Part 15
A steed as black as the steeds of night Was seen to pass as with eagle flight.
13. Weeds are sure to grow quicker in my garden than anywhere else.
14.
Dark as winter was the flow Of Iser rolling rapidly.
15. I should rather see the friezes of the Parthenon molder to dust under the blue veil of the Grecian atmosphere than have them preserved in the grand halls of the British Museum.
16. The huge body of the elephant needs less sleep than anything else that lives.
=293.= Since the predicate is usually omitted in clauses of comparison, it follows that these clauses often consist of only two words; as, “I am as old as Mary.” “I am older than Mary.” One of these words is the connective, and the other is often the subject of the clause. When the subject is a pronoun, we must be careful to use the nominative form. We should say, “Are you older than _I_? than _he_? than _she_?”
=Exercise 1.=—Fill the blank in each of these sentences. Then supply the words omitted, and thus show that you have chosen the right pronouns:—
1. Our parents are wiser than (_we_ or _us_).
2. You are not always so careful as (_she_ or _her_).
3. Who knows the day better than (_me_ or _I_)?
4. What! You are stronger than (_who_ or _whom_)?
5. The Preston girls were just as friendly as (_me_ or _I_).
6. No man could be more faithful than (_him_ or _he_).
7. Who stands higher in this city than (_they_ or _them_).
8. Are you older or younger than (_her_ or _she_)?
9. Well, perhaps I am not so polite as (_he_ or _him_).
10. Our geese are whiter than (_them_ or _they_).
=Exercise 2.=—Justify the case of the italicized pronoun in each of these sentences:—
1. Jessie likes Julia as well as _me_.
2. I found her brother more easily than _her_.
3. I expect an angel sooner than _them_.
LXXIV. ANALYSIS OF SENTENCES
=294.= We are ready now to analyze sentences containing adverbial clauses. In analyzing such sentences we should state as soon as we come to an adverbial clause, (1) what it denotes and (2) what part of speech its introductory word is. We should not analyze any dependent clause in detail, however, until we have completed our analysis of the principal clause.
MODEL.—_The lion fixed his great hind claws in the softer skin of the crocodile’s throat, and ripped it open as one would rip a glove._
This is a complex, declarative sentence.
The subject is _the lion_. The predicate is _fixed his great hind claws in the softer skin of the crocodile’s throat, and ripped it open as one would rip a glove_.
The predicate is compound, the two parts being joined by the conjunction _and_. The first predicate verb is _fixed_. It is completed by the direct object _his great hind claws_, and then modified by the prepositional phrase _in the softer skin of the crocodile’s throat_. The base word of the object is _claws_; it is modified by the adjectives _hind_ and _great_, and by the possessive pronoun _his_. The base word of the object of the preposition _in_ is _skin_. It is modified by the adjectives _softer_ and _the_, and by the prepositional phrase of _the crocodile’s throat_. The base word of the object of the preposition _of_ is _throat_; it is modified by the possessive noun _crocodile’s_, which is modified by the adjective _the_.
The second predicate verb is _ripped_. It is completed by the direct object _it_ and the objective complement _open_, and then modified by the adverbial clause of manner _as one would rip a glove_, which is introduced by the subordinate conjunction _as_.
The subject of this clause is the adjective pronoun _one_. The predicate is _would rip a glove_. The predicate verb is _would rip_. It is completed by the direct object _a glove_.
=Exercise.=—Analyze the following sentences. When you write the analysis of a sentence, use abbreviations, and instead of writing out a group of words in full, as is done in the model, write only the first and last words of the group with a dash between them. Be sure to underline all words quoted from the sentence.
1.
He looks the whole world in the face, For he owes not any man.
2. The young lion was growing so fast that the milk of three goats was scarcely sufficient for him.
3.
When the glorious sun is set, When the grass with dew is wet, Then you show your little light.
4. When Charles was studying shorthand, his mother read sermons to him for an hour every morning, so that he might have practice in the writing of long words.
5. If you save the pennies, the dollars will take care of themselves.
6.
Where the purple violet grows, Where the bubbling water flows, Where the grass is fresh and fine, Pretty cow, go there and dine.
7. Tommy, though he was getting a big boy, retained some of the habits of a baby.
8. I was sitting on the top rail of the front fence, when a party of gypsies went by on their way to a camp.
9.
The day is done, and the darkness Falls from the wings of night, As a feather is wafted downward From an eagle in his flight.
10. Whenever you see many drones, you will find plenty of young bees.
11. After the robins have pinched and shaken all the life out of an earthworm, as Italian cooks pound all the spirit out of a steak, and then gulped him, they stand up in honest self-confidence, expand their red waistcoats with a virtuous air, and outface you with their bold calm eyes.
12. Moti Guj, the elephant, never trampled the life out of his master Deesa, for, after the beating was over, Deesa would embrace his trunk, and call him his love and his life and the liver of his soul, and give him some liquor.
13. If imitation be the sincerest form of flattery, the mischief of the monkey should be regarded more leniently.
14. I liked dolls well enough, though my assortment was not a choice one.
15. Her nails were so hard that they would yield to the scissors only after a day’s soaking in hot soapsuds.
16.
His words were shed softer than leaves from the pine, And they fell on Sir Launfal as snows on the brine.
LXXV. ADJECTIVE CLAUSES
=295.= We learned in Lesson XX that a dependent clause often has the use of an adjective, that is, it modifies a noun; as in the sentence, “This is the house that Jack built.” Such a clause as _that Jack built_ is called an adjective clause. Why?
=296.= An adjective clause may be used for two different purposes.
(1) It may serve to point out a particular person, place, or thing; as, “This is the maiden all forlorn that milked the cow with the crumpled horn.” Here the clause tells what particular maiden is meant. A clause of this sort is called a =restrictive= clause, because it limits, or restricts, the application of the word it modifies.
(2) An adjective clause may serve merely to bring in a new thought, something that is worth telling, of course, but still not necessary to the truth of the sentence; as, “My father had ten cows, which I had to escort to and from pasture night and morning.” This clause does not tell what particular cows my father had, but merely tells an additional fact about them. Such a clause as this is called an =unrestrictive= clause. It is set off by a comma.
=297.= A restrictive clause is usually necessary to the truth of a sentence; as, “A city that is set on a hill cannot be hid,” “A prince that is a tyrant is unfit to rule.”
To find out whether a clause is restrictive or not, determine first what word it modifies; then ask yourself the question, Did the author put this clause into the sentence to point out a particular object?
Could such a term as _The Declaration of Independence_, _my mother’s father_, _Theodore Roosevelt_, _the planet Mars_, or _Boston_ be modified by a restrictive adjective clause?
=Summary.=—An =adjective clause= is a dependent clause that modifies a noun or a pronoun.
A =restrictive= adjective clause is one that points out a particular person, place, or thing. A restrictive clause is not set off by commas.
An =unrestrictive= adjective clause is one that merely adds a new thought to the sentence. An unrestrictive clause is set off by a comma.
=Exercise 1.=—Select the adjective clauses. Tell what they modify. Then find out whether they are restrictive or not, and why.
NOTE.—Always test an adjective clause first to find out whether it is restrictive. If you decide that it is not restrictive, then it must be unrestrictive.
1. Charley Marden, whose father had promised to cane him if he ever set foot on sail or row boat, came down to the wharf in a sour-grape humor to see us off.
2. A sharp tongue is the only edged tool that grows keener with constant use.
3. From one corner of St. Paul’s churchyard runs the lively street called Cheapside, from which John Gilpin started on his famous ride.
4. The reason why the women and children slept upon the floor was their fear lest the Indians should fire through the windows and kill them in their beds.
5. The king whose despotic power was felt over the entire extent of the cattle range was an old gray wolf.
6. The monks who put peas in their shoes as a penance do not suffer more than the country boy in his penitential Sunday shoes.
7. There is a girl in the carriage, who looks out at John, who is suddenly aware that his trousers are patched on each knee and in two places behind.
8. He could see the pale and naked trunk of a pine tree, which the lightning had shattered.
9. The night that was so favorable to the wild rabbits was favorable also to the fox, the wildcat, and the weasel.
10. The only days that I can remember in Yonkers were hot.
11.
All things that are on earth shall wholly pass away, Except the love of God, which shall live and last for aye.
12. Sleek, unwieldy porkers were grunting in the repose and abundance of their pens, whence sallied forth, now and then, troops of sucking pigs, as if to snuff the air.
=Exercise 2.=—Write sentences containing restrictive adjective clauses pointing out a certain river, a certain boy, a certain bridge, a certain house, a certain day.
Write sentences containing unrestrictive clauses that tell something about the moon, the President of the United States, Salt Lake City, the Sistine Madonna, the Eiffel Tower.
Write sentences containing adjective clauses introduced by the conjunctive adverbs _when_, _where_, and _why_. (See Lesson LXVI.) Tell whether your clauses are restrictive or unrestrictive.
LXXVI. RELATIVE PRONOUNS
=298.= Just as an adverbial clause is joined to what it modifies by a conjunctive adverb or a subordinate conjunction, so an adjective clause must be joined to the noun it modifies by some connecting word.
In Lesson LXVI it was shown that this word may be a conjunctive adverb, as in the sentence, “I can never forget the night when I first heard the whippoorwill sing.” What is the clause here? What does it modify? How is it joined to the word that it modifies?
=299.= Most adjective clauses are introduced by some other word than a conjunctive adverb. In the sentence, “The hand that rocks the cradle rules the world,” the adjective clause _that rocks the cradle_ is joined to the noun _hand_, which it modifies, by the word _that_. This word is used as subject of the verb _rocks_, and really means _hand_. Since it takes the place of a noun, it is a pronoun; and since this noun, or antecedent, precedes the pronoun, we say that the pronoun _relates_ to its antecedent, and we call it a =relative= pronoun.
=300.= The relative pronouns that introduce adjective clauses are _who_, _which_, and _that_.
_Who_ has three case forms: nominative, _who_; possessive, _whose_; objective, _whom_.
_Which_ has the possessive form _whose_; _that_ has no possessive form.
_Which_ and _that_ do not change their form for the objective case.
=301.= A relative pronoun always has a use in the adjective clause that it introduces. This is the same use that the antecedent would have if it were used in place of the pronoun.
The four common uses are:—
(1) Subject of a verb; as, “He who fights and runs away may live to fight another day.”
(2) Object of a verb; as, “This is the day that the Lord hath made.”
(3) Object of a preposition; as, “I saw the room in which Shakespeare was born.”
NOTE.—Sometimes the pronoun comes before the preposition; as, “The buggy that we rode in was low and light.”
(4) Possessive modifier; as, “Any boy whose memory is good can learn a history lesson.”
=302.= The relative pronoun _that_ introduces only restrictive adjective clauses. The pronouns _who_, _whose_, _whom_, and _which_ may introduce either restrictive or unrestrictive clauses.
=303.= _Who_ has for its antecedent the name of some person; _which_ has for its antecedent the name of some thing. The antecedent of _that_ may be the name of a person or a thing.
=304.= The word _but_ may be used as a relative pronoun as a substitute for the two words _that not_. Instead of saying, “There is no day that has not an end,” we may say, “There is no day _but_ has an end.” This is a better sentence than the first because it contains only one negative word.
=305.= The word _as_ may be used as a relative pronoun following the words _such_, _same_, or _as many_. We say,—
I like _such_ flowers _as_ you sent me.
Your dress is the _same_ color _as_ mine.
I will take _as many_ apples _as_ will fill this basket.
I want _such_ a chair _as_ you are sitting in now.
In each of the sentences above, what is the use of the relative pronoun _as_ in the clause that it introduces?
=Summary.=—A =relative pronoun= is one that refers to a preceding noun or pronoun, and joins to it an adjective clause.
The relative pronouns that introduce adjective clauses are _who_, _which_, and _that_.
_As_ and _but_ are sometimes used as relative pronouns.
=306.= When we parse a relative pronoun we tell,—
(1) Its antecedent.
(2) What adjective clause it joins to its antecedent.
(3) Its case.
(4) Its use in the adjective clause.
=Exercise 1.=—Parse all the relative pronouns in the following sentences:—
1. In came the six young followers whose hearts the Misses Fezziwig broke.
2. There were the wide sweeps of forest through which the winter tempests howled, upon which hung the haze of summer heat, over which the great shadows of summer clouds traveled.
3. Susie was a well-behaved child, who took care of her clothes and played quiet games.
4. And now the dandelion is a pest—the same yellow dandelion with its long, bitter, milky stem that we children sought for in the shady fence corners to make into spiral curls.
5. Buffers had a small moustache, which he fostered much, and a cane with which he was not yet very familiar.
6. She bade me good-by as if I were a friend of her family whom she would gladly meet again.
7. There is only one bird that terrifies the crow, and that is the owl.
8. Solomon John proposed that they should open the window, a thing which Agamemnon could easily do with his long arms.
9. There was one lady whose conversation at the best of times made my mother sleepy.
10. The two men shared those mysterious rites of smoking and shaving and discussing stocks which occupy men when they are left to themselves.
11. The turkey cock, who had been born into the world with spurs, and thought he was a king, puffed himself out like a ship with full sails, and flew at the duckling.
12. In a few moments Ned arrived at a small open glade in the middle of the forest, in which, to his horror, he saw a lion upon the body of a man, whom he seized by the throat, while Nero stood within a few yards, baying him furiously.
13. He lives longest who does most.
=Exercise 2.=—Analyze the following sentences:—
1.
No time is like the old time when you and I were young, When the buds of April blossomed, and the birds of spring-time sung.
2.
No place is like the old place, where you and I were born, Where we lifted first our eyelids on the splendor of the morn.
3. No friend is like the old friend, who has shared our morning days.
4. At the teachers’ meeting, which she regularly attended with her mother, Gertrude saw the pale-faced little lady whom the children called a “Grahamite.”
5. The old broken gate which a gentleman would not tolerate an hour upon his grounds is a great beauty in the picture which hangs in his parlor.
6. Often the road passes between lofty walls of solid rock, from the crevices of which all lovely growths are springing.
7.
Read from some humbler poet, Whose songs gushed from his heart, As rain from the clouds in summer, Or tears from the eyelids start.
8. Michel was a vivacious, lean little Frenchman, who fulfilled the duties of a chambermaid very adroitly.
9. The first thing that my pet starling imitated was the rumbling of carts and carriages on the street.
10. In one corner of the fireplace sat a superannuated crony, whom the sexton called John Ange, and who had been his companion from childhood.
11. The good ship _Humber_ is taking home a regiment whose term of service has expired.
12. Madame took for breakfast two fresh eggs, which her two hens laid for her every morning with the perfect regularity that is the politeness of all well-bred poultry.
13.
The boy stood on the burning deck, Whence all but him had fled.
14. Lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through and steal.
15. Sycamore Ridge might have been one of the dreary villages that dot the wind-swept plain to-day, instead of the bright, prosperous elm-shaded town that it is.
LXXVII. NOUN CLAUSES
=307.= We have seen that a dependent clause may have the use of an adverb or of an adjective. It may also have another use, as may be seen in the sentence, “Whatever Midas touched with his finger immediately glistened and grew yellow.” If we ask the question, _What glistened and grew yellow?_ we get the answer, _Whatever Midas touched with his finger_; hence this group of words must be the subject. But this group is a clause, for it contains the subject _Midas_ and the verb _touched_. A clause used as the subject of a predicate is used like a noun, hence we call it a =noun clause=.
=308.= The noun clause has several other uses of a noun besides that of subject. It may be,—
(1) Object of a verb; as, “I think that life would be very dull without meals.”
(2) Subjective complement; as, “The sad part of this tale is that the trouble was not with poor little Quackalina’s eyes at all.”
(3) In apposition; as, “He had a theory that the big horned owl might be tamed.” Here the clause explains the noun _theory_ telling exactly what the theory is. This may seem at first like an adjective clause, but there is a clear difference. We can make a sentence by putting the verb _is_ between the noun _theory_ and the clause. This shows that the two are identical, but we cannot do this with the noun _theory_ and an adjective clause, as in this sentence, “I do not believe in the theory that he sets forth in his book.”
(4) Object of a preposition; as, “Aladdin’s mother listened with surprise to what her son told her.” If you ask the question, _listened to what?_ you get the answer, _what her son told her_. Therefore, the group of words _what her son told her_, which is a dependent proposition, must be the object of the preposition _to_.
(5) Some adjectives, like _anxious_, _aware_, _careful_, _certain_, _glad_, _hopeful_, _sorry_, and _sure_, especially when used as subjective complements, are modified by noun clauses that take the place of adverbial prepositional phrases. We may say,—
I am sure _of his election_.
I am sure _that he will be elected_.
In the first sentence the adjective _sure_ is modified by the phrase _of his election_. In the second sentence the adjective _sure_ is modified by the noun clause _that he will be elected_, which answers the question _sure of what?_ This may be called the adverbial use of the noun clause.
=309.= Often, when a noun clause is used as subject, it is placed after the predicate, and the sentence begins with the word _it_; as, “It is curious that almost every nation on earth has some particular traditions regarding the dog.” If we ask the question, _what is curious?_ the answer is not _it_, for that tells nothing, but the clause. The word _it_ is called an =anticipative subject=, because it comes before the real subject, and signifies also to the reader that the real subject may be expected after the predicate.
=310.= The tense of the verb in a noun clause is determined partly by the meaning of the sentence and partly by the tense of the verb in the independent clause. What is the meaning of each of the following sentences, and what is the tense of each verb?
I understand that he builds bridges.
I understand that he will build the bridge.
I understand that he has built the bridge.
I understood that he builds bridges.
I understood that he would build the bridge.
I understood that he had built the bridge.
=Summary.=—A noun clause is a dependent clause having the use of a noun.
The noun clause may be used adverbially to modify certain adjectives.
The word _it_ may be used as an anticipative subject to throw the real subject, a noun clause, after the verb.
=Exercise 1.=—Select all the noun clauses, and explain the use of each.
1. Just then a shout from the boys’ tent proclaimed that the twins were awake.
2. There were two summer houses at one end of what we called a park.
3. The probability is very great that the Vikings did land on our coast.
4. What made the little silver teapot so alluring was that it held just enough for two.
5. Be careful how you handle my razor.
6. It so happened that one of his neighbors had two very beautiful daughters.
7. I discovered that the world was not created exclusively on my account.
8. Mr. Cobb had a feeling that he was being hurried from peak to peak of a mountain range without time to take a good breath in between.
9. That supply follows demand is a sure rule of political economy.
10. The truth is that my dancing days are over.
11. In choosing words it is to be remembered that there is not a really poor one in any language.
12. Are you aware that Phio has gone to the hospital?
13. On the very day of his inauguration Jefferson took a step toward what he called simplicity, and what his opponents thought vulgarity.