shown what the recasted sentences do not show—(1) what is the main thought and what is subordinate; (2) the special relation existing between the principal and the subordinate thought. This second point is very important. If we had to tell a story in sentences of one proposition each, how difficult it would be to give the reader an idea of the various relations between these propositions. Besides, how tedious is a succession of single propositions. Compare, for instance, the following six sentences with the one smooth, compact, clear sentence into which they may be combined.

The jay hoards up nuts for winter use.

This is a general belief among country people.

This belief has probably some foundation in fact.

Where can the jay safely place his stores?

One is at a loss to know this.

His stores are apt to be pilfered by the mice and squirrels.

The general belief among country people that the jay hoards up nuts for winter use has probably some foundation in fact, though one is at a loss to know where he could place his stores so that they would not be pilfered by the mice and squirrels.—Burroughs.

The Combination of Independent Propositions.—This comes about when we wish to put related thoughts into one sentence in such a way as to show that they are equally important, and that, although they are related, neither is to be considered as denoting some modifying circumstance of any idea in the other. For example,—

1. There must be work done by the arms or none of us could live.—Ruskin.

2. Misfortune could not subdue him and prosperity could not spoil him.—Dickens.

3. You may talk of the tyranny of Nero and Tiberius; but the real tyranny is the tyranny of your next door neighbor.—Bagehot.

Notice that the connectives in these sentences, while indicating a relation between the propositions as wholes, belong to one proposition no more than to the other, hence are not a grammatical part of either; also that neither proposition is a modifier of any idea in the other.

It has been well said that often when we combine two independent propositions into one sentence, we are really conveying three thoughts,—the thought in each proposition and the thought suggested by the relation between the two propositions. In sentence 3 just quoted, we have not only the two propositions expressed, but two more implied; viz., the tyranny of Nero and Tiberius is not the real tyranny; and, the real tyranny is not talked about.

We are now ready to take the second step in studying the structure of a given sentence, that is, to determine whether its component propositions are independent or dependent.

Exercise 2

Select each proposition in the following sentences. State whether it is independent or dependent, and give the grounds for your decision.

1. Children play the part in the household which the king’s jester, who very often had a mighty long head under his cap and bells, used to play for a monarch.—Holmes.

2. Already I breathed gales of the everlasting mountains, that to my feelings blew from the garden of Paradise.—De Quincey.

3. The waterfall is comparatively narrow at the top of the precipice; but it widens as it descends, and curves a little as it widens, so that it shapes itself, before it reaches the first bowl of granite, into the charming figure of the comet that glowed on our sky some years ago.—King.

4. He, who, in an enlightened and literary society, aspires to be a great poet, must first become a little child.—Macaulay.

5. One has only to sit down in the woods or fields, or by the shore of the river or lake, and nearly everything of interest will come round to him,—the birds, the animals, the insects,—and presently, after his eye has got accustomed to the place and to the light and shade, he will probably see some plant or flower that he had sought in vain for, and that is a pleasant surprise to him.—Burroughs.

6. If their lantern had been in its place, they would scarce have failed to descry me, unless indeed I had seen the gleam before I turned the corner.—Blackmore.

7. The whole town knew and kindly regarded Miss Betsey Barker’s Alderney; therefore great was the sympathy and regret when, in an unguarded moment, the poor cow tumbled into a lime-pit.—Mrs. Gaskell.

8.

That was the grandest funeral

That ever passed on earth,

But no one heard the tramping,

Or saw the train go forth.

9. There were rows of houses which he had never seen before, and those which had been his familiar haunts had disappeared.—Irving.

10. In the morning I arose with the lark, and at night I slept where sunset overtook me.—Longfellow.

11. Kala Nag, which means Black Snake, had served the Indian Government in every way that an elephant could serve it for forty-seven years.—Kipling.

12. Your dull unhurried worker gets over a great deal of ground because he never goes backward or breaks down.—Wm. James.

CHAPTER III

THE CLASSIFICATION OF SENTENCES ACCORDING TO

STRUCTURE

WE have seen that a sentence may consist of one proposition or of several, and that all its propositions may be independent or one or more of them may be dependent. This freedom of combination gives rise to three distinct types of sentences, classified according to the number and the kind of propositions they contain. These are simple, complex, and compound.

1. A simple sentence is one that consists of one independent proposition.—“Lightness of touch is the crowning test of power.”—Higginson.

2. A complex sentence is one that contains at least one dependent proposition. It usually contains a complete independent proposition also, and it may contain any number of dependent propositions.

(a) With the independent proposition complete,—“What inspiration gilds his features as he descends the mount with the Tables in his hand.”—Lord.

(b) With the independent proposition incomplete because the dependent proposition is its subject.—“That Chaucer, being at Milan, should not have found occasion to ride across so far as Padua for the sake of seeing the most famous literary man of the day, is incredible.”—Lowell.

3. A compound sentence is one that contains at least two independent propositions. It may also contain one or more dependent propositions. In that case it is often called complex-compound.

(a) Compound sentence,—“It is a strange tale, but it hath the recommendation of brevity.”—Jerrold.

(b) Complex-compound.—“Times of heroism are generally times of terror, but the day never shines in which this element may not work.”—Emerson.

Difficulty in Classifying Sentences.—It is sometimes difficult for a beginner to determine whether a sentence is complex or compound, that is, whether a certain one of its propositions is independent or dependent. Take, for instance, two such sentences as the following: “The ground is wet this morning because it rained last night”; and, “The ground is wet this morning, hence it rained last night.” Out of each of these expressions we get a statement of cause and effect, but the two sentences are not therefore alike, for a sentence is to be considered not only logically but grammatically, before we can decide what kind it is. It is clear that in each sentence the first proposition is independent, so we shall examine only the second.

Now, in the first sentence the second proposition is intended to tell why the ground is wet, just as the words this morning tell when it is wet. Why a certain state exists may be told by a phrase as well as by a proposition, because it is only a modifying circumstance. It might be told here by the prepositional phrase from last night’s rain. If this second proposition, then, is put into the sentence merely to tell something about some part of the independent proposition, it is clearly subordinate, and therefore dependent.

In the second sentence the second proposition does not express any modification of any idea in the first proposition. It states a conclusion drawn from the fact stated in the first proposition, and in the author’s mind the conclusion is of equal importance with the fact that supports it. We may even supply the conjunction and before hence, which shows that the two propositions are coördinate, so if one is independent the other must be.

It may be said that if the conjunction hence is taken as a part of the following proposition, the proposition cannot stand alone any more than can the proposition introduced by because. But because must be taken as a part of its proposition because it indicates the special modifying circumstance—not time, or place, but cause—which the author intended that proposition to denote, whereas hence is not a part of the following proposition because that proposition is not intended, as we have shown, to be a modifier of any part of the preceding proposition, but a conclusion drawn from the whole of it. Because, indicating subordination is a subordinating conjunction and always a part of the proposition it introduces. Hence, indicating equality, or grammatical coördination, is a coördinating conjunction and never a part of the proposition following it.

The Partially Compound Sentence.—Since there are three well defined types of sentences, it is natural that there should be forms lying in between any two of these types and partaking of the nature of both. One of these forms, the complex-compound sentence, we have already spoken of. Another form is found in the following sentence,—“The diseases, the elements, fortune, gravity, lightning, respect no persons.”—Emerson.

Here there are several subjects but only one assertion made, hence only one proposition. The sentence resembles both the compound sentence and the simple sentence, but is, strictly speaking, neither one. It is called partially compound, and may be considered a fifth kind of sentence. Sometimes it contains only one subject but two or more predicates,—“He shook his head, shouldered the rusty firelock, and, with a heart full of trouble and anxiety, turned his steps homeward.”—Irving.

Exercise 3

Classify the following sentences according to structure, giving in each case the grounds for your decision.

1. I could never fathom how a man dares to lift up his voice to preach in a cathedral.—Stevenson.

2.

Great feelings hath she of her own,

Which lesser souls may never know;

God giveth them to her alone,

And sweet they are as any tone

Wherewith the wind may choose to blow.—Lowell.

3. When you emerge from the portals of St. Mark’s, you enter upon spaces of such sunny length and breadth, set round with such exquisite architecture that it makes you glad to be living in this world.—Howells.

4. Education, to accomplish the ends of good government, should be universally diffused.—Webster.

5. If a country finds itself wretched, sure enough that country has been misguided.—Carlyle.

6. These winds in the winter season frequently freshen into tempests, and, sweeping down the Atlantic coast and the winding Gulf of Mexico, burst with the fury of a hurricane on its unprotected shores, and on the neighboring West India islands.—Prescott.

7. The Puritan prostrated himself in the dust before his Maker; but he set his foot on the neck of his king.—Macaulay.

8. You get entangled in another man’s mind, even as you lose yourself in another man’s grounds.—Lamb.

9.

Not what we think, but what we do,

Makes saints of us. —Alice Cary.

10.

He reeled, and staggering back sank to the ground;

And then the gloom dispersed, and the wind fell,

And the bright sun broke forth, and melted all

The cloud. —M. Arnold.

11. Only the learned, who were very few, could read Latin; hence there came to be great ignorance of the Bible, and all sorts of superstitions and false beliefs took possession of the people, and the Bible came to be almost a forgotten and unused book.—Munger.

12. Wherever the Anglo-Saxon race goes, there law, industry, and safety for life and property are certain to arise.—Dickens.

13. The islands of the lagoons seemed to rise and sink with the light palpitations of the waves like pictures on the undulating fields of banners.—Howells.

14.

The heights by great men reached and kept

Were not attained by sudden flight,

But they, while their companions slept,

Were toiling upward in the night. —Longfellow.

15. Sweet funeral bells from some incalculable distance, wailing over the dead that die before the dawn, awakened me as I slept in a boat moored to some familiar shore.—De Quincey.

16. Terror, not love, was the spring of education with the Aztecs.—Prescott.

17. As night set in, the wind whistled in a spiteful, falsetto key, and the rain lashed the old tavern as if it were a balky horse that refused to move on.—Aldrich.

18. Feudalism was an institution of the Middle Ages, which grew out of the miseries and robberies that succeeded the fall of the Roman Empire.—Lord.

19. Tennyson delights to sing of heroic deeds and to celebrate noble souls.

CHAPTER IV

THE CLASSIFICATION OF SENTENCES ACCORDING TO FORM

WE have classified sentences according to their structure as simple, complex, compound, partially compound, and complex-compound. There is another classification made on the basis of form, which gives us three kinds of sentences,—declarative, interrogative, imperative. These three forms arise from the fact that there are three modes of communicating thought; viz., by assertion, by question, by command.

The Declarative Sentence.—A declarative sentence is one that states or declares something,—“Aunt Celia has an intense desire to improve my mind.”—Mrs. Wiggin.

This is the commonest kind of sentence, especially in books, for it is the business of an author to inform his readers of his own thoughts, not to inquire after theirs. It is the style of sentence best fitted for relating events, describing objects, or making clear any difficult subject. Its order is usually the natural one, first the subject and then the predicate. Variations from this order will be taken up as they present themselves in connection with different sentence-elements.

The Interrogative Sentence.—An interrogative sentence is one that asks a question,—“Who now reads the ancient authors?”—F. Harrison.

This kind of sentence is used often in conversation, both oral and written. It is also common in addresses, such as sermons and lectures, where the speaker asks questions of his audience, not for the purpose of getting an answer, but that he may make a more direct appeal to them.

In books we often meet such an interrogative sentence as this,—“What courage can withstand the ever-during and all-besetting terrors of a woman’s tongue?”—Irving.

The purpose of this sentence is not to inquire, to ask a question of anybody, but to give emphatic expression to a thought. It is a rhetorical device for making an assertion forcible. The author of the sentence quoted was so positive of the truth of his thought that, instead of declaring it, he put it in the form of a question, meaning, however,—“There is no courage that can withstand, etc.”

Interrogative sentences are of two kinds:

1. Those that can be answered by yes or no,—“Can a man weigh off and value the glories of dawn against the darkness of hurricane?”—De Quincey.

These sentences put in question the whole thought, and are usually in the inverted order, the auxiliary of the predicate verb coming before the subject.

2. Those that cannot be answered by yes or no,—“Why should the trees be so lovely in Japan?”—Hearn.

These sentences put in question only one point, either the subject, the object, an attribute of the subject or object, or some circumstance of time, manner, place, cause, etc. They usually begin with an interrogative word, such as the pronouns who, which, what, or the adverbs how, when, why, where.

Interrogative sentences have sometimes the same order and arrangement of words as declarative sentences. It is only by hearing them spoken or noting their punctuation that we know they are interrogative; for example, “Scrooge knew he was dead?”—Dickens. This is equivalent to—“Did Scrooge know that he was dead?”

Before analyzing an interrogative sentence, its order, if inverted, should be changed to that of the declarative sentence. Motley’s question,—“When did one man ever civilize a people?” becomes for analysis,—“One man did ever civilize a people when?” Notice that the time of an action is the point in question here, and the desired answer will be this very same sentence with only two changes, the omission of ever and the substitution of a word or phrase signifying a definite time, for the word when.

The Imperative Sentence.—An imperative sentence is one that conveys a command,—“Tell me why you have brought me to this place.”—Caine.

The command is frequently so mild that it becomes more a request or piece of advice,—“Speak as you think, be what you are, pay your debts of all kinds.”—Emerson.

Sometimes it is even an entreaty,—“Give us this day our daily bread.”

A very common form of the imperative sentence is that introduced by the imperative word let,—“Let the dessert be served and the fruit brought.” This generally expresses more of a wish than a command. The same idea is brought out in such a sentence as the following,—“Come, sit we down and talk.” Here the present subjunctive sit is employed. Both of these sentence-forms may be considered as substitutes for the first and third person imperative, which is lacking in English.

In imperative sentences we use the imperative mood of the verb and so usually dispense with the subject, the verb becoming thus the first word in the sentence. For analysis the subject is to be supplied. It is always a personal pronoun of the second person, you, thou, or ye. The verb may be a simple imperative, as go; an emphatic imperative, do go; or a progressive imperative, be going, or do be going.

The Exclamative Sentence.—Any one of the three forms of sentences may become exclamative by mode of utterance, but the exclamative sentence does not communicate thought in a way different from the other three sentences, nor is it different in form, hence it should not be considered a fourth kind of sentence.

A declarative sentence made exclamative.—“Alas! the silence which was then settling on that aged ear was an everlasting silence!”—De Quincey.

An interrogative sentence made exclamative.—“Who could have imagined the whirlwind of passion that was going on within me as I reclined there!”—Jefferies.

An imperative sentence made exclamative.—“Sit down, all of you, and listen to me!”—Lewis Carroll.

Exercise 4

Classify the following sentences both as to structure and as to form. A sentence compound in structure may have members different in form, that is, one member may be declarative and another interrogative.

1. A wide-spreading, hopeful disposition is your only true umbrella in this vale of tears.—Aldrich.

2. What is it to be a gentleman? Is it to have lofty aims, to lead a pure life, to keep your honor virgin; to have the esteem of your fellow citizens, and the love of your fireside; to bear good fortune meekly; to suffer evil with constancy; and through evil or good to maintain truth always?—Thackeray.

3. Stay, stay with us—rest, thou art weary and worn.—Campbell.

4. It is so tedious to live only in one circle and have only a genteel acquaintance.—Higginson.

5. Take Winter as you find him, and he turns out to be a thoroughly honest fellow with no nonsense in him.—Lowell.

6. In a word, if the world were actually all civilized, wouldn’t it be too weak even to ripen?—Warner.

7. Who blows to-day such a ringing trumpet-call to the study of language as Luther blew?—C. W. Eliot.

8. With what interest do we look upon any relic of early human history!—Agassiz.

9. Do not delude yourself with the idea that you can practice punctuality by and by, when the necessity of it will be more cogent.

10.

Boy as I am, I have seen battles too—

Have waded foremost in their bloody waves,

And heard their hollow roar of dying men;

But never was my heart thus touched before.

Are they from Heaven, these softenings of the heart?

O thou old warrior, let us yield to Heaven.

Come, plant we here in earth our angry spears,

And make a truce, and sit upon this sand,

And pledge each other in red wine, like friends,

And thou shalt talk to me of Rustum’s deeds.

—M. Arnold.

11. Whither can I take wing from the oppression of human faces?—Lamb.

12. But the third sister, who is also the youngest—Hush! whisper whilst we talk of her!—De Quincey.

13. But after all what religion knits people so closely as a common sport?—Stevenson.

14. Shut now the volume of history and tell me, on any principle of human probability, what shall be the fate of this handful of adventurers?—Everett.

15. The self-made man is the funniest windbag after all!—Stevenson.

16. There! if the trout has a right to his grasshopper, have I not a right to the trout!—Beecher.

17. Let us trace a river to its source.—Tyndall.

18. Go face the fire at sea, or the cholera in your friend’s house, or the burglar in your own, or what danger lies in the way of duty, knowing you are guarded by the cherubim of Destiny.—Emerson.

19. Oh, child of France! shepherdess, peasant girl! trodden under foot by all around thee, how I honor thy flashing intellect, quick as God’s lightning and true as God’s lightning to its mark, that ran before France and laggard Europe by many a century, confounding the malice of the ensnarer, and making dumb the oracles of falsehood!—De Quincey.

20.

Who could guess

If ever more should meet those mutual eyes,

Since upon night so sweet such awful morn could rise?

—Byron.

CHAPTER V

THE ADJECTIVE CLAUSE

Function.—A common form of the dependent proposition is the adjective clause, so called not because it is equivalent to an adjective, but because it performs the office of an adjective, that is, modifies a substantive. It is true that some adjective clauses may be changed to adjectives, participles, or prepositional phrases, but there are many more whose meaning cannot be conveyed by any adjective, participle, or phrase at our command. For example, in this sentence from Macaulay,—“In climates where wine is a rarity, intemperance abounds,” there is no equivalent simpler adjective element into which the clause could be changed.

Moreover, a clause gives more dignity and importance to the thought conveyed by it than a shorter adjective element gives. Often, too, a sentence loses in definiteness by the abridgment of an adjective clause. For example, the sentence,—“The statue that was made of marble pleased me most,” may be changed to,—“The marble statue pleased me most.” But, whereas the first sentence means that the marble statue pleased me more than the other statues, the second may mean either the same or that the statue pleased me more than some other objects, not statues. In other words, it is clear that the clause is restrictive, while in the abridged sentence it is impossible to decide whether marble is used to restrict or to describe.

Another advantage of the clause is, that it does not require to be so near the word that it modifies as does an adjective or a participle. Take the following sentence,—“No act of oppression has ever been imputed to him which has not a parallel in the annals of the Tudors.”—Macaulay. Here the clause is separated from act by the entire predicate of the principal proposition.

Classification.—There are two kinds of adjective clauses, according to the purpose for which they are used in the sentence.

1. The restrictive adjective clause.—This is one which restricts, or narrows, the application of the noun it modifies to some particular individual or class.—“He who never changed any of his opinions never corrected any of his mistakes.”—Hall. Here the clause points out the particular individual designated by the pronoun he.

A restrictive clause is doubly expressive;—it says one thing directly and another by implication. In the sentence quoted the clause implies that there are people who do change their opinions.

Usually the restrictive clause is near the word it modifies, is not set off by a comma, and is introduced by the relative pronoun that, or a conjunctive adverb, or such a phrase as in which, by which, etc. No adjective clause, however, should be tested by any or even all of these accidents, but rather solely by the purpose for which the author used it.

2. The unrestrictive adjective clause.—This is one that merely adds a thought to some idea already expressed. The additional thought is often valuable, but it is never necessary.—“The window of the little parlor looked down upon the water, which had made friends with its painted ceiling, and bestowed tremulous golden smiles upon it when the sun shone.”—Howells. The clause here is evidently not used to point out which water is meant, but to tell something further about the water, something unnecessary to the truth of the sentence, but valuable in giving the reader a beautiful picture. Such a clause is sometimes merely a definition or expansion of a term already used; for example, “Style, which is the peculiar manner in which a writer expresses his thoughts, depends to some extent upon the age in which he lives.”

Introductory Word.—The adjective clause, being a dependent proposition and modifying a substantive, needs some word to indicate its subordination and join it to its substantive. This word may be several parts of speech.

1. A relative pronoun,—who, which, that. This pronoun, besides serving as a connective, is a necessary element of the clause. It may be—

(a) Subject of the verb,—“The nature of his subject compelled him to use many words that would have made Quintilian stare and gasp.”—Macaulay.

(b) Direct object of a verb,—“So I had arrived in Venice, and I had felt the influence of that complex spell which she lays upon the stranger.”—Howells.

(c) Indirect object of a verb,—“We must be as courteous to a man as we are to a picture, which we are willing to give the advantage of a good light.”—Emerson.

(d) Object of a preposition,—“Other men are lenses through which we read our own minds.”—Emerson.

(e) Subjective complement,—“He will never be the hero that his brother was.”

(f) Possessive modifier,—“Its members are inflexible men, whose ability has been as frequently manifested as their patriotism.”—Howells.

NOTE.—To ascertain the use of a relative pronoun in a clause, substitute the antecedent for the pronoun, and observe how the antecedent is used. Sometimes this substitution requires a slight change in the arrangement of the words of the clause. For example, in (e) above, the clause that his brother was becomes his brother was hero.

That, when used as object of a preposition, must precede the preposition; as, “Have you ever heard the Lady—the one that I sit next to at the table—say anything about me?”—Holmes.

That is frequently omitted when object of a verb or preposition; as, “One of the shop windows he paused before was that of a second-hand book-shop.”—George Eliot.

As and but are sometimes used as relative pronouns; the former after such, same, as many, and a few other expressions, the latter after an interrogative or negative antecedent, and as an equivalent of the relative that plus not; as, “There is nothing born but has to die.”

The relative pronoun as may be—

(a) Subject of a verb,—“I went up from the cabin followed by as many as could mount the gangway.”

(b) Object of a verb,—“Chaucer has left us such a picture of contemporary life as no man ever painted.”—Lowell.

(c) Object of a preposition,—“He was such a schoolboy as a discerning master delights in.”—Mrs. Ward.

(d) Subjective complement,—“I shall probably never see just such another day as yesterday was.”—Burroughs.

NOTES.—1. When as introduces an adjective clause, the verb of the clause is frequently omitted; as, “Their military code bore the same stern features as their other laws (bore).”—Prescott.

2. The use of the relative pronoun as after as many has been extended so that we find it after as few, as much, as little; as, “She was done for and bought for ten pounds by the landlord of the Drummond Arms, Crieff, who had been taking as much money out of her, and putting as little corn into her, as was compatible with life.”—Dr. John Brown.

3. The word such, which usually precedes a noun modified by an as-clause, may follow the noun instead; as, “The walls did not flow or subside to the valley in charming curve-lines, such as I have seen in the wildest passes of the New England mountains.”—King. Instead of transposing such, which would alter the meaning slightly, we may say that it is a pronominal in apposition with curve-lines and modified by the restrictive adjective clause as I have seen, etc.

2. A conjunctive adverb.—This is equivalent to a phrase consisting of a preposition and a relative pronoun, and is used interchangeably with such a phrase. Its function in the clause is the same as that of the phrase, that is, it modifies the verb. The commonest of these adverbs are when (= in which or on which), where (= in which or on which), whither (= toward which), whence (= from which). Others less used are wherein, whereon, whereof, wherethrough, wherefrom, wherewith, whereupon, wherefore, whereby, whereat. For example,—

Our works are the mirrors wherein the spirit first sees its natural lineaments.—Carlyle.

Some day you may reach that time when a man lives in greater part for memory and by memory.—Lushington.

Yet all experience is an arch wherethrough

Gleams that untraveled world whose margin fades

Forever and forever when I move.—Tennyson.

3. The subordinating conjunction that.—This is often used to introduce restrictive clauses modifying a word denoting time. It is equivalent to a phrase like in which; for example, “At last the season comes that the sixtieth minute is due.”

This connective is sometimes used instead of why after the word reason. It is frequently omitted; as, “The instant he understood my meaning, he obeyed.”

What the Adjective Clause modifies.—The adjective clause may modify a noun used in any relation, a personal pronoun, a pronominal adjective, or any other substantive. Sometimes, instead of modifying any single word, it modifies the thought expressed by the whole of the preceding sentence, or by a portion of it. In such a case the clause is introduced by the relative pronoun which. For example, “They had comported themselves with such singular wisdom and propriety that they were never either heard or talked of,—which, next to being universally applauded, should be the object of ambition of all ages, magistrates, and rulers.”—Irving. Here the clause modifies that they were never either heard or talked of. In the sentence,—“His body was of an oblong form, particularly capacious at bottom; which was wisely ordered by Providence, seeing that he was a man of sedentary habits, and very averse to the idle labor of walking,” the clause modifies all of the sentence preceding it.

Sometimes in sentences of this kind the thought to be modified by the adjective clause is summed up in one noun which is used as a part of the clause, while the relative pronoun which becomes a relative adjective modifying the noun; as, “In 1835, Longfellow became Professor of Modern Languages and Belles Lettres in Harvard University, which position he held for fourteen years.”

An adjective clause modifying a whole statement is sometimes placed before that statement instead of after it. The clause is then usually introduced by the pronoun what; as, “What was worse, he every week lost more and more by bad money.”—Jerrold.

NOTE.—The adjective clause may modify a noun or pronoun in the possessive case; as, “The world is his who has money to go over it.”—Emerson.

Position of the Adjective Clause.—Usually it follows closely the word it modifies, but there is a type of sentence in which the clause modifies the subject and yet comes next to the subjective complement. The following sentence is an example,—“It was coffee and not wine that I drank.”—Howells. It is here a personal pronoun standing for beverage and modified by the restrictive adjective clause that I drank. The sentence means,—The beverage that I drank was coffee and not wine.

Peculiar sentences sometimes arise from this construction; for example, “It is only birds of prey that fear danger from below more than from above.” Here the clause modifies the subject it, and the sentence transposed reads, “It that fear danger from below more than from above is only birds of prey.” This sounds ungrammatical, but it is the interpretation of the original sentence.

In regard to the position of the connective, it is commonly the first word in the clause; but when who or which is object of a preposition, the preposition leads, and sometimes the subject of the clause precedes the preposition and the relative; thus, “The largest class of vessels is the full-rigged ship, the distinctive mark of which is that it has three masts, all square-rigged.” This arrangement of words arises from the objection that some authors have to using whose as the possessive of which. If whose were substituted for of which in the sentence above, the clause would read, whose distinctive mark is, etc.

Sometimes the antecedent of a relative pronoun is omitted, especially if it is a personal pronoun; thus,

“Who drove

Planted both feet upon the leaping share

To make the furrow deep.”—E. Arnold.

Exercise 5

Select all adjective clauses in the following sentences. Tell classification of each clause, what it modifies, its introductory word, and use of that word (if any) in the clause.

1. Boy! bring to us the dish the like of which is not found among the viands of kings.

2. How babies will poke those wonderful little fingers of theirs into every hole and crack and crevice they can get at.—Holmes.

3. Who that sees the meanness of our politics, but inly congratulates Washington that he is long already wrapped in his shroud, and forever safe.—Emerson.

4. Immediately the small son of Shem ran off into the next room, whence his voice was heard in rapid chat.—George Eliot.

5. The parts and sails of the foremast and mainmast of a ship bear the same names as those of the brig.

6. I said the other day that he had good solid prejudices, which is true, and I like him none the worse for it.—Holmes.

7. They habitually ascribed every event to the will of the Great Being, for whose power nothing was too vast, for whose inspection nothing was too minute.—Macaulay.

8. Such of these holidays as related to the victories and pride of the Republic naturally ended with her fall.—Howells.

9.

I live to learn their story

Who suffered for my sake.—Banks.

10. Tennyson began to write tales and verse from the time that he could use a pen.

11. There was a certain very dry land, the people whereof were in sore need of water.—Bellamy.

12. They have rights who dare maintain them.—Lowell.

13. The Greek drama, on the model of which the Samson was written, sprang from the Ode.—Macaulay.

14. It is hard to realize that our remote ancestors were mere barbarians, who by the force of numbers overran the world.—Lord.

15. He pretended to pour out some wine, and drank the first glass, after which he poured out another for his guest.

16. There lies before you for your pleasure the spectacle of such singular beauty as no picture can ever show you or book tell you.—Howells.

17.

Who goes that way must take no other horse

To ride, but Sleipnir, Odin’s horse, alone.—M. Arnold.

18. Is there nothing you are acquainted with which they (clouds) resemble?—Tyndall.

19. Is it dark meat or white meat you will be helped to?—Holmes.

20. Lady Carbery happened to be down at the seaside, whither my letter had been sent after her.—De Quincey.

21. Several slaves instantly appeared, whom he ordered to set out the table and serve the dinner.

22.

The wild thing,

Living or dead, is his who fetched it down.

—E. Arnold.

23. Daguerre invented the process of taking daguerreotypes upon metallic plates, which invention soon developed into the process of taking photographs on paper.

24. Not one of us, however busy or hard, but once or twice in our lives has passed an evening with Goldsmith, and undergone the charm of his delightful music.—Thackeray.

25. It’s faith in something and enthusiasm for something that makes life worth looking at.—Holmes.

26.

Who asks does err,

Who answers, errs; say naught.—E. Arnold.

27. It is those who remain indoors, therefore, who are exposed to the utmost rigor of the winter.—Howells.

28. Soon Stephen went down from the Hoe, and returned in the direction whence he had come.—T. Hardy.

29. Many times I have come, bearing flowers such as my garden grew.—Holmes.

30. What is more remarkable considering his century, he is not by any means consummate or even eminent as a painter in words.—Saintsbury.

CHAPTER VI

THE ANALYSIS OF SIMPLE, PARTIALLY COMPOUND,

AND COMPLEX SENTENCES

1. STUDY the sentence as to number and kind of propositions, to determine whether it is simple, partially compound, or complex. Determine also whether it is declarative, interrogative, or imperative. Name it according to both structure and form. If it has been rendered exclamative, state that fact.

2. If the sentence is simple, separate it into its two parts, subject and predicate.

3. Analyze the subject; that is, separate it into the substantive used as base-word and the adjuncts of that substantive.

4. Analyze the predicate; that is, separate it into predicate verb, complement, and modifiers (provided the verb has these adjuncts).

5. If the complement is complex, analyze it by separating it into base-word and modifiers.

NOTE.—Do not talk about “complete subject” and “simple subject,” neither “logical predicate” and “grammatical predicate.” The subject is the subject; the predicate is the predicate. That ends it.

6. If the sentence is complex, containing an adjective clause, proceed the same as in the analysis of simple sentences, analyzing the clause last.

7. When the clause is given as an adjunct of some noun, state whether it is restrictive or unrestrictive, and give its introductory word.

8. If any subject or predicate is partially compound, state that fact before analyzing it.

Always proceed logically. In analyzing the sentence, “The city editor laid a clipping from the morning paper on the desk,” do not say that from the morning paper is a phrase modifying clipping. Say instead that clipping is modified by the prepositional phrase from the morning paper. In other words, get new elements by reaching out from elements that you already have.

Always proceed from the whole to the part. Do not say that laid is completed by the object clipping, for that is only part of the object. The object is a clipping from the morning paper. After giving this as a unit, or whole, separate it into base-word and modifiers.

Do not analyze a simple prepositional phrase like on the desk. It is a waste of time. If the phrase is complex, that is, contains a phrase, like from the morning paper of July first, it should be analyzed.

Model for Analysis

The Merced Yosemite was created by the action of five immense glaciers, traces of which still exist upon every rock in the valley.—Muir.

This is a complex declarative sentence.

The subject is The Merced Yosemite. The predicate is was created by the action of five immense glaciers, traces of which still exist upon every rock in the valley.

The base-word of the subject is the noun Yosemite; it is modified by the adjective Merced and the article the.

The predicate verb is was created; it is modified by the prepositional phrase by the action of five immense glaciers, traces of which still exist upon every rock in the valley.

The base-word of the object of the preposition by is action; it is modified by the prepositional phrase of five immense glaciers, traces of which still exist upon every rock in the valley and by the article the. The base-word of the object of the preposition of is glaciers; it is modified by the adjectives immense and five, and by the unrestrictive adjective clause traces of which still exist upon every rock in the valley; this clause is introduced by the relative pronoun which.

The subject of the clause is traces of which. The predicate is still exist upon every rock in the valley.

The base-word of the subject is the noun traces. It is modified by the prepositional phrase of which.

The predicate verb is exist; it is modified by the adverb still and the prepositional phrase upon every rock in the valley. The base-word of the object of the preposition upon is rock; it is modified by the adjective every and the prepositional phrase in the valley.

Exercise 6

Analyze the following sentences. If the analysis is written, take pains to arrange it well on paper. Divide it into paragraphs. Either underline or enclose in quotation marks all words quoted from the sentence. Use abbreviations. Do not write out elements in full if they consist of more than two words. Instead write the first and last words with a dash between them.

1. Fear is a wonderful goad to remorse.—H. H.

2. A part of the citizens seceded from the main body, and formed a separate community on the neighboring marshes.—Prescott.

3. He is great who confers the most benefits.—Emerson.

4. After two hours’ march the cortege stopped at the end of the quay, where the Prince de Joinville had stationed himself at the head of the officers of the three French ships of war.—Thackeray.

5. How many men and women perform their daily tasks from the highest motives alone—for the glory of God and the relief of man’s estate?—C. W. Eliot.

6. No one is useless in this world who lightens the burden of it for another.—Dickens.

7. He lifted his enormous ears, gave a short trumpet, and for an instant wavered in his determination whether to attack or fly.—Sir Samuel Baker.

8. Simplicity must be the first element of literary art.—Higginson.

9. I touched him on the shoulder, at which he collared me and nearly knocked me down.—Miss Mulock.

10. Those were the days when a man could hold three small livings, starve a curate apiece on two of them, and live badly himself on the third.—George Eliot.

11. A woman kept the summer school, sharp, precise, unsympathetic, keen and untiring.—Beecher.

12. I hold our actual knowledge very cheap.—Emerson.

13.

Then saunter down that terrace whence the sea

All fair with wing-like sails you may discern.

—Jean Ingelow.

14. Man hath no fate except past days.—E. Arnold.

15. How few men in all the pride of culture can emulate the easy grace of a bright woman’s letter!—Higginson.

16. And, what is notable, in no time whatever can they entirely eradicate out of living men’s hearts a certain altogether peculiar reverence for Great Men.—Carlyle.

CHAPTER VII

THE SUBSTANTIVE CLAUSE

Function.—The substantive clause is one that performs some office of a noun. It is not a mere substitute for a noun, however, used for the sake of variety. On the contrary, it is seldom possible to change a noun clause to a noun, and just because there is no equivalent noun in the language. In the sentence,—“I fear that he will come,” it would appear at first thought that the noun clause, that he will come, might be changed to his coming, but this would change the meaning; for the clause implies that his coming is not expected with any certainty, while the expression his coming implies that it is so expected. Every time, in fact, that a noun clause is used, it serves a distinct purpose, and it is safe to assume that in a well-constructed sentence no other element would answer so well. Let us discover some of these purposes.

In the following sentence from Burroughs,—“To what extent the birds or animals can foretell the weather is uncertain,” we have predicated something not of a person, place, or thing, that could be named by a noun, but of a thought, the statement of that thought telling us of an agent and an activity performed by that agent. Hence, by means of the noun clause we can make predications of thoughts instead of things.

In the sentences,—

“Now one codicil in my general law of freedom had been that my seventeenth birthday should not find me at school”; and, “The consequence is, that the seven, or nine, or fourteen lines have a marvellous aptitude at knotting themselves up beyond the reach of skill and patience,”—we are enabled by means of noun clauses to tell what the codicil and the consequences are. We might give a general definition of such nouns by means of other nouns, but to tell what this special codicil and what this special consequence are there is no other way than by the use of the noun clause. Hence, by means of the noun clause, we can make certain predications that could be made in no other way.

In the sentence,—

“Whatever ornaments she wears are of massive gold,”—we have made a predication of certain ornaments; but instead of enumerating them in a long list we have designated them by means of a noun clause, brief but more comprehensive than any list could be. Hence, a noun clause may be used to designate things when we have no names for them, or wish to withhold the names, or find it awkward to use them.

Uses of the Substantive Clause.—As a sentence-element it has most of the important uses of the noun.

1. Subject of a verb,—“What is true of individual men is true also of races.”—Lowell. Frequently, for the sake of a more pleasing arrangement, the anticipative subject it is used, and the real subject, a noun clause, is placed after the predicate,—“It matters little what virtues a man has, if he is habitually inexact.”

A common type of sentence, similar to this, is one in which the anticipative subject is followed by the verb is, next by an adverb, or a phrase, or a clause, and then by the real subject; for example, “It is chiefly through books that we enjoy intercourse with superior minds.” If we say, “It is chiefly through books,” the question at once arises, “What is chiefly through books?” The answer is, “the fact that we enjoy intercourse with superior minds.” Transposing the sentence, we have,—“That we enjoy intercourse with superior minds is chiefly through books,” the verb is being employed in the sense of happens or is true.

NOTE.—In the following sentences from Robert Louis Stevenson it is interesting to observe how such a sentence as the one just described comes about:

“In the midst of this Babylon I found myself a rallying point; every one was anxious to be kind and helpful to the stranger. This was not merely from the natural hospitality of mountain people, nor even from the surprise with which I was regarded as a man living of his own free will in Le Monastier, when he might just as well have lived anywhere else in this big world.”

It is evident that the pronominal adjective this, which is subject in the second sentence, stands for the second proposition in the preceding sentence. How easily might the following sentence have been made,—“It was not merely from the natural hospitality of mountain people that every one was anxious to be kind and helpful to the stranger.”

This type of sentence must be carefully distinguished from one given in the lesson on adjective clauses; for example, “It is the universal nature which gives worth to particular men and things.”—Emerson.

2. Object of a verb,—“It is hard to believe that we shall get any good from exercise proportionate to the sacrifice of time.”—Hamerton. This is the commonest use of the noun clause. Many of the verbs that take clauses for objects denote action of the senses, the mind, or the emotions,—as feel, see, hear; believe, think, know; desire, hope, fear. The clause is very useful after such verbs, for instance, after see; for besides seeing objects we see those objects performing actions or existing in certain states, and often the only way to tell this is by means of the noun clause. Often, too, it would be impossible to particularize what we believe, or think, or hope, or imagine, or dream, without the aid of a noun clause.

When verbs that take a direct and an indirect object are changed to the passive form in such a way that the indirect object becomes subject, we find the direct object remaining after the passive verb.

Active.—“He told me that the tide was rising.”

Passive.—“I was told that the tide was rising.”

In the second sentence the clause is object of the verb was told.

3. Objective complement.—“Understanding, that is, equilibrium of mind, intellectual good digestion,—this with unclogged biliary ducts, makes the Saxon mentally and physically what we call a very fixed fact.”—Lowell. Here the clause helps to complete the verb makes and at the same time tells us something about the direct object Saxon.

4. Object of a preposition.—“How utterly powerless are our senses to take any measure or impression of the actual grandeur of what we see.”—King. A noun clause so used is not always at first sight easily distinguished from an adjective clause whose first word is a preposition, but there are several points of difference. In the adjective clause the preposition is a necessary part of the clause, governing some word in the objective case, and its position may be shifted to the end of the clause. The noun clause used as object of a preposition is generally introduced by the word what, which does not introduce adjective clauses.

The preposition governing a noun clause is frequently omitted.

(a) After the adjectives aware, certain, glad, sure, positive, etc., especially when used as predicate adjectives,—“When you saw a lad with that book on the desk before him, you might be sure, without asking, that he had deserved the master’s approval in some way.”—Annie Preston.

If a noun were used instead of a clause after sure, it would be introduced by a preposition; but it is English usage to dispense with the preposition when we use a clause, though the clause certainly answers the same question as the noun, viz., sure of what? In disposing of a clause so used, say that it is brought in by the adjective without the help of a preposition, or supply the preposition, or supply the phrase of the fact, disposing of the clause as an appositive of the noun fact.

(b) After such predicates as is determined, is convinced, is resolved, etc.—“I am convinced that every spring a large number of birds which have survived the southern campaign return to their old haunts to breed.”—Burroughs.

(c) After the verbs assure and warn,—“You very soon assure yourself that such springs are also fed by rain.”—Tyndall.

“He immediately discharged two muskets into the darkness, to warn the enemy that he knew of their presence and intention.”

(d) After some nouns like doubt, assurance, evidence, etc.—“Cæsar saw no evidence that the gods practically interfered in human affairs.”—Froude.

5. In apposition.—“We look not to the question whether a man have or have not children to be benefited by the education for which he pays.”—Webster. Here the clause makes definite the word question, a noun of wide application.

We occasionally come across sentences constructed like the following,—“What a man does, that he has.”—Emerson. The meaning is,—“A man has what he does,” the noun clause what he does being object of the verb has. But in the original sentence the pronominal that is object of has, and this indefinite object is explained by the noun clause what a man does, which is therefore to be called an appositive. Such an arrangement arises from a desire to make the clause prominent and also to hold the main thought in suspense until the end of the sentence.

6. Subjective complement.—“In fact, the only difference between one of these ice streams and an ordinary river is, that the former moves very slowly.”

Introductory Word.—The substantive clause may be introduced by—

1. The relative pronouns, what, whatever, whatsoever, who, whoever, whoso, whosoever, which, whichever. When introducing noun clauses none of these words have an antecedent, hence it might be more precise to call them merely pronouns. Their office is more than an introductory one, for they have a function within the noun clause, just as relative pronouns have within adjective clauses.—“I wondered who the priest was that wore it.”—Howells. Here the pronoun who is the subjective complement of the verb was in the clause.

2. The adjectives what, whatever, whatsoever, which, whichever, whichsoever. These are indefinite limiting adjectives.—Tell me what time it is.

3. The words if, that, whether. These are ordinarily subordinating conjunctions, but when introducing noun clauses they should not be considered connectives at all; for a subject does not need to be connected to its predicate, nor a complement to the verb it completes, nor an appositive to the noun it explains. These introductory words serve rather to put the clause into shape, to make it appear as a subordinate part of the sentence.—“‘I wonder if his heart is any softer,’ thought the Fox.”—Froude. “The truth now flashed upon me that my companion was a schoolmaster.”—Lamb.

The introductory that is sometimes understood.—“It is true all things have two faces, a light one and a dark.”—Carlyle.

Whether usually takes or as a correlative,—“Chaucer did not waste time in considering whether his age were good or bad.”—Lowell.

4. Conjunctive adverbs, like where, when, how, why. These words always modify some word in the clause.—“We need not say how much we admire his public conduct.”—Macaulay. How modifies the adverb much.

5. But or but that, being equivalent to that not.—“‘Who knows but in the end I may turn into a dog?’ said the Fox.”—Froude.

“There” used as an Anticipative Subject.—We have already spoken of the anticipative subject it, whose office is to throw the real subject after the predicate verb. Another word used in the same way is there; for example, “There is no good reason for a bad action.”—Spurgeon.

This word is not the adverb there, for it conveys no idea whatever. It does nothing at all for the meaning of the sentence, as is shown by our slighting it in reading.

After the anticipative subject there the real subject is almost always a noun with modifiers, but it may be a noun clause; for example,—“No, indeed, there is no wonder that God loved the world.”—Phillips Brooks.

The verb in these sentences is usually some form of the verb be. It is not the copula so often as it is the complete intransitive verb be, meaning exist. In the sentence,—“There are many kinds of sea fowl that feed on fish and build their nests on the sea coast,” the entire predicate is the verb are.

When the verb is a copula it is often completed by a prepositional phrase denoting an attribute of the subject. For example, “There is not a crevice in it where anything green can lodge and grow.”—King. Here the predicate is is in it.

Other intransitive verbs are occasionally found after there, as in the sentence, “There came to the beach a poor exile of Erin.”—Campbell.

Exercise 7

Select noun clauses in the following sentences, telling the use of each, its introductory word, and use of that word in the clause, if it has any.

1. People are always cheating themselves with the idea that they would do this or that desirable thing, if they only had time.

2. My notion is that you should let me go, and give me a lamb or goose or two every month, and then I could live without stealing.—Froude.

3. He was desirous that the people should think for themselves as well as tax themselves.—Macaulay.

4. Whatever is worth doing at all is worth doing well.

5. I’m very certain there was nothing about him that could spoil.—Jerrold.

6. The Reverend Amos Barton did not come to Shepperton until long after Mr. Gilfil had departed this life.—George Eliot.

7. I think it does not matter just when I came to Venice.—Howells.

8. We charge him with having broken his coronation oath; and we are told that he kept his marriage vow.—Macaulay.

9. The worst of a modern stylish mansion is, that it has no place for ghosts.—Holmes.

10. It is with lent money that all evil is mainly done, and all unjust war protracted.—Ruskin.

11. The poor man humbly assured him that he meant no harm, but merely came there in search of some of his neighbors, who used to keep about the tavern.—Irving.

12. I need not say that in real sound stupidity the English are unrivaled.—Bagehot.

13. What his violins were to Stradivarius, and his fresco to Leonardo, and his campaigns to Napoleon, that was his history to Macaulay.—Trevelyan.

14. It is by his poetry that Milton is best known; and it is of his poetry that we first wish to speak.—Macaulay.

15. Shall I care about how they criticise the outside of my life?—Phillips Brooks.

16. The next half hour, at most, would decide the question of whether he would or would not get up from his bed and leave the room.—Collins.

17. So, what was contentment in the slave became philanthropy in the emperor.—Lord.

18. They showed no reverence except that they did not talk or laugh loudly.—Besant.

19. We are convinced that the measure was most injurious to the cause of freedom.—Macaulay.

20. We must not wonder that the outside of books is so different, when the inner nature of those for whom they are written is so changed.—Bagehot.

21. Now, what puzzles me is, that anybody, old or young, should forget this,—that the path of life leads to something.—Munger.

22. I can say to you what I cannot first say to myself.—Emerson.

23. They were compelled to choose whether they would trust a tyrant or conquer him.—Macaulay.

24. The reason why so few good books are written is, that so few people that can write know anything.—Bagehot.

25. Men are what their mothers made them.—Emerson.

CHAPTER VIII

ANALYSIS OF SENTENCES CONTAINING NOUN CLAUSES

IT is most convenient to analyze the noun clause last, even if it is the subject of the sentence. As soon as the clause is mentioned, however, as a sentence-element, its introductory word should be given. Clauses within the noun clause should be disposed of after the rest of the noun clause has been analyzed.

A direct quotation is frequently introduced into a sentence to fulfill the office of a noun clause. In structure and form it is like an independent proposition, but in function it is subordinate; for example, “The first and last and closest trial question to any living creature is, “What do you like?”—Ruskin.

Notice that this sentence is declarative though the quotation is interrogative.

Exercise 8

Analyze the following sentences:—

1. Whoever has common sense and a sound heart has the power by which Whittier may be appreciated.—Masson.

2. It is remarkable how closely the history of the apple-tree is connected with that of man.—Thoreau.

3. We were welcomed to a Highlander’s home and told where we could fish to advantage from three o’clock till dark.—Bolles.

4. The announcement that for centuries the tropical forests of Central America have hidden within their tangled growth the ruined homes and temples of a past race, stirs the civilized world with a strange, deep wonder.—Agassiz.

5. I was quite determined that the old set of singers should be dismissed.—George Eliot.

6. It was within the dingy walls of this little potentate’s imperial palace that I chose my country residence.—Longfellow.

7. Universal History, the history of what man has accomplished in this world, is at bottom the History of the Great Men who have worked here.—Carlyle.

8. The question of common-sense is always, what is it good for?—a question which would abolish the rose and be answered triumphantly by the cabbage.—Lowell.

9. Whoever has made a voyage up the Hudson must remember the Kaatskill mountains.—Irving.

10. I am told that one of the most reliable weather signs they have down in Texas is afforded by the ants.—Burroughs.

11. “It is only the love of all humanity that can keep from bitterness,” said Brian.

12. I left my own garden yesterday, and went over to where Polly was getting the weeds out of one of her flower-beds.—Warner.

13. “Now tread we a measure!” said young Lochinvar.—Scott.

14. Whoever allies himself with God is armed with all the forces of the invisible world.—J. F. Clarke.

15. Boom is not a nice place, and is only remarkable for one thing: that the majority of the inhabitants have a private opinion that they can speak English, which is not justified by fact.—Stevenson.

16. I do not doubt but that many of you came unwillingly to-night.—Ruskin.

17. With nature and God one law is inexorable—he who disuses or misuses a faculty must lose it.—Hillis.

18. It is by little things that we know ourselves.—Holmes.

19. I felt in every fibre that this woodman invariably cheated me in measurement.—Howells.

20.

“How happy,” exclaimed this child of air,

“Are the holy spirits who wander there,

Mid flowers that never shall fade or fall!”

—Moore.

CHAPTER IX

THE ADVERBIAL CLAUSE OF TIME

Function.—All actions or events can be referred to some time—past, present, or future. Frequently the whole significance of an event depends upon either the time of its occurrence or its duration; hence it is often desirable and sometimes necessary to tell the time when an action takes place or state the period of its continuance. We may do this by means of single words, like then, now, tomorrow, forever, or by phrases, like a long time ago, at the present day, before supper, till the end of the world. Frequently, however, we wish to fix the time of one activity with relation to the time of some other activity. To do this we usually employ a proposition in the form of a temporal clause; for example,

“The British soldier trembles

When Marion’s name is told.”—Bryant.

Here the action of trembling is said to take place at the time of another action, the telling of Marion’s name. Notice that from this sentence we get double information, (1) that two actions occur simultaneously, (2) that one is the cause of the other.

Introductory Word.—All time clauses are introduced by some word which in itself denotes time, and which is chosen because of the special meaning attached to it. This word subordinates the clause to the principal proposition, and connects it to that part of the principal proposition which the clause modifies. Most grammarians say that this connective is a conjunctive adverb, and that it not only connects the two propositions but also modifies the verb in the clause. To us its grammatical office seems to be that of a mere connective, hence we call it a subordinating conjunction of time. The several conjunctions of this class can best be studied in sentences containing them.

1. “When a prisoner first leaves his cell, he cannot bear the light of day.”—Macaulay. Here when is chosen in order that the sentence may signify that the two actions occur at the same time.

Then in the principal proposition is sometimes used as a correlative of when in the clause. Then is not a necessary word, but if the clause is long, then is useful in informing the reader that the principal proposition is about to begin.

2. “Man should forget his anger before he lies down to sleep.”—De Quincey. Before (sometimes ere) makes a sentence signify that the main action occurs in time previous to the time of the action expressed in the clause.

3. “After I had learned to row in the gondolier fashion, I voyaged much in the lagoon with my boat.”—Howells. After makes the sentence signify that the main action occurred later than the action in the clause.

Sentences in which temporal clauses are introduced by when, before, ere, or after, only establish for us the proper relation between two points of time; viz., that one point coincides with another, is antecedent to it, or subsequent to it. If we wish to denote the duration of a state or an activity, we introduce the temporal clause by while, since, till, or until.

4. “While they sat at dinner, a great fire of sunset spread over the west.”—Black. While signifies during the time that.

5. “Since you were at Oulton, my wife has been growing worse and worse in health, and more and more eccentric and crotchety.”—Shorthouse. Since signifies from the time that.

6. “Till men have been some time free, they know not how to use their freedom.”—Macaulay. Till signifies up to the time that.

7. If we wish to be exact about the time that something begins, we introduce the temporal clause by the phrase as soon as, or soon as, which phrase may be considered one connective,—“As soon as it is convenient to you, I shall be glad for you to leave this sombre place.”—Shorthouse.

8. As is frequently used either for when or for while.

“The boat had touched the silver strand,

Just as the hunter left his stand.”—Scott.

9. If we wish to state exactly when something ends, we introduce the temporal clause by as long as, or so long as,—“So long as men had slender means, whether of keeping out cold or checkmating it with artificial heat, Winter was an unwelcome guest, especially in the country.”—Lowell.

10. Whenever means at any time that,—

“Yet whenever I cross the river,

On its bridge with wooden piers,

Like the odor of brine from the ocean

Comes the thought of other years.”

—Longfellow.

11. Clauses introduced by now that denote both time and cause, and it is often difficult to determine which of the two ideas is more prominent. In the sentence,—“What do you think of your home now that you see it?”—Black, there is certainly more of time than of cause, for if the verb in the principal proposition were changed from the present tense to either past or future, when would be substituted for now that.

What the Time Clause modifies.—Since we use a time clause to tell (1) when a state exists or when an activity is performed, (2) the duration of an activity or a state, it is clear that the clause modifies a word denoting state or action, namely, a verb. Usually it modifies a predicate verb, but it may modify the verbals, either infinitives or participles.

It must be noted here that modifiers vary in their closeness to the word modified; and therefore in analyzing sentences modifiers should be given, not in the order of their position, but in the order of their closeness. In the sentence,—“One night, shortly after the coldest weather set in, he lost his oar as he was returning to the island,” the verb lost is modified by three elements denoting time, (1) as he was returning to the island, (2) one night, (3) shortly after the coldest weather set in.

NOTE.—In the sentence just quoted, the connective after is preceded by the adverb shortly, which is put into the sentence to tell how long after the coldest weather set in, hence it is a modifier of the whole clause. Other adverbial clauses than those of time may be modified in this way; for example, The Puritans espoused the cause of civil liberty mainly because it was the cause of religion.

It is interesting and instructive to note that other ideas may be associated with that of time in a temporal clause. A clause introduced by until sometimes denotes result as well as time.—“Skirts grew more and more bulbous until it did not need more than three or four women to make a good-sized assembly.”—Warner.

A clause introduced by since may denote time and cause.—“Since I have begun to examine these expressive little brutes, I have made many profound observations.”—H. James.

A clause introduced by when may denote time and condition.—“When the eyes say one thing and the tongue another, a practiced man relies on the language of the first.”—Emerson.

Exercise 9

Select temporal clauses in the following sentences, telling what each clause modifies and what it denotes, also its connective.

1. Hero worship endures forever while man endures.—Carlyle.

2. Almost as soon as I entered the house, I singled you out as the companion of my future life.—Jane Austen.

3. When the need of such an institution as Feudalism no longer existed, then it was broken up.—Lord.

4. Book in hand, he followed the service with one eye, while he admonished perpetually the boys to keep still and to listen.—Besant.

5. It absolutely startles me now he is in my mind, to find how plainly I see him.—Collins.

6. Their young men cut neither hair nor beard till they had slain an enemy.—Motley.

7.

We two had been since morn

Began her tender tunes to beat

Upon the May leaves young and sweet,

Together, planting corn.—Alice Cary.

8. Life is not always hard, even after backs grow bent.—Barrie.

9. Respect for woman was born in the German forests before the Roman empire fell.—Lord.

10. As the day advanced, the wind veered round to the north-east and settled itself down to work.—Aldrich.

11. When you’ve got a man thoroughly civilized you cannot do anything more with him.—Warner.

12. Now that her father was taken from her, she nestled to Graham, and seemed to feel by his feelings, to exist in his existence.—Brontë.

13. Even when they fail they are entitled to praise.—Macaulay.

14. The house keeper waited until the sobs changed to the regular breathing of sleep before she stole out.—Kipling.

15. Until a man can truly enjoy a draught of clear water bubbling from a mountain-side, his taste is in an unwholesome state.—F. Harrison.

CHAPTER X

THE ADVERBIAL CLAUSE OF PLACE

Function.—Just as all events occur at some time, so do they also occur in some place. We have not many adverbs of place in English, and few of these are very definite; for example, here, there, yonder, somewhere, anywhere, hither, thither, up, down, in. Hence we usually tell place by means of prepositional phrases, and we have many prepositions of place, such as above, across, along, amid, among, around, at, before, behind, below, beneath, beside, between, beyond, in, on, over, up. The value of the prepositional phrase denoting place is seen in the following sentence from Longfellow, which contains three such phrases:

“It stood upon the brink of a little glassy pool whose tranquil bosom was the image of a quiet and secluded life, and stretched its parental arms over a rustic bench that had been constructed beneath it for the accommodation of the foot traveler, or, perchance, some idle dreamer like myself.”

But the prepositional phrase will not always serve our turn, for sometimes we wish to denote a certain place by telling what happens there, and to do this it is usually best to employ a proposition. This gives rise to the adverbial local clause. In the following sentence from Lowell,—

“Where today the martyr stands,

On the morrow crouches Judas with the silver in his hands,”

in order to tell the place where Judas crouches, the poet tells what happens in that place, namely, that it is the place where today the martyr stands.

Introductory Word.—The local clause is introduced by the subordinating conjunctions of place, where, wherever, whence, whither, whencesoever, whithersoever. Whither conveys the idea of action going toward a place, and whence of action proceeding from a place. These two conjunctions and their compounds as well are not often used by modern writers.

Wherever means in any place; as, “Wherever the Anglo-Saxon race goes, there law, industry, and safety for life and property are certain to arise.”—Dickens.

Just as when in a temporal clause often takes the correlative then, so where or wherever in a local clause is often accompanied by there in the principal proposition, as in the sentence just quoted.

Peculiarities of the Local Clause.—Often a local clause denotes condition as well as place; for example, “Wherever money is the principal object of life with either man or nation, it is both got ill and spent ill.”—Ruskin.

Sometimes the idea of time exists along with that of place; for example, “Where one person is really interested by music, twenty are pleased by good reading.”—Hart.

The adverbial clause of place is not common, and yet we frequently meet clauses introduced by where, whence, etc. Most of these are adjective clauses, and as such they have two uses, as may be seen in the following typical sentences:

(1) “Being newly from a land where everything, morally and materially, was in good repair, I rioted sentimentally on the picturesque ruin, the pleasant discomfort and hopelessness of everything about me here.”—Howells. The clause here is restrictive, used to point out a certain land, and where is equivalent to in which.

(2) “Dr. Livingstone, a Scotchman, spent many years in exploring Central Africa, where he finally perished.”—Here the clause is equivalent in meaning to an independent proposition, where meaning and there, but nevertheless it has the structure of a dependent proposition.

Exercise 10

Select local clauses in the following sentences, telling what each clause modifies, what it denotes, and its connective:

1. We knew that we were standing at a time of high and palmy prosperity, where he had stood in the hour of utmost peril; that we saw nothing but liberty and security where he had met the frown of power; that we were enjoying everything where he had hazarded everything.—Webster.

2.

Where’er a human heart doth wear

Joy’s myrtle wreath or sorrow’s gyves,

Where’er a human spirit strives

After a life more true and fair,

There is the true man’s birthplace grand.

—Lowell.

3. Descending, I went wandering whither chance might lead, in a still ecstasy of freedom and enjoyment.—Brontë.

4. Wheresoever a thinker appeared, there in the thing he thought of was a contribution, accession, a change or revolution made.—Carlyle.

5. Where boat conveyance along rivers could not be had, pack-horses and mules were resorted to for the transportation of merchandise.—Draper.

6. Coal is the means of transporting itself whithersoever it is wanted.—Emerson.

7. Hendry had a way of resuming the conversation where he had left off the night before.—Barrie.

8. He was a soldier of fortune, and had fought wherever the Roman eagles flew.—Motley.

9. He discerned her not there where she stood.—Carlyle.

10. Beginning where it empties itself into the sea, and following it backwards, we find it from time to time joined by tributaries which swell its waters.—Tyndall.

11. Where there is no honest poverty, where education is diffused and political intelligence is common, it is easy for the mass of the people to elect a fair legislature.—Bagehot.

12. Why did we stay here, where there is no shelter and no anchorage?—Black.

CHAPTER XI

THE ADVERBIAL CLAUSE OF MANNER

Function.—A common question in regard to activities is how? This is oftenest answered by means of an adverb or a prepositional phrase; as, sew neatly, study diligently, go with dispatch. But it is to be noticed that these elements tell how in an absolute way with no reference to a fixed standard, and are capable of many degrees of interpretation, for people’s notions of neatness, diligence, and dispatch differ.

Adverbs and prepositional phrases are unsatisfactory in another respect also;—the manner of an action can seldom be characterized by one term, so unless we wish to call attention to only one characteristic, we must employ several terms, or leave the action incompletely described. But if we use a clause we may tell exactly how an action is performed by comparing it with some other action familiar and understood, which it more or less precisely resembles; for example, “Sing out, children, as the little thrushes do.”—Mrs. Browning. Here the clause conveys one clear and definite impression to all who have heard the thrushes sing, an impression that it would take a whole list of adverbs to convey, like sweetly, joyfully, thrillingly, spontaneously; but how like a catalogue these sound, and how little they appeal to the imagination.

Frequently a mental action, an action of the emotions or of the will, or something else not immediately intelligible, is made clear by comparing it with something material, something evident to the senses. In such sentences we find the familiar figure of speech called simile; thus, “Poetry produces an illusion on the eye of the mind, as a magic lantern produces an illusion on the eye of the body.”—Macaulay. Here the clause of manner modifies the entire predicate of the principal proposition.

Introductory Word.—The ordinary connective of the modal clause is the subordinating conjunction as, though its place is sometimes taken by as if or as though, both of which expressions it is best to consider one conjunction. In the sentence,

“The maiden paused as if again

She thought to catch that distant strain,”

the clause conveys an idea of purpose in the maiden’s pausing as well as an idea of manner. This clause may be expanded to read as she would pause if again she thought to catch that distant strain, where the clause of manner contains a clause of condition.

A clause introduced by as though cannot be so expanded. “I will invest your money as though it were my own,” cannot be made to read—“I will invest your money as I would invest it though it were my own.” This is proof that the clause has been thought of only as a clause of manner, and as though as only one connective.

Notice that when a modal clause is introduced by as if or as though, the action or state in the clause is represented not as real but only as assumed.

Position of the Modal Clause.—The usual position of a clause of manner is after the predicate it modifies, but sometimes it precedes the principal proposition and is made emphatic by the adverb just, even, or precisely, used as a clause modifier; thus, “Just as we estimate the importance of a river—not by its length nor by its breadth, but by the amount of water it contributes to the ocean—so we estimate the size of a city by the number of people it contains.”

When the clause is long and comes first, the principal proposition is often introduced by so, a correlative of as in the clause; as in the example above.

Exercise 11

Select the adverbial clauses of manner, telling what each clause modifies, and its connective.

1. These poems differ from others as attar of roses differs from ordinary rose-water.—Macaulay.

2. The beggars and the wretcheder poor keep themselves warm, I think, by sultry recollections of summer, as Don Quixote proposed to subsist upon savory remembrances, during one of his periods of fast.—Howells.

3. The stars all seemed brighter than usual, as if the wind blew them up like burning coals.—Burroughs.

4.

And ever with the years

Waxed this compassionateness of our Lord

Even as a great tree grows from two soft leaves,

To spread its shade afar.—E. Arnold.

5. And as the piety of Noah could not save the antediluvian empires, as the faith of Abraham could not convert idolatrous nations, as the wisdom of Moses could not prevent the sensualism of emancipated slaves, so the lofty philosophy of Aurelius could not save the empire which he ruled.—Lord.

6. The foreign merchants, manufacturers, and artisans fled from her gates as if the plague were raging within them.—Motley.

7. The Creole neighbors rushed bareheaded into the middle of the street, as though there were an earthquake or a chimney on fire.—Cable.

8. For, as there is a curiosity about intellectual matters which is futile and merely a disease, so there is certainly a curiosity which is, in an intelligent being, natural and laudable.—M. Arnold.

9. Dislike at first sight is more common than love, as discord is more common than harmony.—A. S. Hardy.

10. The will has great though indirect power over the taste, just as it has over the belief.—Bagehot.

CHAPTER XII

THE ANALYSIS OF SENTENCES

WE are now ready to analyze sentences containing adjective clauses, noun clauses, and adverbial clauses of time, place, and manner.

It frequently happens that there is a clause within a clause. The first clause is then to be treated as if it were a complex sentence, and the second clause analyzed when the rest of the first clause has been disposed of. In the sentence,—“He felt as if he would like to stay till every ship that had sailed out of Monterey in the last three years had returned,” the predicate contains a clause of manner introduced by as if and extending to the end of the sentence. In this modal clause the infinitive to stay is modified by a temporal clause introduced by till and extending to the end of the sentence. In this temporal clause the base-word of the subject, ship, is modified by the restrictive adjective clause introduced by the relative pronoun that and extending through the word years. So we have an adjective clause within a temporal clause which is within a modal clause.

Exercise 12

Analyze the following sentences.

1. Again Thor struck, so soon as Skrymir again slept.—Carlyle.

2.

We’ll go where on the rocky isles

Her eggs the screaming sea fowl piles

Beside the pebbly shore.—Bryant.

3.

Where’er the impatient Switzers gazed,

The unbroken line of lances blazed.—Montgomery.

4. The poetry of Milton differs from that of Dante, as the hieroglyphics of Egypt differed from the picture-writing of Mexico.—Macaulay.

5. Natural talent and genius tell in elocution, as they do in the other arts.

6. Seventy years elapsed before the papacy was restored to the Eternal City.—Draper.

7. No instrument of man’s devising can reach the heart as does that most wonderful instrument, the human voice.—Hart.

8.

But soon a funeral hymn was heard

Where the soft breath of evening stirred

The tall, gray forest.—Longfellow.

9. Ever since Mr. Hobart’s “eleven and a bit” was left on the kitchen bed, Jess had hungered for a cloak with beads.—Barrie.

10. I was coming in, one summer night, from a long walk in the country, when I met this apparition at the city gate.—H. James.

11. People take their literature in morsels, as they take sandwiches on a journey.—Bagehot.

12. Scarcely was the artillery got into position when a rapid fire was opened on it from the tower.

13. As Venice in winter is the dreariest and gloomiest place in the world, so in spring it is the fullest of joy and light.—Howells.

14. Where population is sparse, discussion is difficult.

15. These newspaper fellows are half asleep when they make up their reports at two or three o’clock in the morning, and fill out the speeches to suit themselves.—Holmes.

16. The German built his solitary hut where inclination prompted.—Motley.

17.

But when the old cathedral bell

Proclaimed the morning prayer,

The white pavilions rose and fell

On the alarmèd air.—Longfellow.

18. How fine a thing it would be if all the faculties of the mind could be trained for the battles of life as a modern nation makes every man a soldier.—J. L. Allen.

19. We wish that whosoever, in all coming time, shall turn his eye hither, may behold that the place is not undistinguished, where the first great battle of the Revolution was fought.—Webster.

20. As an oak profits by the foregone lives of immemorial vegetable races that have worked over the juices of earth and air into organic life out of whose dissolution a soil might gather fit to maintain that nobler birth of nature, so we may be sure that the genius of every remembered poet drew the forces that built it up out of the decay of a long succession of forgotten ones.—Lowell.

CHAPTER XIII

THE ADVERBIAL CLAUSE OF CAUSE

Function.—In our daily experience we are continually meeting new conditions, discovering new truths. It is human nature to be curious as to the causes of these truths and conditions, hence there is no question perhaps which is asked oftener than the query of the scientist, the persistent question of the child, why? So common is this question that in our speech we anticipate its coming and answer it before it is asked. When we make statements of facts or of our opinions, we seem to foresee that we shall be asked why? or how do you know?—so along with our principal statement we give a cause or reason for it.

Sometimes we are able to tell cause or reason by means of a phrase, as, He trembled from fright, The wind must be blowing by the sound. But the usual way is by means of the subordinate proposition; thus, “Peter the Great caused his heir to be tried and sentenced to death, because he was a sot, a liar, and a fool.”—Lord.

What the Causal Clause denotes.—1. It may denote the natural or physical cause of some physical effect either in nature or in man; as, “Journeys by individuals could not be undertaken without much risk, for there was scarcely a moor or a forest that had not its highwaymen.”—Draper.

This clause answers the question why? One variety of it, often called a clause of motive, denotes something that determines man’s choice, something that leads him to pursue a line of action; as, “He discouraged commerce, not because it was in itself demoralizing, but because it brought the Jews too much in contact with corrupt nations.”—Lord.

A clause of motive answers the question why? or what made him do it? It can be used only to modify a statement about a human being or perhaps one of the higher animals—something that can act from a motive.

2. The causal clause may denote the cause of our knowledge of a fact, the evidence from which we draw a conclusion, but not the cause of the fact itself; as, “The other bird probably grew to maturity, as it disappeared from the vicinity with its parents after some days.”—Burroughs. This clause, sometimes called a clause of reason, answers the question how do you know? or what makes you say so?

Notice that all these causal clauses denote something that was true or in operation before what is in the principal proposition was true or in operation. In other words, the causal clause denotes the source from which something proceeds; the outcome or result is found stated in the principal proposition.

Connectives.—The commonest connective of the causal clause is the subordinating conjunction because, but we often find for, as, or since used in its place. Sometimes that is used; as, “And we wept that one so lovely should have a life so brief.”—Bryant. When for or because introduces a clause, we know that the clause is causal, but as, since, and that may introduce clauses used in other relations, so the nature of the clause in question must be determined by its meaning.

There are several phrases that may be used as conjunctions to introduce causal clauses. These are seeing that, now that, considering that, in that, inasmuch as, forasmuch as. These phrases should be considered as one word, having the function of the word because.

The connective is often dispensed with entirely when the relation of cause is very plain; thus, “One man goes four thousand miles to Italy, and does not see it, he is so short-sighted.”—Curtis.

What the Causal Clause modifies.—When the verb in the principal proposition denotes action, the clause modifies the verb, or it may modify some participle or infinitive denoting action; as, “Work is a thing done because it ought to be done, and with a determined end.”—Ruskin.

When the verb is a copula, the clause modifies the verb and its complement, as the verb has not in itself sufficient meaning to be modified. In the sentence,—“To John Inglesant, who had always been devotedly attached to his brother, this display of affection was delightful, cut off as he had been so long from all sympathy and friendliness,” the clause modifies was delightful. In this clause the position of the subordinating conjunction as is usurped by cut off in order to give prominence to those words. The clause may be transposed, however, so that as, meaning because, comes first.

Position of the Causal Clause.—Usually the causal clause follows the principal proposition. When it comes first, being in an unusual position it becomes more prominent and therefore more impressive, and the principal proposition is also rendered more forcible by being placed at the end of the sentence; for example, “And as they still continued to multiply, there came forth the dreadful edict that every male child of the Hebrews should be destroyed as soon as born.”—Lord.

Exercise 13

Select causal clauses in the following sentences. Tell what they denote, what they modify, and specify the connective.

1. The modern schoolmaster is expected to know a little of everything, because his pupil is required not to be entirely ignorant of anything.—Lamb.

2. If we dilate in beholding the Greek energy, the Roman pride, it is that we are already domesticating the same sentiment.—Emerson.

3. Vulgarity is an eighth deadly sin, worse than all the others put together, since it perils your salvation in this world.—Lowell.

4. The top of Blomidon is not the abode of storm winds alone, for two houses stand upon it, and the laughter of children rings cheerily among the evergreen groves.—Bolles.

5. But when I arose, and felt it, and knew it to be a culverin, I was somewhat reassured thereby, inasmuch as it was not likely that they would plant this engine except in the real and true entrance.—Blackmore.

6. He is certainly in correspondence with people on the continent, for his letters have all sorts of odd stamps on them.—Collins.

7. Because you are king of a nation, it does not follow that you are to gather for yourself all the wealth of that nation.—Ruskin.

9. The waters of Shirwa are brackish to the taste, and undrinkable; but the saltness must have a peculiar charm for game, for nowhere else in Africa did I see such splendid herds of the larger animals as here.—Drummond.

10. The fury of the water which surrounds us was marvelous, considering that there were no great waves, and no storm to make waves.—Bolles.

11. And these, now that they had no longer anything to fear from their great Italian adversary, commenced partisan warfare on each other.—Draper.

12. His black coat shines as if it had been polished; and it has been polished on the wearer’s back, no doubt, for the arms and other points of maximum attrition are particularly smooth and bright.—Holmes.

13. As Cæsar found no reason for supposing that there was a life beyond the grave, he did not pretend to expect it.—Froude.

14. Its discovery by myself and dog probably opened the door for ill-luck, as one day, when I peeped in upon it, it was empty.—Burroughs.

CHAPTER XIV

CLAUSES OF PURPOSE AND RESULT

THE preceding chapter treated of clauses bearing the relation of cause to the principal proposition and denoting something true or operative before the thought in the principal proposition was true or operative. We have now to consider clauses which are the reverse of causal clauses, namely, final clauses. These denote something that is true or will be true after what is stated in the principal proposition is true. In other words, they denote an end or a consequence realized or to be realized as a result or outcome of the statement in the principal proposition. According to their relation to the principal proposition, they may be classified as clauses of purpose and clauses of result.

1. The Clause of Purpose.—The purpose clause denotes an intended consequence, which is to follow from the action or condition expressed in the principal proposition; as, “If natural death seemed to be coming on, they would cut wounds in their flesh, that Odin might receive them as warriors slain.”—Carlyle. This sentence shows that the clause of purpose answers the question what for? and is put into a sentence to explain or justify the act in the principal proposition.

It is evident that, since a clause of purpose denotes an intended consequence of an act or condition, that act or condition must be performed or brought about by some being capable of forming an intention, hence the principal proposition states something, either directly or indirectly, about a voluntary act, usually the act of a human being. This is oftenest stated directly, as in the example above; but occasionally we find such sentences as the following,—“The door of Scrooge’s counting-house was open that he might keep his eye upon his clerk.”—Dickens. Here the clause by no means denotes the door’s purpose in being open, but Scrooge’s purpose in keeping it open.

The clause of purpose may be introduced by the conjunctions that, so that, in order that. The negative purpose clause is introduced by lest (= that not); as, “We must both speak low lest she should waken.”—Brontë.

The clause of purpose is seldom met, not because the purpose of an act is seldom told, but because it can usually be told more briefly by means of the infinitive; thus, “Garrisons were established in the larger cities to keep down revolt and to enforce the payment of tribute.”

2. The Clause of Result.—This denotes not an intention but the consequence of the act or condition expressed in the principal proposition; as, “The kingly power among the Jews was checked and hedged by other powers, so that an overgrown tyranny was difficult and unusual.”—Lord.

The clause of result is often employed to tell the degree of some quality or attribute, as in the sentence,—“Washington was so rigidly punctual that when Hamilton, his secretary, pleaded a slow watch as an excuse for being five minutes late, he replied, ‘Then, sir, either you must get a new watch or I must get a new secretary.’” Here the clause tells how punctual Washington was, but it does this by telling a result of his punctuality. Notice that in the first example the clause may be said to modify the verbs in the principal proposition, was checked and was hedged, but in the second sentence it modifies the verb and its complement, was so rigidly punctual.

The clause of result is introduced by that, so that, or, if both principal proposition and clause are negative, by but or but that. These connectives except so that are usually associated with the correlative so or such in the principal proposition. This correlative modifies an adjective or an adverb, and serves as a hint that a clause of result is to follow. As an example of a negative clause of result, we have the following sentence,—“The long, warm days of summer never return but they bring with them a gloom.”—Lamb.

Exercise 14

Dispose of all final clauses in the following sentences.

1. The oak chooses the horizontal direction for its limbs so that their whole weight may tell,—and then stretches them out fifty or sixty feet so that the strain may be mighty enough to be worth resisting.—Holmes.

2. High forest-clad hills rose on every side, enclosing the river, so that its only method of escape was through deep rifts cut into their slopes.—Bolles.

3. Every pot made by any human potter or brazier had a hole in its cover, to let off the enemy, lest he should lift pot and roof, and carry the house away.—Emerson.

4. Leonardo da Vinci would walk the whole length of Milan that he might alter a single tint in his picture of the Last Supper.—Trevelyan.

5. Is the old Grecian spirit frozen in your veins, that you do crouch and cower like a belabored hound beneath his master’s lash?—Kellogg.

6. I find myself so much like other people that I often wonder at the coincidence.—Holmes.

7. He wished the other examinations over, that his own might come on.—Shorthouse.

8. The two young Cratchits crammed spoons into their mouths lest they should shriek for goose before their turn came to be helped.—Dickens.

9. Even to this day they never hear a thunderstorm of a summer afternoon about the Kaatskill, but they say Hendrick Hudson and his crew are at their game of ninepins.—Irving.

10. She had pushed her bonnet entirely off, so that it hung by the strings at the back of her neck.—J. L. Allen.

11. And even Scrooge was not so dreadfully cut up by the sad event but that he was an excellent man of business on the very day of the funeral, and solemnized it with an undoubted bargain.—Dickens.

12. The new Ranee hated the seven poor Princesses, and wanted to get them, if possible, out of the way, in order that her daughter might have all their riches.—Old Deccan Days.

Exercise 15

Analyze the following sentences:

These lofty trees

Wave not less proudly that their ancestors

Moulder beneath them.—Bryant.

2. Dante shows us the punishment of sins against God and one’s neighbor in order that we may shun them and so escape the doom that awaits them in the other world.—Lowell.

3. A man cannot bury his meanings so deep in his books but time and like-minded men will find them.—Emerson.

4. Among people who submit to great physical suffering that they may have themselves handsomely tattooed, extremes of temperature are borne with but little attempt at mitigation.—Spencer.

5. He is not tempted to levity or impatience, for he does not see the joke and is thick-skinned to present evils.—Bagehot.

6. We should naturally think that excitement and pleasure and knowledge would make people happy, since they stimulate the intellectual powers.—Lord.

7. Then she dropped her head quickly, so that her own face remained hidden, and silently plied her work.—J. L. Allen.

8. Their visit was not wholly unexpected, for his house, which fronted the street, was strongly barricaded, the wicket gate of the prison was closed up, and at no loop hole or grating was any person to be seen.—Dickens.

9. The larger trees he had girdled and killed in order that their foliage should not cast a shade.—Wm. James.

10. The Watsons were doubtless rich people, for they had the confidence of conscious wealth in their bearing.—Brontë.

11. There are actually districts in Africa where three natives cannot be sent on a message in case two should combine and sell the third before they return.—Drummond.

12. Here was one who never resisted any temptation, never had a desire but he coddled and pampered it.—Thackeray.

13. A man cannot speak but he judges himself.—Emerson.

14. For every bucket of water that ye bring to us, that we may pour it into the tank, which is the Market, behold! we will give you a penny.—Bellamy.

15. A ruined man staggers down to ruin because there was not wisdom enough in him.—Carlyle.

16. Be clean, for the strength of the hunter is known by the gloss of his hide.—Kipling.

17. He only meant to walk up and down her street, so that she might see him from the window, and know that this splendid thing was he.—Barrie.

18. If we wore prints, instead of summer silks, it was because we preferred a washing material.—Mrs. Gaskell.

CHAPTER XV

THE ADVERBIAL CLAUSE OF CONDITION

Function.—We are seldom able to make unqualified statements, because few facts are universally true. On the contrary, we must carefully hedge in our statements by certain restrictions, and a useful means for doing this is the adverbial clause of condition. For instance, “The knight ever came to the rescue of a woman in danger or distress,” is a sweeping statement, and would instantly be disputed unless we add the conditional clause, “provided she was a lady.”

Such a clause is often so important that writers place it at the beginning of the sentence as if they wished to guard against contradiction or misunderstanding, by putting their readers at once into the proper attitude for comprehending their principal statement.

If we examine a few typical sentences, we shall see how useful is the condition clause in a variety of ways.

1. “If nettles and thistles grow in my cabbage garden, I don’t try to persuade them to grow into cabbages.”—Froude. Here the clause states a condition which is to be regarded as really taking place. The idea of time is also associated with that of condition.

2. “If, in the least particular, one could derange the order of nature,—who would accept the gift of life?”—Emerson. The clause here states an imaginary condition, but at the same time implies what is the real state of the case; namely, that no one can, in the least particular, derange the order of nature.

3. “I might have been a minister myself, for aught I know, if this clergyman had not looked and talked so like an undertaker.”—Holmes. Here the sentence is so framed that the contrary of both clause and principal proposition is implied; namely, this clergyman did look and talk exactly like an undertaker, hence I am not a minister. Is it not wonderful that by means of one set of words we may say two opposite things, and not fail of being understood?

4. “If I was ever weak enough to give anything to a petitioner of whatever nationality, it always rained decayed compatriots of his for a month after.”—Lowell. Here the subordinate thought is put into the form of a clause of condition, but at the same time we understand that we are to find in it the cause of the principal proposition.

5. “Middlingness is always pardonable, so that one does not ask others to take it for superiority.”—George Eliot. The clause is here a saving clause. It states the exception necessary to be made in order that the principal proposition may be accepted as true.

6. “If my friend was not a genius, he was certainly a monomaniac.”—H. James. This sentence does not mean that my friend was a monomaniac provided he was not a genius, but is a brief way of saying,—If you assert that my friend was not a genius, you will then have to admit that he was certainly a monomaniac.

7. “She has met the equinoctials before, if it is the equinoctials that are beginning.”—Black. Here the clause does not state a condition for the principal proposition, but for some thought not expressed,—this, perhaps: and can meet this storm.

In these sentences we have by no means shown all that may be accomplished by the conditional clause. We have only indicated the types of sentences most frequently met with in which this clause occurs.

What the Conditional Clause modifies.—The conditional clause is usually brought into the sentence by the predicate of the principal proposition, and so must be looked upon as an adjunct of that predicate. Sometimes, however, it modifies a gerund, participle, or infinitive. In the sentence;—“She must have a story, well, ill, or indifferently told, so there be life stirring in it, and plenty of good or evil accidents,” the clause modifies the participle told after it has been modified by the adverbs well, ill, and indifferently.

Introductory Word.—1. The subordinating conjunctions if, so, unless (= if not).

2. The phrases on condition that, conditionally that, in case that, provided that, but that, so that. These should be considered as one word.

3. The imperatives say, let, suppose; as, “Suppose you were going to carpet a room, would you use a carpet having representations of flowers upon it?”—Dickens. Here the condition seems to be actual and present, not imaginary.

4. The participles providing, provided, supposing. The first two are especially useful in introducing a restriction.

Sometimes there is no connective, but the subordination and the nature of the clause are indicated by the order of the words, the verb or its auxiliary being placed before the subject; thus, “Had I twenty girls, they should be brought up exactly in this fashion.”—Lamb.

Exercise 16

Dispose of all clauses of condition in the following sentences:

1. If I had my will, every idiot who goes about with ‘Merry Christmas’ on his lips should be boiled with his own pudding and buried with a stake of holly through his heart.—Dickens.

2. Despotism is a legitimate mode of government in dealing with barbarians, provided the end be their improvement, and the means justified by actually effecting that end.—Mill.

3. Education will not make people happy, unless it is directed into useful channels.—Lord.

4. The hall was open to all who came on condition that the guest should leave his weapons at the door.—Besant.

5. Should a man discover the art of transmuting metals, and present us with a lump of gold as large as an ostrich egg, would it be in human nature to inquire too nicely whether he had stolen the lead?—Lowell.

6. He made very few rules, and in case one was broken in spirit or in letter, the delinquent was set up on a high stool behind a small, long-legged desk, facing the school, and made to read from the bad boy’s scrap book.—Annie Preston.

7. If you would not be known to do a thing, never do it.—Emerson.

8. While you utterly shun slang, whether native or foreign born,—at present, by the way, our popular writers use far less slang than the English,—yet do not shrink from Americanisms, so they be good ones.—Higginson.

9. The Saxon is the man of all others slow to admit the thought of revolution; but let him once admit it, he will carry it through and make it stick—a secret hitherto undiscoverable by other races.—Lowell.

10. Had it been wholly serious, it would not have been wholly French.—Higginson.

11. If he was ambitious, his ambition had no petty aim.—J. R. Green.

12. Talents are absolutely nothing to a man except he have the faculty of work along with them.—Lowell.

CHAPTER XVI

THE ADVERBIAL CLAUSE OF CONCESSION

Function.—In the compound sentence,—“The whale is not a fish, but we speak of the ‘whale fishery,’” we have joined two thoughts which are opposed to each other, but we have made them of equal importance. Now, if we wish to make one of them more prominent, and at the same time indicate that it is true in spite of the other, we construct our sentence as follows,—“The whale is not a fish though we speak of the ‘whale fishery.’”

Here the main thought is the whale is not a fish, and by the form in which we have expressed the other thought, we have shown not only that there is an opposition between the two thoughts,—which was likewise shown in the compound sentence,—but also that it is strange that the two thoughts are true at the same time when they seem mutually contradictory. This second sentence is complex, and the dependent proposition is an adverbial clause of concession. It does not necessarily indicate that two thoughts are opposed to each other; sometimes they only stand in contrast; as, “While (= though) his fame rests on his Meditations, as that of David rests upon his Psalms, he yet rendered great military service to The Empire.”—Lord.

We may define a concessive clause as one that concedes or grants something in contrast or opposition to what is expressed in the principal proposition. It modifies a verb or a verb with modifiers. It varies but little in function, the slight variations being indicated by the choice of the introductory word.

Introductory Word.—1. Though or although. This is the conjunction oftenest used; indeed, all the other words or phrases used are more or less equivalent to it in meaning. Albeit was formerly much used, and we occasionally find it in poetry now, but it is very seldom used in spoken English or in ordinary prose composition.

2. Whether.—This word with its correlative or is used when we wish to say that a thing is true in spite of two other facts or conditions which are contrary to each other; as, “The balconies are always charming, whether they hang high over the streets or look out upon the canals.”—Howells.

3. The indefinite pronouns whoever, whatever, whichever; the adjectives whatever and whichever; and the adverb however. These words signify that the clause is to be taken in its widest possible application; as, “Upon whatever career you may enter, intellectual quickness, industry, and the power of bearing fatigue are three great advantages.”—Huxley. Here the clause means,—though you may enter upon any career whatsoever.

4. No matter.—This phrase together with the adverb how is a frequent substitute for the connective however. It emphasizes the scope of the clause and thus makes the opposition between the principal proposition and the clause seem greater; thus, “The guns can be fired in any direction, no matter how the ship is lying.”

5. While.—In some sentences this is nearly equivalent to though; in others it carries with it an idea of time as well as concession; thus, “Both Charles himself and his creature Laud, while they abjured the innocent badges of popery, retained all its worst vices.”—Macaulay.

6. If.—When the adversative relation between the two propositions is perfectly clear without being indicated by the connective, if or even if may be employed in the place of though. A concessive clause so introduced must not be confounded with the clause of condition. In the latter if can be changed to provided; in the former if is equivalent to though; for example, “If the scenery failed to charm, the names of places did not fail to astonish us.”—Bolles.

7. Notwithstanding or notwithstanding that.—The former of these is more frequently met with as a preposition introducing a concessive phrase and meaning about the same as in spite of; thus, “Notwithstanding the increasing illness of his sister, he was able to enjoy some cheerful society.”—Ainger. But sentences like the following are not uncommon,—“Notwithstanding the wind was favorable to each alike, both vessels had deviated from the direct line and were steering toward a common center.”—Cooper.

8. A common form of the concessive clause is one in which an adjective, a verb, an adverb, or a noun comes first, followed sometimes by though, oftener by as. This order of words arises from our desire to make prominent or emphatic some particular attribute; as, “Strange as it may appear, even the baron’s jokes seemed only to render him the more melancholy.”—Irving. Here the attribute strange is emphasized. That such a clause is only an ordinary clause of concession transposed for a special purpose, with as substituted for though, becomes evident by comparing it with the clause in the following,—

“Thy brow,

Glorious in beauty though it be, is scarred

With tokens of old wars.”—Bryant.

Transposing this clause to the natural order, we have, “though it be glorious in beauty.”

In sentences containing a concessive clause the principal proposition is sometimes introduced by yet, a correlative of the connective in the clause. Yet is often used when the clause comes first and is long. It is useful in calling attention to the fact that the concession has all been stated, gathering it up, as it were, into one word before the principal statement is made.

Exercise 17

Dispose of all concessive clauses in the following sentences.

1. The Icelanders say that “Iceland is the best land the sun shines on,” though the sun scarcely shines enough to melt the ice in summer.—Munger.

2. No man, whatever his sensibility may be, is ever affected by Hamlet or Lear, as a little girl is affected by the story of poor Red-Ridinghood.—Macaulay.

3. If they were unacquainted with the works of philosophers and poets, they were deeply read in the oracles of God. If their names were not found in the registers of heralds, they were recorded in the Book of Life. If their steps were not accompanied by a splendid train of menials, legions of ministering angels had charge over them.—Macaulay.

4. And, again, while the Greeks rightly despised mechanical arts as much as the Egyptians, they did not make the fatal mistake of despising agricultural and pastoral life.—Ruskin.

5. Well-advanced as Hepzibah was, she could not remember when Uncle Venner had not gone up and down the street, stooping a little and drawing his feet heavily over the gravel or pavement.—Hawthorne.

6. On whichever side of the border chance had thrown Joanna, the same love to France would have been nurtured.—De Quincey.

7. Energetic men, whether they work or whether they play, put their strength into the work and their strength into the play.—Ruskin.

8. Darwin misses no step that the slow but tireless gods of physical change have taken, no matter how they cross or retrace their course.—Burroughs.

9.

Though the cause of Evil prosper, yet ’tis Truth alone is strong;

And, albeit she wander outcast now, I see around her throng

Troops of beautiful, tall angels, to enshield her from all wrong.—Lowell.

10. Thought is thought, howe’er it speak or spell itself.—Carlyle.

11. She would not marry a coward or a braggart even if he were the owner of ten thousand acres.—Lord.

12. Father Salvierderra always said that it was a duty to look happy, no matter how much we might be suffering.—H. H.

CHAPTER XVII

THE ADVERBIAL CLAUSE OF DEGREE OR COMPARISON

Function.—In Chapter XI. we showed that the manner in which an action is performed is often denoted by an adverbial clause. Now, it may sometimes be denoted by an adverb, as in the sentence,—He accumulated his learning quietly. But, in order to give force and point to this adverb, it is frequently accompanied by a clause of degree bringing in a comparison; thus, “He accumulated his learning as quietly as a stout lady accumulates her fat, by the daily satisfaction of his appetite.”—Hamerton. By comparing the quietness with which he accumulated learning to the quietness with which a stout lady accumulates fat, we provide a standard or illustration for the first thought, and so make it clear and impressive.

We often wish to tell in what degree a certain attribute is possessed. This may be done by a clause of result, as was seen in Chapter XIV., but we may also do it by comparison; for example, “Thou shalt be happy as heart can wish.” Here the degree of happiness thou shalt have is fixed by saying that it is equal to what thy heart wishes.

Number and amount often cannot be told absolutely but may be told relatively by means of a comparison; thus, “Mrs. Patten had more respect for her neighbor Mr. Hackit than for most people.”—George Eliot. It would hardly be possible or worth while to tell exactly the amount of respect that Mrs. Patten had for Mr. Hackit, but it is worth telling how this respect compared with the respect she had for other people.

Classification of Clauses of Degree.—1. A sentence may assert that two attributes are equal in degree; as, “They were as timid and cowardly as they were rebellious.”—Lord. Here the degree of their timidity and cowardice is shown by comparing these qualities with their rebelliousness, and the two sets of attributes are found to be equal. The clause in such a sentence is usually introduced by the subordinating conjunction as, and a correlative of this word usually precedes the word in the principal proposition denoting the idea to be compared. The first as is an adverb, being an adjunct of either an adjective or an adverb. It may be omitted, as was shown in the sentence,—Thou shalt be happy as heart can wish.

A clause denoting equality of degree is sometimes introduced by as if, which may be considered a compound conjunction unless we choose to supply the ellipsis. In the following sentence from Henry James, “I found as great a fascination in watching the odd lights and shades of his character as if he had been a creature from another planet,”—we may supply between as and if the words I would have found, thus obtaining a clause of degree having within it a clause of condition.

If the whole comparison is placed first in the sentence, the principal proposition is introduced by so followed by the word denoting the respect in which two ideas are compared; as, “But, as eminently as Homer is plain, so eminently is the Elizabethan literature in general, and Chapman in particular, fanciful.”—Arnold. The words so eminently are not necessary for the complete structure of the sentence, but they add to its clearness.

A statement containing a comparison of equality may be denied by means of the negative adverb not, so that the sentence amounts finally to an assertion of inequality in degree; thus, “He is not by any means so wise as he looks.”

2. A sentence may assert that two attributes are unequal in degree; for example, “The manner of saying things often makes a deeper impression than the thing that is said (makes).”—Brook. Here the impression made by the manner of speaking and the impression made by the thing spoken are compared and said to be unequal in depth. The clause in such a sentence is introduced by the subordinating conjunction than, and is always an adjunct of some word in the comparative degree, or the words else, other, otherwise, or rather, the last being in reality a comparative of the Old English word rathe.

When a statement signifying inequality is denied by some negative word, the sentence amounts to a statement of equality; thus, “It is not more certain that Sarah Gamp liked her beer drawn mild than it is that your Englishman likes his poetry cut short.”—Birrell.

In clauses of both varieties given above there is often an ellipsis, the words omitted being those already expressed in the principal proposition and hence easily supplied. In the sentence, “Mrs. Patten had more respect for her neighbor Mr. Hackit than for most people,” when we analyze the clause we must fill it out so as to make it read, than she had respect for most people.

3. The clause of degree may tell not that things stand to each other in a relation of equality or inequality, but that they vary in the same proportion; thus, “The deeper the snow, the nearer the rabbit is brought to the tops of the tender bushes and shrubs.”—Burroughs. Here the rabbit’s nearness to the tops of the shrubs is said to vary with the depth of the snow.

In sentences of this sort, both principal proposition and subordinate proposition are constructed in the same form, but the principal proposition may always be ascertained by questioning the sentence; for example, does the foregoing sentence assert that the depth of snow varies with the rabbit’s nearness, or that the rabbit’s nearness varies with the depth of snow? Clearly, the latter. Indeed, it will almost invariably be found that in a sentence of this kind, especially if it be addressed to the eye, the second proposition contains the principal thought.

Sentences of this kind are often much abridged; thus, “The more, the merrier,” “The sooner, the better.”

Another form of the idiomatic sentence just given is one which makes use of the connective in proportion as; for example, “People dread to be thought unsafe in proportion as they get their living by being thought to be safe.”—Bagehot. This can easily be changed to the older form,—“The more people get their living by being thought to be safe, the more do they dread to be thought unsafe.”

NOTE.—According as may be used in place of in proportion as, as in the following sentence,—“The Sonnets are more or less striking according as the occasions which gave birth to them are more or less interesting.”—Macaulay.

Another form of this comparison is one in which the two propositions are introduced by the prepositional phrases by as much and by so much; for example, “Look at the most vigorous species; by as much as it swarms in numbers, by so much will it tend to increase still further.”

4. A fourth variety of the clause of degree is found in the following sentence,—“Night in the tropics, so far as animal life is concerned, is as the day.”—Drummond. Here the group of words, so far as animal life is concerned, tells the extent or degree to which night is like day. It might be separated into the base-word far modified by the adverb so and the clause as animal life is concerned; but it does not seem to be the author’s purpose to institute any comparison whatever, hence it is better to consider the whole group of words as one element denoting degree, and treat so far as as one subordinating connective.

Sometimes a clause of this kind performs a double duty. It gives the reason or ground for the main assertion and at the same time makes that assertion somewhat doubtful; for example, “As far as I could observe when the meeting broke up, they separated without remark on the sermon.”—Emerson. Here the principal statement is based upon the writer’s observation when the meeting broke up; but he implies that his main assertion may not be true, for his observation may not have extended far enough to warrant any certainty in his conclusion.

Exercise 18

Dispose of all clauses of degree in the following sentences.

1. Never did people believe anything more firmly than nine Englishmen out of ten at the present day believe that our greatness and welfare are proved by our being so very rich.—M. Arnold.

2. A shocking bad hat is perhaps as indifferent to Gladstone as a dirty old cloak was to Socrates.—Lord.

3. So far as a man thinks, he is free.—Emerson.

4. No nobler feeling than this of admiration for one higher than himself dwells in the breast of man.—Carlyle.

5. The drier the air, and the hotter the air, the greater is the amount of cloud which can be dissolved in it.—Tyndall.

6. The heretic was excluded, so far as ecclesiastical dogma could exclude him, from the pale of humanity, from consecrated earth, and from eternal salvation.—Motley.

7. The face of the water in time became a wonderful book—a book that was a dead language to the uneducated passenger, but which told its mind to me without reserve, delivering its most cherished secrets as clearly as if it uttered them with a voice.—S. L. Clemens.

8. Leave a youth idle; and, the more brave and active and capable he is by nature, the more he will thirst for some appointed field for action.—Ruskin.

9. A long, dark hall stretched before me, extending, as well as I could judge in the gloom, entirely across the house.—Page.

10. The trumpet does not more stun you by its loudness, than a whisper teases you by its provoking inaudibility.—Lamb.

11. The less a man thinks or knows about his virtues, the better we like him.—Emerson.

12. As far as I can make out, the League was founded by an American millionaire.—Conan Doyle.

13. In proportion as men know more and think more, they look less at individuals and more at classes.—Macaulay.

14. To me the silence of a summer morning is more touching than all other silences.—De Quincey.

15. But by as much as Kipling surpasses other poets and novelists in originality, by so much does he surpass them in methodical industry.—Hillis.

Exercise 19

Analyze the following sentences:—

1. He who refuses to embrace a unique opportunity loses the prize as surely as if he tried and failed.—Wm. James.

2. If they embroidered dresses or worked tapestries, they also wove the cloth for their husbands’ coats and made his shirts and knit his stockings.—Lord.

3. If I had my way, I would give the same education to the child of the collier and to the child of the peer.—Kingsley.

4. Fat as he is, and old as he is, his movements are astonishingly light and easy.—Collins.

5. The more we reflect upon this question, the harder it is to answer.—Stockton.

6. And no matter how superior you think yourselves, you will not pass here till you have something of your own to produce.—Froude.

7. Inglesant remained in prison, and would have thought that he had been forgotten, but that every few weeks he was sent for by the Committee and examined.—Shorthouse.

8. I hardly know anything more strange than that you recognize honesty in play, and you do not in work.—Ruskin.

9. Though we believe that the intentions of Cromwell were at first honest, though we believe that he was driven from the noble course which he had marked out for himself by the almost irresistible course of circumstances, though we admire in common with all men of all parties the ability and energy of his splendid administration, we are not pleading for arbitrary and lawless power even in his hands.—Macaulay.

10. Much would be lost, had Iceland not been burst up from the sea, not been discovered by the Northmen.—Carlyle.

11. Clam and worm might be forever undisturbed so far as he was concerned.—J. T. Fields.

12. If pride of rank was generated in this fraternity of gentlemen, so also was scorn of lies and baseness.—Lord.

13. But I soon found that my lines had fallen in a place where a vegetable growth had to run the gauntlet of as many foes and trials as a Christian pilgrim.—Holmes.

14. The oriole shortens up its nest in proportion as the danger lessens.—Burroughs.

15. Suppose I gave you something to eat, would you listen to me afterward?—Miss Mulock.

16. Lord Mohun alone among historians, so far as my knowledge goes, has done fit and full justice to the French Parliaments.—Higginson.

17. No one is so blind to his own faults as a man who has the habit of detecting the faults of others.—Faber.

18. So high as the tree aspires to grow, so high will it find an atmosphere suited to it.—Thoreau.

19. And if you emigrate, you will soon find out, if you have eyes and common-sense, that the vegetable wealth of the world is no more exhausted than its mineral wealth.—Kingsley.

20. But music and painting, though they may be exquisite adornments of life, contain no living force that can develop a weak nation into a strong one.—Draper.

Exercise 20

Sentences containing all kinds of dependent propositions.

1. When you feel a true admiration for a teacher, a glow of enthusiasm for work, a thrill of pleasure at some excellent saying, give it expression.—C. W. Eliot.

2. Though his opinions were democratic, his tastes and his associations were such as harmonize best with monarchy and aristocracy.—Macaulay.

3. You tremble when you think of how your sin has outgrown itself, and is running far, far away where you can never follow it.—Phillips Brooks.

4.

Broad steps ascended to a terrace broad,

Whereon lay still light from the open door.

—James Thomson.

5. Mankind in the aggregate is always wiser than any single man, because its experience is derived from a larger range of observation and experience, and because the springs that feed it drain a wider region both of time and space.—Lowell.

6. Whatever is fated, that will take place.—Emerson.

7. Whenever it is proved that a man broke one of the Ten Commandments, it is roundly replied that in his day there were only nine.—Stephen.

8. The market-place and the factory owe much to thinkers, just as the branches bowing down with ripe fruit owe much to the roots working in silence and darkness.—Hillis.

9. I myself must mix with action lest I wither by despair.—Tennyson.

10. The Lone Wolf must have sprung and missed his hold, for Mowgli heard the snap of his teeth and then a yelp as the Sambhur knocked him over with his forefoot.—Kipling.

11. The poorest and the richest students are equally welcome here, provided that with their poverty or their wealth they bring capacity, ambition, and purity.—C. W. Eliot.

12.

In the elder days of art,

Builders wrought with greatest care

Each minute and unseen part;

For the gods see everywhere.—Longfellow.

13. I have no expectation that any man will read history aright who thinks that what was done in a remote age by men whose names have resounded far, has any deeper sense than what he is doing today.—Emerson.

14.

Wherever men are gathered, all the air

Is charged with human feeling, human thought.

—James Thomson.

15. I talk half the time to find out my own thoughts, as a schoolboy turns his pockets inside out to see what is in them.—Holmes.

16. Let us therefore send for the soothsayers, that they may interpret this thing unto us.—Bellamy.

17. Examples would indeed be excellent things, were not people so modest that none will set, and so vain that none will follow them.—Hare.

18. Be the reasons what they may, the influence of generals, statesmen, and inventors is less deep and abiding than the influence of those poets who have sung of love and grief, of war and worship, and of the shepherd-care of God.—Hillis.

19. The Turk, who believes that his doom is written on the iron leaf in the moment when he entered the world, rushes on the enemy’s sabre with undivided will.—Emerson.

20. Where a man can trust his own heart and those of his friends, tomorrow is as good as today.—Stevenson.

21. Have you ever observed that we pay much more attention to a wise passage when it is quoted than when we read it in the original author?—Hamerton.

22.

If thou art worn and hard beset

With sorrows, that thou would’st forget,

If thou would’st read a lesson that will keep

Thy heart from fainting and thy soul from sleep,

Go to the woods and hills.—Longfellow.

23. While, therefore, good nature depends on the physical organization, and cannot be cultivated by effort; while good humor depends on circumstances, and is no part of the man himself,—good temper is something which we can all acquire, if we choose.—J. F. Clarke.

24. And what wicked thing have you done, that they should haunt you so?—R. H. Dana, Sr.

25. There is no poltroon in the world but can brag about what he would have done.—Thackeray.

26. It is the bit of truth in every slander, the hint of likeness in every caricature, that makes us smart.—Lowell.

27. No man has learned anything rightly until he knows that every day is Doomsday.—Emerson.

28. Calvin, whose life was darkened by disease, had a morbid and gloomy element in his theology.—J. F. Clarke.

CHAPTER XVIII

THE COMPOUND SENTENCE

IN our study of dependent propositions, we have considered in the main the complex sentence. We shall now take up the compound sentence, whose distinguishing characteristic is that it contains at least two independent propositions. These propositions with their accompanying clauses, if any, constitute the members of a compound or complex-compound sentence, and such a sentence may be classified according to the relation subsisting between its members. On the basis of this relation we have the following classification:—

1. Members may be in the same line of thought; that is, they may denote related events succeeding each other in time, or they may tell similar things about the same subject, or the second may be added to the first by way of supplementing or explaining it, etc. Sentences of this kind are very common; as, “We consecrate our work to the spirit of national independence, and we wish that the light of peace may rest upon it forever.”—Webster.

Connective.—For members in the same line of thought the typical conjunction is and. All the other connectives so used are equivalent to and, though they may have a slight additional meaning. These are,—

(a) The coördinating conjunction nor or neither, equivalent to and not; as, “Bolts and bars are not the best of our institutions, nor is shrewdness in trade a mark of wisdom.”—Emerson.

(b) While.—This must be carefully distinguished from the subordinating conjunction while, and from while used to coördinate but equivalent to but; as, “His lower limbs were sheathed like his body in flexible mail, securing the legs and thighs, while (= and) his feet rested in plated shoes which corresponded with the gauntlets.”—Scott.

A common type of sentence which it seems best to classify here is one in which the first member is imperative, the second declarative, and the two joined by and; as, “Tell me what you like, and I will tell you what you are.”—Ruskin. This is equivalent in meaning to a complex sentence containing a clause of condition,—“If you tell me what you like, I will tell you what you are.” But, inasmuch as the author used and between his two propositions, it would seem that he intended the condition to be equally important with the second statement. Sentences of this kind have a directness of appeal to the reader that gives them a peculiar force.

2. The members of a compound sentence may denote contrasting thoughts; as, “In cities we study those around us, but in the retirement of the country we learn to know ourselves.”—Longfellow.

The second member often denotes a thought not to be expected after the first has been accepted; as, “Boys are capital fellows in their own way, among their mates; but they are unwholesome companions for grown people.”—Lamb. This sentence reminds us of the complex sentence containing a clause of concession, for it might easily be recasted into one,—Though boys are capital fellows, etc.

Connective.—The typical conjunction for this sentence is but; all the substitutes for but are merely its various equivalents. These are,—

(a) The conjunctions yet, while, and yet, whereas; as, “It is no longer a reality; yet it was one.”—Carlyle.

(b) The adverbs still, only, nevertheless, however. These are conjunctions when used alone between independent propositions, adverbs when associated with but. They all imply an opposition between the two members; for example, “He is glad of his pay—very properly so, and justly grumbles when you keep him ten years without it—still, his main notion of life is to win battles, not to be paid for winning them.”—Ruskin.

3. Members of a compound sentence may present an alternation or choice between two thoughts. In such a case only one of the members is true; as, “Come down and help us, Rustum, or we lose.”—M. Arnold. If the first proposition here is fulfilled, the second will not be true. If the second should be true, it would be because the first was not fulfilled. Often, as in this example, the second member denotes a consequence of something which is the direct opposite of what is stated in the first member.

Connective word.—(a) The typical connective is the coördinating conjunction or. Sometimes the first member is preceded by either, a correlative of or. It may be remarked here that or is much oftener met between words or phrases than between propositions.

(b) The adverbs else and otherwise when equivalent to or may be used in its stead.

4. The second member of a compound sentence may denote a result of the first, either a direct consequence or a conclusion. In other words, the first member may denote (a) the cause of the second member; as, “They speak English there, so your difficulties are now pretty well over.”—Brontë. (b) The evidence which supports the second member; as, “He was not at church Sunday, hence he must have been ill.” Such sentences suggest the complex sentences containing a clause of real cause or a clause of reason; and owing to the causal relation between the two members, it may seem at first sight that one of them is a dependent proposition. But such is not the case. Each of them is grammatically independent; for both are presented as equally important, and the coördinating conjunction and could be supplied between them in addition to the other conjunction.

Connective.—The typical conjunction is therefore. We also find hence, wherefore, so, so that, so then, consequently and accordingly, all of which are equivalent to therefore.

5. Frequently one member is added to another by way of explanation, giving the author’s reason for making the first statement. It is introduced by for and usually preceded by a semicolon; thus, “Always pay; for first or last you must pay your entire debt.”—Emerson.

It is sometimes difficult to decide whether the second member is independent or dependent, whether for is a coördinating or a subordinating conjunction. The tests for the independent proposition must be these:—Did the author intend the second member to stand equal in importance to the first? Does the second member add something not necessary to the first member or affecting its meaning? Does the second member express a thought not perhaps in the author’s mind when he wrote the first?

Omission of the Conjunction in Compound Sentences.—Often when the relation between two members is perfectly evident, the connective is omitted. This frequently occurs when the members are in the same line of thought; as, “The place to observe nature is where you are; the walk to take today is the walk you took yesterday.”—Burroughs.

The connective is also omitted to avoid repetition when the sentence contains several members, all sustaining the same relation to one another. It should, however, be noticed here that authors differ in their mode of punctuation. One author might combine two sentences into one compound sentence by placing a semicolon between them, whereas another would place a period after each.

The Number of Members in a Compound Sentence.—In illustrating compound sentences we have given those that contain only two members, but it must not be supposed that the number is restricted to two. On the contrary we often find three or more. However, these are not often all of the same rank, and the sentence must first be separated into coördinate members, then if these members are compound they must be separated in like manner, and so on. Take, for instance, the sentence,—“Genius is mainly an affair of energy, and poetry is mainly an affair of genius; therefore a nation whose spirit is characterized by energy may well be eminent in poetry,—and we have Shakespeare.”—M. Arnold. This complex-compound sentence is, first of all, made up of a compound sentence and a complex-compound sentence. The relation between these two members is that of cause and result, the second being a consequence of the first, as is indicated by the conjunction therefore. The first of these members is made up of two simple sentences in the same line of thought, therefore joined by the conjunction and. The second member is made up of a complex sentence and a simple sentence, the second being an addition to the first and therefore joined to it by and.

Exercise 21

Reduce the following sentences to their component members—simple, partially compound, or complex. State whether these members are declarative, interrogative, or imperative. State also the relation existing between members, and point out the connective.

1. Occupy a youth early and wisely, in agriculture or business, in science or in literature, and he will never think of war otherwise than as a calamity.—Ruskin.

2. One lackey carried the chocolate pot into the sacred presence; a second milled and frothed the chocolate with the little instrument he bore for that function; a third presented the favored napkin; a fourth (he of the two gold watches) poured the chocolate out.—Dickens.

3. There was not a nook or a corner in the whole house fit to lodge any respectable ghost; for every part was as open to observation as a literary man’s character and condition, his figure and estate.—Holmes.

4. The word lengthy has been charged to our American account, but it must have been invented by the first reader of Gower’s works, the only inspiration of which they were ever capable.—Lowell.

5. Whenever and wherever we turned, a sudden “tinkle-tankle” would show that we had nearly fallen over a prostrate cow; therefore after half an hour of darkness, ditches, and cows, we returned to the hotel and its comforts.—Bolles.

6. Ye have quitted the ways of God or ye would not have been unhappy.—Carlyle.

7. Glossy hammock-cloths concealed the persons of those who were on the deck, while the close bulwarks gave the brigantine the air of a vessel equipped for war.—Cooper.

8. The trees have formed their buds in autumn every year since trees first waved; yet you will find that the great majority of persons have never made that discovery, but suppose that nature gets up those ornaments in spring.—Higginson.

9. Marble columns may, indeed, moulder into dust, time may erase all impress from the crumbling stone, but their fame remains; for with American liberty it rose, and with American liberty only can it perish.—Webster.

10. Commit a crime, and the earth is made of glass.—Emerson.

11. The first attempt of the season, I suspect, had failed in a more secluded place under the hill, so the pair had come up nearer the house for protection.—Burroughs.

12. With a very few exceptions, both the red and the white coral polyps are, in their adult state, firmly adherent to the sea-bottom; nor do these buds naturally become detached and locomotive.—Huxley.

13. But hospitality must be for service and not for show, or it pulls down the host.—Emerson.

14. The wide expanse of grassy upland stretched before them; overhead the arch of heaven, chequered by the white clouds, was full of life and light and motion; across the water of the lakes the church bells, rung for amusement by the village lads, came to the ear softened and yet enriched in tone; the spring air, fanned by a fresh breeze, refreshed the spirits and the sense.—Shorthouse.

15. Milton’s nature selected and drew to itself whatever was great and good, while it rejected all the base and pernicious ingredients by which those finer elements were defiled.—Macaulay.

16. Let us drive her away or hide the pomeloes, else she will go and tell her mother all about it, and that will be very bad for us.—Old Deccan Days.

17. As a matter of fact we find ourselves believing, we hardly know how or why.—Wm. James.

18. A man can have himself shot with cheerfulness, but it needs first that he see clearly for what.—Carlyle.

Exercise 22

Analyze the following compound, and complex-compound sentences. They should first be separated into members, as was done with sentences in Exercise 21.

1. A discovery results in an art; an art produces a comfort; a comfort made cheaply accessible adds family on family to the population; and a family is a new creation of thinking, reasoning, inventing, and discovering beings.—Everett.

2. All healthy people like their dinners, but their dinner is not the main object of their lives.—Ruskin.

3. Human nature has a much greater genius for sameness than for originality, or the world would be at a sad pass shortly.—Lowell.

4. They come together, not for exercise, but pleasure, and the more they crowd and cram and struggle, and the louder they scream, the greater the pleasure.—Warner.

5.

Each shrub and tree is eloquent of him;

For tongueless things and silence have their speech.

—Aldrich.

6. William had only a two-wheeled sulky, which could scarcely carry three; so it was a relief to all of us when we saw, coming from the bar, a youth in a wagon, driving a sprightly nag at a rattling pace.—Bolles.

7. Give man air, sun, proper food and clothing, ample and varied exercise, and there is no curve of grace in ancient statuary which would not be reproduced today.—J. F. Clarke.

8. By Red Flower Bagheera meant fire, only no creature in the jungle will call fire by its proper name.—Kipling.

9. You must make it quite clear to your mind which you are most bent upon—popularity or usefulness—else you may happen to miss both.—George Eliot.

10. Nature comes home to one most when he is at home; the stranger and the traveler finds her a stranger and a traveler also.—Burroughs.

11. A book without art is simply a commodity; it may be exceedingly valuable to the consumer, very profitable to the producer, but it does not come within the domain of pure literature.—Higginson.

12. Either the well was very deep or she fell very slowly, for she had plenty of time as she went down to look about her and to wonder what was going to happen next.—Lewis Carroll.

13. Nothing sooner inspires people with confidence in a business man than punctuality, nor is there any habit which sooner saps his reputation than that of being always behind time.

14. Three sisters they are, of one mysterious household; and their paths are wide apart; but of their dominion there is no end.—De Quincey.

15. It is a blessed thing, indeed, that none of us can take our rubbish to another world; for, if we could, some of the many mansions would be little better than lumber rooms.—Jean Ingelow.

CHAPTER XIX

THE CONJUNCTION IN SOME OF ITS USES

IN our study of complex and compound sentences we have noted the office of conjunctions, both subordinating and coördinating, so far as they join propositions. But this is by no means their sole office nor their most common one.

The Coördinating Conjunction.—The abridgment of propositions has been carried so far that we find the coördinating conjunctions, and, or, but, joining words or phrases just as often as propositions, for example, “The intimacy between man and nature began with the birth of man on the earth, and becomes each century more intelligent and far-reaching.” The first and joins the two nouns man and nature, the second the two predicates whose base-words are the verbs began and becomes, the third the two adjective complements more intelligent and more far-reaching.

There is nothing at all peculiar or difficult in this use of the conjunction, for we naturally expect it to join any two like elements, provided they have the same office in the sentence. Occasionally, however, we find it joining unlike elements; for example, “St. Edmund punishes terribly yet with mercy.”—Carlyle. Here yet joins two modifiers of the verb punishes, but one is an adverb, the other a prepositional phrase.

A common substitute for and when it joins words or phrases is as well as, the whole group of words having the value of one conjunction; as, “Truth needs the wisdom of the serpent as well as the simplicity of the dove.”—Helps. This conjunction has a peculiar force. By its aid the sentence just quoted tells us not that truth needs two qualities, which the conjunction and would imply, but rather that, while everybody grants that truth needs the simplicity of the dove, it is the author’s opinion that she needs, too, the wisdom of the serpent. It is wonderful that the substitution of this little phrase as well as for and can make a sentence so different in meaning.

A group of words similar in office to as well as, but not so often used, is no less than; as, “The first lesson of literature, no less than of life, is the learning how to burn your own smoke.”—Lowell.

Besides joining words, phrases, or propositions as the elements of one sentence, the coördinating conjunction, especially and or but, is often found at the beginning of an entirely new sentence, where its function is to show the relation in thought between the new sentence and the one preceding. In such a position its office is not grammatical but logical; for example, “But month after month only showed the king the uselessness of further resistance.”—J. R. Green. This conjunction is sometimes reinforced by an adverb; thus, “And again, Drake’s cannon would not have roared so loudly and so widely without seamen already trained in heart and hand to work his ships and level his artillery.”—Froude.

The Subordinating Conjunction.—Owing to abridgment we find many sentences constructed like the following,—

“Then safe, though fluttered and amazed,

She paused, and on the stranger gazed.”—Scott.

Here the subordinating conjunction of concession, though, seems to join two adjective modifiers of she. These are safe and the two participial adjectives, fluttered and amazed. Of course it would be proper to fill out the ellipsis and make a clause of concession, though she was fluttered and amazed, but it does not seem necessary, and we certainly would not supply anything if but had been used instead of though.

The subordinating conjunction than is used in this way between like elements oftener than any other, especially when it is associated with the adverb rather; for example, “Commonly a light is for the eyes rather than for the feet, and a lamp is to read or sew by rather than to walk by.”—Munger. The ellipsis after than may be supplied here, that is, we may make the sentence read as follows,—“Commonly a light is rather for the eyes than it is for the feet, and a lamp is rather to read or sew by than it is to walk by.” But if the sentence had been,—“Commonly a light is not for the feet but for the eyes,” etc., we should say that but joins the two phrases and that the first one is modified by not. So in the original sentence we may say that the first than joins the two prepositional phrases for the eyes and for the feet, while the second joins the infinitives to read or sew by and to walk by. Rather is then an adverb modifying in one case the phrase for the eyes, and in the other the infinitives to read or sew by.

Correlatives.—The correlatives when ... then, where ... there, so ... as, as ... as, though ... yet, whether ... or, have been sufficiently noted in previous lessons. There remains something to be said about the familiar pairs either ... or, neither ... nor, both ... and, not only ... but. The first three pairs are alike in use, the second word in each case, or, nor, and, being the connective, and the first no part of speech whatever. Either, neither and both, when correlatives, merely hint that the real conjunction is coming. The correct position of these words is immediately before the first of the two elements joined by the conjunction. Either and both may be omitted without affecting either the meaning or the structure of the sentence.

These correlatives are found with verbs, nouns, adjectives, adverbs, phrases, or propositions either independent or dependent; for example, “Generally, good useful work, whether of the hand or the head, is either ill-paid or not paid at all.”—Ruskin. “He neither pretended to high blood nor in good truth cared one fig about the matter.”—Lamb. “There is a working class—strong and happy—among both rich and poor.”

The correlatives not only ... but are different in some respects from the others. But is the conjunction, and only is an adjective or adverb modifying the first of the two words joined by but, while not makes this word negative; thus, “Longfellow has not only charmed the ear, but has touched the heart of the world.” In this sentence but joins the two predicates. The first predicate is modified by only and then denied by the negative adverb not. In this use but is not an adversative conjunction, that is, it does not signify any opposition between the two predicates. The sentence means that Longfellow has done two things which are in the same line of action—he has charmed the ear of the world and in addition has touched its heart.

It is not uncommon for but to be reinforced by the adverb also; for example, “Punctuality should be made not only a point of courtesy, but also a point of conscience.”

Exercise 23

State the office of all conjunctions in the following sentences. Determine, if possible, why the given conjunction is chosen instead of some other.

1. But I for one do not grudge Amos Barton his sweet wife.—George Eliot.

2. Either they may be nomads, living in tents and driving their flocks and herds from one pasture ground to another, or they may be people with fixed habitations.

3. You must be able, not only to hit any particular dog out of the team of twelve, but also to accompany the feat with a resounding crack.

4. The finest passages are those which are lyric in form as well as in spirit.—Macaulay.

5. He was abstemious in his food and careless in what it consisted, rarely or never touching wine.—Froude.

6. The prince or chief governor was elected annually, but only by the nobles.—Motley.

7. In many parts of London it is difficult, if not dangerous, to cross the streets.

8. But the times were times for action rather than for contemplation.—Webster.

9.

And you would say that sun and stars took part

In that unnatural conflict; for a cloud

Grew suddenly in Heaven, and darked the sun

Over the fighters’ heads.—M. Arnold.

10. Discipline, no less than concentration, is a cure for a weak will.—J. F. Clarke.

11. But not only is its own population the vastest in the world; a large population is poured into it every morning by railway and by steamer from all parts of England and from every continent and country on the globe.

12. We are on the eve of a great political crisis, if not of political change.—Ruskin.

13. It is injurious to the mind as well as to the body to be always in one place, and always surrounded by the same circumstances.—Jefferies.

14.

Let us do our work as well,

Both the unseen and the seen.—Longfellow.

15. I recall him in the attitude of the Colossus of Rhodes, standing full before a generous wood fire, not facing it but quite the contrary.—Holmes.

16. Rough work, honorable or not, takes the life out of us.—Ruskin.

17. The elected chieftains had rather authority to persuade than power to command.—Motley.

18. Not only were the labors of Hannah More extended to the ignorant and degraded by the establishment of schools, but she employed her pen in their behalf.—Lord.

19. They neither get fairly hold of their subject, nor, what is more important, does it get hold of them.—Lowell.

20. The rough work is, at all events, real, honest, and, generally though not always, useful; while the fine work is, a great deal of it, foolish and false as well as fine, and therefore dishonorable.—Ruskin.

21. To detect the flavor of an olive is no less a piece of human perfection, than to find beauty in the colors of a sunset.—Stevenson.

22. All the ground was covered, not with grass and green leaves, but with radiant corollas.—Muir.

23. The world is filled with the voices of the dead; they speak not from the public records of the great world only, but from the private history of our own experience.—O. Dewey.

24. And where now the steamers of all nations may be seen resting at anchor, on that day one solitary ship from France discharged her cargo and was viewed with lingering interest by every colonist in Quebec.—Mrs. Catherwood.

25. Before him and facing him, two paces in front, stood Dan, his arms still bound to his sides, his head uncovered, and his legs free.—Caine.

CHAPTER XX

THE INFINITIVE PHRASE

Nature of the Infinitive.—In the preceding lessons, we have studied but one element of the sentence; namely, the proposition. This combination of subject and predicate we have looked at from the point of view of its value as a sentence element, and we have found that in the communication of thought it is of the utmost importance by reason of its clearness. In this respect it is superior to other simpler and briefer elements, but nevertheless in the development of English prose we find the proposition steadily superseded, wherever possible, by several of the simpler elements. This is the result of an ever-growing tendency toward brevity and conciseness. In a recent monograph entitled “The History of the English Paragraph,” the author states that the English sentence has decreased in length at least one-half in three hundred years, and that it has shown very great decrease in formal predication. The means by which predication is avoided without sacrificing clearness are various. One of them, is the infinitive phrase, which we shall make the subject of this chapter.

By an infinitive phrase we mean a group of words of which an infinitive is the base, the whole group being the equivalent of a clause and forming an element of a sentence. It is an element employed so frequently that it is very easily interpreted, and its great advantage is that it enables us to dispense with a subject and predicate.

The infinitive is a verb-form differing from the finite verb in this,—it expresses the action or state denoted by the verb without the limitations of person and number, hence it cannot predicate. It is defined by grammarians as a verbal noun. This does not mean, however, that it always has the use of a noun, but rather that it has the nature of a noun in this important respect, that it names the action or state denoted by the verb. Just as a noun may be employed as an adjective or an adverb, thus, “I have a gold watch,” “I am going home,” and still retain its essential characteristic, that of being a name-word, so the infinitive may be used adjectively or adverbially and still be the name of an action or state. The infinitive also retains its verb nature so far as to take any of the modifiers or complements of the verb; for example, in the sentence,—“To furl a sail is to roll it up and secure it,” the subject is the infinitive phrase to furl a sail, the base of which is the infinitive to furl. Now in so far as to furl is subject it has the use of a noun; it has the nature of a noun, too, in naming an act; but it also has the nature of a verb insomuch as it denotes action performed upon the object sail.

Forms of the Infinitive.—There are two infinitives, the root infinitive, or infinitive with to,—to see, to run, to be,—and the gerund, or infinitive in -ing,—seeing, running, being. We shall study first the root infinitive. Besides the simple form, to see, called the present active infinitive, there is the perfect active infinitive, to have seen, and the corresponding passive forms, to be seen and to have been seen. We may also add the active progressive forms, to be seeing and to have been seeing. Intransitive verbs of course lack the passive forms. Of all these forms the one most used in the communication of thought is the simplest one of all, the present active.

Uses of the Infinitive.—The infinitive is used for many different purposes, but nearly always in relation to some word whose meaning it serves to make more clear and without which it would not be in the sentence at all. These relations of the infinitive to other words may perhaps be most clearly explained if we consider them in groups; (1) its relation to the noun, (2) to the verb, (3) to the adjective or adverb.

I. A noun may have an infinitive associated with it in two ways:—

1. As an adjective; as, “Leaves have their time to fall.”—Mrs. Hemans. Here the infinitive is brought into the sentence by the noun time, to specify what time the leaves have. The expression time to fall means falling time or time for falling. In the following sentence from Carlyle,—“He that speaks what is really in him will find men to listen,” the infinitive defines the noun men, being equivalent to the restrictive adjective clause who will listen, so we must say of the infinitive that it is used like an adjective modifying men. It is better than the clause, being simpler and briefer.

2. As a noun in apposition; as, “He had formed the heroic resolution to defend the tower alone against the enemy.” Here the infinitive phrase is associated with the noun resolution, but instead of defining or qualifying resolution, it tells exactly what the resolution is, and so is used as a noun. Moreover, we can make a sentence by putting the verb is between the noun resolution and the infinitive phrase; as, “His resolution is to defend the tower,” etc. This sentence is true, and means that the subject and the complement of the verb are two names for the same thing. When the infinitive is used with the noun as an adjective we cannot make such a sentence as the above; for example, we cannot say men are to listen, meaning that men and to listen are equivalent. Of course few nouns can be explained by an infinitive in apposition; no such noun, for instance, as city, man, book, tree, but such nouns as wish, promise, luck, intention, task.

This use of the infinitive reminds us of a substantive clause in apposition. In fact, both the adjective infinitive and the appositive are substitutes for clauses, the former taking the place of a restrictive adjective clause, the latter of either an unrestrictive adjective clause or a substantive clause.

In the sentence, “This is a day on which to travel,” we have an infinitive phrase made from an adjective clause and still retaining the relative pronoun. The relative has an antecedent but does not join to it as usual a dependent proposition.

NOTE.—When we say that an infinitive is used as an adjective or a noun, we do not mean for an instant that it takes the place of any adjective or noun in the language. So far from this being the case, the infinitive is employed simply because there are no nouns or adjectives to say what the infinitive says for us.

II. The infinitive may be related to a verb in various ways.

1. As subject; as, “To pass this bridge was the severest trial.”—Irving. If we ask, what was the severest trial? the answer is the whole phrase, to pass this bridge; but the base of this phrase is the infinitive to pass, hence it is the essential subject.

A common way of using the infinitive as subject is that arrangement by means of the anticipative subject it, which enables us to put the real subject after the verb; as, “It is a most earnest thing to be alive in this world.”—Carlyle.

NOTE.—Some grammarians prefer to call it a neuter personal pronoun, subject of the verb, and the infinitive its appositive, or explanatory modifier.

2. As complement.

(a) Object of a transitive verb. Not all transitive verbs can take infinitives for objects. Most of those that do are verbs denoting some activity of the feelings or the will; as, “He resolved to go”; “They hoped to surprise this post.” The infinitives here answer the questions, resolved what? hoped what? They are equivalent to substantive clauses,—He resolved that he would go, they hoped that they might surprise this post; but when the action denoted by the infinitive is to be performed by the same person as that denoted by the subject of the predicate verb, the infinitive is chosen instead of the clause. It is simpler than the clause and has become by frequent use equally clear. When the two actors are different, two subjects must be expressed, hence the clause is employed; for example, They resolved that I should go; They hoped that their allies would surprise this post.

NOTE.—The contraction of a noun clause to an infinitive phrase is very evident in such a sentence as this,—“He did not know what to say.” The word what leads us to expect a subject and predicate to follow, but we have merely an infinitive. The second subject if expressed would be he, the same as that of the principal verb.

Verbs signifying begin, continue, or cease frequently take an infinitive for object; as, “As he approached the stream, his heart began to thump.”—Irving.

The verb ought is always followed by an infinitive, which is clearly seen to be its object when we remember that ought is an old past tense of the verb owe; as, “The founder of this stately mansion ought surely to have stood in his own hall and to have offered the first welcome to so many eminent personages.”—Hawthorne. Here the obligation owed by the founder is specified by the two infinitive phrases.

A use similar to the above is that of the infinitive after have; as, “My friend, the Poet, tells, me he has to leave town whenever the anniversaries come round.”—Holmes. Have means to possess, or be under an obligation.

NOTE.—The construction, “I had rather go than stay,” may be explained by treating go as an infinitive without the sign to used as object of the transitive verb had. Expanded the sentence reads, “I had to go rather than I had to stay.” The constructions, “I had sooner go than stay,” and, “I had as lief go as stay,” may be explained in the same way.

After dare, need, and please the sign of the infinitive to is usually omitted; for example, “I dare do all that may become a man.” Dare and need are often used with a subject in the third person singular, whereas we should expect dares and needs; thus, “He need not be angry about it.”

(b) As part of a double object of a transitive verb. We have just said that if one person resolves that another person shall act, or hopes he will, the fact may be told by using a substantive clause; as, “I resolved that John should go.” But if I expected that John would go I could tell it by using an infinitive; thus, “I expected John to go.” This is a matter settled by usage; some verbs must be followed by a clause object, while others may be followed by a noun and an infinitive. We call the noun (or pronoun) and the infinitive a double object. It is not two objects; it is one object the same as a clause, but it consists of two essential parts closely related. The logical relation between John and to go in the sentence above is that of subject and predicate; but grammatically to go cannot be a predicate because the infinitive does not assert. In this construction the infinitive is related first to the noun John and then together with John to the transitive verb expected. Sufficient proof that the two elements John and to go constitute the one direct object of expected is found in the fact that it takes both of them to answer the question expected what? For we did not expect John, nor did we expect to go. Furthermore, the two elements may be changed to the equivalent noun clause, that John would go, in which John becomes subject and the infinitive becomes a finite verb, the predicate of John.

This use must be carefully distinguished from that of the infinitive in such a sentence as this,—“He bought apples to eat.” Here apples alone answers the question bought what? It is also plain that the relation between apples and to eat is not that of subject and predicate. Besides, if this sentence were expanded, merely the infinitive would be changed to a clause. This might be an adverbial clause,—“He bought apples that he might eat them”; or an adjective clause,—“He bought apples that were good for eating.”

Another sentence not so easily discriminated is this.—“I told John to go.” Here there is what seems to be a double object, but in reality to go is the direct object and John is an indirect object, as in the sentence, “I told John a story.” If we recast the sentence, employing a substantive clause, we have,—“I told John that he should go,” where John remains as indirect object and the infinitive alone is expanded to the object clause. It is the same often after such a verb as order; for example, “He ordered the men to march”; but in the sentence, “He ordered the message to be sent,” there is a true double object. Men is indirect object, because it names those to whom the order was given, but message does not name anything to which an order was given,—it merely tells what was to be sent. The sentences expanded read,—“He ordered the men that they should march,” and “He ordered that the message should be sent.”

We may conclude that when verbs with the notion of telling in them, as urge, beg, entreat, persuade, etc., are followed by a personal word and an infinitive,—as, “He urged me to go,” we must carefully determine whether the personal word is more closely related to the predicate verb or to the infinitive. If we find it more closely related to the predicate verb, we must call it an indirect object, and say that the infinitive needs no word for subject because it is understood that the subject of the infinitive is the same word as that used for indirect object.

The verbs most commonly followed by the double object are,—(a) verbs of perception, like see, hear, notice; for example, “Then, on either hand, I saw stately palaces rise gray and lofty from the dark waters.”—Howells; (b) verbs of permitting or causing, like make, have, let; as, “‘Why, what would you have me do with you?’ said the man.”—Froude; (c) verbs of feeling, like wish, desire, expect; as, “Why, they all want him to get up and make speeches, or songs, or toasts.”—Holmes.

(c) As complement of an intransitive verb; as, “The art of reading is to skip judiciously.”—Hamerton. “For a long time the house has been to let.”—Barrie. The infinitive is plainly a completing term in both cases, but in the first it denotes identity with the subject, hence has the use of a noun complement; while in the second it tells the condition of the house, like the word vacant, and hence has the use of a predicate adjective. Sometimes it is possible to change the infinitive to an equivalent adjective; as, “The accident is to be deplored,” or, “is deplorable.”

Seem and appear as well as forms of the verb be are followed by this adjective infinitive. It is especially useful in denoting an action that is to take place in the future; thus, “He is to come soon.”

NOTE.—Some of the difficulty in disposing of infinitives is due to an attempt to speak of them in terms that apply to certain parts of speech. Sometimes this seems forced. For instance, in the sentence, “He seemed to tremble,” pupils are told to consider the infinitive as a predicate adjective, when it does not seem to them to bear much resemblance to an adjective.

What the pupils must see is this,—that to tremble completes seem and tells something about the subject he. The following sentences may be given,—“He seems a coward,” “He seems afraid,” “He seems to tremble.” The verb in each case has a subjective complement, but in one case this complement is a noun, in another an adjective, in another an infinitive, the choice depending wholly on the special meaning to be brought out. If the use of to tremble seems to the pupil sufficiently like that of afraid to warrant his calling it a predicate adjective, let him do so. If not, let him not try to name it, but say of it instead that it completes the verb and tells something about the subject.

The infinitive complement of a passive verb belongs here; for example, “The human voice may be made to attain a wondrous strength and richness of tone.”—Brook. This construction often arises from changing a sentence containing a double object into the passive form. In the active voice the sentence just quoted reads,—“We may make the human voice attain a wondrous strength, etc.” Notice that the passive construction has the advantage over the active in this respect, that it enables us to avoid telling who makes. This is especially convenient with the verb say. In the sentence, “He was said to have stolen the money,” no one is charged with having said that he stole.

NOTE.—The familiar expressions, “That is to say,” “It came to pass,” “I came to know him,” also belong here; came is used in the sense of became.

3. As an adverbial modifier of the verb. The infinitive is very often joined to a verb to denote purpose; as, “The salmon winters in the ocean, but in spring ascends the fresh water rivers to spawn, or lay its eggs.” Sometimes this infinitive is introduced by so as or in order. It has almost entirely displaced the adverbial clause of purpose.

The infinitive may also denote the result of an action; as, “His half worn shoes would wait until his small brother grew to fit them.”—Holmes.

In the following sentence from Barrie, “Leeby returned panting to say that the doctor might be expected in an hour,” the infinitive seems to be employed instead of another finite verb, for the meaning is not that Leeby returned in order to say, but rather that Leeby returned and said. In the sentence, He went home only to die, the infinitive denotes neither the purpose nor the result of his going home, but only a subsequent action. It might be preferable in such cases to call the infinitive an accompaniment of the verb rather than a modifier.

In this sentence from Holmes, “I grieve to say it, but our people, I think, have not generally agreeable voices,” to say it denotes the cause of my grieving.

In this sentence from Henry James, “He must have been an American, to take the picturesque so prodigiously to heart,” the infinitive phrase is the equivalent of an adverbial clause of reason, telling on what ground the main assertion rests.

The infinitive may also denote condition, or manner; for example, “You must have the imagination of a poet to transfigure them,” and, “Is everything going to suit you?” In the former sentence the infinitive phrase is equivalent to the clause, if you transfigure them. In the latter it tells how things are going on. In fact, this useful little element may accompany a predicate verb to denote almost all the relations denoted by adverbial clauses.

Sometimes it is difficult to decide whether an infinitive is a complement or a modifier. Perhaps the best way to settle the point is to ascertain what the infinitive is equivalent to, or what question it answers; for example, “If you continue your observations, you will not fail to notice that the speed of its disappearance depends on the character of the day.”—Tyndall. Here the infinitive answers the question, fail in what respect? and is equivalent to the phrase, in noticing. It is well, then, to consider it an adverbial modifier.

Perhaps the infinitive is used after no other verbs oftener than after go and use, as in the sentences, “I am going to stay until you are tired of me”; “I used to wonder what this might be.” Both go and use are intransitive verbs, but the infinitives can hardly be described as their modifiers, for the predication lies more in the infinitive than in the finite verbs, am going or used. The verb am going makes the action denoted by the infinitive intentional, and used makes it customary. Such predicates as am going to stay and used to wonder should be described either as idiomatic verb-phrases, or as consisting of an intransitive verb and an infinitive, without any attempt to establish a complementary or modifying relation between the infinitive and the verb.

NOTE.—The verb be is sometimes used in the sense of go or come, and may then be modified by an infinitive of purpose, as in the sentence,—“The old Master was talking about a concert he had been to hear.”—Holmes.

III. The infinitive may be associated with an adjective or an adverb.

A construction often met is a predicate adjective followed by an infinitive, especially such adjectives as sure, glad, sorry, apt, anxious. The infinitives answer such questions as sure of what? anxious about what? and so limit the meaning of the adjective; for example, “We are right willing and able to work.”—Carlyle. “He was careful to acquaint himself with the country.”

Often the adjective is first modified by the adverb enough or too; thus, “This narrative is too significant to be omitted.”—Carlyle.

When the adjective is first modified by so, the infinitive is introduced by as, and takes the place of a clause of result; as, “Be so kind as to stand.” Here the infinitive is brought into the sentence by the adjective kind, but as an infinitive of result, may be said to modify the entire predicate be so kind.

The infinitive in this construction may also be associated with an adverb; as, “He worked so swiftly as to surprise us all.” We notice that it is easy to avoid the clause here by substituting the infinitive, for the subject of the clause is the same as the subject of the principal verb.

An adjective in the comparative degree is often followed, not by a clause of degree as we should expect, but by an infinitive introduced by than; as, “He is wiser than to make such a remark.” The infinitive phrase modifies wiser and is joined to it by the subordinating conjunction than.

IV. In addition to the foregoing constructions we occasionally find the infinitive used as the object of a preposition. The few prepositions governing infinitives are except, but, and save, the two latter meaning except; as, “Make no expense but to do good to others or yourself.” Usually, to, the sign of the infinitive, is omitted after these prepositions.

In the following sentences the preposition governing an infinitive phrase is omitted.—“It’s worth quite a little fortune to any man who gets it, and I understand that there are more vacancies than there are men, so that the trustees are at their wits’ end what to do with the money.”—Conan Doyle. “I am somewhat at a loss what to think.” The prepositional phrases at their wits’ end and at a loss are complements of the verbs are and am, used instead of adjectives because there are no equivalent adjectives. The infinitive phrases answer the questions at their wits’ end about what? and at a loss about what? and so are best disposed of as objects of the preposition about understood.

NOTE.—In the construction, “I am about to go,” about is usually disposed of as a preposition governing the infinitive. Instead it should be considered as an adverb modifying the infinitive, which is the complement of am.

The preposition for may take a double object; thus, “A space was left between them for the garrison to pass out.” The answer to the question for what? is, the garrison to pass out. Such a prepositional phrase is often used as logical subject after the anticipative subject it; thus, “It is not lawful for us to put any man to death.”

NOTE.—In the common construction, “I cannot but think,” the word think is an infinitive with to omitted, used as object of the preposition but. There is an ellipsis in this construction which must be supplied for analysis, unless we dispose of the whole expression at once as an idiomatic verb-phrase. Supplying the ellipsis we have, “I cannot do anything but think.”

The expression, “I can but think” is best disposed of now as equivalent to “I can only think,” for that is what it signifies to us. The verb then is can think, and but is its adverbial modifier.

V. The infinitive may be used independently, having no grammatical relation to any other word in the sentence; thus, “To tell you the truth, my errand is not so much to buy as to borrow.”—George Eliot. Certain stereotyped phrases are used in this way, such as to be sure, to speak plainly, to make a long story short. They are useful to express in few words what in other more regular constructions it would take many words to say.

In this sentence of Hale’s, “This sort of vagueness, not to say misapprehension, affects the question, Who are our Leaders?” we have an independent infinitive phrase which adds much to the meaning of the sentence. It tells us here that the author uses the noun vagueness so as to be on the safe side, but in his opinion misapprehension is the more precise term.

NOTE.—An independent expression very similar to the one just given is found in the following sentence,—“It appeals to our more purely human, one might almost say domestic, qualities.”—Lowell.

Exercise 24

Dispose of all infinitive phrases in the following sentences.

1. The winter climate of Venice is still so sharp as to make foreigners regret the generous fires and warmly built houses of the north.—Howells.

2. I started betimes in the evening so as not to hurry, or waste any strength upon the way.—Blackmore.

3. The way to be original is to be healthy.—Lowell.

4. To learn obeying is the fundamental art of governing.—Carlyle.

5. The reward of a good sentence is to have written it.—Higginson.

6. Follow the Devil faithfully, you are sure enough to go to the Devil.—Carlyle.

7. The idea of a man’s interviewing himself is rather odd, to be sure.—Holmes.

8. I had the good fortune to see him at New York, Philadelphia, Baltimore, and Washington.—Thackeray.

9. When they tried to teach me to sing, they told me to “think of eight and sing seven.”—Hale.

10. It was death also for a soldier to leave his colors.—Prescott.

11. I seem to have made foolish friendships ever since.—Lamb.

12. The general course of misrule leaves them helpless, to be the burden of the rest.—Ruskin.

13. There is nothing to be done but to turn round and hoe back to the other end.—Warner.

14. The sentinel warns them not to approach too closely.—Howells.

15. To forget Homer, to cease to be concerned and even curious about Homer, is to make a fatal step towards a new barbarism.—Lang.

16. Ladies of rank and of luxurious habits, you know, cannot be expected to surmise the details of poverty.—George Eliot.

17. One of the most important lessons to be learned in life is the art of economizing time.

18. There is no beautifier of complexion, or form, or behavior, like the wish to scatter joy and not pain around us.—Emerson.

19. Indeed, to do the best for others is finally to do the best for ourselves; but it will not do to have our eyes fixed on that issue.—Ruskin.

20. He had always (it must not be forgotten) to contend against sad memories and anticipations of further sorrow.—Ainger.

21. But up to a considerable maturity of childhood I believed Raphael and Michael Angelo to have been superhuman beings.—Holmes.

22. As a whole, she appeared to carry with her a sort of argumentative commentary on her own existence.—T. Hardy.

23. But, to judge the action fairly, we must transport ourselves to the age when it happened.—Prescott.

24. But winter is apt to be very severe in mild climates.—Howells.

25. To make a long story short, the company broke up and returned to the more important concerns of the election.—Irving.

26. The way to speak and write what shall not go out of fashion is to speak and write sincerely.—Emerson.

27. You must be brave to have come so long and dangerous a journey.—Old Deccan Days.

28. I have none to call me Charley now.—Lamb.

29. I cannot but think that all the characters of a region help to modify the children born in it.—Holmes.

30. For what was he placed by Providence in the highest position in the world, except to benefit the world?—Lord.

31. It is true that no language is ever so far gone in consumption as to be beyond the great-poet-cure.—Lowell.

32. We were brought up to believe in ghosts.—Page.

33. They are earnestly requested to leave this paper to young persons from the age of twelve to that of fourscore years and ten.—Holmes.

34. Let us so live when we are up, that we shall forget we have ever been down.—Stockton.

35.

Know how sublime a thing it is

To suffer and be strong.—Longfellow.

36. In other lands the man of whom you are a regular purchaser serves you well; in Italy he conceives that his long service gives him the right to plunder you if possible.—Howells.

37. It seemed a time to strike a blow for freedom.—Motley.

38. The vilification which was poured on Luther and his doings was so bitter as to be ludicrous.—Draper.

39. She had the natural tendency of excellent people to place others in subjection.—Howells.

40. It is such a sad thing to be born a sneaking fellow, so much worse than to inherit a hump-back.—Holmes.

41. This, as I heard before, could be let fall in a moment so as to crush a score of men and bar the approach of horses.—Blackmore.

42. After struggling for some time in the deep water he sank to rise no more.—Old Deccan Days.

43. I know I used to shake the youngest of them with my hands, stout as it is now, with a trunk that would defy the bully of Crotona.—Holmes.

44. But Sigurd is too experienced a chieftain to walk into this trap.—Boyesen.

45. Ask yourself seriously whether you are fit to read such revelations as are to follow.—Holmes.

46. To sum up his personal enormities, when he spoke he had a practice of always advancing his face as close as possible to the person he was addressing.—Miss Ferrier.

47. The one secret of life and development is not to devise and plan, but to fall in with the forces at work,—to do every moment’s duty aright.—MacDonald.

48. The blessed work of helping the world forward happily does not wait to be done by perfect men.—George Eliot.

49. Various efforts were made to allay the panic among the native troops.—McCarthy.

50. For this notion Johnson has thought fit to make him the butt of much clumsy ridicule.—Macaulay.

51. Of course Mowgli, as a woodcutter’s child, inherited all sorts of instincts, and used to make little play-huts of fallen branches without thinking how he came to do it.—Kipling.

CHAPTER XXI

THE PARTICIPIAL PHRASE

THE participle has been defined by grammarians as a verbal adjective. They do not mean that it limits or qualifies the meaning of a noun as an adjective does. Very few participles do that. They mean only that it is brought into the sentence for the purpose of telling something about some noun. It is not usually so close a modifier of the noun, either in relation or position, as many other noun adjuncts are; often it is so loosely joined to its noun as to seem almost like a parenthetical element. When the noun it modifies is the subject of the sentence, then the great importance of the participle as a sentence-element lies in the fact that it is a convenient means of avoiding a predication.

Participial Forms.—The participial forms of the transitive verb are six.

Active—Seeing, having seen.

Active progressive—Having been seeing.

Passive—Being seen, seen, having been seen.

The participles of the intransitive verb are four.

Common form—Going, gone, having gone.

Progressive—Having been going.

NOTE.—We frequently meet these combinations of words: being gone, having been gone. They are not passive participles of the verb go, for they do not denote action received any more than do the phrases being sick and having been sick. The word gone is a participle used as an adjective complement of the participles being and having been, just as the word sick is used. This is a very common construction, seen in such familiar sentences as the following,—He is risen, the tree is fallen, the coat is badly worn, you are mistaken, the meat is done. In all these instances the participles denote a condition of the subject, and are therefore complements of the verb.

The most common use of the simple participial forms, like seeing and seen, is to help form progressive verb-phrases and passive verb-phrases; thus, is seeing, shall be seeing, might have been seeing; is seen, shall be seen, might have been seen. These phrases are not to be separated into their constituent parts, however, but are to be treated as single verbs, hence we are not concerned with the participles they contain.

Uses of the Participle.—1. The participial adjective.—The one use of the participle which is almost identical with that of the adjective is seen in such expressions as running water, trotting horse, educated man, spoiled child. Here the idea Of action is not so prominent as that of quality. Some of these participles have become so far like adjectives as to admit of comparison; for example, striking in such an expression as striking appearance, or deceiving in deceiving story. Some of them, too, may be modified by very, which is never a verb modifier; as, loving in very loving children.

This participle is sometimes used substantively; thus, “The loving are the daring.” “The slain were left to die.” Of course such a word as people is understood after these participles, and in analyzing these sentences it may be supplied if one so desires, but it is no more necessary than it is in the sentences,—“The good are happy, the righteous are blessed,” where a qualifying adjective is used as a noun.

2. The participial phrase as a substitute for a proposition.—We come now to those frequent and important uses of the participle where it saves a predication. It usually has other words associated with it, either as complement or modifiers, the whole group forming a participial phrase.

(a) The participial phrase may take the place of an adjective clause; as, “The use of the cartridges complained of was discontinued by orders issued in January 1857.”—McCarthy. The participle is here equivalent to a restrictive adjective clause pointing out the particular cartridges.

Just as often the participial phrase is equivalent to an unrestrictive clause, and then it is very much like an appositive modifier; as, “The first person I met was a poor old woman, a little bowed down with age, gathering grapes into a large basket.”—Longfellow.

(b) The participial phrase may take the place of an adverbial clause; as, “And, having once tasted a life like this, he could no more return to what he had left behind him.”—Boyesen. Here the participial phrase tells us why he could no more return to what he had left behind him. If this idea were differently expressed, we should have either a prepositional phrase modifying the predicate or an adverbial clause of cause introduced by since. But all this does not make the phrase a grammatical adjunct of the predicate. Instead it is an adjunct of the subject he. If it were expanded into a clause, the subject he would have to be supplied and the phrase would become a predicate. Now, as predicate it would tell something about the subject he; and it does not cease to do this when it is changed to a participial phrase.

In the following sentence from Geikie,—“Entering the polluted Temple space, and gazing round on the tumult and manifold defilement, He could not remain impassive,” the phrase is plainly equivalent in meaning to an adverbial clause, telling when (and in some degree why) he could not remain impassive. But grammatically the phrase is an adjunct of the subject He.

Lest it should not be perfectly clear to the reader what particular relation the participial phrase is intended to denote, the author often indicates the relation by the same conjunction that he would use to introduce an adverbial clause; as, “But we must above all other things take into account, when considering the position of the Hindoo Sepoy, the influence of the tremendous institution of caste.”—McCarthy. Without when the reader’s first thought would be that the phrase denotes cause.

In this sentence from Cooper,—“But the vessels of which we write, though constructed at so remote a period, would have done credit to the improvements of our own time,” the concessive phrase might have been interpreted as causal, if though had not been inserted.

In this sentence from Hamlin Garland,—“Each soul was solemn, as if facing the Maker of the world,” the fact that the phrase denotes manner is made evident by the conjunction as if. Any conjunction used like when, though, as if in the sentences quoted, may be said to introduce the participial phrase and to indicate its relation.

NOTE.—In all such sentences as the above, where the participial phrase is introduced by a subordinating conjunction, it is perfectly proper, before analyzing, to supply the words necessary to make the participial phrase into an adverbial clause. It is more satisfactory, indeed, to do this except in a few cases where such an expansion gives a verb that does not harmonize in tense or form of conjugation with the verb in the principal proposition; for example, “Though holding no office and steadily refusing an election to the Storthing, he has been the life and soul of the liberal party.”—Boyesen. Here the concord of tenses would call for has held and has refused in the concessive clause instead of the progressive verb-phrases has been holding and has been refusing.

(c) The absolute phrase as a substitute for a dependent proposition.—In all the preceding examples the substitution of a participial phrase for a clause was made easy by the fact that the subject of the clause was the same as the subject of the principal proposition. When the subject is not the same, the clause is condensed into what has been termed an absolute phrase; as, “Nature, her patience with him being ended, leaves him desolate.”—Carlyle.

The absolute phrase consists essentially of a substantive and a participle, having to each other the logical relation of subject and predicate. In the sentence quoted the phrase is equivalent to the adverbial clause of cause, because her patience with him is ended. The absolute phrase is usually said to be grammatically independent, but it is so frequently used as to be a regular English construction now, and as such may be said to modify the predicate of the principal proposition.

Notice that it is not a participial phrase that modifies the predicate; it is an absolute phrase. The participial phrase is only one of the two equal parts of the absolute phrase; it can hardly be said to modify the noun, which is the other part, but it stands side by side with the noun to make an absolute phrase.

The absolute phrase denotes other relations than that of cause. The most common are concession and time; as, “Was Oliver Cromwell, his bitterest enemies themselves being judges, destitute of private virtues?”—Macaulay. “Night coming on, they broke the bolts of the Town gates.”—Carlyle.

(d) The chief use of the absolute phrase is to take the place of an independent proposition; thus, “A child of three sat up in his crib and screamed at the top of his voice, his fists clinched and his eyes full of terror.”—Kipling. Here the absolute phrases have no relation of time, cause, concession, etc., to the principal proposition, hence are not modifiers. If expanded into propositions these phrases would only add coördinate thoughts to the first one—“His fists were clinched,” and “his eyes were full of terror.” It is best to call such phrases accompaniments of the predicate instead of modifiers.

NOTE.—From the sentence just quoted we learn that the absolute phrase does not always contain a participle; it may consist of a substantive and an adjective, as in his eyes full of terror. We also find absolute phrases in which a prepositional phrase takes the place of the participle; as, “He left my side, a summer bloom on his fair cheeks, a smile parting his innocent lips.”—Miss Mitford.

It is even possible to make an absolute phrase of two substantives as, “Hargreaves and Arkwright, both Englishmen, invented and improved spinning and weaving machinery.”

It would be proper to supply the participle being before either the adjective, the prepositional phrase, or the noun, but it is best to dispose of constructions just as we find them.

A construction parallel to the absolute phrase is found in the sentence, “Half way up the hill he met Bagheera with the morning dew shining like moonstones on his coat.”—Kipling. Here the object of the preposition with is the whole group of words following it, and of this group the base-words are the noun dew and the participle shining, which have the logical relation of subject and predicate. This is a very common construction after the prepositions with and without.

3. The participial phrase often takes the place not of a whole proposition but only of a predicate; for example, “Westward on the banks of the Thames, the towers of Westminster Abbey stand guarding the ashes of England’s greatest men.” The meaning here is, the towers stand and guard; but by means of the participle one of these predicates is subordinated to the other. The participial phrase is not so much a complement of the verb stand as an accompaniment of it; at the same time it tells an attribute of the subject.

A construction seemingly like the one just given, but in reality different, is found after verbs of going or coming. These verbs may be followed by participles which tell not an accompanying action, but how the going or coming is accomplished; as, “Sometimes a wandering leaf came floating and wavering downward, and settled on the water.”—Longfellow. This does not mean that the leaf came and floated and wavered, but only that it floated and wavered, and these actions were the means of its coming. Such a participle is truly a modifier of the verb.

4. The participle as part of a double object.—After a few verbs like keep, find, see, hear, feel, have, we find the participle taking the place of the infinitive in a double object. The participle is almost always chosen when a passive construction is needed; as, “The saddle fell to earth, and he heard it trampled under-foot by his pursuer.”—Irving. When the active construction is called for, the advantage of the participle over the infinitive is that it gives the idea of longer continuance of the action; as, “Just then he heard the black steed panting and blowing close behind him.”—Irving.

The expression kept me waiting is grammatically equivalent to made me wait.

5. There are two constructions of the participle that are quite different from any of those cited, being deviations from its ordinary use.

(a) The participle used adverbially to denote degree; thus, boiling hot, stinging cold, dripping wet. Here the participles unmistakably modify adjectives.

(b) The participle used independently; thus, “Speaking of those yellow squash-bugs, I think I disheartened them by covering the plants so deep with soot and wood-ashes that they could not find them.”—Warner. This participial phrase corresponds to the infinitive phrase used independently, though it is more rarely met.

Exercise 25

Dispose of all participles or participial phrases in the following sentences.

1. He was noted for his success in capturing Spanish ships freighted with silver from the mines of Mexico and Peru.

2. They came and went restlessly, sitting down and knocking their steel scabbards against the tables, or rising and straddling off with their long swords kicking against their legs.—Howells.

3. The girths of the saddle gave way and he felt it slipping from under him.—Irving.

4. The populations of India became stricken with alarm as they saw their native princes thus successively dethroned.—McCarthy.

5. She was dressed to please her own fancy, evidently, with small regard to the modes declared correct by the Rockland milliners and mantua-makers.—Holmes.

6. Knowing that I have no right to speak here, I ask your leave.—Kipling.

7. Livingstone taught himself Latin grammar while working at the loom.

8. These three guineas deducted, I still had nine, or thereabouts.—De Quincey.

9. Speaking in quite unofficial language, what is the net purpose and upshot of war?—Carlyle.

10. The fog came pouring in at every chink and keyhole.—Dickens.

11. Thus inundated by mighty rivers, quaking beneath the level of the ocean, belted about by hirsute forests, this low land, nether land, hollow land, or Holland, seemed hardly deserving the arms of the all-accomplished Roman.—Motley.

12. The writing is a kind of pugilism—the strokes being made straight out from the shoulder.—Howells.

13. Mother Wolf lay with her big gray nose dropped across her four tumbling, squealing cubs, and the moon shone into the mouth of the cave where they all lived.—Kipling.

14. The schoolmaster now bestowed both whip and heel upon the starveling ribs of old Gunpowder, who dashed forward, snuffling and snorting.—Irving.

15. At last he heard them entering the defile.

16. Five lakes are spread over the valley, occupying one tenth of its surface.—Prescott.

17. Mrs. Cratchit made the gravy hissing hot.—Dickens.

18. The river was swollen with the long rains.—Stevenson.

19. Farms, stripped of their fences and deserted by their owners, had for years produced only weeds.—Greeley.

20. Granting the horse, granting good companionship, granting a good seat, and a pleasant day, a horseback ride certainly does unite all the requisites for healthful exercise.—Hale.

21. I have sometimes been puzzled in Venice to know why churches should keep cats, church-mice being proverbially so poor and so little capable of sustaining a cat in good condition.—Howells.

22. Her heavy black hair lay in a braided coil, with a long gold pin shot through it like a javelin.—Holmes.

23. Thirty years ago, Last Island lay steeped in the enormous light of even such magical days.—Hearn.

24. The tower had just been vacated by the garrison, who, hearing of the approach of the Austrians, had fled, leaving their arms, consisting of thirty excellent muskets.

25. And then again a thousand echoes go booming along the iron-bound coast.—Black.

26. You see it growing gradually less dense.—Tyndall.

27. Touching the Giant’s Stairs in the court of the palace, the inexecrable dates would not permit me to rest in the delusion that the head of Marin Falier had once bloodily stained them as it rolled to the ground.—Howells.

28. The air was biting and smelled of frost.—Stevenson.

29. The wind, roaring round its broad verandas, hissing through every crevice with the sound and force of steam, appeared to waste its rage.—Hearn.

30. Away then they dashed, through thick and thin, stones flying and sparks flashing at every bound.—Irving.

31. Lying down on the grass, I spoke in my soul to the earth, the sun, the air, and the distant sea far beyond sight.—Jefferies.

32. Daffodils perished like criminals in their condemned caps without their petals ever seeing daylight.—Holmes.

33. They advanced singing and shouting their war cries, briskly charging the enemy, as rapidly retreating and making use of ambuscades, sudden surprises, and the light skirmish of guerilla warfare.—Prescott.

34. Lost wealth may be replaced by industry, lost knowledge by study, lost health by temperance or medicine; but lost time is gone forever.

35. But today being Saturday rather complicates matters.—Conan Doyle.

CHAPTER XXII

THE GERUND

THE gerund, or infinitive in -ing, is substantive in its nature, for like the root infinitive it names the action or state asserted by the verb. It is not so easily identified in the sentence as the root infinitive, however, for in form it is precisely like the participle, from which it has to be distinguished entirely by its use.

The forms of the gerund are shown in the following examples:—

1. The transitive verb see:

Active—seeing, having seen.

Active progressive—having been seeing.

Passive—being seen, having been seen.

2. The intransitive verb rise:

Common form—rising, having risen.

Progressive form—having been rising.

The use of the gerund is almost entirely restricted to that of the noun. When found without adjuncts it does not materially differ from the noun; for example, Painting is a fine art. But usually the verb-nature of the gerund is prominent as well as its noun-use, for usually it is accompanied by a complement or adverbial modifiers; as, “The need of feeling responsible all the livelong day has been preached long enough in our New England.”—Wm. James. The gerund together with its adjuncts forms a gerund-phrase. It has certain advantages over the root infinitive. In many places it is preferable because it gives the idea of an action in progress. It is also employed in relation to some words where usage does not permit the root infinitive. Furthermore, its substantive nature comes out more prominently than that of the root infinitive, for like the noun it may be modified by an article or a possessive; thus, “Pascal said that most of the evils of life arose from man’s being unable to sit still in a room.”—Bagehot.

I. The gerund used as a noun.

1. Subject of a verb; as, “Lying in bed and listening to their dreary music had a pleasure in it.”—Holmes.

2. Object of a verb; as, “I remember being told that it was the sound of the waves.”—Holmes.

3. Objective complement; as, “If a child finds itself in want of anything it runs in and asks its father for it—does it call that doing its father a service?”—Ruskin. Here the gerund phrase helps to complete the verb does call and at the same time is an attribute of the direct object that.

4. Subjective complement; as, “The first of all English games is making money.”—Ruskin.

5. Appositive modifier; as, “I recommend this most faithful form of reading—learning by heart.”

6. Object of a preposition; as, “Nelson attributed all his success in life to having been a quarter of an hour before his time.” This is the commonest use of the gerund, for while the root infinitive may be used after very few prepositions, the gerund may be used after many.

7. Objective adverbial.—The adjective worth is usually followed by a noun that expresses a measure of value, answering the question worth how much? or worth what? It may be followed by a gerund answering the same question; as, “That is worth paying for.”—Warner.

II. The gerund used adjectively.—We find the gerund used adjectively in such expressions as sleeping-car, mourning-robes, dining-table, eating-apples. These gerunds seem at first like the participles in such expressions as singing-bird, shooting-star, barking-dog; but they are not like participles in meaning, as can be proved by changing them to equivalent elements of other kinds. A singing-bird is a bird that sings, but a sleeping-car is not a car that sleeps; it is a car for sleeping in.

Peculiar Constructions.—It cannot always be settled to one’s entire satisfaction whether a certain element is a participle or a gerund. In order to decide one must know just how a certain expression came to be, that is, of what earlier and older form it is a development. Sometimes it seems impossible to ascertain this. For instance, take the sentence, “Nanny has been busy ironing this evening.”—George Eliot. Is ironing a participle, and does the order of words in this sentence arise from a transposition of the sentence,—“Nanny, ironing, has been busy this evening”? Or is ironing a gerund, and is this sentence a parallel construction with, “Nanny has been busy at her ironing this evening”? Either interpretation of the sentence is a sensible one.

Another puzzling instance is found in the sentence,—“He was two weeks learning to use his flippers.”—Kipling. Is learning a part of the progressive verb-phrase was learning, and does the sentence mean, “He was learning to use his flippers during two weeks”? Or is learning a gerund, object of at understood, that is, is the sentence a parallel construction with this,—“You were a long time at it”? One cannot pronounce with certainty on this point, but must choose the construction that seems to him most reasonable.

Exercise 26

Dispose of all gerunds or gerund-phrases in the following sentences.

1. A serious percentage of books are not worth reading at all.—F. Harrison.

2. After a quarter of an hour’s chipping and hammering with very little result, he paused to rest.—J. Hawthorne.

3. The cat did not like being whipped, and she was still more annoyed at having been caught stealing.—Old Deccan Days.

4. Answering of this question is giving us the soul of the history of the man or nation.—Carlyle.

5. The only drawback to my rejoicing over the finishing of the first hoeing is that the garden now wants hoeing the second time.—Warner.

6. I wonder when Englishmen will learn these hospitable graces. They are worth learning.—Stevenson.

7. What was called governing them meant only wearing fine clothes and living on good fare at their expense.—Ruskin.

8. There are but three ways of living; by working, by stealing or by begging.—Froude.

9. He spent all the day roaming over the house.—Kipling.

10. I believe they find adorning the body a more profitable vocation than adorning the mind.—Miss Mitford.

11. She promised to befriend him and advised his disguising himself, lest the Magician should see him and turn him likewise into stone.—Old Deccan Days.

12. The buying a new coat is as to the cost of it a much more important matter of consideration to me than building a new Exchange is to you.—Ruskin.

13. She had been busy all the morning making tea-bread and sponge-cakes.—Mrs. Gaskell.

14. It is not the finding of a thing, but the making something out of it after it is found, that is of consequence.—Lowell.

15. A perfectly truthful man, who loves truth for its own sake, is not contented with being as truthful as other people.—J. F. Clarke.

16. It’ll be no use their putting their heads down and saying, “Come up again, dear!”—Lewis Carroll.

Exercise 27

Analyze the following sentences:—

1. Miss Binson was, to quote her neighbors, a little too sharp-set.—Miss Jewett.

2. On she came, swaying, rocking, plunging, with a great whiteness wrapping her about like a cloud, and moving with her moving.—Hearn.

3. A mind must work to grow.—C. W. Eliot.

4. Everybody loves to hear of strange cases; people are eager to tell the doctor of the wonderful cures they have heard of; they want to know what is the matter with somebody or other who is said to be suffering from a complication of diseases, and above all to get a hard name, Greek or Latin, for some complaint which sounds altogether too commonplace in plain English.—Holmes.

5. And at the same time he hated having to break with old associations, and to part from anything to which he had been long accustomed.—Ainger.

6. It paused there an instant, with its fore quarters in the doorway, one fore foot raised, the end of its long tail waving.—J. L. Allen.

7. To have what we want is riches, but to be able to do without is power.—MacDonald.

8. The sergeants, seeing these things, told him secrets generally hid from young officers.—Kipling.

9. Children learn to speak by watching the lips and catching the words of those who know how already.—Lowell.

10. Strength of will is the power to resist, to persist, to endure, to attack, to conquer obstacles, to snatch success from the jaws of death and despair.—J. F. Clarke.

11. The waves of yesterday are gone today; and the calm of today will be tumultuous tomorrow.—Beecher.

12. To suffer and to do, that was thy portion in this life.—De Quincey.

13. The city seems to burst into song with the advent of these golden days and silver nights.—Howells.

14. To tell the truth, the day was so fine that he regretted going in-doors.—A. S. Hardy.

15. It (education) meant the leading along the baby till he became the quick, honest, and fearless boy.—Hale.

16. The potato, usually planted in the vegetable mold left by recently exterminated forests, yielded its edible tubers with a bounteous profusion unknown to the husbandry of our day.—Greeley.

17. Born in the country he was ignorant as a sign-post of what came out of the soil.—J. T. Fields.

18. It is a great deal better to live a holy life than to talk about it.—Moody.

19. An hour’s reading of these newspaper paragraphs made a boy’s heart sick within him and caused a resolve to shoot up in it that he would turn him right about and classify him in future with quite a different order of boys.—Annie Preston.

20. He was never known to laugh.—Irving.

21. He must have had rather dull feelings not to have looked forward with some interest to her entrance into the room.—George Eliot.

22. The strength of the British Empire lies in the strength of character of the individual Englishman taken all alone by himself.—Wm. James.

23. For a time he was afraid of being dropped; then he grew angry, but he knew better than to struggle; and then he began to think.—Kipling.

24. Artists, poets, and musicians are apt to be irritable.—J. F. Clarke.

25. The best way to put boyishness to shame is to foster scholarship and manliness.—C. W. Eliot.

26. At any rate, I used to hide my eyes from the sloops and schooners that were wont to lie at the end of the bridge.—Holmes.

27. We were dismayed to behold the injured husband and his abandoned foe playfully scuffling behind the scenes.—Howells.

28. He was always being cured without improving his health.—Stephen.

29. What distinguishes the Norseman above other nations is, generally speaking, an indestructible self-respect and force of individuality.—Boyesen.

30. He was too shackled with weakness to cry out, to stand up.—J. L. Allen.

31. He had spent half his youth with an older brother hunting horses in Texas.—Hale.

32. Those who work deserve to eat; those who do not work deserve to starve.—Froude.

33. At present the penny was doubly dear to him, having been long lost and lately found.—Barrie.

34. Sunday is coming to stand for perspiration, not inspiration.—Hillis.

35. The art of knowing when one is needed is more difficult than that of helping.—A. S. Hardy.

36. I cannot but think that the tennis and tramping and skating habits and the bicycle craze, which are so rapidly extending among our dear sisters and daughters in this country, are going also to lead to a sounder and heartier moral tone, which will send its tonic breath through all our American life.—Wm. James.

CHAPTER XXIII

THE PREPOSITIONAL PHRASE

Function.—No other sentence-element is more frequently employed or more useful for the precise expression of thought than the prepositional phrase. By its aid we can define exactly the scope of a noun, a verb, or an adjective. This is due not to the great number of prepositions in the English language, for there are not a hundred in all, but to the many different relations that may be denoted by one preposition. A striking illustration of this is found in the following sentence:

“One of the useful and grateful tasks of historians and biographers is to bring forward to the eye of every new generation of men and women those illustrious characters who made a great figure in the days of their grandfathers and grandmothers, yet who have nearly faded out of sight in the rush of new events and interests, and the rise of new stars in the intellectual firmament.”—Lord.

Here we find the preposition of used eight times and expressing almost as many different relations. The first of-phrase, of the useful and grateful tasks of historians and biographers, serves to point out the whole group or class of things from which the one thing talked about is selected. The second phrase, of historians and biographers, limits tasks by telling who performed these tasks. The third phrase of every new generation of men and women, limits eyes by telling whose eyes are meant. The fourth phrase, of men and women, limits the application of the noun generation to human beings only, and brings in the nouns men and women to serve as antecedents of the pronoun their later in the sentence. The fifth phrase, of their grandfathers and grandmothers, specifies what days by locating them in the past. The sixth phrase out of sight, has the preposition of reinforced by out so that the two words are equivalent to from, and thus the phrase denotes not only place but movement away from it. The seventh phrase, of new events and interests, and the eighth, of new stars, are alike in function; they tell what things rush and rise.

Every one of these phrases except out of sight modifies a noun; but just as often a phrase introduced by of modifies a verb or an adjective. As soon as we hear the adjectives capable, full, glad, jealous, proud, rid, sure, weary, do we not expect an answer to the question, capable of what? full of what? glad of what? etc. And do we not usually find such verbs as borrow, buy, complain, cure, make, smell, speak, taste, tell, think, warn, followed by an of-phrase?

What is true of the extensive use of of is no less true of other prepositions,—at, by, from, in, on, to, with; while there are some whose use is much more limited,—across, after, before, up, toward.

The Prepositional Phrase used Adjectively.—We say of prepositional phrases that they are adjective or adverbial, according to what they modify—nouns, verbs, or adjectives. We have seen from the sentence quoted how freely the prepositional phrase may be joined to a noun, and how many different relations it may express. Let us see now what sentence-elements this adjective prepositional phrase takes the place of.

In the following sentence from Geikie,—“The stay of Jesus in Capernaum at this time was very short,” the phrase of Jesus takes the place of the possessive noun Jesus’s. It is better than the possessive here, not so much because this particular possessive is an awkward form as because stay is the more important word and should have the prominent place at the beginning of the sentence.

In Higginson’s sentence,—“Yet he has found readers at all periods alike among men of thought and men of action,” the phrases of thought and of action take the place of the adjectives thinking and active. But the adjectives, preceding their nouns, seem less important than the nouns; while the phrases, coming after the nouns, imply that the contrasted words thought and action contain the more important ideas.

In Boyesen’s sentence,—“According to Norwegian law at that time, every son of a king was entitled to his share of the kingdom,” the phrase at that time is a substitute for the clause, which was operative at that time; but it is preferable, not only for brevity, but because it makes the modifier less prominent,—it is not forced upon the reader’s attention as it would be by a subject and predicate.

We may well repeat here what was said in one of our first chapters, that several different elements may be exact equivalents before they are in a sentence, but as soon as we desire to make use of one of them for the communication of thought, they are not equivalent—one of them will almost invariably serve our turn better than the other. Thinking men, men of thought, men who think are identical in meaning, but in a sentence the special setting of these expressions, the accompanying ideas, will determine which most clearly and precisely conveys our meaning and should therefore be used.

Besides modifying a noun, the adjective prepositional phrase may complete an intransitive verb; as, “My march was of long duration.”—Audubon. “All these writers are of a revolutionary cast.”—De Quincey. “All the floors in Venice are of stone.”—Howells. In sentences like these the phrase denotes an attribute of the subject. It is usually employed because there is no adjective that expresses so well the precise meaning.

The adjective long, if used in the first sentence quoted, would imply that the march was long in space, in miles traversed, but the phrase means only that it consumed much time.

The adjective revolutionary, if used in the second sentence, might be interpreted to mean that the writers belong to a revolutionary period, or that they are decidedly in favor of revolution; but the phrase means only that they have a leaning toward revolutionary ideas.

In the third sentence the noun stone used adjectively would be to the general reader an exact equivalent of the phrase of stone.

NOTE.—Occasionally we find a prepositional phrase completing a verb and seeming more like a noun complement than an adjective; as, “A common means of transportation was in clumsy carts drawn by oxen going at the most but three or four miles an hour.”—Draper.

The Prepositional Phrase used Adverbially.—The prepositional phrase often modifies a verb or an adjective, and may modify an adverb. As a verb modifier it may denote the various relations denoted by clauses, though place, time, and manner are the most common; as, “They come in the summer months by hundreds and hundreds of thousands out of the cold gray sea.”—Kipling. Here we have three phrases modifying come, introduced by in, by, and out of, and denoting respectively time, manner, and place.

The prepositional phrase of place tells,—(a) where an action occurs or a condition exists; as, “Herring appear in immense schools off the coast of Norway and the northern shores of the British Isles”; (b) whence an action proceeds; (c) whither an action tends. Both of these last we find in the sentence,—

“From underneath an aged oak,

That slanted from an islet rock,

A little skiff shot to the bay.”—Scott.

The prepositional phrase of time may denote almost all the relations denoted by the adverbial clause of time, and several of the words used as conjunctions to introduce those clauses, such as after, before, since, till, were originally prepositions and are still employed as such.

The prepositional phrase of manner is found quite as often as the adverb of manner; for example, “He had fired with great rapidity yet with surprising accuracy.” If adverbs had been used here the sentence would read, “He had fired very rapidly yet surprisingly accurately.” The combination of the last two adverbs is exceedingly awkward.

When a prepositional phrase modifies an adjective it generally serves to limit its application by denoting the particular respect in which its meaning is to be considered; thus, “Our fathers emerged from their arduous, protracted, desolating Revolutionary struggle, rich indeed in hope, but poor in worldly goods.”—Greeley. Here the phrases tell in what particular our fathers were rich and poor.

NOTE.—The prepositional phrase may modify the interjection alas, which is equivalent to the assertion I am sorry; thus, “One may believe that the golden age is behind us or before us, but alas for the forlorn wisdom of him who rejects it altogether.”—Higginson.

The Prepositional Phrase used Substantively.—We often find a prepositional phrase used as the object of a preposition. This gives rise to a succession of two prepositions like from among, from beneath, until within, till after. Some grammarians treat these as one compound preposition, but it seems to us best to consider them separately.

In the following sentence from Bolles,—“The river came from between abrupt, rocky walls,” the phrase between abrupt, rocky walls denotes a place that no noun in the language names, hence the phrase is employed to name the place, and as such a name it is the object of the preposition from.

It is very common for the preposition except or but (meaning except) to be followed by a prepositional phrase used as its object; thus, “Nobody comes to Novastoshnah except on business.”—Kipling. “No great art ever yet rose on earth but among a nation of soldiers.”—Ruskin. A phrase of this sort is usually preceded by some negative expression, and is necessary to the truth of the sentence, as it brings in a reservation or exception to some sweeping negative statement.

The Prepositional Phrase in an Absolute Phrase.—The prepositional phrase, as we saw in Chapter XXI., is sometimes used with a noun to form an absolute phrase. It is not then an ordinary adjective modifier of the noun, but is more like a predicated attribute, the verb being omitted. It may be called an appositive modifier of the noun; for example,

“’Tis written that the serving angels stand

Beside God’s throne, ten myriads on each hand.”

—E. Arnold.

The participle is omitted from the absolute phrase in such a sentence because it can readily be supplied by the reader from the verb in the predicate. It is always mentally supplied for the interpretation of the sentence, but it need not be supplied for its analysis.

Object of a Preposition.—The word or group of words that is brought into relation to some other word by a preposition is called the object of the preposition. It is always a substantive, but not always a noun or pronoun. Some of the common substitutes for the noun are the gerund, the prepositional phrase, and the noun clause. The prepositional phrase in this use we have just discussed. The gerund and the noun clause were discussed in Chapters XXII. and VII. respectively.

All of the above are regular constructions, but there are a few peculiar stereotyped phrases in the language, made up of a preposition and an adjective or adverb; as, from far, at all, at once, at the best. It is wiser in such a case not to separate the phrase into any component parts, but to think of it and treat it as if it were one word.

Sometimes a preposition is associated with a verb or verbal in such a way as not to require an object. Such a construction is usually passive or infinitive; for example, “I was going to say something about our boarders the other day, when I got run away with by my local reminiscences.”—Holmes. “Those who are still in a state to require being taken care of by others must be protected against their own actions as well as against external injury.”—Mill. “One child in a household of grown people is usually made very much of, and in a quiet way I was a good deal taken notice of by Mrs. Bretton.”—Brontë.

Prepositions so used may sometimes be considered as adverbs, as in the expressions, money to do with, firesides to sit at; but oftener it is impossible to separate them from the verb-phrase or verbal-phrase of which they form a part. They help to express the one notion denoted by a whole group of words and have not the function of any part of speech.

Peculiar Prepositions.—Some words originally participles have a use so much resembling that of prepositions that they are no longer thought of as verbals, but have come to be considered prepositions. Some of these are regarding, concerning, during, excepting; as, “Our judgments concerning the worth of things, big or little, depend on the feelings the things arouse in us.”—Wm. James.

Some combinations of words, like as to, out of, instead of, according to, owing to, are now regarded as single prepositions. They express a single relation, and often one word may be substituted for them; as, “You drive a gambler out of the gambling room who loads dice.”—Ruskin. “The Prince of Orange had not been consulted as to the formation of the league.”—Motley.

Is “Like” a Preposition?—It is not uncommon to find both verbs and nouns taking as an adjunct a phrase introduced by like; for example,

“That hand was cold, a frozen thing,—it dropped from his like lead.”—Mrs. Hemans.

“Now and then he would see a thin fin, like a big shark’s fin, drifting along close to shore.”—Kipling.

In such a phrase there is always a substantive, and if this is changed to a personal pronoun we find that it is in the objective case; for example, “A writer is so like a lover.”—Holmes. Substituting a pronoun for lover we find that usage calls for the objective form him. Does this prove that like is a preposition and him its object?

There is authority in dictionaries and grammars for calling like a preposition, and this is certainly both simple and convenient; but sometimes it leads us into difficulties. In the sentence,—“He walks more like a soldier than a priest,” shall we say that the preposition like is compared? In the sentence,—“It is very like a whale,” shall we say that the preposition like is modified by the adverb very, a word that we expect to modify only adjectives and adverbs? In the sentence,—“Like to an angel of peace she seemed that day,” how shall we dispose of to if we call like a preposition governing angel?

If we go back to the writings of Milton and Shakespeare, we find the words liker and likest, showing plainly that in their time like was looked upon as an adjective or adverb. We often find, too, the preposition to or unto expressed after like. It is best, therefore, to dispose of like as an adjective, meaning similar, when it introduces a phrase modifying a noun or completing a verb; and as an adverb, when the phrase modifies a verb. It will then be necessary to supply the preposition to or unto.

Words whose use much resembles that of like are near and its comparative and superlative forms, nearer, nearest and next; as, “Near the foot of the walls there are magnificent groves of live oaks and pines.”—Muir.

In this sentence we consider near an adverb, modified by a phrase introduced by to understood. Indeed, the preposition is very often expressed; for example, “It was next to impossible for a peasant or artisan or even a merchant to pass that line.”—Lord.

A construction similar to this is found in the sentence, “To be the supreme authority in anything is a satisfaction to self-love next door to the precious delusions of dementia.”—Holmes. Here next door takes the place of next. It should be treated as one adjective element modifying satisfaction and itself modified by the adverbial propositional phrase following it.

The Prepositional Phrase modified.—We sometimes find a prepositional phrase accompanied by an adverb or by a noun used adverbially, as a sort of measure; thus, “Before his father and mother died, they had built, some way from their palace, a very beautiful temple.”—Old Deccan Days. In this sentence the verb built is modified by the phrase some way from their palace, the base of this being the prepositional phrase from their palace; this phrase is modified by some way, a noun element used adverbially to answer the question how far from their palace?

In this sentence from John Lord,—“Why did no great scholars arise, even in the church?” the adverb even modifying the phrase in the church has a very important office. Its presence in the sentence entirely changes the meaning. Without even, the sentence would tell us that no great scholars arose in one place, the church; but with even the sentence tells us that no great scholars arose anywhere, and that it was very strange that they did not arise in the church, where we should naturally expect to find them.

Two prepositional phrases joined by and are often each modified by the adverb partly, or even by the pronoun what used adverbially. What may also modify one prepositional phrase; thus, “What with teaching others and studying closely myself, I had hardly a spare moment.”

The Preposition modified.—So many prepositions were originally adverbs or may be used as adverbs, that it is not strange to find them taking adverbial modifiers. Hence we frequently meet such a succession of words as ever since, just outside, right over; as, “A horticulturist of eminence wanted me to sow lines of strawberries and raspberries right over where I had put my potatoes in drills.”—Warner.

Position of the Preposition.—The word preposition, meaning placed before, implies that this part of speech precedes its object, but this it not always the case. It is not uncommon in poetry to find the phrase inverted; for example,

“Pleasant it was when woods were green,

And winds were soft and low,

To lie amid some sylvan scene,

Where, the long drooping boughs between,

Shadows dark and sunlight sheen

Alternate come and go.”—Longfellow.

We find the transposition, too, in the familiar expressions the year round, the night through, the world over; as, “The evergreens can keep a secret the year round, some one has said.”—Burroughs.

The Prepositional Phrase as an Abridgment of a Proposition.—In the chapter on the adverbial clause of degree we found that the clause as expressed frequently consists only of the conjunction and a prepositional phrase; as, “The force of the wind had never been greater than at this moment.” We cannot give a satisfactory analysis of such a sentence without supplying after than the subject it and the verb was. It is best also to supply where a clause of manner has been abridged; as, “The scene changed as at a theatre.”

But there are sentences in which propositions have been abridged to prepositional phrases and no ellipsis can be supplied; for example, “In manner he was quiet and gentlemanlike, with the natural courtesy of high breeding.”—Froude. In this sentence the phrase is equivalent to an independent proposition joined to the first proposition by the conjunction and,—“and he had the natural courtesy of high breeding.” Such a phrase may be described as an accompaniment of the predicate rather than a modifier of any word in it.

Exercise 28

Dispose of all prepositional phrases in the following sentences.

1. One object of the celebration was to obtain the means of raising a monument to Clive in his native country.—McCarthy.

2. Next to deciding when to start your garden, the most important matter is, what to put in it.—Warner.

3. The monument is clearly right as to the year of his death.—Lowell.

4. It ran north from Jerusalem, past Bethel, between the height of Libana on the left hand, and of Shiloh on the right, entering Samaria at the south end of the beautiful valley, which further north stretches past the foot of Mounts Gerizim and Ebal.—Geikie.

5. The last time he had seen her was at a brother mason’s marriage.—Dr. John Brown.

6. Hendry slowly pulled out his boots from beneath the table.—Barrie.

7. At that time he used to preach in a little church something like a barn.—George Eliot.

8. Just outside this room Sylvia met with a little adventure.—M. A. H. Clarke.

9. Moreover, he found that the parrots, instead of being an expense, were the means of increasing his fortune.—Old Deccan Days.

10. Indeed, but for the discovery of the capacities of the chrysanthemum, modern life would have experienced a fatal hitch in its development.—Warner.

11. Their wives never came to the island until late in May or early in June.—Kipling.

12. His head was small, and flat at top, with huge ears, large green glassy eyes, and a long snipe nose, so that it looked like a weathercock perched upon his spindle neck to tell which way the wind blew.—Irving.

13. We cannot transform the world except very slowly.—Higginson.

14. It was near the close of a bright summer afternoon that I visited this celebrated spot for the first time.—Longfellow.

15. No well-endowed clergy were on the alert to quit their cathedrals and set up a pompous hierarchy in the frozen wilderness.—Everett.

16. Mowgli repeated with the Kite’s whistle at the end of the sentence.—Kipling.

17. We are continually assuming that nations become strong according to their numbers.—Ruskin.

18. Owing to circumstances over which he had had entire control, the Colonel’s reputation—either as a promoter or as anything else—was of a sort that no longer could be trifled with.—Janvier.

19. Now, notwithstanding this state of his own feelings, he had never made a declaration in so many words to Miss Wilkins.—R. M. Johnston.

20. She was seated across a donkey between a pair of glittering milk-cans; and, as she went, she kicked jauntily with her heels upon the donkey’s side, and scattered shrill remarks among the wayfarers.—Stevenson.

21. He was a mongoose, rather like a little cat in his fur and his tail, but quite like a weasel in his head and his habits.—Kipling.

22. The critical moment of the day as regards the weather is at sunrise and sunset.—Burroughs.

23. I am going to take it for granted now and henceforth.—Holmes.

24. His spare frame shook, and his knees knocked against each other as in an ague fit.—R. H. Dana, Sr.

25.

Who of this crowd tonight shall tread

The dance till daylight gleam again?—Bryant.

26. Longfellow was exquisitely sensitive to the beautiful.

27. It cannot be brought from far.—Webster.

28. Nay, the hunger and the cold and the whistling bullets have brought pleasant messages to many a man before now.—Ruskin.

29. From this time forth he is an outlaw, hunted over field and fell, and roaming with untold sufferings through the mountains and wilderness.—Boyesen.

30. Just at that moment the moon shone out from behind a cloud.—Old Deccan Days.

31. She was dressed in plain dull black, save for a sort of dark blue kerchief which was folded across her bosom.—H. James.

32. Until very lately, the promenaders in the Piazza were exclusively foreigners, or else the families of such government officials as were obliged to show themselves there.—Howells.

33. Just then he heard the black steed panting and blowing close behind him.—Irving.

34. And people remembered her mother, how silent she had been, and how patient, and how like to what Mona was, and they said now, as they had said long ago, “She’s going down the steep places.”—Caine.

35. The causes of this change lie partly in the altered character of the whole world’s civilization, partly in the increasing poverty of the city.—Howells.

CHAPTER XXIV

THE APPOSITIVE PHRASE

Function.—As a means of avoiding a predication, perhaps no other sentence-element is oftener employed than the appositive phrase; as, “They have the genius for hard work—the most desirable kind of genius.” The appositive is a very loosely joined adjunct, but its position in the sentence and the frequency of its use make its relation easily intelligible.

The appositive phrase comes about in this way. The sentence quoted above really amounts to two independent propositions; namely, They have the genius for hard work, and, The genius for hard work is the most desirable kind of genius. These propositions joined into a closely built sentence with proper subordination might read thus,—They have the genius for hard work, which is the most desirable kind of genius. Here we have an unrestrictive adjective clause.

The important part of this clause, the only part that adds anything new to the sentence, is the complement, the most desirable kind of genius. The subject which merely represents a previous word, and the verb is is only a link between the subject and its attribute, the complement. These two words help in the grammatical structure of the proposition, but since they are easily supplied by a reader, they may just as well be omitted, as in fact is often the case. This brings the really important words into a position next to what they explain or describe, but without any relation-words between them. A group of words so used is called an appositive phrase. The base-word of the phrase, usually a noun, is called a noun in apposition.

In general the appositive is not a necessary element of the sentence. So far as the truth of the statement and the grammatical structure of the sentence are concerned, it may be omitted. Sometimes, however, it is joined to a noun to point out a special individual or class, when it resembles the restrictive adjective clause; as, “It is quite true that practical life is a kind of long, competitive examination, conducted by that severe pedagogue, Professor Circumstance.”—Huxley.

The Base-Word of an Appositive Phrase.—When the base-word of an appositive phrase is a noun, it gives another name for something, and so makes that thing more fully known by revealing another of its attributes; as, “We turn to commemorate the genius and virtues of John Milton, the poet, the statesman, the philosopher, the glory of English literature, the champion and the martyr of English liberty.”—Macaulay.

Attributes are just as often told by adjectives as by nouns, hence we find many appositive adjectives; as,

“At the first glimpse he thought it a dog—long, lean, skulking, prowling, tawny—on the scent of his tracks.”—J. L. Allen. The adjectives are an abridgment of an unrestrictive adjective clause, just as appositive nouns are.

Besides the noun and the adjective, the base-word of an appositive phrase may be,—

(a) A reflexive pronoun; as, “The old Professor himself sometimes visited the house after it had changed hands.”—Holmes. This pronoun does not explain or describe in the least. It is put into the sentence for emphasis.

(b) A personal pronoun. This forms a convenient word to add a phrase or clause to; as,

“How good it was of him

To mind a slender man like me,

He of the mighty limb.”—Holmes.

(c) A pronominal adjective. This does not explain. It has not sufficient meaning in itself for that. Like the personal pronoun it is to be modified by some phrase or other sentence-element that has meaning; as, “On a gently rising ground in the heart of the city rises St. Paul’s, one of the largest churches in the world, and a masterpiece of Wren, one of the greatest architects.” In neither place here does one mean anything until it is modified by the phrase telling class.

Such an appositive may serve many purposes. In the following sentence from Lowell, “The poetry of the Danes was much of it authentic history,” it narrows the scope of what it modifies,—the poetry of the Danes.

(d) The infinitive. See Chapter XX.

(e) The gerund. See Chapter XXII.

(f) The participle. When a participial phrase is clearly an abridgment of an unrestrictive adjective clause, it may be said to be in apposition; as,

“All are architects of Fate,

Working in these walls of Time.”—Longfellow.

(g) The noun clause. See Chapter VII.

Words that take an Appositive Modifier.—The appositive is usually added to a noun, but not always. A pronoun may be made definite in its application by an appositive; thus, “We are doing the English cathedral towns, Aunt Celia and I.”—Mrs. Wiggin.

NOTE.—In the following sentence from Wordsworth,—

“But oh, ye fountains, meadows, hills, and groves,

Forebode not any severing of our loves,”

many would consider the nouns in the first line as appositives of ye. It seems better to consider ye as filling the office of a limiting adjective. If we spoke about the fountains, we would say these fountains; speaking to them it is usage to employ the pronoun ye in the place of these.

Occasionally we find an adjective, adverb, phrase, or clause, explained by some sort of appositive; as, “Active and sprightly people are called mercurial, that is, born under the planet Mercury.” Here a participial phrase is in apposition with the adjective mercurial.

The appositive may even be used to explain a predicate, a use in which it very much resembles one use of the adjective clause; as, “The surplus beyond what was required for the support of the national worship was distributed in alms among the poor; a duty strenuously prescribed by their moral code.”—Prescott.

Introductory Word.—The appositive is frequently introduced or brought into the sentence by such words or expressions as namely, to wit, as, that is, or, in other words; as, “The whale is a mammal, that is, a warm-blooded, air-breathing animal that suckles its young.”

The introductory as is useful in limiting the application of a noun, signifying that it is to be considered only to the extent denoted by the appositive; as, “To the Esquimaux, the auk, as an article of food, is second in importance only to the seal.”

With this restrictive office as often introduces an appositive to a possessive pronoun; as, “As masters your first object must be to increase your power.”—Ruskin. It will readily be seen that masters is an appositive of your if the sentence is changed thus, “The first object of you, as masters, must be, etc.”

Such as or as often brings in the names of several individuals belonging to a certain class; thus, “The leaves and tender twigs are an agreeable food to many domestic animals, as the cow, horse, sheep, and goat.”—Thoreau.

A noun whose meaning is broad may have two appositives, specific in meaning, joined by or and introduced by whether; as, “There is always something to see about a church, whether living worshipers or dead men’s tombs.”—Stevenson.

Case and Number of the Noun in Apposition.—The appositive noun is usually in the same case as the noun it explains, but often when it is joined to a possessive noun, the possessive case ending is dropped from the first noun for the sake of euphony, and added only to the appositive.

In number an appositive usually agrees with its noun, but not always; for example, “The priests were each devoted to the service of some particular deity.”

Position of the Appositive Phrase.—Usually the appositive follows immediately the group of words it explains; but sometimes the two are separated by intervening words; thus, “These votive pictures are no less interesting as works of art than as expressions of hopeless superstition.”—Howells.

Sometimes the appositive begins a sentence; as,

“One burnished sheet of living gold,

Loch Katrine lay beneath him rolled.”—Scott.

“Calm, strong, and nobly aglow with love of country, he has no need of going into paroxysms in order to prove his sincerity.”—Boyesen.

Exercise 29

Dispose of all appositives in the following sentences.

1. As a composition the Declaration is Mr. Jefferson’s.—Webster.

2. There is one topic peremptorily forbidden to all well-bred, to all rational mortals, namely, their distempers.—Emerson.

3. Long before I had dealings with him, I knew him by the superb song, or rather incantation, with which he announced his coming on the Grand Canal.—Howells.

4. He made his Masque what it ought to be, essentially lyrical and dramatic only in semblance.—Macaulay.

5. Do I not remember the time when I myself haunted the station?—Stevenson.

6. Grandchild of Henri Quatre, niece of Louis XIII., cousin of Louis XIV., first princess of the blood, and with the largest income in the nation (500,000 livres) to support these dignities, Mademoiselle was certainly born in the purple.—Higginson.

7. Two kinds of men make good teachers—young men and men who never grow old.—C. W. Eliot.

8. Devils, thicker than tiles on housetops, scare him not from his work.—Motley.

9. Unostentatious illustrations of divine power, such as healing the sick, opening the eyes of the blind, or the ears of the deaf, were not enough.—Geikie.

10. Punctuality must be cultivated by all who would succeed in any calling, whether lofty or humble.

11. The old Norse poets were many of them natives of Iceland.—Carlyle.

12. The bold assertions of these people have of late impressed a large portion of the public with an opinion that James the Second was expelled simply because he was a Catholic, and that the Revolution was essentially a Protestant Revolution.—Macaulay.

13. Restless, sleepless, unable to read, tired of sitting, driven on by the desire to get rid of his own thoughts, he started out to walk.—J. L. Allen.

14. We none of us spoke of money, because that subject savored of commerce and trade, and though some might be poor we were all aristocratic.—Mrs. Gaskell.

15. The question must have raised the sense of His supreme right as consecrated Son of God.—Geikie.

16. The refined formality with which the literary product of Provence is for the most part stamped as with a trade mark, was doubtless the legacy of Gallo-Roman culture, itself at best derivative and superficial.—Lowell.

17. This was Blomidon, simple, majestic, inspiring.—Bolles.

18. He was an accomplished scholar intimately acquainted with the languages and literatures of continental Europe.

19. They have all had a truth in them or men would not have taken them up.—Carlyle.

20. You Americans, he said, wear too much expression on your faces.—Wm. James.

Exercise 30

Analyze the following sentences.

1. Throughout this period, Rousseau was, for the last time in his life, at peace with most of his fellows.—Morley.

2. In life it is difficult to say who does the most mischief—enemies with the worst intentions, or friends with the best.—Bulwer.

3. For men of force are generally men of faults.

4. Close under the eastern foot of Gerizim, at the opening of the side valley from the wide plain, on a slight knoll, a mile and a half from the town, surrounded now by stones and broken pillars, is Jacob’s Well.—Geikie.

5. Prudence had kept him away from the other girl, but he was feeling a great want; some one to applaud him.—Barrie.

6. Self-reliance, self-restraint, self-control, self-direction, these constitute an educated will.—J. F. Clarke.

7. The aspect of the venerable mansion has always affected me like a human countenance.—Hawthorne.

8.

Farewell, ye vanishing flowers, that shone

In my fairy wreath, so bright and brief.—Moore.

9. What was it that filled the ears of the prophets of old but the distant tread of foreign armies, coming to do the work of justice?—George Eliot.

10. A woman kept the summer school, sharp, precise, unsympathetic, keen and untiring.—Beecher.

11.

The street-lamps always burn; but scarce a casement

In house or palace front from roof to basement

Doth glow or gleam athwart the mirk air cast.

—James Thomson.

12. Men dress their children’s minds as they do their bodies, in the prevailing fashion.—Spencer.

13. The choice of Capernaum by Jesus as his future center was significant.—Geikie.

14. But his marvelous moral beauty, even as a child, attracted the attention of the Emperor Hadrian.—Lord.

15. Facts and the consequences of facts draw the writer back to the falconer’s lure from the giddiest heights of speculation.—De Quincey.

16. The northern curve of the rock basin’s wall was broken by a narrow perpendicular rift, reaching from the sky down to within sixty or eighty feet of the surface of the pool.—Bolles.

17. She starts, and is lost sight of round the cliff, gone straight away for the very ends of the world.—Jefferies.

18. A veteran American sailor, he had learned to know the great Gulf as scholars know deep books by heart.—Hearn.

19. We come, as Americans, to mark a spot which must forever be dear to us and our posterity.—Webster.

20. Two of them were guests like ourselves, both men of the north.—Stevenson.

21. Indeed, man is naturally more prone to subtlety than open valor, owing to his physical weakness in comparison with other animals.—Irving.

22. Kotick was the only one who asked questions, and none of his companions could tell him anything except that the men always drove seals in that way for six weeks or two months of every year.—Kipling.

23. As compared with the two other writers, Epictetus shortens his sword; that is, his sentences.—Higginson.

CHAPTER XXV

THE DIRECT OBJECT

THE direct object of a transitive verb is so familiar a sentence-element that it makes itself understood without much special investigation. It presents few peculiarities, and these are not difficult.

The transitive verb is usually defined as one that denotes action terminating on an object. This definition does not cover all verbs called transitive, for instance, the verb have, meaning own, which does not denote any action whatever. But it would be difficult indeed to make a better definition. The definition, a transitive verb is one that takes an object, is open to the objection that it applies only to transitive verbs in the active voice, whereas passive verbs are also transitive in meaning. We may say this much, however,—(a) no verb is considered transitive unless it has two substantives, a subject and a complement, the two meaning different things, an agent and a non-agent. (b) A sentence containing a transitive verb can always be changed to the passive form, the complement becoming the subject, and the subject of the active verb becoming the object of the preposition by. This second point is a better test of the transitive verb than the definition is.

For example, take the verb earn in the sentence,—“Indeed, a man may earn twenty thousand dollars a year by writing ‘sensation-stories,’ and have nothing to do with literature in any high sense.”—Higginson. It is true that when a man earns he acts, but his action is not performed upon the twenty thousand dollars. In so far this verb does not come under the definition of a transitive verb; but it answers the test, that is, it may be changed to the passive; thus, “Twenty thousand dollars was earned by him.” This does not mean that the twenty thousand dollars received an action; it means that twenty thousand became his possession as a result of his work.

Of transitive verbs denoting action performed directly upon some object, examples are in the following sentences.

(a) “Let us build altars to the Beautiful Necessity, which secures that all is made of one piece.”—Emerson.

(b) “When Gabriel blows his trumpet I hope he will select the moment before sunrise for his summons.”—Bolles.

(c) “Many men eat finer cookery, drink dearer liquors, with what advantage they can report and their doctors can.”—Carlyle.

Examples of transitive verbs like earn that take an object and denote action, but not action really performed upon the object, are found in the following sentences.

(a) These deluded people visit fortune tellers in the hope of finding out what is to happen in the future.

(b) “He entered the street at the end opposite to the Holborn entrance.”—George Eliot.

(c) “As he approached the village, he met a number of people.”—Irving.

Action always suggests to us at first thought physical action, that accompanied by movement; but there are other kinds of action which may be told by transitive verbs.

1. Action of the mind, denoted by such verbs as believe, learn, think, remember; as, “To know anything that turns up is, in the infinity of knowledge, to know nothing.”—F. Harrison.

2. Action of the emotions, denoted by such verbs as hate, love, revere; as, “When Père Antoine was a very young man, he had a friend whom he loved as he loved his life.”

3. Action of the senses, denoted by the verbs see, hear, feel, smell, taste; as, “To see a good man and hear his voice once a week would be reason enough for building churches and pulpits.”—Holmes.

Verbs of saying, like tell, remark, declare, exclaim, are followed by a direct object, usually a quotation or a noun clause telling just what was said; thus, “He cried in the bitterness of his soul that God had hid his face from him.”—Macaulay.

The verbs ask and teach are often followed by two direct objects, one of the person and the other of the thing; as, “Whoever will teach the people of New England the advantages of good food, fresh air, and sunshine, will renew the physical constitution of the race.”—J. F. Clarke. “Ask a great money-maker what he means to do with his money—he never knows.”—Ruskin.

These verbs are really used in a double sense. For instance, in the first sentence, in so far as will teach takes the object the people of New England, it means instruct; in so far as it takes the object the advantages of good food, fresh air and sunshine, it means impart. When such a sentence is changed to the passive form, either object may become the subject, and the other may remain as the object of the passive verb; or, if the personal object remains, it may be called an indirect object.

Some verbs usually intransitive may become transitive by being followed by a cognate object, that is, one whose meaning is akin to that of the verb, as in the familiar expressions run a race, dream a dream, smile a smile; as, “There he fell into evil paths, and on a fatal day sinned a great sin.”—Hillis.

Some transitive verbs may be followed by an object meaning the same person or thing as the subject. This is called a reflexive object; as, “On the wall opposite, about a mile across the gulf, a brook was pouring itself to the valley.”—King. In this sentence the brook is conceived in two aspects, that of a doer and that of a receiver—it pours and is poured.

Some verbs are made transitive by the addition of an adverb; as,

“Ring out the old, ring in the new,

Ring out the false, ring in the true.”

—Tennyson.

Here the old is the object not of the verb ring, but of the verb ring out.

Frequently a preposition is to be taken with a verb, the two words denoting one idea and that transitive; as, “You cannot stir abroad but Jews and Christians pounce upon you with unsettled bonds.”—Carlyle. A test for this sort of compound verb is that when it is changed to the passive form, the two words—verb and preposition—remain together; thus, “You are pounced upon by Jews and Christians.”

In the sentence, “Make up your mind to forego driving sledge,” we have four different direct objects. (1) The compound verb make up takes the object your mind. (2) The whole group of words make up your mind is equivalent to the one verb decide, and as such takes the infinitive phrase for object, to forego driving sledge. (3) The object of the infinitive to forego is the gerund-phrase driving sledge. (4) The object of the gerund driving is the noun sledge.

A combination of two verbs with the meaning of one transitive verb is found in the every-day expression make believe, meaning pretend. This cannot be separated. It is usually followed by an infinitive or a noun clause used as its object. For example, “Whereupon the puppy jumped into the air off all its feet at once, with a yelp of delight, and rushed at the stick and made believe to worry it.”—Lewis Carroll.

Exercise 31

Explain how all verbs and verbals in the following sentences are completed.

1. Storms shall sob themselves to sleep.—Beecher.

2. The time will come, let us hope, when all boys will be taught the use of tools, and all girls the principles of cooking.—J. F. Clarke.

3. He doubted, as he has himself owned, whether he had not been born “an age too late.”—Macaulay.

4. You will hear more wit and better wit in an Irish street row than would keep Westminster Hall in humor for five weeks.—Bagehot.

5. He was her special pet and she disapproved of the nurse.—Kipling.

6. Conclave after conclave asked him to be Pope.—Hale.

7. When the clock strikes the hour, his mind begins to work.—Hillis.

8. He said he was a surgeon, and that in case any accident occurred on board he must always be in readiness.—Crawford.

9. It must not be supposed that the Italians hate the Austrians as individuals.—Howells.

10. Then I shall hang you for yourself, as a rogue and a rascal.—Froude.

11. The Saxon is wanting in taste, which is as much as to say that he has no true sense of proportion.—Lowell.

12. However, she soon made out that she was in the pool of tears which she had wept when she was nine feet high.—Lewis Carroll.

13. All ruin, desolateness, imperfectness of hut or habitation you must do away with.—Ruskin.

14. To study a nest is to make an acquaintance.—Olive T. Miller.

15.

Go, seek it, and redeem thy sin—

’Tis sweet to let the pardoned in.—Moore.

16. Even in books I like a confined locality.—Miss Mitford.

CHAPTER XXVI

THE SUBJECTIVE COMPLEMENT

Function.—When we wish to assert that a thing possesses a certain quality, we do it by a predicate made up of some form of the verb be together with an adjective; as in the sentence, “The very name was uncanny.”—Page. Here the idea words are the subject noun and the adjective in the predicate; the verb was serves merely as a copula, or tie-word, necessary for the grammatical structure of the sentence, but having little, if any, meaning.

The verb is employed in the same way when we wish to denote—

(a) The identity of two ideas; as, “The secret of success is concentration.”—Schreiner.

(b) The class to which a thing belongs; as, “Ben Battle was a soldier bold.”—Hood.

In such sentences as the three quoted, we call the adjective or noun in the predicate a subjective complement of the verb. The noun is often termed a predicate nominative, and the adjective a predicate adjective. In either case the complement tells some attribute of the subject, and it is for the express purpose of telling this attribute that such sentences are made. These sentences are very common, being framed to answer certain questions that it is natural for the mind to ask; namely, who is he? what is it? what kind of person is he? what sort of thing is it?

The noun used as base-word of a subjective complement does not necessarily agree with the subject in number; as, “Justice and Reverence are the everlasting central Law of the Universe.”—Carlyle.

Neither does the subjective complement have to succeed its verb. Sometimes the whole order of the sentence is inverted; thus, “Fair as a summer dream was Margaret.”—Lowell. “A very attractive person is that child-loving girl.”—Miss Mitford.

The Subjective Complement not always a Noun or Adjective.—Often, as was stated in Chapter XXIII, a prepositional phrase takes the place of a predicate adjective, usually because we have no adjective adequate to express the meaning of the phrase. In this sentence from Lowell,—“Popular literature is of value,” the adjective valuable might well be substituted for the phrase; but in the following sentences the language affords no equivalent adjectives.—“I am in love with this green earth.”—Lamb. “J. G. Whittier is of a Quaker family and was born in Haverhill, Massachusetts.”

The noun clause, the root infinitive, the gerund, and the participle used as subjective complements, have been discussed in preceding chapters.

To this use must also be referred the personal pronoun in the possessive case used as in the sentence,—“All the beauty of these summer days is mine.” Is this pronoun a predicate nominative meaning my beauty, or is it a predicate adjective meaning possessed by me, or shall we make no attempt to classify it at all?

The word so often does duty as a subjective complement. It is used to avoid a repetition of some noun or adjective; as, “The house is empty and has been so for months.”

Verbs that take a Subjective Complement.—The verb be is by no means the only one that may be completed by a subjective complement. There are numerous others, most of which will fall in the following classes.

1. Become, and verbs of similar meaning, like grow, get, turn; as, “Bob had grown up very handsome.”—Page.

2. Certain verbs of position like stand, sit, lie; as, “The moon stood bright and full in the heavens.”—Howells.

3. Verbs signifying to appear to the senses, like look, feel, smell, sound, taste; as, “Our own thought sounds new and larger from his mouth.”—Emerson. “Both he and his wife looked outwardly gentlefolks.”—Lamb.

4. A few verbs denoting action, like begin, come, go, rise, spring; as, “One that goes in a nurse may come out an angel.”—Holmes. With this class of verbs an adjective complement often seems to partake of the nature of an adverb; as, “They descended fearless into all gulfs and bedlams.”—Carlyle. The author must decide whether to use the adjective or the adverb by his purpose. That is, does he wish to make more prominent the condition of the subject or the manner of the action?

5. Certain passive verbs. In general these are:—

(a) Verbs of calling; as, “The place is fitly called Inspiration Point.”—King.

(b) Verbs of deeming; as, “I have been counted a successful teacher.”—Annie Preston.

(c) Verbs of making; as, “The forlorn condition of the new settlers was made still worse by domestic feuds.”—Prescott.

Introductory Word.—After some verbs it is usage to precede the complement by as or for, sometimes even by the infinitive to be. These words are not connectives, nor do they add anything to the meaning of the sentence, though often they do serve to make it more clear; thus, “Chaucer undoubtedly began as an imitator, perhaps as mere translator.”—Lowell.

If as were omitted, it might not be clear at once that imitator is not a direct object of began.

Exercise 32

Explain how all verbs and verbals in the following sentences are completed.

1. Duck-hunting was my favorite sport, and the marshes on the river were fine grounds for them usually, but this season the weather had been so singularly warm that the sport had been poor.—Page.

2. It is not simply beets and potatoes and corn and string-beans that one raises in his well-hoed garden; it is the average of human life.—Warner.

3. The cultivation of this delightful and beautiful art of reading should be recognized as a part of a liberal education.—Brook.

4. Bread is found fresh at the baker’s.—Howells.

5. Blithe were it then to wander here.—Scott.

6. We’ll choose among them as they lie asleep.

7. You come hot and tired from the day’s battle and this sweet minstrel sings to you.—Thackeray.

8. The doctor had been and gone, and the hand had been pronounced as injured but slightly, though it would of course have been considered a far more serious case if Mr. Smith had been a richer man.—T. Hardy.

9. Half the secret of human intercourse is to make allowance for each other.—Leigh Hunt.

10. The eating-houses are almost without number.—Howells.

11. We read of cliffs that spring naked and sheer to an equal height.—King.

12.

He stood concealed amid the brake

To view this Lady of the Lake.—Scott.

13. Christians were cast to the lions, but the Christian church grew up a stately and spreading tree.—Mill.

14. The wind was blowing a hurricane.—Page.

15. Two years later, Mexico became independent of Spain, and California was made a Mexican province.

16. Why are we never quite at our ease in the presence of a schoolmaster?—Lamb.

17. A chieftain’s daughter seemed the maid.—Scott.

18. His meat was locusts and wild honey.

CHAPTER XXVII

THE OBJECTIVE COMPLEMENT

Function.—Sometimes an action performed upon an object makes a different thing of that object. Our desire to tell this as briefly as possible has given rise to sentences in which a transitive verb is followed by two complements, one a direct object naming the thing acted upon, and the other an attribute of the direct object telling the outcome of the activity denoted by the verb; as, “By his Sketch Book Irving has made the Hudson a classic river.”

The second complement is quite as often an adjective as a noun; for example,

“Shafts of sunshine from the west

Paint the dusky windows red.”

—Longfellow.

We understand from this sentence that the windows undergo the action denoted by the words paint red, and are therefore changed from dusky windows to red windows.

Such a word as river in the first sentence or red in the second is called an objective complement. A noun used in this office somewhat resembles an appositive, being a second name for an object already named; but the appositive has no relation to any word except the noun it explains, while the objective complement has a very important relation to the predicate verb. So close is this relation that we may often express the meaning of the two words, the verb and the objective complement, by one word; as, “Political freedom makes every man an individual.”—Higginson. Here the verb makes and the objective complement an individual may be combined into the one verb individualizes.

The close complementary relation of the objective complement to the predicate verb is still further brought out when a sentence of this type is changed to the passive form. There arises the sentence discussed in section 5 in the preceding chapter, a sentence wherein the direct object of the active verb has become the subject of the passive verb, and the objective complement still remains after the verb but becomes a subjective complement.

Verbs that take an Objective Complement:—

(a) Verbs of making, such as render, elect, appoint, called factitive verbs; as, “Old habits of work, old habits of hope, made my endless leisure irksome to me.”

(b) Verbs of thinking, such as consider, regard, look upon; as, “The student is to read history actively and not passively, to esteem his own life the text, and books the commentary.”—Emerson.

(c) Verbs of naming or calling; as, “We do not hesitate to pronounce them a brave, a wise, an honest, and a useful body.”—Macaulay.

(d) The verbs feel, find, leave, prove, see; as, “He had never seen her so radiant, so young.”—J. L. Allen. “Chaucer, like Dante, found his native tongue a dialect and left it a language.”—Lowell.

(e) Some intransitive verbs are completed in this way, especially when the direct object is a reflexive personal pronoun; as, “They shouted themselves hoarse.” “She cried herself sick.” These sentences mean—“They made themselves hoarse by shouting”; “she made herself sick by crying.”

Introductory Word.—After some verbs usage puts in the word as or for before the objective complement, using it merely as an introductory word; thus, “I respected him as a sound and accurate scholar.”—De Quincey.

“No harmless thing that breathed,

Footed or winged, but knew him for a friend.”

—Aldrich.

When these sentences are changed to the passive, the introductory word is usually retained before the subjective complement.

NOTE.—After as the participle may take the place of an adjective; as, “I consider him as having lost his right.” The participle has here the same use that the adjective destitute has in the expression destitute of his right.

Position of the Objective Complement.—It usually follows the direct object, but the adjective so used is sometimes placed next to the verb, and the noun may, to render it emphatic, be placed at the beginning of the sentence; as, “Grape shot will sweep clear all streets.”—Carlyle. “A perpetual fountain of good sense Dryden calls Chaucer.”—Lowell.

We have certain stereotyped verb-phrases such as make free, think best, and see fit, in which the adjective is so closely related to the verb that it is placed next to it, and the two words have acquired the meaning of one verb. Make free has almost the meaning of dare; for the other two phrases there are no good substitutes. These phrases are followed by an infinitive phrase used as direct object. For example,—“A native of that region saw fit to build his house very near it.”—Holmes.

Exercise 33

Explain how the verbs and verbals in the following sentences are completed.

1. Enthusiasm had made them Stoics.—Macaulay.

2. To make the common marvellous is the test of genius.—Lowell.

3. For the purpose of public instruction we hold every man subject to taxation in proportion to his property.—Webster.

4. None but the dissolute among the poor look upon the rich as their natural enemies.—Ruskin.

5. He had so far completed his preparations as to have leisure to be talking himself hot and hoarse with the neighboring barber.—Howells.

6. Alfred left England better, wiser, happier in all ways than he found it.—Dickens.

7. Grenadier, I salute you; you have proved yourself the bravest of the brave.

8. Haste can make you slipshod, but it can never make you graceful.—Higginson.

9. A murderer he has written himself down.—Birrell.

10. If you will only call a headache a Cephalalgia it acquires dignity at once, and a patient becomes rather proud of it.—Holmes.

11. When mobs were roaring themselves hoarse for Wilkes and liberty, he denounced Wilkes as a worthless profligate.—J. R. Green.

12. Before he had finished his toilet a stroke of apoplexy stretched him senseless upon the floor.—Motley.

13. Sad or sinful is the life of that man who finds not the heavens bluer and the waves more musical in maturity than in childhood.—Higginson.

14. Meanwhile the French and Bretons made good their ascent on either flank.—J. R. Green.

15. The excitement on shore became wild; men shouted themselves hoarse; women laughed and cried.—Hearn.

16. In the fullness of my heart I laid bare our plans before him.—Stevenson.

17. They have criticised the Insurrection as evincing in the rioters an extreme backwardness to battle.—Carlyle.

18. But seeing that our host sets us the good example of forgetting ceremony, I shall likewise throw it aside and make free to intrude on his privacy.—Hawthorne.

Exercise 34

Analyze the following sentences.

1. He placed the guns, together with a good supply of ammunition, under the loop-holes that commanded the road by which the enemy must advance.

2. The standing difficulty in the long run is not want of places, but want of men.—Hale.

3. Act faithfully, and you really have faith, no matter how cold and even how dubious you may feel.—Wm. James.

4. Learned sergeant eloquence, were it continued until the learned tongue wore itself small in the indefatigable learned mouth, cannot make unjust just.—Carlyle.

5. We charge every man with positive dishonesty who drives birds from his garden in fruit time; the fruit is theirs as well as yours.—Beecher.

6. The Austrians are simply hated as the means by which an alien and despotic government is imposed upon a people believing themselves born for freedom and independence.—Howells.

7.

The desert heavens have felt her sadness;

Her earth will weep her some dewy tears.

—Jean Ingelow.

8. Finally he shook himself free from the dreamy spell of the place, and turned his face southward again.—H. H.

9. Bob had always been a great favorite with the Colonel, and ever since he had been a small boy, he had been used to coming over and staying with him.—Page.

10. But they detest Venice as a place of residence.—Howells.

11. Place a tree or plant in an unusual position, and it will prove itself equal to the occasion and behave in an unusual manner.—Burroughs.

12. The grand essentials of happiness are something to do, something to love, and something to hope for.—Chalmers.

13. To touch the Temple was, in the eyes of the Jews, to incur the vengeance of the Almighty.—Geikie.

14. Daily work is one of the blessed influences which keep the soul strong and sane.—J. F. Clarke.

15.

Who toiled a slave may come anew a Prince

For gentle worthiness and merit won;

Who ruled a king may wander earth in rags

For things done and undone.—E. Arnold.

16. It was somewhat wistfully that she asked her husband how far this place was from her home, and whether, when he was at work, she could not come down here by herself.—Black.

17. They set up their country as their idol, and proposed to themselves the heroes of Plutarch as their examples.—Macaulay.

18. He was sent to St. Luke’s and dismissed as cured.—Miss Mitford.

19. Mrs. Smith was a matron whose countenance addressed itself to the mind rather than to the eye.—T. Hardy.

20. At the far end of the vista he could behold her in her childhood as the daughter of a cavalier land-holder in the valley of the James.—J. L. Allen.

21. It amused me vastly at times to think that he was of our shrewd Yankee race.—H. James.

22. I know this, that the way Mother Earth treats a boy shapes out a kind of natural theology for him.—Holmes.

23. The aim which Bonaparte avowed as his highest ambition for France, to convert all trades into arts, is being rapidly fulfilled all around us.—Higginson.

24. No man becomes a saint in his sleep.—Carlyle.

25. She taught the youth how to make friends with the crickets and squirrels, and how to call the thrush and the robin to eat from his hand.—Hillis.

26. He will hunt among these hills during the next moon, so he has told me.—Kipling.

CHAPTER XXVIII

THE INDIRECT OBJECT

Function.—Many verbs are followed by two substantives, both of which are called objects; for example, “Abbot Samson read his monks a severe lecture.”—Carlyle. “I will tell you a common case.”—De Quincey. “For this did God send her a great reward.”—De Quincey. If we ask the questions read what? will tell what? did send what? the answers are the direct objects of the verbs, namely, a severe lecture, a common case, a great reward.

If we go farther and ask the questions, read a severe lecture to whom? will tell a common case to whom? did send a great reward to whom? the answers are—to his monks, to you, to her. But in the sentences as quoted the preposition to is not expressed, the meaning being evident without it. A word used like monks, you, her, is called the indirect object of the verb. It is not a complement, for the meaning of the verb is complete without it; but it is brought into the sentence by the verb, and is therefore its adjunct.

The indirect object is usually defined as denoting the one to whom or for whom something is done. It is not always, however, a personal word, as is seen in Shakespeare’s sentence,—“Give thy thoughts no tongue nor any unproportioned thought his act.”

Position of the Indirect Object.—The position of the indirect object is next to the verb. If its position is changed, the preposition is expressed, as is seen in the sentences,—“Mother made me a dress,” and “Mother made a dress for me.” The logical use of the word me is identical in the two sentences, but the sentences are built differently. It prevents confusion if we call me in the second sentence the object of the preposition for, the phrase for me being an adjunct of the verb just as the one word me is an adjunct of the verb in the first sentence.

The Indirect Object in a Passive Sentence.—When sentences containing direct and indirect objects are changed to the passive form, the direct object should become the subject, and the indirect object should remain after the verb or should become the object of an expressed preposition. If we change the sentence, “Abbot Samson read his monks a severe lecture,” we should have, “A severe lecture was read to his monks by Abbot Samson.” But it is a common practice to make the indirect object the subject of the passive verb and leave the direct object unchanged; thus, “The monks were read a severe lecture by Abbot Samson.” In this sentence lecture is called a residual object of the passive verb were read.

Sentences arising in this way are often extremely awkward, and should not be tolerated; for example, “I was sold a horse.”

Verbs that take an Indirect Object.—The most common are bring, build, cost, cut, do, fling, forgive, get, give, grant, hand, leave, make, offer, pay, play, pledge, promise, reach, read, sell, send, show, teach, tell, throw, weigh, win, wish, yield.

Since the indirect object is not a necessary sentence-element, it follows that it is frequently omitted, so that we find these verbs taking only the direct object. On the other hand, we occasionally find verbs followed by an indirect object and no direct object. This comes about in several ways.—

(a) When the sentence is changed to the passive form and the preposition to or for is not supplied; as, “This chance was never offered me before.”—James Thomson.

(b) When the direct object is omitted, being unimportant or else well known; as, “After he had earned the reward the committee refused to pay him.”

(c) When the verb is intransitive; as, “The effort cost him his life.” The word life is not a direct object but an answer to the question how much? therefore an adverbial noun.

Exercise 35

Dispose of all indirect objects in the following sentences. Account for the sentences in the passive form.

1. The constant sight of chilblains among people who bring you bread, cut you cheese, and weigh you out sugar, by no means reconciles the Northern stomach to their prevalence.—Howells.

2. Give a busy man ten minutes to write a letter, and he will dash it off at once.

3.

Build thee more stately mansions, O my soul,

As the swift seasons roll.—Holmes.

4. The boy believes there is a teacher who can sell him wisdom.—Emerson.

5. The amiable manners of the Indian girl had won her the regard of the wife of one of the caciques.—Prescott.

6. He was allowed abundance of food and liberty to walk in the courtyard of the tower.—Shorthouse.

7. I think the old fellow has hitherto had scant justice done him in the main.—Lowell.

8. But since he was denied speech, he scorned the inarticulate mouthings of the lower animals.—Warner.

9. Paul, seeing a servant in the yard, ordered the boy something to eat.—R. H. Dana, Sr.

10. In Venetian streets they give the fallen snow no rest—Howells.

11. There is the large wooden reel which the blear-eyed old Deacon sent the minister’s lady.—Holmes.

12. We are shown the power of our country growing and expanding.—Froude.

13. It costs a beautiful person no exertion to paint her image on our eyes, yet how splendid is that benefit.—Emerson.

CHAPTER XXIX

THE ADVERBIAL NOUN

Function.—Questions like how long? how far? when? where? are often answered by adverbs, phrases, or clauses; but they may be answered by nouns, as in the following sentences,—“A while she paused; no answer came.”—Scott. “We are transported a hundred and fifty years back.”—Macaulay. “Every moment they came nearer. Next door lives a carpenter.”—Miss Mitford.

It is clear that the italicized expressions are used adverbially, modifying respectively the verb paused, the adverb back, the verb came, and the verb lives.

The base-word of each of these expressions is a noun, called an adverbial noun. It is immaterial to us what case this noun is in, but a study of Old English teaches us that it is in the objective case, while a further proof is that we frequently employ a preposition before it.

The adverbial noun usually denotes measure of some sort, of time, distance, space, weight, value, etc.

What the Adverbial Noun modifies.—1. A verb; as, “A man could have found places where he could have jumped three thousand feet in one descent to the valley.”—King.

2. An adjective; as, “He was nearly a head taller than myself.”

The adjective worth is always modified by an adverbial noun answering the question how much? and frequently by others answering various other questions; as, “Wheat worth a dollar a bushel last week is selling now for eighty cents.” Notice that the modifiers of worth differ in closeness of relation; the closest is dollar, the next bushel, and the next week. This is not determined by position.

3. An adverb; as, “The oldest sergeant present stepped a pace forward.”

4. A phrase; as, “Centuries before this the Chinese had printed books by means of carved wooden blocks.”

5. A clause; as, “His room is hung round with cases of them, each impaled on a pin driven through him something as they used to bury suicides.”—Holmes.

In such a sentence as, “He is forty years of age,” it is somewhat difficult to determine whether years modifies of age or of age modifies years. This arises perhaps from the fact that neither years nor of age makes a good base for the complement of is. He is not forty years, neither does the sentence mean that he is of age. We must say that is is completed by the expression forty years of age, used adjectively and having the meaning of one word. If we wish to go further and analyze this complement, we say that of age is the base, meaning old, and that this phrase is modified by the adverbial noun forty years.

It is the same in the sentence, “We often read about precipices that are thousands of feet in descent.”—King. The verb are is completed by the group of words, thousands of feet in descent, having the meaning of very high. Of this group in descent is the base modified by the adverbial noun thousands of feet.

A common construction is found in the sentence, “About two weeks ago I looked down from the Mariposa trail into the tremendous fissure of the Sierras.” In analyzing the adverbial element about two weeks ago, we find the base-word to be the adverb ago; this is modified by the adverbial noun about two weeks, the base of which is weeks modified first by two and then by about.

NOTES.—1. Many prefer to consider about a preposition, governing weeks, and ago an adjective modifying weeks. But in the familiar expression long ago, ago is said to be an adverb, and its use seems to us the same in the expression two weeks ago. It is a case where use rather than derivation should determine the part of speech. About has the same relation to two weeks that almost would have in the same position.

2. A further expression denoting degree, which may well be noticed here, is found in the sentences,—“John is good and strong”; “She sailed good and fast.” In the first sentence it is not the author’s intention to give two attributes of John; the sentence means that John is very strong. In analyzing the sentence it is best not to separate the group of words good and strong. In the following sentence from Stevenson,—“But I was rare and hungry,” the substitution of rare for good makes the sentence mean,—“I was unusually hungry.”

Exercise 36

Dispose of all nouns used adverbially in these sentences.

1. A few years later, Prof. S. F. B. Morse, an American, invented the electric telegraph.

2. If you had been able to keep awake only a year or two longer, you would not have been so wholly surprised by our industrial system.—Bellamy.

3. He is the chieftain who looms a head above all his people.—Boyesen.

4. Judgment for an evil thing is many times delayed some day or two, some century or two, but it is sure as life, it is sure as death.—Carlyle.

5. The snow lay half an inch deep on the brown tiles.—Howells.

6. Dante died only seven years before Chaucer was born.—Lowell.

7. Soon his face was worth going far to see.—J. L. Allen.

8. The desolate and splintered walls of Horeb and Sinai are not a quarter so high.—King.

9. Some years ago I was traveling by railway, no matter whence or whither.—Froude.

10. He was exactly five feet six inches in height and six feet five inches in circumference.—Irving.

11. Only about three weeks since, there was a leader with this or a similar title.—Ruskin.

12. I arrived one winter morning about five o’clock, and was not so full of soul as I might have been in warmer weather.—Howells.

13. Some of you are, perhaps, more livingly aware than you were an hour ago of the depths of worth that lie around you, hid in alien lives.—Wm. James.

14. He did not know that he bore with him from school and college a character worth much fine gold, but was pleased to find his mess so kindly.—Kipling.

15. This was a bad beginning; so, half an hour after the gun was withdrawn, the Austrian colonel ordered an assault.

CHAPTER XXX

PECULIAR MODIFICATIONS

IT is not uncommon to find words modified in what seems to us an ungrammatical way; for example, an article modifying an adjective, as in the phrase all the same, or an adverb modifying a noun, as in the sentence, “We walked the whole distance, exactly three miles,” where the adverb exactly is a modifier of the noun phrase three miles. Some of these modifications we shall now consider.

1. The article the modifying an adjective.—We find this in many phrases that have become current in literature no less than in conversation; for example, all the quicker, none the worse, quite the contrary, at the best. In some instances, as in the last example given, we may say that the adjective has become a substantive in meaning and hence may be modified by the article. In other cases a noun may be supplied after the adjective, and the article may be said to modify the noun. But in most cases the adjective is used in the sense of an adjective, and it is impossible, too, to supply any noun after it, so we must take the expression as we find it and say that the article modifies an adjective, the construction being idiomatical.

Illustrations of this construction are found in the following sentences:—

(a) “Hundreds and hundreds of thousands of seals watched them being driven, but they went on playing just the same.”—Kipling.

(b) “The negroes declared that under the old house were solid rock chambers which had been built for dungeons, and had served for purposes which were none the less awful because they were vague and indefinite.”

Many of these phrases contain a modifying adverb. In just the same, the adverb just modifies the same. In all the more we have all used adverbially to modify the more.

The base-word of these phrases is just as often an adverb as an adjective, as in the sentences, “This news only made us walk the faster”; “He did it none the worse for the many interruptions.”

2. In such expressions as a few books, a good many trees, the article a may seem at first thought to modify a plural noun; but this is not the case. The article modifies the pronominal adjectives few and many, having the meaning of collective nouns, that is, meaning individuals taken as a group instead of singly. This pronominal is then modified by the prepositional phrase of books, of trees, with the preposition of understood. Usage alone settles for us when the preposition is to be expressed. We say a few of them; but if we use a noun in place of the pronoun them we omit the preposition; as, a few pennies. We say a score of years, and a couple of years, but we omit the preposition after dozen, another word denoting number, and say a dozen years. After the collective noun crowd we express the preposition; as, a crowd of boys; but if we say a great many in place of crowd, we omit the preposition, saying a great many boys. For analysis, however, the preposition should always be supplied.

3. Adverbs sometimes modify nouns.—This comes about often by abridging an adjective clause to an appositive phrase; for example, “John Adams was born at Quincy, then part of the ancient town of Braintree, on the 19th day of October (O. S.) 1735.”—Webster. If we supply which was after the noun Quincy, we have an adjective clause, in which the adverb then modifies the whole predicate—a regular construction. But in the sentence as originally written, the adverb modifies the noun part.

We occasionally find nouns used in the place of these modifying adverbs. We may say thrice the amount, wherein amount is modified by the adverb thrice, or we may substitute for thrice the noun phrase three times. We also find the noun something used in the place of the adverb somewhat, as in the sentence,—“He had something the manner of a Southerner.” Such a word restricts the application of the noun it modifies. The adverbs almost and about are used in the same way, as in almost a year, about a pound.

But is frequently used adjectively in the sense of only, having a limiting or restrictive force; thus, “He was but one generation removed from the soil.”—Boyesen.

Examples of adverbs modifying nouns are found in the following sentences:

(a) “The Scheld, almost exclusively a Belgian river, after leaving its fountains in Picardy, flows through the pleasant provinces of Flanders and Hainault.”—Motley.

(b) “It may well be doubted whether Roman literature, always a half-hardy exotic, could ripen the seeds of living reproduction.”—Lowell.

(c) “South Dome is a vast globe of bold rock, almost a full mile in height.”—King.

(d) “I fell a helpless prey to a boatman who addressed me in some words of wonderful English and then rowed me to the sea wall at about thrice the usual fare.”—Howells.

4. Some nouns like howl, cry, shock, derived from verbs denoting action, may be modified by an adverbial clause of time or place. We may say, “He cried out joyfully when he caught sight of me,” where the clause modifies the predicate cried out joyfully; or we may say, “His cry when he caught sight of me was joyful,” where the same clause with the same meaning modifies the subject his cry.

A clause introduced by as, with the meaning and construction of an adverbial clause of manner, may modify a noun and so save several words; for example, “Their plays are much shorter than the standard drama as it is known to us.”—Howells. Here as is equivalent to the group of words in the form in which.

5. There are some modifiers of verbs consisting of several words which should not be separated, inasmuch as they express only one idea. Some of these are by and by, off hand, day by day, side by side. Some of these expressions after they have been considered as units may be separated into their compound elements. In the sentence, “They have infested the place time out of mind,” we say that the predicate have infested the place is modified by the adverbial phrase time out of mind, this having the force of one adverb. We may then say that this phrase is made up of the noun time modified by the prepositional phrase out of mind.

6. Certain absolute phrases have become equivalent to single words and as such are used adjectively or adverbially to modify nouns or verbs. Some of these are wrong side out, upside down, one behind the other. Each of these consists of a substantive—wrong side, upside, one,—and an attribute of this substantive—out, down, and behind the other. These attributes are joined directly to the substantive because of the omission of the participle being. Examples of these phrases are found in the following sentences:

(a) “Apoplexy is only egotism wrong side out.”—Holmes.

(b) “Salvationists sat three in a seat and played concertinas.”—Bolles.

Exercise 37

Find examples of peculiar modifications in the following sentences.

1. One is always the better for a walk in the morning air, a medicine which may be taken over and over again without any sense of sameness or any failure of its invigorating quality.—Lowell.

2. Her gratitude for such thoughtfulness of his smote him like a reproach; all the more that he knew her gentle heart had never held a thought of reproach in it towards him.—H. H.

3. These barges were all tied one behind the other with tow-ropes, to the number of twenty-five or thirty.—Stevenson.

4. I ran the same way, outstripping a good many, and soon came facing the sea.—Dickens.

5. Æschylus was, head and heart, a lyric poet.—Macaulay.

6. The dog-whip is six yards long, and the handle but sixteen inches.

7. Civilis was hemmed in by the ocean; his country, long the basis of Roman military operations, was accessible by river and canal.—Motley.

8. Sea Catch was fifteen years old, a huge gray fur-seal with almost a mane on his shoulders, and long, wicked dog-teeth.—Kipling.

9. He was the representative of the great dynasty whose name and effigies had been borne by all the coin of India until within some twenty years before.—McCarthy.

10. It is better to do a few things precisely as they should be done, than to do ten times as many in a loose, slovenly way.

11. One of these tunes, just as it had sounded from her spiritual touch, had been written down by an amateur of music.—Hawthorne.

12. He was a lean, nervous, flibbertigibbet of a man, with something the look of an actor, and something the look of a horse jockey.—Stevenson.

13. The shock to the senses there, as one rides out from the level and sheltered forest, up to which our horses had been climbing two days, is scarcely less than if he had been instantly borne to a region where the Creator reveals more of himself in his works than can be learned from the ordinary scenery of this world.—King.

14. Thus the whole life upon the globe, as we see it, is the result of this blind groping and putting forth of nature in every direction.—Burroughs.

15. I know very well that he could better himself, and earn twice what I am able to give him.—Conan Doyle.

Exercise 38

Analyze the following sentences.

1. The sight of the resting country does his spirit good.—Stevenson.

2. To go to bed was to lie awake of cold, with an added shudder of fright whenever a loose casement or a waving curtain chose to give you the goose-flesh.

3. The house had been built many generations before by a stranger in this section, and the owners never made it their permanent home.—Page.

4. One stick, pointed, makes him a spear; two sticks rubbed together make him a fire; fifty sticks tied together make him a house.—Drummond.

5. I often thought that he felt the dumb limitations which denied him the power of language.—Warner.

6. Lengths of brownish-green and yellow tapestry, none the fresher for its two centuries and more of existence, still protested against the modern heresy of wall-paper.—J. Hawthorne.

7. Centuries ago his granite crumbled and his marble became dust, but his sweet psalms and songs do still abide.—Hillis.

8. Besides the cattle we saw no living thing except a few birds and a great many fishermen.—Stevenson.

9. I passed some pleasant hours, a few years since, in the Registry of Deeds and the Town Records, looking up the history of the old house.—Holmes.

10. Dennis dealt him a blow upon the face which felled him to the ground.—Dickens.

11. The strength of a rope may be but the strength of its weakest part; but poets are to be judged in their happiest hours, and in their greatest works.—Birrell.

12. Why are you not on your way home?—Froude.

13. Many a gardener will cut you a bouquet of his choicest blossoms for small fee, but he does not love to let the seeds of his rarest varieties go out of his own hands.—Holmes.

14. The spirit of local self-government, always the life-blood of liberty, was often excessive in its manifestations.—Motley.

15. Shere Khan was the tiger who lived near the Waingunga River, twenty miles away.—Kipling.

16. This was not the first time that I had been refused a lodging.—Stevenson.

17. It cost him the best years of his life to conquer them.—Lord.

18. The society was formed four centuries and a half after the poet’s death.—Lowell.

19. The whites have too frequently set them an example of violence, by burning their villages and laying waste their slender means of subsistence, and yet they wonder that savages do not show moderation and magnanimity towards those who have left them nothing but mere existence and wretchedness.—Irving.

20. I arrived one winter morning about five o’clock, and was not so full of soul as I might have been in warmer weather.—Howells.

21. There is a gentleman with them, who somewhat resembles St. Nicholas as he appeared to the young Van Gleeks on the fifth of December.—Mrs. Dodge.

22. It took him twenty years to subdue these fierce warriors.—Lord.

23. One good, kind, story-telling, Bible-rehearsing aunt at home, with apples and gingerbread premiums, is worth all the schoolma’ams that ever stood by to see poor little fellows roast in those boy-traps called district schools.—Beecher.

24. The spectre started full jump with him.—Irving.

25. As in his tales he had endeavored to concentrate into a few strongly defined types the modern folk-life of the North, so in his dramas the same innate love of his nationality leads him to seek the typical features of his people, as they are revealed in the historic chieftains of the past.—Boyesen.

CHAPTER XXXI

INDEPENDENT ELEMENTS

IN the chapters on the infinitive phrase and the participial phrase, we discussed those phrases used independently, that is, thrown loosely into the sentence and forming no part of its structure, as in the following sentences,—“It will then, to borrow the elegant language of the play-bills, be withdrawn to make room for the forthcoming novelties.”—Macaulay. “There is no custom that can, properly speaking, be final.”—Carlyle.

Besides phrases of these kinds, there are several other varieties of independent elements that are commonly used and form very interesting material in the sentence. Their function is often an important one, and they could not be dispensed with without necessitating a very roundabout and clumsy form of expression. Some of these elements are single words, some are phrases, and some are propositions, both independent in structure and dependent.

Words used Independently.—I. The noun of address.—This is used in two ways:

(a) In oral or written conversation or formal address, where the name of the person spoken is used, either to invite his attention or for the sake of courtesy; as, “Upon my life, Mr. Caudle, that’s very cool.”—Jerrold.

(b) In more or less impassioned composition, often poetry or oratory, where the person or thing spoken about is addressed as if actually present and capable of understanding the address. Such an address has the nature of an explanation. It forms the figure of speech called apostrophe; as,—

“O star of strength. I see thee stand

And smile upon my pain.”—Longfellow.

2. We also have the noun used independently by pleonasm, that is, either for emphasis or to call the reader’s attention to the subject that is to be talked about; as, “The birds that come about one’s door in winter or that build in his trees in summer, what a peculiar interest they have.”—Burroughs. The base of this independent element is the noun birds; the element is long because of the two restrictive adjective clauses modifying birds.

Often this independent noun is introduced by as for or as to; thus, “As for the boy, he turned up after a while as a constant guest.”—Howells. The words as for indicate that the boy had already been the subject of discourse in some previous sentence.

3. The words well, now, why often begin a sentence. They may indicate the writer’s state of mind, his attitude toward what he is going to say, also the tone, whether of conviction, remonstrance, surprise, or deliberation, with which the sentence should be read; as, “Why, let him go home in the rain, to be sure.”—Jerrold. “Now, the capitalists were men of understanding and wise in their generation.”—Bellamy.

4. The interjection is an independent element. It may be a single word or a group of words with the office of one. Such words and expressions as Ah! Oh! Alas! Dear me! O my stars and garters! Hurrah! fudge! pooh! are used to communicate not our thoughts but our feelings. In doing this they perform the work of a whole declarative sentence; as,—

“Hurrah!—Hurrah!—the west wind

Comes freshening down the bay,

The rising sails are filling,—

Give way, my lads, give way!”

—Whittier.

The interjection eh? is interrogative. Whoa! and hist! are imperative. O is frequently used before the noun of address.

The Prepositional Phrase used Independently.—This is usually a stereotyped phrase ready to hand for any one who wishes to use it, such a phrase as for example, in fact, in short, at any rate. In the following sentence from Stevenson, “I take it, in short, that I was about as near Nirvana as would be convenient in practical life; and if this be so I make the Buddhists my sincere compliments,” the little independent phrase signifies to the reader that the author, instead of going on with a long description of his state of feeling, has thought of a happy way by which he can communicate a knowledge of it in very few words.

In Irving’s sentence, “This, by the way, is a mere casual remark, which I would not for the universe have it thought I apply to Governor Van Twiller,” the independent phrase indicates that this sentence also is only a casual remark, much like a personal “aside” from the author to the reader.

In this sentence from Mrs. Gaskell,—“In the first place, Cranford is in possession of the Amazons,” the phrase is equivalent to the independent infinitive phrase to begin with. It informs the reader that the remark it introduces is necessary as a setting or background for further description of Cranford.

Propositions used Independently.—1. The imperative sentence addressed to the reader; as, “Mind you, this was the world as I first knew it.”—Holmes. This independent element is like a note of warning, telling the reader not to conclude that this is the world as the writer knew it later.

2. An exclamation like “Bless your soul!” or “Thank God!” wherein the subject of the verb is omitted. Such an expression reveals the author’s feeling about the statement; as, “The civilized world is learning, thank God, more and more of the importance of physical science.”—Kingsley.

An expression somewhat similar to this is found in the sentence, “Thanks to you, I am able to speak French.” Here the cause of my ability to speak French is given in the expression Thanks to you; but this is not so constructed as to be a grammatical modifier of the predicate, and hence must be considered independent.

3. A proposition introduced by as.—This has the structure of an adverbial clause, but in meaning it is not a modifier of any part of the sentence. Many of these expressions are stereotyped; for example, as it were, as it will be seen, as the case might be, as it was called. They are usually parenthetical. Their value in the sentence can best be seen from a few examples.

(a) “Time, as it will be seen afterward, did not allow Sir George Lewis any chance of making good this prediction.”—McCarthy. The independent element here informs the reader that the author will not drop the matter under discussion with the single statement of it, but will take it up more at length later.

A similar expression, “as we have seen,” takes the reader’s mind back to something he has read before.

(b) “The Saxon, as it appears to me, has never shown any capacity for art.”—Lowell. The independent clause signifies here that the author makes his statement not as a matter of fact but only as a matter of personal opinion.

(c) “She was, as I had supposed, a gentlewoman whom a change of circumstances had brought down from her high estate.”—Holmes. This independent clause conveys to the reader the author’s satisfaction in making a statement that is true and that coincides with his own supposition.

(d) “‘You don’t know what your thoughts are going to be beforehand!’ said the ‘Member of the Haouse,’ as he called himself.”—Holmes. This independent element gives the authority for the preceding quotation, and together with the quotation marks absolves the writer from all responsibility for spelling and pronunciation.

Familiar forms of this clause are—as everybody says, as the Bible says, as Shakespeare puts it. We often use the first of these when we are unwilling ourselves to be held responsible for our statements. The other two are sometimes used lest people should think we are trying to pass off a quoted remark for an original one.

4. A clause of reason introduced by for. When such a clause is independent, it gives the reason not for any action expressed in the sentence nor for the whole statement, but rather the author’s reason for using a particular word or phrase; as, “The bitterest opponent of the poet (for like every strong personality he has many enemies) is thus no less his debtor than his warmest admirer.”—Boyesen. Such a clause is not always enclosed in a parenthesis; it is just as often set off by commas or dashes.

5. An independent proposition, declarative.—Many of these independent elements are stereotyped; such as, I dare say, it seems, it is said, it is true. The following sentences contain familiar instances.

(a) “Mr. Swinburne, Heaven knows, has been imitated enough.”—Saintsbury. The independent element here makes the sentence emphatic, even makes it mean that Mr. Swinburne has been imitated too much.

(b) “To equip so small a book with a preface is, I am half afraid, to sin against proportion.”—Stevenson. The independent words are here apologetic, revealing to the reader the author’s misgiving that the preface is uncalled for, but not his full conviction.

(c) “I want my ‘asides,’ you see, to whisper loud to you who read my notes.”—Holmes. The independent words, a familiar personal remark to the reader, indicate the author’s appreciation of the fact that the reader understands fully as well as the author the purpose of the “asides.”

Sentences like the last three quoted could be re-arranged so that the independent element would become the principal proposition and the rest of the sentence a noun clause; thus, “Heaven knows that Mr. Swinburne has been imitated enough.” This transposition is unjust, for it makes a different sentence from what the author intended. Oftentimes sentences read as if the independent element were not in the author’s mind when he began to write, but occurred to him during the writing and so was put in loosely, parenthetically—for a purpose, to be sure, but not as part of the structure of the sentence. If we transpose such sentences, we give the independent element an undue importance, not intended for it by the author.

Exercise 39

Select the independent elements in the following sentences. Tell the function of each.

1.

Keen son of trade, with eager brow,

Who is now fluttering in thy snare?

Thy golden fortunes, tower they now

Or melt the glittering spires in air?—Bryant.

2. Now, we will not discuss the point on any rigid principles of morality.—Macaulay.

3. For my part, I had never been in a canoe under sail in my life.—Stevenson.

4. These strangers or neighbors, as the case might be, were looking at the display of toys and petty commodities in Hepzibah’s shop-window.—Hawthorne.

5. Without a word to either of them—and that was not his wont—he passed to the stern of the yacht.—Black.

6. Why, bless your soul, if all the cities of the world were reduced to ashes, you’d have a new set of millionaires in a couple of years or so out of the trade in potash.—Holmes.

7. As to the nature of the dinner, it of course varies somewhat according to the nature of the diner.—Howells.

8. To be frank, the Doctor’s little establishment was dusty and disorderly—very.—Cable.

9. They’ll come and look at me, but, you may depend upon it, they will dine at your expense before they go home again.—Froude.

10. When the thunders of universal France, as even yet may happen, shall proclaim the grandeur of the poor shepherd-girl that gave up all for her country, thy ear, young shepherd-girl, will have been deaf for five centuries.—De Quincey.

11. Depend upon it, there is now truer duty to be done in raising harvests than in burning them.—Ruskin.

12.

And hark! how blithe the throstle sings!

He, too, is no mean preacher;

Come forth into the light of things,

Let Nature be your teacher.—Wordsworth.

13. In a word, Rip was ready to attend to anybody’s business but his own.—Irving.

14. Poor as he was,—for his income was little more than two hundred a year,—and springing as he did from a family of no political importance, it was by sheer dint of genius that the young cornet of horse, at whose youth and inexperience Walpole had sneered, seized a power which the Whig houses had ever since the Revolution kept in their grasp.—J. R. Green.

15. Call her, King of France, but she will not hear thee!—De Quincey.

16. The beauty of the scene increased, thanks largely to the brilliant effects of cloud masses and an ardent setting sun.—Bolles.

17. As for the carnival, which once lasted six months of the year, charming hither all the idlers of the world by its peculiar splendor and variety of pleasure, it does not, as I said, any longer exist.—Howells.

18. The fireplace, it should be noted, was built on the side of the room opposite to the windows; that is to say, in one of the partition walls.—J. Hawthorne.

19.

Ho! ye who suffer! know

Ye suffer from yourselves. None else compels.

—E. Arnold.

20. And now, being a trifle choleric in his temperament, the lieutenant governor uplifted the heavy hilt of his sword, wherewith he so beat and banged upon the door that, as some of the bystanders whispered, the racket might have disturbed the dead.—Hawthorne.

21. Maule’s Lane, or Pyncheon Street, as it were now more decorous to call it, was thronged at the appointed hour as with a congregation on its way to church.—Hawthorne.

CHAPTER XXXII

SENTENCE MODIFIERS

CLOSELY allied to the independent elements discussed in the preceding chapter are certain adverbs and adverbial phrases, which seem to modify not any special part of the sentence but the whole assertion. In some cases it is difficult to decide whether it is better to call a certain expression a sentence modifier or an independent element, but this need not trouble us greatly, for it is not the name we give to an element that is the vital point; it is a clear perception of what that element does in the sentence for the communication of the author’s thought.

Classification of Sentence Modifiers.—Certain of these modifiers are so clearly distinguishable from all other sentence-elements that we may study them in the following groups.

1. Adverbs.—Most of these are modal adverbs, denoting the manner in which an assertion is made. This may be positive, doubtful, or negative, hence the adverbs surely, perhaps, and not are very common sentence modifiers.

Other adverbs make the sentence emphatic, as indeed; others denote the extent of its application, as generally; still others take the reader back in thought to some previous statement, and denote the logical relation between this previous statement and the sentence in which they occur, as moreover, however, anyhow, though.

Examples of the use of these adverbs are found in the following sentences:

(a) “Perhaps, Mr. Wilson, you would have the great kindness to recommence your narrative.”—Conan Doyle.

(b) “Indeed, almost all slang is like parched corn and should be served up hot or else not at all.”—Higginson.

(c) “It served, moreover, as a council of state to assist the monarch in the transaction of public business.”—Prescott.

2. Prepositional phrases.—These denote, for the most part, what the modal adverbs denote. Usually they may be changed to adverbs that are nearly or quite equivalent in meaning; for example, “on the other hand” = however; “at all events” = anyhow; “of course” = certainly.

It may seem best to some persons to say of these phrases, as likewise of the adverbs, that they modify the predicate instead of the whole sentence. There can be no objection to this, as the predicate is the asserting part of the sentence.

Examples of these phrases are found in the following sentences:

(a) “For the most part, young people have a pretty keen sense of honor, so that the main thing is to keep it fresh and active.”—Munger.

(b) “For my part, I travel not to go anywhere, but to go.”—Stevenson.

(c) “For the life of me, I cannot understand it.”—Stevenson.

3. Phrases or clauses introduced by as; for example,—

(a) “As luck would have it, there was a fair spring morning shining over the city.”—Black. This clause means luckily, and tells the author’s opinion of the statement he makes.

(b) “As a rule, we disbelieve all facts and theories for which we have no use.”—Wm. James. This phrase means generally, and denotes the extent to which the statement is true.

(c) “As sure as my name is Jack Copley, I saw the prettiest girl in the world today.”—Mrs. Wiggin. This clause means truly, verily, and is used to make the statement emphatic.

4. We frequently meet sentences containing a phrase like that italicized in the following,—“Far from showing due reverence to St. Edmund, he did not even show him common justice.”—Carlyle. This phrase, it is plain, means “instead of showing due reverence to St. Edmund,” but in addition it implies there is a very wide difference between two things,—the thing he did not do and the thing he did do. It would be natural for us to say—“Instead of white, she wore pink”; and it would be just as natural to say—“Far from wearing white, she wore black.” Our choice of phrases depends on the degree of difference between the two things contrasted. The difference between white and pink is not great; but the difference between white and black is one hundred and eighty degrees.

When we analyze this sentence modifier we find it to consist of the adverb far for a base-word, modified by a prepositional phrase introduced by from. The object of the preposition is a gerund, which may be complete or incomplete, modified or unmodified.

It is not uncommon for far to be modified by so, which only intensifies its meaning; thus, “For the King’s subjects, so far from being charmed by his resolution to marry a woman out of their midst, are scandalized.”

Exercise 40

Dispose of the sentence modifiers in the following sentences.

1. Nevertheless, an important part of culture is to acquire the habit of finishing every work.—J. F. Clarke.

2. For my own part, I think there is such a thing as being too Anglo-Saxon.—Lowell.

3. People, as a rule, only pay for being amused or for being cheated, not for being served.—Ruskin.

4. Believe me, my dear Miss Elizabeth, that your modesty, so far from doing you any disservice, rather adds to your other perfections.—Jane Austen.

5. True eloquence, indeed, does not consist in speech.—Webster.

6. Had we seen this charming landscape immediately after bidding farewell to Chocorua, it would have failed to make the strong impression upon us which as a matter of fact it did produce.—Bolles.

7. Of course, genius and enthusiasm are, for both sexes, elements unforeseen and incalculable; but, as a general rule, great achievements imply great preparations and favorable conditions.—Higginson.

8. Probably the election goes by avoirdupois weight; and, if you could weigh bodily the tonnage of any hundred of the Whig and the Democratic party in a town on the Dearborn balance, as they passed the hayscales, you could predict with certainty which party would carry it.—Emerson.

9. To be inefficient or shiftless is the unpardonable sin, to the mind of a born New Englander.—J. F. Clarke.

10. With a frank cordiality charming to contemplate, they severally and collectively did their very best to make him feel that, so far from being a stranger in a strange land, he was very much at home among genuine friends.—Janvier.

Exercise 41

Analyze the following sentences. As far as possible analyze independent elements.

1. For, to repeat, the ground of a man’s joy is often hard to hit.—Stevenson.

2.

Alas! they had been friends in youth;

But whispering tongues can poison truth;

And constancy lives in realms above;

And life is thorny; and youth is vain;

And to be wroth with one we love

Doth work like madness in the brain.—Coleridge.

3. Surely this was his native village which he had left but the day before.—Irving.

4. As a rule, when I have heard some slight indication of the course of events, I am able to guide myself by the thousands of other similar cases which occur to my memory.—Conan Doyle.

5. Milton, it is said, inherited what his predecessors created.—Macaulay.

6. For my own part, as the gondola slipped away from the blaze and bustle of the station down the gloom and silence of the broad canal, I forgot that I had been freezing two days and nights; that I was at that moment very cold and a little homesick.—Howells.

7. The king, as we have seen, must be an experienced warrior.—Prescott.

8. Our solar system, far from being alone in the universe, is only one of an extensive brotherhood bound by common laws and subject to like influences.—Draper.

9. Fight on, thou brave true heart, and falter not through dark fortune and through bright.—Carlyle.

10. Further,—and this was where the pinch came,—his reputation as a promoter had been most severely injured.—Janvier.

11. “So, my dear Miss Pyncheon,” said the daguerreotypist,—for it was that sole other occupant of the seven-gabled mansion,—“I am glad to see that you have not shrunk from your good purpose.”—Hawthorne.

12. The voice, for example, in a surprisingly large number of us, has a tired and plaintive sound.—Wm. James.

13. As for this old man, he had the beard of a saint and the dignity of a senator.—Howells.

14. Fortunately for us, want of food, great heat, extreme cold, produce promptings too peremptory to be disregarded.—Spencer.

15. In the first place, he was named “Frank,” a circumstance I mentally resented; but, what was more to the point, he had an evident desire to spill us over the steepest bank he could find.—Bolles.

16. Thanks to the beneficent mysteries of hereditary transmission, no capital earns such interest as personal culture.—C. W. Eliot.

17. The human species, according to the best theory I can form of it, is composed of two distinct races, the men who borrow, and the men who lend.—Lamb.

18. The first author, it is plain, could not have taken anything from books, since there were no books for him to copy from.—Bagehot.

CHAPTER XXXIII

ELLIPTICAL SENTENCES

IN preceding chapters we have spoken of the tendency in English speech and composition towards abridgment. Independent propositions become clauses, clauses become phrases, and phrases give place to words. This tendency to abbreviate the expression of thought is due to two causes: (1) a predominating interest in one’s ideas and a minor interest in the expression. In such a case one uses only the significant words, leaving out all those that can be supplied by the reader. (2) A desire to be impressive, to gain and keep the reader’s attention. At such times one rejects all unnecessary words as distracting attention from the main purpose and retarding the progress of the main thought. The result of either of these causes is an elliptical sentence—one that cannot be analyzed without supplying certain elements necessary to its grammatical structure.

Elliptical sentences are very common. Some of them have been already mentioned in different chapters, for instance, the common idiom, “I cannot but think.” Some other ellipses we shall make the subject of inquiry in the present chapter, and for convenience we shall take them up as ellipses in subordinate propositions and ellipses in principal propositions.

Ellipses in Subordinate Propositions.—

1. An elliptical adjective clause; as,—

“A sound as of myriads singing

From far and near stole in.”—Whittier.

This ellipsis comes about through the omission of (1) the correlative of as, which in this case is such, (2) the noun sound, which can easily be supplied from the principal proposition, and (3) the verb is. Expanded the sentence reads,—“Such a sound as a sound of myriads singing is, from far and near stole in.”

2. The elliptical adverbial clause of time; as, “St. Patrick, when a boy of twelve, lights a fire with icicles.”—Froude.

In discussing adverbs as modifiers of nouns in Chapter XXX, we found that an adjective clause is frequently abridged to an appositive phrase in which the base-word, or noun in apposition, is modified by an adverb. A sentence like the following might have arisen in such a way,—“St. Patrick, then a boy of twelve, lighted a fire with icicles.” Here we have an abridgment, but it is unnecessary to supply any ellipsis, for we may say that the adverb then modifies boy of twelve. But in the sentence quoted we have not the simple adverb then, but the subordinating connective when. In order that it may perform its ordinary and proper function in the sentence, we supply after it the two words he is, making a regular adverbial clause of time, when he is a boy of twelve.

3. The elliptical clause of manner; as, “A great city sprang up as if by magic.” This construction has been spoken of in the chapter on prepositional phrases. It resembles the elliptical time clause in that the connective as if is a subordinating connective and needs a complete proposition following it. In the sentence quoted we must therefore supply the words it sprang up.

In the elliptical modal clause the connective is often the one word as, though it generally has the meaning of as if; as, “On that I found scratched as with a nail or fork, the following inscription.”—Holmes.

4. The elliptical adverbial clause of condition.

(a) An omission of the connective and the subject; as, “This frame of mind was the great exploit of our voyage, take it all in all.”—Stevenson. Expanded for analysis this clause becomes, “if we take it all in all.”

(b) An omission of the subject and the verb. This is found in the familiar expression if possible, which is really if it be possible, also in such sentences as the following,—“What is the use of health and life if not to do some work with them?”—Here we may supply after if the words the use is or it is.

5. The elliptical adverbial clause of concession.

(a) An omission of connective and subject; as, “Do what we may, summer will have its flies.”—Emerson. In this sentence the verb do is also to be supplied after the auxiliary may. Expanded the clause reads, though we do what we may do.

(b) An omission of subject and verb, the latter being a copula; as, “Solitude, though silent as light, is, like light, the mightiest of agencies; for solitude is essential to man.”—De Quincey. Since the noun solitude immediately precedes the clause as subject of the principal proposition, the clause is perfectly clear without even the pronoun it for a subject, and the verb is is easily understood. Only the new and necessary ideas need be expressed and these are the attribute silent as light. The base of such an attribute is not always an adjective; it may be a noun, a participle, or a prepositional phrase.

(c) An omission of connective and subject, sometimes also of copula or auxiliary, before a pair of words in opposition to each other and joined by or; as, “Rain or shine, the King rode every day for hours.”—Thackeray. This elliptical expression means “though it might rain or might shine.”

6. The elliptical adverbial clause consisting of a connective and a participial phrase. This may denote various relations,—time, manner, condition, etc., but is so frequent a construction that it seems best to treat it by itself. We have already spoken of this construction in the chapter on participial phrases, where we gave illustrations which might be disposed of without supplying any ellipsis. However, this disposition is not always satisfactory, and some may prefer to expand the clause in all cases of this kind. Illustrations are found in the following sentences:—

(a) Denoting time,—“No amount of hereditary virtue has thus far saved the merely devout communities from deteriorating, when let alone, into comfort and good dinners.”—Higginson.

(b) Denoting manner,—“It blew in enormous sighs, dying away at regular intervals, as if pausing to draw breath.”—Hearn.

(c) Denoting concession,—“Such men, however pressed with business, are always found capable of doing a little more.”

7. The elliptical adverbial clause of degree.—This is so frequent that we seldom find a clause of degree involving a comparison that is not elliptical. We shall take up first the ellipses after the conjunction than.

(a) An omission of the predicate when it is about the same as the predicate of the principal proposition; as, “Alas! books cannot be more than the men who write them (are).”

(b) An omission of both subject and verb when these are readily supplied from the context; as, “In no other spot had sympathy been more fiercely kindled than along that Western border where life was always tense with martial passion.”—J. L. Allen. After than we are to understand the words it had been kindled.

(c) An omission of the subject. This may be the impersonal it; as, “His features were more refined than (it) was usual in Roman faces.”—Froude. Or the subject understood may be the indefinite pronoun what; as, “We have a great deal more kindness than (what) is ever spoken.”—Emerson.

(d) Very much like the last type of sentence is one in which we cannot supply what but must supply those who, with the verb are for the predicate of those; as, “He met more people than could be remembered.” This clause expanded reads, “than those are who can be remembered.” This gives us a restrictive adjective clause within the clause of degree.

(e) We find cases of ellipsis after than which it is difficult to supply, and some of them are familiar everyday expressions current everywhere and therefore invaluable in the communication of thought; as, “Naturally the coming of the Marques de Valdeflores at this critical juncture was regarded by the colonel as nothing less than providential.”—Janvier. Shall we make a clause here reading than a providential thing is?

Another difficult ellipsis is found in the sentence,—“He may look up to a tower of rock and see its broken edges, softened by more than three-fourths of a mile of distance, directly above his eyes.”—King. It seems best here not to attempt to supply anything, but to take the italicized words as a unit, as if the one word mile had been in their place. This sentence could, however, be expanded to read—softened by more of distance than three fourths of a mile is.

Another common instance is found in the sentence,—“He was more than venerated in his day.”—Lord. This passive construction comes from the active—“We more than venerated him,” which in turn comes from the sentence,—“We did more than venerate him.” It is possible to supply the ellipsis in the last sentence, making it,—“We did more than to venerate him (is much),” but the other two sentences must be considered idiomatic.

An idiom similar to the last is found in the sentence,—“In very marked contrast with this younger man is the something more than middle-aged Register of Deeds.”—Holmes. The italicized words are a group signifying one idea, for which we have no single word. The base-word of the group is more, but this alone is not a modifier of Register of Deeds. So far as the group of words modifies the noun phrase Register of Deeds, it cannot be separated.

We come now to ellipses in clauses of degree after the conjunction as.

(a) The subject may be omitted; as, “These are by no means so nearly connected as might be thought at first sight.”—Bagehot. Here we may supply it after as, or we may make the clause read “as they might be thought to be at first sight.”

(b) The subject and auxiliary of the verb may be omitted when they can easily be supplied from the principal proposition; as, “His fellow-conspirators were hanged nearly as fast as taken.”—Howells. The clause expanded is “as they were taken.”

(c) As after than, so after as we have some idiomatic expressions arising by ellipsis which it seems best not to fill out; as, “He knew that into the world where Ramona really lived he did not so much as enter.”—H. H. This predicate may be expanded to read did not do so much as to enter is much, but this is very awkward. Besides, so much as has to us an adverbial force, being almost equivalent to the adverb even.

An extension of this construction is found in the following sentence from Hawthorne,—“It was doubtful whether the poor lady had so much as closed her eyes during the brief night of midsummer.” The ellipsis could be supplied if the predicate were had done so much as close, but as it stands it must be considered an idiom and left as it is. This construction has even gone over into the passive voice; as, “Parliament is not so much as mentioned in the whole instrument.”—Webster.

Another familiar elliptical construction is found in the sentence,—“But you think you may as well have the right thing for your money.”—Ruskin. If one wishes he may expand this sentence so that it will read,—“you may have the right thing for your money as well as you may not have it.” Here the entire clause is to be supplied. Sometimes a portion of it is expressed, as in the sentence,—“You may as well go as not.”

A peculiar expression denoting degree, which it seems best to give here although it follows neither than nor as is found in the sentence, He was all but killed. It seems best not to separate all but, but to consider the expression as one adverbial modifier of the passive verb was killed. In the sentence, He was all but dead, we may say if we choose that all is used as the base-word of the adjective complement of was, and is modified by the prepositional phrase but dead. However, the sentence does not appeal to us in this way; we do not naturally make the separation between all on one side and but dead on the other. Still less do we make such a separation when the word following but is a verb; as in, “We all but won.” Instead of this we keep the words all but together as if they were one word, having almost the same meaning as the adverb nearly.

Ellipses in Principal Propositions.—1. The entire subject and part of the predicate may be omitted; as, “A prick (= I gave her a prick) and she passed the most inviting stable door.”—Stevenson. Here the abbreviated expression accords well with the thought.

2. If part of a compound sentence is the same as what has already been expressed, it is frequently omitted; as, “The former seems to have been a loyal and homely soul; the latter (seems to have been) restless, imperious, penetrating, unamiable.”—Morley.

3. In replies to questions, that part is often omitted which can be supplied from the question; as, “‘What do you hope?’ ‘That long before this moon has grown old, you will be quite strong again.’”—Miss Mulock. The reply is here a noun clause, object of hope, which with its subject I is to be supplied.

4. In sentences beginning with the words no wonder, the verb is and the anticipative subject it are to be supplied. The real subject is a noun clause following no wonder; as, “No wonder the princess loved him.”—Stockton.

5. The verb and the anticipative subject it are often omitted at the beginning of sentences introduced by no matter; as, “No matter just at this moment, what he said.”—Holmes. Here the real subject of the predicate is no matter is the noun clause what he said.

6. Some interrogative or exclamative sentences begin with the words what if. The word what is all that is left of a principal proposition, and if introduces a conditional clause. It may seem best sometimes to dispose of this if-clause as a noun clause used as the real subject of the principal proposition. The principal proposition may be expanded to read,—“What does it matter,” “what matter is it,” “what difference does it make,” etc.; as, “What (would the result be) if one of the Himalayas could be cloven from its topmost tile of ice to its torrid base?”—King.

7. A construction similar to the last is one in which the negative adverb not takes the place of a whole proposition; as, “Not that I could see the boat drift, for I could not, the stars being all gone by this time.”—S. L. Clemens. We may expand this sentence to read,—“I do not mean that I could see,” or “I would not say that I could see.”

8. Exclamative sentences expressing a wish often begin with the verb would, which is to be taken as equivalent to wish with the subject I omitted. Would is followed by a noun clause used as its object; as, “Would to Heaven that we had a sieve, that we could so much as fancy any kind of sieve that would do this work.”

9. The imperative let is sometimes omitted at the beginning of a sentence, especially before the verb suffice; as, “Suffice it here to say that the people in all times enjoyed a freedom far above that possessed by any other city of Europe.”—Besant.

Exercise 42

Expand the following elliptical sentences. Analyze them.

1. Slow wavelets caressed the bland brown beach with a sound as of kisses and whispers.—Hearn.

2.

I am alone; my bugle strain

May call some straggler of the train;

Or, fall the worst that may betide,

Ere now this falchion has been tried.—Scott.

3. The thing for thee to do is, if possible, to cease to be a hollow-sounding shell of hearsays and become a faithful discerning soul.—Carlyle.

4. Another, his big brother, though evidently some years younger, is selling doughnuts and bonbons.—Mrs. Dodge.

5. While resting thus, she became aware of another presence, and turning her head, beheld a small boy with his cap in one hand and a hammer in the other.—M. A. H. Clarke.

6. Philip, so far from having the least disposition to yield in the matter of the great religious persecution, was more determined as to his course than ever.—Motley.

7. The others, to do them justice, more than atoned for Dr. Théophile’s coldness by their effusive friendliness.—Janvier.

8. The stranger attempted once or twice to stem the torrent of words, but in vain; so he bowed his head and suffered it to flow on.—Irving.

9. No matter whether or not Moses was gifted in a most extraordinary degree to write his code.—Lord.

10.

What if thou withdraw

Unheeded by the living, and no friend

Take note of thy departure.—Bryant.

11. Would I were in a wilderness of apes, tossing cocoanuts about, grinning and grinned at.—Lamb.

12. The country rose as one man at his refusal.—J. R. Green.

13. Mr. Simon Watts, though of extremely limited means, had some ambition.—R. M. Johnston.

14. Never do we more evince our arrogant ignorance than when we boast our knowledge.—Everett.

15. They are soon to be matched in a longer and more determined combat than the world has ever seen.—Motley.

16. Grief of that sort, and at that age, has killed more than ever have been counted amongst its martyrs.—De Quincey.

17. This resolution was in the same words, when originally submitted by Mr. Lee, as when finally passed.—Webster.

18. What matter if the Governor removes you from office? he cannot remove you from the lake; and if readers or customers will not bite, the pickerel will.—Higginson.

19. To Thompson’s credit be it recorded he showed no tendency to desert the cause he had espoused.—Tyndall.

20. In 1784, when he was twenty-one years of age, Carlton Palace was given to him, and furnished by the nation with as much luxury as could be devised.—Thackeray.

21. More than a thousand feet beneath us was the arching head of a waterfall.—King.

22. Now it sank to a murmur, as of one who consoles and soothes and promises things to come.—Besant.

23. They built their cities as if for eternity.—Froude.

24. To Nature therefore we turn as to the oldest and most influential teacher of our race.—Mabie.

23. His legs, though exceeding short, were sturdy in proportion to the weight they had to sustain; so that, when erect, he had not a little the appearance of a robustious beer-barrel standing on skids.—Irving.

26. This is a sturdy looking personage of a good deal more than middle age.—Holmes.

27. There seems no end to the charm of their vast, smooth, all but melancholy expanses.—Howells.

28. No wonder that the ladies look complacently at the glassy ice; with a stove for a footstool, one might sit easily beside the North Pole.—Mrs. Dodge.

29. Not that my motives were not as pure and as patriotic as ever carried any man into public office.—Clay.

30. Despising every other acquirement as superficial and useless, they came to their task as to a sport.—Lamb.

31. Wet or dry, light or dark, the stout old George was always in his place to say amen to the chaplain.—Thackeray.

32. Here the poet caught the first glimpse of a greater and freer life than moved within the narrow horizon of the Norwegian capital.—Boyesen.

33. Seven altogether; a delightful number for a dinner party, supposing the units to be delightful, but everything depends on that.—George Eliot.

34. Even genius itself then feels rebuked and subdued as in the presence of higher qualities.—Webster.

35. We ought to be as cheerful as we can, if only because to be happy ourselves is a most effective contribution to the happiness of others.—Sir John Lubbock.

36. This only proves the profundity of an observation made by Mr. Bagehot—a man who carried away into the next world more originality of thought than is now to be found in the Three Estates of the Realm.—Birrell.

37. Venice lures you in a gondola into one of her remote canals, where you glide through an avenue as secret and as still as if sea-deep under our work-day world.—Howells.

38. What if their palaces were grand, and their villas beautiful, and their dresses magnificent, and their furniture costly, if their lives were spent in ignoble and enervating pleasures, as is generally admitted?—Lord.

39. Antwerp shook as with an earthquake.—Motley.

40. His age, though rich in minor decorative arts, had no accomplished statuary.—Lang.

41. His pride never appeared in loftier and nobler form than in his attitude towards the people at large.—J. R. Green.

42. Suffice it to say that he received an offer of the high and responsible station of Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Massachusetts.—Webster.

43. That one purpose of malice faithfully pursued has quartered some people upon our national funds of homage as by a perpetual annuity.—De Quincey.

44. Though not more than twice as large as New England, it presented every variety of climate.—Prescott.

45. Although it was slipping down more than half a mile of undisturbed depth it appeared to be creeping at its own will and leisure.—King.

46. He did not seem so much desirous of provoking discussion by the questions which he asked, as of obtaining information at any rate.—Lamb.

47. Would to Heaven I could persuade you of this world-old fact, than which Fate is not surer, that Truth and Justice alone are capable of being conserved.—Carlyle.

48. But death was then scarcely intelligible to me, and I could not so properly be said to suffer sorrow as a sad perplexity.—De Quincey.

49. Sink or swim, live or die, survive or perish, I give my hand and my heart to this vote.—Webster.

50. Their frequent overflow when forced back upon their currents by the strong sea, rendered the country almost uninhabitable.—Motley.

51. What if this man Odin should have felt that perhaps he was divine?—Carlyle.

52. I do not see my way through it as clearly as could be wished.—De Quincey.

53. Woe to the child who happens to be born with a weak will in New England.—J. F. Clarke.

54.

Turn wheresoe’er I may

By night or day,

The things which I have seen I now can see no more.

—Wordsworth.

55. At close quarters his striped coat is all but as fine as the tiger’s, while the form and movement of his body are in every way nobler.—Drummond.

MISCELLANEOUS SENTENCES

1. Who knows but the world may end to-night?—Browning.

2. The white-coated sentinels never cease to pace the bastions, night or day.—Howells.

3. Marcus Aurelius is immortal, not so much for what he did as for what he was.—Lord.

4. To the right lay the sea, sometimes at full tide, sometimes withdrawn to the very horizon; but he knew it for the same sea.—Kipling.

5.

Outside her kennel, the mastiff old

Lay fast asleep, in moonshine cold.—Coleridge.

6. Come to read the other side of her, she had a trust in God Almighty that was like the bow-anchor of a three-decker.—Holmes.

7. “What is a Caucus-race?” said Alice; not that she much wanted to know, but the Dodo had paused as if it thought that somebody ought to speak, and no one else seemed inclined to say anything.—Lewis Carroll.

8. The General was on his feet as if by the touch of a spring.—Cable.

9. It isn’t fair to judge a man’s promise by one performance, and that one a livery stable, so I shall say nothing.—Mrs. Wiggin.

10. Finishing a thing, doing it thoroughly before we begin anything else, is very important to our own happiness and the good of others.—J. F. Clarke.

11. Upon the beach lies a piece of timber, part of a wreck; the wood is torn and the fibres rent where it was battered against the dull edge of the rocks.—Jefferies.

12. And then, being given many rich gifts by the old Rajah, he set out to return home.—Old Deccan Days.

13. There should find a peaceable refuge the odd volumes of honored sets, which go mourning all their days for their lost brother.—Holmes.

14. Look backward only to correct an error of conduct for the next attempt.—George Meredith.

15. Every failure teaches a man something, if he will learn.—Dickens.

16. A man can find more reasons for doing as he wishes than for doing as he ought.—Ruskin.

17. Mist may rest upon the surrounding landscape, but our own path is visible from hour to hour, from day to day.—Gladstone.

18. I cannot, however, but think that the world would be better and brighter if our teachers would dwell on the Duty of Happiness as well as on the Happiness of Duty.—Lubbock.

19. In character, in manners, in style, in all things, the supreme excellence is simplicity.—Longfellow.

20. One thorn of experience is worth a whole wilderness of warning.—Lowell.

21. His home was at the top of a house of four floors, each with accommodation for at least two families, and here he had lived with his mother since his father’s death six months ago.—Barrie.

22. As usual, the king-bird united the characters of brave defender and tender lover.—Olive T. Miller.

23. And thus I came to the robber’s highway, walking circumspectly, scanning the skyline of every hill, and searching the folds of every valley, for any moving figure.—Blackmore.

24. Mistakes themselves are often the best teachers of all.—Froude.

25. Every position in life, great or small, can be made as great or as little as we desire to make it.—Dean Stanley.

26. Blessed is he who has found his work; let him ask no other blessing.—Carlyle.

27. Granted that swimming must be learned; granted that the arts of the orator must be learned.—Hale.

28. Then you can imagine the times that he had with his companions ducking under the rollers; or coming in on top of a comber and landing with a swash and a splutter as the big wave went whirling far up the beach.—Kipling.

29. When each man is true to himself, then must all things prosper.—Spencer.

30. How easy it is to follow one of the two lives—the animal or the intellectual! how difficult to conciliate the two!—Hamerton.

31.

Govern the lips

As they were palace-doors, the King within.

32. The way to be satisfied with the present state of things is to enjoy that state of things.—Bagehot.

33. It is lawful to pray God that we be not led into temptation; but not lawful to skulk from those that come to us.—Stevenson.

34. The consequence was that just when we were the most afraid to laugh, we saw the most comical things to laugh at.—Beecher.

35.

It’s wiser being good than bad;

It’s safer being meek than fierce;

It’s fitter being sane than mad.

36. To be sure, eyes are not so common as people think, or poets would be plentier.—Lowell.

37. The actual problem to be solved is not what to teach, but how to teach.—C. W. Eliot.

38. If it be the pleasure of heaven that my country shall require the poor offering of my life, the victim shall be ready at the appointed hour of sacrifice, come when that hour may.—Webster.

39. The ministers are good talkers, only the struggle between nature and grace makes some of ’em a little awkward occasionally.—Holmes.

40. I hope your hearts will never get to be so dry and hard that they will not beat responsive to brave and noble deeds, even if they are not exactly prudent.—Munger.

41. For months his only splendid possession had been a penny despised by trade because of a large round hole in it, as if some previous owner had cut a farthing out of it.—Barrie.

42. Better to finish one small enterprise than to leave many large ones half-done.—J. F. Clarke.

43. But woe to the man who is not ready for the opportunity when it comes.—Hale.

44. They were assigned a dwelling place in the vilest and unhealthiest part of the city.—Howells.

45. For to miss the joy is to miss all.—Stevenson.

46. The reason why men succeed who mind their own business is because there is so little competition.—Crawford.

47. All that is purchasable in the capitals of the world is not to be weighed in comparison with the simple enjoyment that may be crowded into one hour of sunshine.—Higginson.

48. How the English navy came to hold so extraordinary a position is worth reflecting on.—Froude.

49. The most troublesome meddler was, as might be expected, an English sparrow.—Olive T. Miller.

50.

We look before and after

And pine for what is not;

Our sincerest laughter

With some pain is fraught;

Our sweetest songs are those that tell of saddest thought.

—Shelley.

51. But no living person is sunk so low as not to be imitated by somebody.—Wm. James.

52. ‘Robinson Crusoe’ is simply a narrative of facts, though the facts did not happen to take place.—Stephen.

53. When the Yosemite was discovered, it was supposed to be the only valley of the kind; but nature is not so poor as to possess only one of anything.—Muir.

54. The haste to get rich, and the intense struggles of business rivalry, probably destroy as many lives in America every year as are lost in a great battle.—J. F. Clarke.

55. I must be Mabel after all, and shall have to go and live in that poky little house, and have next to no toys to play with, and oh! ever so many lessons to learn.—Lewis Carroll.

56. As soon as a stranger is introduced into any company, one of the first questions which all wish to have answered, is, How does that man get his living?—Emerson.

57. “Revenge may be wicked, but it’s natural,” answered Miss Rebecca.—Thackeray.

58. And was not their experience, who lived in remote cabins, or wandered night after night through the loneliest woods, stronger evidence than the cold reasoning of those who hardly ever stirred abroad except in daylight?—Page.

59. His head was a perfect sphere, and of such stupendous dimensions, that Dame Nature, with all her sex’s ingenuity would have been puzzled to construct a neck capable of supporting it; wherefore she wisely declined the attempt, and settled it firmly on the top of his backbone, just between the shoulders.—Irving.

60. Once an artist has chosen evil and not good, his clay model ceases to be art and becomes only a mass of mud.—Hillis.

61.

Kill not—for Pity’s sake—and lest ye slay

The meanest thing upon its upward way.—E. Arnold.

62. Then we are told how Fielding emptied his pockets into those of a poorer friend; and when the tax-gatherer came, said, “Friendship has called for the money; let the collector call again!”—Stephen.

63. He visited the nest when empty; he managed to have frequent peeps at the young; and notwithstanding he was driven off every time, he still hung around, with prying ways so exasperating that he well deserved a thrashing, and I wonder he did not get it.—Olive T. Miller.

64. Divinity lies all about us, and culture is too hide-bound to even suspect the fact.—Wm. James.

65.

I heard a thousand blended notes,

While in a grove I sate reclined,

In that sweet mood when pleasant thoughts

Bring sad thoughts to the mind.—Wordsworth.

66. It is the people who rule.—Hale.

67. You will walk in no public thoroughfare or remotest byway of English Existence, but you will meet a man, an interest of men, that has given up hope in the Everlasting True, and placed its hope in the Temporary, half or wholly False.—Carlyle.

68. To separate pain from ill-doing is to fight against the constitution of things, and will be followed by far more pain.—Spencer.

69. There was a story in our family, which I used to hear when a boy, that Governor Brooks, when an officer in the Revolution, received an order from General Washington to go somewhere, when he was lying helpless from rheumatism.—J. F. Clarke.

70. Summer and winter came again—crocuses and roses; why not little Jane?—De Quincey.

71. Every here and there, in an opening, appeared the great gold face of the west.—Stevenson.

72. If I were writing a poem, you would expect, as a matter of course, that there would be a digression now and then.—Holmes.

73. One said, “I am Health, and whom I touch shall never know pain nor sickness.”—Schreiner.

74. I never knew a man to escape failure, in either body or mind, who worked seven days in the week.—Peel.

75. Now this blush of beauty upon the cheek without represents regular habits for the health within.—Hillis.

76. Thus the sovereign voluntary path to cheerfulness, if our spontaneous cheerfulness be lost, is to sit up cheerfully, to look round cheerfully, and to act and speak as if cheerfulness were already there.—Wm. James.

77.

Enough if in our hearts we know

There’s such a place as Yarrow.—Wordsworth.

78. The early white settlers of Kentucky soon became more than a match for the Indians in everything wherein the Indian excelled.—J. F. Clarke.

79. An honorable defeat is better than a mean victory, and no one is really the worse for being beaten, unless he loses heart.—Lubbock.

80. God’s influence on the heart was like the flowing wind—free, felt, and yet mysterious.—Geikie.

81. Ha, it was only last week I had a new nozzle put on that umbrella.—Jerrold.

82. We doubt whether there is in English literature a more triumphant book than Boswell’s.—Birrell.

83. They would not eat except from off one plate.—Old Deccan Days.

84. Science has nothing to do with Christ, except in so far as the habit of scientific research makes a man cautious in admitting evidence.—Darwin.

85. Think of being moved religiously by looking at a pinnacle or bluff from thousand feet high, and then think what the earth contains which might move us.—King.

86. It was Bagheera, the Black Panther, inky black all over, but with the panther markings showing up in certain lights like the pattern of watered silk.—Kipling.

87. It is not desirable to go out of one’s way to be original; but it is to be hoped that it may lie in one’s way.—Higginson.

88. If men are to wait for liberty till they become wise and good in slavery, they may indeed wait forever.—Macaulay.

89. I know few Christians so convinced of the splendor of the rooms in their Father’s house as to be happier when their friends are called to those mansions than they would have been if the Queen had sent for them to live at court; nor has the Church’s most ardent “desire to depart and be with Christ” ever cured it of the singular habit of putting on mourning for every person summoned to such departure.—Ruskin.

90.

Then to side with Truth is noble when we share her wretched crust,

Ere her cause bring fame and profit, and ’tis prosperous to be just.—Lowell.

91. The very word “education” is a standing protest against dogmatic teaching.—C. W. Eliot.

92. He is as noiseless in a room as any of us women; and, more than that, with all his look of unmistakable mental firmness and power, he is as nervously sensitive as the weakest of us.—Collins.

93. In a word, as Alphonse Karr puts it, the more we change, the more we remain the same.—Besant.

94. Marshy ground covered their right; on the left, the most exposed part of the position, the hus-carles or body-guard of Harold, men in full armor and wielding huge axes, were grouped round the Golden Dragon of Wessex and the Standard of the King.—J. R. Green.

95. I was startled at hearing her address by the familiar name of Benjamin the young physician I have referred to, until I found on enquiry, what I might have guessed by the size of his slices of pie and other little marks of favoritism, that he was her son.—Holmes.

96. It is when to-morrow’s burden is added to the burden of to-day, that the weight is more than a man can bear.—MacDonald.

97. He grieved to give up his dog and gun; he dreaded to meet his wife; but it would not do to starve among the mountains.—Irving.

98. To know what you prefer instead of humbly saying Amen to what the world tells you you ought to prefer, is to have kept your soul alive.—Stevenson.

99.

Were half the power that fills the world with terror,

Were half the wealth, bestowed on camps and courts,

Given to redeem the human mind from error,

There were no need of arsenals and forts.—Longfellow.

100. Modern imaginative literature has become so self-conscious, and therefore so melancholy, that Art, which should be “the world’s sweet inn,” whither we repair for refreshment and repose, has become rather a watering place, where one’s own private touch of the liver-complaint is exasperated by the affluence of other sufferers whose talk is a narrative of morbid symptoms.—Lowell.

101. The farmer was twisting a halter to do what he threatened, when the fox, whose tongue had helped him in hard pinches before, thought there could be no harm in trying whether it might not do him one more good turn.—Froude.

102. If the youth decides to consume all his time and strength in making his arms big and his legs brawny, he ends his career a physical giant, indeed, but also an intellectual pigmy.—Hillis.

103. Experienced soldiers tell us that at first men are sickened by the smell and newness of blood, almost to death and fainting; but that as soon as they harden their hearts and stiffen their minds, as soon as they will bear it, then comes an appetite for slaughter.—Bagehot.

104. Take away from us what the Greeks have given; and I hardly can imagine how low the modern European would stand.—Ruskin.

105.

And no voice but was praising this Roland of mine,

As I poured down his throat our last measure of wine,

Which (the burgesses voted by common consent)

Was no more than his due who brought good news from Ghent.—Browning.

106. Though the French sailed out again, romance remained behind to dwell forever in Port Royal’s placid basin.—Bolles.

107. There is a time in every man’s education when he arrives at the conviction that envy is ignorance, that imitation is suicide.—Emerson.

108. Now to Baloo’s word I will add one bull, and a fat one, newly killed, not half a mile from here, if ye will accept the man’s cub according to the Law.—Kipling.

109. I believe it is by persons believing themselves in the right that nine-tenths of the tyranny of this world has been perpetrated.—Thackeray.

110. It is a just and a feeling remark of Dr. Johnson’s that we never do anything consciously for the last time without sadness of heart.—De Quincey.

111. I do not believe it is possible to describe or paint the difference between savage and civilized man.—Darwin.

112. It’s no matter what you say when you talk to yourself, but when you talk to other people, your business is to use words with reference to the way in which those other people are like to understand them.—Holmes.

113. Mammon is not a god at all; but a devil, and even a very despicable devil.—Carlyle.

114. The ship-builder who built the pinnace of Columbus has as much claim to the discovery of America as he who suggests a thought by which some other man opens new worlds to us has to a share in that achievement by him unconceived and inconceivable.—Lowell.

115.

Where, twisted round the barren oak,

The summer vine in beauty clung,

And summer winds the stillness broke,

The crystal icicle is hung.—Longfellow.

116. Whilst Johnson was preëminently a reasonable man, reasonable in all his demands and expectations, Carlyle was the most unreasonable mortal that ever exhausted the patience of nurse, mother, or wife.—Birrell.

117. That house was built on purpose to show in what an exceeding small compass comfort may be packed.—Mitford.

118. But the life which is to endure grows slowly; and as the soil must be prepared before the wheat can be sown, so before the kingdom of heaven could throw up its shoots there was needed a kingdom of this world where the nations were neither torn in pieces by violence, nor were rushing after false ideals and spurious ambitions.—Fronde.

119. Words afford a more delicious music than the chords of any instrument; they are susceptible of richer colors than any painter’s palette; and that they should be used merely for the transportation of intelligence, as a wheelbarrow carries brick, is not enough.—Higginson.

120. It always seems to be raining harder than it really is when you look at the weather through the window.—Lubbock.

121. Sleep and dreams exist on this condition—that no one wake the dreamer.—Schreiner.

122. It is only when you stick it in the silver candlestick and introduce it into the drawing-room, that a tallow-dip seems plebeian, dim, and ineffectual.—George Eliot.

123. The crow boasts from the moment his loud voice first comes back to his ears from the echoing hillside, he steals from the time he sees the corn blades start from the furrow.—Bolles.

124. A man who has learned to do anything well enjoys doing it. This is the lure which wise Nature uses to lead us to finish our work.—J. F. Clarke.

125. A great Bostonian, whom I remember to have heard speculate on the superiority of a state of civilization in which you could buy two cents’ worth of beef to one in which so small a quantity was unpurchasable, would find the system perfected in Venice, where you can buy half a cent’s worth.—Howells.

126. At the foot of these fairy mountains, the voyager may have descried the light smoke curling up from a village, whose shingle-roofs gleam among the trees, just where the blue tints of the upland melt away into the fresh green of the nearer landscape.—Irving.

127. It is easy to sugar to be sweet and to nitre to be salt.—Emerson.

128. Even Baloo, half smothered under the monkeys on the edge of the terrace, could not help chuckling as he heard the big Black Panther asking for help.—Kipling.

129. Even Shakespeare, who seems to come in after everybody has done his best with a “Let me take hold a minute and show you how to do it,” could not have bettered this (a line of Chaucer’s).—Lowell.

130. When I had the pleasure of staying at your father’s house, you told me, rather to my surprise, that it was impossible for you to go to balls and dinner-parties because you did not possess such a thing as a dress coat.—Hamerton.

131. If, in the future, an age of general well-being is to arrive, its children will turn, as all men who have the opportunity must, to what is best in human art, to the literature of Greece.—Lang.

132. I fear you will laugh when I tell you what I conceive to be about the most essential mental quality for a free people, whose liberty is to be progressive, permanent, and on a large scale; it is much stupidity.—Bagehot.

133. Look beneath the surface anywhere and you can find ugly things enough, especially if you have a taste for the revolting.—Stephen.

134. Tug as he would at the old man’s wrists, the hangman could not force him to unclinch his hands.—Dickens.

135. His dislike of books was instinctive, hearty, and uncompromising.—Boyesen.

136.

It ceased; yet still the sails made on

A pleasant noise till noon,

A noise like of a hidden brook

In the leafy month of June,

That to the sleeping woods all night

Singeth a quiet tune.—Coleridge.

137. Toil—toil, either of the brain, of the heart, or of the hand—is the only true manhood, the only true nobility.—Orville Dewey.

138. He had his eye all but exclusively directed on terrestrial matters.—Carlyle.

139. And then, again, some of our old beliefs are dying out every year, and others feed on them and grow fat, or get poisoned, as the case may be.—Holmes.

140. Old Matthew Maule, in a word, was executed for the crime of witchcraft.—Hawthorne.

141. Our lodging-places must be the simple homes of Gaelic-speaking Presbyterians, in whose eyes we should be foreigners, not to say heathen.—Bolles.

142. Dr. Bushby is said to have kept his hat on in the presence of King Charles, that the boys might see what a great man he was.—Lubbock.

143. Look strictly into the nature of the power of your Goddess of Getting-on; and you will find she is the goddess—not of everybody’s getting on—but only of somebody’s getting on.—Ruskin.

144. Now, Tabaqui knew as well as any one else that there is nothing so unlucky as to compliment children to their faces.—Kipling.

145. The capacity of indignation makes an essential part of the outfit of every honest man, but I am inclined to doubt whether he is a wise one who allows himself to act upon its first hints.—Lowell.

146. We honor the rich, because they have externally the freedom, power, and grace which we feel to be proper to man, proper to us.—Emerson.

147. Originality is simply a fresh pair of eyes.—Higginson.

148. In a word, Rip was ready to attend to anybody’s business but his own.—Irving.

149. There are more fools and fewer hypocrites than the wise world dreams of.—Schreiner.

150. It has been well said that an Englishman is never happy but when he is miserable; that a Scotchman is never at home but when he is abroad; that an Irishman is never at peace but when he is at war.—Walker.

INDEX

- A, modifying a pronominal adjective, 194.

- About, modifying an infinitive, 125, note.

- Absolute phrase, 134;

- without a participle, 135;

- after with or without, 135;

- containing a prepositional phrase, 152;

- stereotyped, 197.

- According as, introducing a clause of degree, 90.

- According to, a preposition, 154.

- Adverbs, modifying prepositional phrases, 156, 194;

- modifying nouns, 195;

- used independently, 202;

- as sentence modifiers, 209.

- Adverbial noun, function of, 189;

- modifying a prepositional phrase, 156, 190;

- an adjective, 190;

- an adverb, 190;

- a clause, 190.

- Ago, modified by an adverbial noun, 191.

- All but, 221.

- All the quicker, 193.

- Analysis, method of, 38, 51, 66.

- And, introducing a sentence, 106.

- Anticipative subject, there, 49;

- it, 44.

- Appositive, a noun clause, 47;

- function of, 161;

- with base-word a noun, 162;

- an adjective, 163;

- a pronoun, 163;

- a pronominal adjective, 163;

- a participle, 163;

- an infinitive, 114;

- a gerund, 141;

- what it modifies, 164;

- introductory word, 164;

- case and number of appositive noun, 165;

- position of appositive phrase, 166.

- As, introducing an appositive, 165;

- a relative pronoun, 32;

- a subjective complement, 178;

- an objective complement, 181;

- a proposition used independently, 204;

- a phrase or clause modifying a sentence, 210.

- As for, introducing an independent noun, 202.

- As if, as though, introducing a modal clause, 64.

- Ask, followed by two direct objects, 172.

- As long as, as soon as, introducing a clause of time, 56.

- As to, a preposition, 154;

- introducing an independent noun, 202.

- As well as, a coördinating conjunction, 106.

- At a loss, 124.

- At the best, 193.

- At their wits’ end, 125.

- Be, meaning go, 123, note.

- By and by, 196.

- But, a relative pronoun, 32;

- introducing a noun clause, 45;

- a clause of result, 75;

- a sentence, 107;

- used adjectively, 195.

- Can but, cannot but, 125, note.

- Clauses,--

- Adjective, function of, 28;

- classification, 29;

- restrictive, 30;

- unrestrictive, 30;

- introductory word, 30;

- what they modify, 33;

- position of, 35;

- introduced by subordinating conjunction that, 33;

- modifying it, 34;

- modifying a proposition, 34.

- Adverbial, modifying nouns, 195;

- of time, 53;

- introductory word, 54;

- what it modifies, 56;

- of place, function of, 59;

- peculiarities, 60;

- introductory word, 60;

- of manner, function of, 62;

- introductory word, 63;

- position of, 64;

- of cause, function of, 68;

- what it denotes, 69;

- connective, 70;

- what it modifies, 70;

- position of, 71;

- reason clause used independently, 205;

- of purpose, 73;

- connective, 73;

- of result, 74;

- of condition, 78;

- what it modifies, 80;

- introductory word, 80;

- of concession, 82;

- introductory word, 83;

- of degree or comparison, 87;

- classification, 88.

- Substantive, 42;

- function of, 42;

- uses, subject, 43;

- object of verb, 44;

- objective complement, 45;

- object of preposition, 45;

- appositive, 47;

- subjective complement, 47;

- after a preposition understood, 47;

- introductory word, 47.

- Compound sentences, 18, 97;

- members of in same line of thought, 97;

- one imperative, one declarative, 98;

- in contrast, 98;

- in alternation, 99;

- second member a consequence, 99;

- an inference, 100;

- an explanation, 100;

- omission of conjunction in, 101;

- number of members in, 101.

- Conjunctions, coördinating, joining dissimilar elements, 106;

- subordinating, introducing participial phrases, 132.

- Conjunctive adverbs, introducing adjective clauses, 35;

- noun clauses, 48;

- participial phrases, 131.

- Correlatives, 108;

- whether--or, 48, 83, 165;

- when--then, 55;

- where--there, 60;

- as--so, 63;

- so--that, 74;

- though--yet, 85;

- either--or, 99, 108;

- by as much--by so much, 90;

- neither--nor, 108;

- both--and, 108;

- not only--but, 108;

- so--as, 121.

- Day by day, 196.

- Ellipses, cause of, 214;

- in adjective clauses, 215;

- in adverbial clauses of time, 215;

- of manner, 216;

- of condition, 216;

- of concession, 217;

- of degree, introduced by than, 218;

- by as, 220;

- resulting in a participial phrase, 218;

- in independent propositions, 222;

- in compound sentences, 222;

- in answers to questions, 222.

- Even, modifying a prepositional phrase, 156.

- Exclamative sentences, 26;

- used independently, 204;

- introduced by would, 223.

- Far from, introducing a sentence modifier, 211.

- For, as coördinating conjunction, 100;

- introducing an objective complement, 181;

- an independent element, 205.

- Gerund, nature, 139;

- forms, 139;

- uses, subject, 140;

- object, 140;

- objective complement, 141;

- subjective complement, 141;

- appositive, 141;

- object of preposition, 141;

- adverbial noun, 141;

- adjective, 141;

- peculiar constructions, 141.

- Go, followed by an infinitive, 123.

- Good and strong, an idiom, 191, note.

- Had rather, 117, note.

- Have, followed by an infinitive, 117.

- If, introducing clause of concession, 84.

- Imperative sentences, 25;

- used independently, 204.

- Independent elements, noun of address, 201;

- pleonastic noun, 202;

- adverb, 202;

- interjection, 202;

- prepositional phrase, 203;

- imperative sentence, 204;

- exclamative sentence, 204;

- clause of reason, 205.

- Indirect object, function of, 186;

- position of, 186;

- becoming subject of passive verb, 187;

- after certain verbs, 188.

- Infinitives, nature of, 112;

- forms, 113;

- uses, adjective, 114;

- appositive, 114;

- subject, 114;

- after anticipative subject, it, 116;

- object of verb, 116;

- part of double object of verb, 117;

- of preposition for, 125;

- subjective complement, 120;

- adverbial modifier, of verb, 121;

- of adjective or adverb, 123;

- object of preposition, 125;

- independent, 125;

- sign to omitted, 117.

- In other words, introducing an appositive, 165.

- In proportion as, introducing clause of degree, 90.

- Instead of, a preposition, 154.

- Interjection, 202.

- It, modified by an adjective clause, 34;

- used as anticipative subject before a noun clause, 43;

- before an infinitive, 116.

- Just the same, 194.

- Let, introducing clause of condition, 80.

- Like, is it a preposition? 154.

- Make believe, followed by object, 173.

- Make free, followed by an infinitive, 182.

- Make up your mind, followed by an object, 173.

- Mine, as subjective complement, 176.

- Namely, introducing an appositive, 164.

- Near, next, next door, 155.

- Nevertheless, coördinating conjunction, 99.

- Night through, the, 157.

- No less than, a coördinating conjunction, 107.

- No matter, introducing clause of concession, 83;

- remaining after an ellipsis, 222.

- No wonder, 222.

- None the less, 193.

- None the worse, 193.

- Not, as an abridgment of a proposition, 223.

- Notwithstanding, introducing clause of concession, 84.

- Now that, introducing clause of time, 56.

- Object, direct, a noun clause, 43;

- nature of, 169;

- cognate, 172;

- reflexive, 173;

- of preposition, 151;

- a noun clause, 45.

- Objective complement, function of, 179;

- a noun clause, 44;

- gerund, 141;

- participle, 182, note;

- after certain verbs, 181;

- introduced by as or for, 181;

- position of, 182.

- Off hand, 196.

- Only, a coördinating conjunction, 99.

- One behind the other, 197.

- Or, introducing an appositive, 165.

- Ought, followed by an infinitive, 117.

- Out of, a preposition, 154.

- Owing to, a preposition, 154.

- Participles, introducing clause of condition, 80;

- nature of, 129;

- forms, 130;

- seeming passive, 130, note;

- uses, mere adjective, 131;

- substantive, 131;

- instead of adjective clause, 131;

- of adverbial clause, 132;

- in absolute phrase, 134;

- accompanying a verb, 135;

- part of double object, 136;

- adverbial, 136;

- independent, 136;

- in peculiar constructions, 142;

- as prepositions, 154;

- as base of objective complement, 182, note;

- remaining after an ellipsis in a clause, 217.

- Partly, modifying prepositional phrase, 156.

- Prepositions, omitted before noun clause, 46;

- two in succession, 151;

- as part of verb phrase, 153;

- compound, 154;

- modified by adverbs, 157;

- position of, 157.

- Prepositional phrases, function of, 146;

- used adjectively, modifying nouns, 148;

- completing intransitive verbs, 150;

- noun complement, 150, note;

- adverbial modifier, of verb, 150;

- of adjective, 151;

- modifying alas, 151, note;

- object of preposition, 153;

- part of absolute phrase, 152;

- with adverb or adjective for object, 154;

- modified, by a noun, 156;

- by an adverb, 156, 193;

- used independently, 203;

- as sentence modifiers, 209.

- Propositions, constituent parts of, 7;

- classification, 11;

- principal or independent, 12;

- tests for, 13;

- subordinate or dependent, 12;

- function of, 14;

- independent, 204.

- Provided, providing, introducing clauses of condition, 80.

- Quite the contrary, 193.

- Relative pronouns, introducing adjective clauses, 31;

- as and but, 32;

- position in clause, 35;

- omission of antecedent, 35;

- introducing noun clauses, 47.

- Say, introducing clause of condition, 80.

- See fit, followed by an infinitive, 182.

- Sentences, classification, according to structure, 18;

- according to form, 23;

- difficult to classify, 19;

- simple, 18;

- complex, 18;

- compound, 19;

- complex-compound, 19;

- partially-compound, 20;

- declarative, 23;

- interrogative, 23;

- imperative, 25;

- exclamative, 26.

- Sentence modifiers, adverbs, 209;

- prepositional phrases, 210;

- phrases introduced by as, 210;

- clauses introduced by as, 211.

- Side by side, 197.

- So, as subjective complement, 177.

- So far as, introducing clauses of degree, 91.

- Still, as coördinating conjunction, 99.

- Subjective complement, function of, 175;

- a noun clause, 47;

- an infinitive, 119;

- a participle, 130, note;

- a gerund, 141;

- a prepositional phrase, 176;

- after certain verbs, 177;

- introduced by as or for, 178.

- Such, modified by an as-clause, 32.

- Suffice, introducing a sentence, 223.

- Suppose, supposing, introducing clauses of condition, 80.

- Teach, followed by two direct objects, 172.

- Tell, followed by noun and infinitive, 119.

- Than, joining coördinate elements, 107;

- introducing infinitives, 124.

- Thanks to you, 204.

- That, subordinating conjunction introducing adjective clauses, 33.

- That is, introducing an appositive, 165.

- That is to say, 122.

- The, modifying an adjective or adverb, 193.

- Think best, followed by an infinitive, 182.

- Though, joining coördinate elements, 107.

- Time out of mind, 197.

- To wit introducing an appositive, 165.

- Transitive verbs, nature of, 170.

- made so by addition of adverb or preposition, 172.

- Upside down, 197.

- Used, followed by an infinitive, 123.

- What, retained in infinitive phrases, 116;

- modifying prepositional phrases, 156.

- What if, 222.

- Which, retained in infinitive phrases, 116.

- While, introducing clauses of concession, 84;

- as coördinating conjunction, 98, 99.

- With, without, followed by an absolute phrase, 135.

- World over, the, 157.

- Worth, followed by a gerund, 141;

- by a noun, 190.

- Would, introducing exclamative sentences, 223.

- Wrong side out, 197.

- Year round, the, 157.

ADVERTISEMENTS

GARNER’S GOVERNMENT

IN THE UNITED STATES

By JAMES W. GARNER, Professor of Political Science,

University of Illinois

With Special State Editions

MERITS the special consideration of teachers in secondary schools because in the first place it includes the most recent governmental problems of interest and importance, and in the second it devotes an unusual amount of space to a practical account of the workings of our government. The treatment, which is simple and interesting, proceeds from the simple to the most complex, presenting in turn the local, state, and national forms of government.

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¶ Unusual attention is devoted to the important subject of citizenship, and to state and local governments. Wider reading among students is encouraged by the frequent lists of references to collateral reading, the documentary or source materials, the numerous search questions, etc.

AMERICAN BOOK COMPANY

OUTLINES OF ANCIENT

HISTORY

By WILLIAM C. MOREY, Professor of History and

Political Science, University of Rochester

THIS course in ancient history, from the earliest times to Charlemagne, meets fully the requirements of the College Entrance Examination Board, and of the New York State Education Department. The same vital features which have made the author’s Greek History and Roman History so successful, have been retained in this book. The same topical method of treatment, the same arrangement by paragraphs, the same simple, direct style, and the same clear and graphic presentation, are among its chief characteristics.

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¶ The usual division of ancient history into Oriental, Greek, and Roman has been followed, and great care has been taken in each case to lay emphasis on those particular features which have distinguished one nation from another, and which have given it the peculiar place it holds in history.

¶ The important relation of geography to history has constantly been kept in view. More than twenty progressive maps are given to show the successive changes which took place in the development and decline of the different nations. Each chapter is followed by a synopsis for review, while at the end of the book there is a list of references for reading.

AMERICAN BOOK COMPANY

NEW MEDIEVAL AND

MODERN HISTORY

From Charlemagne to the Present Day

By SAMUEL BANNISTER HARDING, Ph. D., Professor of European History, Indiana University.

Based upon the author’s “Essentials in Mediaeval and Modern History,” prepared in consultation with ALBERT BUSHNELL HART, LL.D., Professor of History, Harvard University.

WHILE based on the author’s previous Essentials in Mediaeval and Modern History, in the present volume the plan has been so reorganized, the scope so extended, and the matter so largely rewritten, that the result is practically a new book. The present volume reflects the suggestions of many teachers who have used the previous work in their classes. The aim of this book has been to increase the emphasis on social, industrial, and cultural topics and to enable the student to understand modern conditions and tendencies.

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FOUNDATIONS OF GERMAN

By C. F. KAYSER, Ph. D., Professor of German, Normal College of the City of New York; and F. MONTESER, Ph. D., Head of German Department, De Witt Clinton High School, New York.

THIS course reduces to a minimum all preparatory work, and introduces the learner at the earliest possible moment to the literature of the language. Among its distinctive features are:

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II. It makes large use of “the living grammar.” In this way it enlivens instruction in grammar, stimulates self-activity, and develops the feeling for correctness, which is the chief thing to be looked for in all language study.

III. It lends itself excellently to conversational practice. The vocabulary has been selected very carefully from everyday language, and the phrases of the German exercises are all of a colloquial and strictly idiomatic character. While primarily intended to illustrate definite grammatical phenomena, their tone and language are so natural that whole exercises may be turned into impromptu conversation, thus combining drill in speaking and in grammar. This is still more true of the connected readings, which are very simple.

IV. It offers a firm foundation on which a solid superstructure can be erected. The lessons are steadily progressive; no attempt is made to minimize difficulties at the beginning. The English exercises give the pupil a chance to test his knowledge and power, while the exercises in word formation stimulate his interest in the building up of his vocabulary, which will be of great service in future sight reading.

AMERICAN BOOK COMPANY

FRANÇOIS’ ESSENTIALS

OF FRENCH

By VICTOR E. FRANÇOIS, Ph.D., Associate Professor

of French, College of the City of New York.

A COURSE for beginners, whose acquirement of a foreign language is often hampered by an incomplete mastery of English grammar. The development here proceeds from the known English form to the unknown French form, with constant comparison and contrast of the two languages. This system will tend to fortify students by forcing them to notice and analyze the English as well as the French forms of expression.

¶ The models precede the rules, the salient features being made prominent by heavy type. The rules cover the necessary facts of the language as simply and completely as possible, but the student is not confused by masses of exceptions, peculiarities, and idioms rarely seen and still more rarely used. The vocabulary, of moderate extent, is composed of ordinary words likely to be used in everyday conversation, and is increased slowly, care being taken to repeat the words again and again in succeeding exercises.

¶ The first lessons have been made short and simple, in order to allow for the initial difficulties. The exercises are composed of sentences connected in sense so far as this is possible without detriment to the application of the principles and repetition of words. Each lesson includes generally four exercises: a review, a portion of French text, a set of questions based on the text and usually followed by a grammar drill, and an English exercise based entirely on the text and on the rules developed in the lesson. Reading lessons are introduced at intervals and may serve also as exercises in pronunciation, dictation, conversation, or review of rules.

AMERICAN BOOK COMPANY

MILNE’S STANDARD

ALGEBRA

By WILLIAM J. MILNE, Ph.D., LL.D., President of

the New York State Normal College, Albany, N. Y.

THE Standard Algebra conforms to the most recent courses of study. The inductive method of presentation is followed, but declarative statements and observations are used, instead of questions. Added to this kind of unfolding and development of the subject are illustrative problems and explanations to bring out specific points, the whole being driven home by varied and abundant practice.

¶ The problems are fresh in character, and besides the traditional problems include a large number drawn from physics, geometry, and commercial life. They are classified according to the nature of the equations involved, not according to subject matter. The statement of necessary definitions and of principles is clear and concise, but the proofs of principles, except some important ones, are left for the maturer years of the pupil.

¶ Accuracy and self-reliance are encouraged by the use of numerous checks and tests, and by the requirement that results be verified. The subject of graphs is treated after simple equations, introduced by some of their simple uses in representing statistics, and in picturing two related quantities in the process of change, and again after quadratics. Later they are utilized in discussing the values of quadratic expressions. Factoring receives particular attention. Not only are the usual cases given fully and completely with plenty of practice, but the factor theorem is taught.

¶ The helpful and frequent reviews are made up of pointed oral questions, abstract exercises, problems, and recent college entrance examination questions. The book is unusually handy in size and convenient for the pocket. The page size is small.

AMERICAN BOOK COMPANY

PLANT LIFE AND

PLANT USES

By JOHN GAYLORD COULTER, Ph. D.

AN elementary textbook providing a foundation for the study of agriculture, domestic science, or college botany. But it is more than a textbook on botany—it is a book about the fundamentals of plant life and about the relations between plants and man. It presents as fully as is desirable for required courses in high schools those large facts about plants which form the present basis of the science of botany. Yet the treatment has in view preparation for life in general, and not preparation for any particular kind of calling.

The subject is dealt with from the viewpoint of the pupil rather than from that of the teacher or the scientist. The style is simple, clear, and conversational, yet the method is distinctly scientific, and the book has a cultural as well as a practical object.

The text has a unity of organization. So far as practicable the familiar always precedes the unfamiliar in the sequence of topics, and the facts are made to hang together in order that the pupil may see relationships. Such topics as forestry, plant breeding, weeds, plant enemies and diseases, plant culture, decorative plants, and economic bacteria are discussed where most pertinent to the general theme rather than in separate chapters which destroy the continuity. The questions and suggestions which follow the chapters are of two kinds; some are designed merely to serve as an aid in the study of the text, while others suggest outside study and inquiry. The classified tables of terms which precede the index are intended to serve the student in review, and to be a general guide to the relative values of the facts presented. More than 200 attractive illustrations, many of them original, are included in the book.

AMERICAN BOOK COMPANY

ESSENTIALS OF BIOLOGY

By GEORGE WILLIAM HUNTER, A. M., Head of Department of Biology, De Witt Clinton High School, New York City.

THIS new first-year course treats the subject of biology as a whole, and meets the requirements of the leading colleges and associations of science teachers. Instead of discussing plants, animals, and man as separate forms of living organisms, it treats of life in a comprehensive manner, and particularly in its relations to the progress of humanity. Each main topic is introduced by a problem, which the pupil is to solve by actual laboratory work. The text that follows explains and illustrates the meaning of each problem. The work throughout aims to have a human interest and a practical value, and to provide the simplest and most easily comprehended method of demonstration. At the end of each chapter are lists of references to both elementary and advanced books for collateral reading.

SHARPE’S LABORATORY

MANUAL IN BIOLOGY

IN this Manual the 56 important problems of Hunter’s Essentials of Biology are solved; that is, the principles of biology are developed from the laboratory standpoint. It is a teacher’s detailed directions put into print. It states the problems, and then tells what materials and apparatus are necessary and how they are to be used, how to avoid mistakes, and how to get at the facts when they are found. Following each problem and its solution is a full list of references to other books.

AMERICAN BOOK COMPANY

WEBSTER’S SECONDARY

SCHOOL DICTIONARY

THIS NEW DICTIONARY is based on Webster’s New International Dictionary, and therefore conforms to the best present usage. It presents the largest number of words and phrases ever included in a school dictionary—all those, however new, likely to be needed by any pupil. It is a reference book for the reader and a guide in the use of English, both oral and written. It fills every requirement that can reasonably be expected of a dictionary of moderate size.

¶ This new book gives the preference to forms of spelling now current in the United States, in cases of doubt leaning toward the simpler forms that may be coming into use. In the matter of pronunciation such alternatives are included as are in very common use, but the one that is preferred is clearly indicated. Each definition is in the form of a specific statement accompanied by one or more synonyms, between which careful discrimination is made.

¶ In addition, this dictionary includes an unusual amount of supplementary information of value to students: the etymology, syllabication and capitalization of words; many proper names from folklore, mythology, and the Bible; a list of prefixes and suffixes; all irregularly inflected forms; rules for spelling; 2329 lists of synonyms, in which 3518 words are carefully discriminated; answers to many questions on the use of correct English constantly asked by pupils; a guide to pronunciation; abbreviations used in writing and printing; a list of 1200 foreign words and phrases; a dictionary of 5400 proper names of persons and places, etc.

AMERICAN BOOK COMPANY

DESCRIPTIVE

CATALOGUE OF HIGH

SCHOOL AND COLLEGE

TEXTBOOKS

Published Complete and in Sections

WE issue a Catalogue of High School and College Textbooks, which we have tried to make as valuable and as useful to teachers as possible. In this catalogue are set forth briefly and clearly the scope and leading characteristics of each of our best textbooks. In most cases there are also given testimonials from well-known teachers, which have been selected quite as much for their descriptive qualities as for their value as commendations.

¶ For the convenience of teachers this Catalogue is also published in separate sections treating of the various branches of study. These pamphlets are entitled: English, Mathematics, History and Political Science, Science, Modern Foreign Languages, Ancient Languages, Commercial Subjects, and Philosophy and Education. A single pamphlet is devoted to the Newest Books in all subjects.

¶ Teachers seeking the newest and best books for their classes are invited to send for our Complete High School and College Catalogue, or for such sections as may be of greatest interest.

¶ Copies of our price lists, or of special circulars, in which these books are described at greater length than the space limitations of the catalogue permit, will be mailed to any address on request.

¶ All correspondence should be addressed to the nearest of the following offices of the company: New York, Cincinnati, Chicago, Boston, Atlanta.

AMERICAN BOOK COMPANY

Transcriber’s Notes:

New original cover art included with this eBook is granted to the public domain.

Variations in spelling and hyphenation are retained.

Perceived typographical errors have been changed.

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Table of Contents

THE STRUCTURE OF THE ENGLISH SENTENCE

CHAPTER I

CHAPTER II

CHAPTER III

CHAPTER IV

CHAPTER V

CHAPTER VI

CHAPTER VII

CHAPTER VIII

CHAPTER IX

CHAPTER X

CHAPTER XI

CHAPTER XII

CHAPTER XIII

CHAPTER XIV

CHAPTER XV

CHAPTER XVI

CHAPTER XVII

CHAPTER XVIII

CHAPTER XIX

CHAPTER XX

CHAPTER XXI

CHAPTER XXII

CHAPTER XXIII

CHAPTER XXIV

CHAPTER XXV

CHAPTER XXVI

CHAPTER XXVII

CHAPTER XXVIII

CHAPTER XXIX

CHAPTER XXX

CHAPTER XXXI

CHAPTER XXXII

CHAPTER XXXIII

MISCELLANEOUS SENTENCES

INDEX

THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG™ LICENSE