Part 16
14. I knew that I was born at the North, but I hoped that nobody in New Orleans would find it out.
15. The Austrian commander noticed this peculiarity about the firing,—that every shot seemed to come from the same place.
16. That the monkeys had stolen the snuffbox was obvious, for both of them were seized with convulsions of sneezing.
17. I am glad that you are going to talk on the peace movement.
18. The disadvantage of being a boy is that it does not last long enough.
19. We are all sorry that some days never come but once.
=Exercise 2.=—Justify the tense of the verb in the noun clause in each of these sentences—
I know that fever produces thirst.
I knew that tennis is a healthful sport.
I know that the lake will freeze to-night.
I knew that the lake would freeze last night.
I know that my turn comes next.
I knew that my turn came next.
I know that she has heard the news.
I knew that she had heard the news.
LXXVIII. INTRODUCTORY WORDS OF NOUN CLAUSES
=311.= We have learned that adjective clauses and adverbial clauses are joined to what they modify by some connective. This word also serves to show that the clause it introduces is not independent but dependent.
The noun clause also is introduced by some connecting word. In the sentence, “That you have wronged me doth appear in this,” the first word _that_ could be placed nowhere in the clause except at the beginning, and it reveals at once that the clause it introduces is dependent.
=312.= The introductory word of a noun clause may be several parts of speech:
(1) The subordinating conjunctions _if_, _that_, and _whether_.
Go and see _if_ your father is coming home.
I believe _that_ all men are created free and equal.
I do not know _whether_ Mary is a suffragist or a suffragette.
Often the connective _that_ is omitted; as, “You said you were coming home early,” “David thought Dora was an angel.”
(2) The interrogative pronouns _who_, _whose_, _whom_, _which_, _what_.
Nobody knows _who_ first wrote the story of little Red Riding Hood.
Can you tell _whose_ picture this is?
We cannot tell _whom_ the baby looks like.
Have you heard _which_ came out ahead?
Tell me _what_ you like, and I will tell you _what_ you are.
In sentences of this sort the interrogative pronoun is not used in a direct question, but always when a noun clause is introduced by an interrogative pronoun there is an indirect, or implied question. Make a direct question out of each of the noun clauses above.
The interrogative pronoun always has a use in the noun clause that it introduces, just as the relative pronoun has a use in the adjective clause. What is the use of each interrogative pronoun in the preceding sentences?
(3) The relative pronoun _what_. This pronoun is always equivalent to the two words _that which_, and there is no question implied in a noun clause introduced by this pronoun.
_What_ Martha told me about the will did not surprise me.
Getting dinner is _what_ takes most of my time.
(4) The indefinite pronouns _whoever_, _whichever_, _whatever_, etc.
_Whoever_ came was made welcome.
Take _whichever_ you like.
_Whatever_ is, is right.
What is the use of each noun clause in these sentences? What is the use in the clause of each indefinite pronoun?
(5) The conjunctive adverbs _when_, _where_, _why_, _how_, _whither_, etc.
Do you know _when_ the steamer sails?
I cannot remember _where_ I put my spectacles.
Can you tell _why_ he never wears a muffler?
I never understood _how_ the purse was returned.
It is strange _how_ the memory clings to some things.
Who knows _whither_ the clouds have fled?
The adverb introducing a noun clause modifies some word within the clause, usually the verb.
=Summary.=—The noun clause may be introduced by (1) a subordinate conjunction, (2) an interrogative pronoun, (3) the relative pronoun _what_, (4) an indefinite pronoun, (5) a conjunctive adverb.
=Exercise.=—Select all the noun clauses, and tell the use of each in the sentence. Tell the introductory word of each clause, and its use in the clause.
1. What disgusted them still more was that Bluebeard had already been married several times, and no one knew what had become of his wives.
2. Ernest was always ready to believe in whatever seemed beautiful and good.
3. We asked the boatman why he did not speak Gaelic to his dog as well as to his family.
4. Whoever has been hypnotized by a book agent will understand how mother felt about the spectacles that she bought and could not wear.
5. I wonder if Burbank ever really produced a deodorized onion.
6. Shakespeare’s chair stands in the chimney nook of a small gloomy chamber, just behind what was his father’s shop.
7. Whatever was iron or brass in other houses was silver or gold in this.
8. The apothecary listened as calmly as he could to the story of how Mrs. Peterkin had put salt in her coffee.
9. The lady from Philadelphia asked where the milk was kept.
10. Fortunately, what God expects of us is not _the_ best, but _our_ best.
11. Why this spot was selected for a mansion was always a mystery, unless it was that the newcomer desired to isolate himself completely.
12. Whether the Indians were not early risers, or whether they were away just then on a warpath I couldn’t determine.
13. What passes for laziness in a boy is very often an unwillingness to farm in a particular way.
14. The direction of a man’s life follows the unseen influence of what he admires and loves and believes in.
15. Her only noteworthy achievement was that she had named her twin sons Marquis de Lafayette Randall and Lorenzo de Medici Randall.
16. I wonder who could describe those wonderful coral gardens on which we gazed through twenty fathoms of crystal water.
LXXIX. REVIEW OF CLAUSES
=313.= We have learned that clauses may be independent or dependent; that dependent clauses may be used like nouns, adjectives, or adverbs; that adjective clauses may be restrictive or unrestrictive; that adverbial clauses may denote various circumstances, such as time, place, manner, etc.; that dependent clauses are introduced by some word that indicates their dependence.
=Exercise 1.=—Study again Lessons XVIII, XX, LXVI-LXXVIII, and then make an outline of the subject, Clauses, having for your main topics,—
(1) Classification.
(2) Introductory word.
(3) Use.
Make a good original sentence to illustrate each point.
=Exercise 2.=—Analyze the following sentences:—
1. Though Diana looked very old, she looked exactly the same during all the years in which I knew her; and Aunt Maria, who had known her all her life, said that she had never looked any younger.
2. The only difference between the sisters was that while Miranda only wondered how they could endure Rebecca, Jane had flashes of inspiration in which she wondered how Rebecca would endure them.
3. Whether the pigeons dropped exhausted on some ship and were helped across the ocean, or whether some storm at sea swept them away forever, no one ever knew.
4. Did mother know who brought the scarlet-runner seeds from Whittier’s birthplace?
5. I never quite understood why a girl who climbed trees, clung to the tail end of carts, and otherwise deported herself as a well-conditioned girl should not, was called a tomboy.
6. The boy remembers how his mother’s anxiety was divided between the set of his turn-over collar, the parting of his hair, and his memory of the Sunday-school verses.
7. Most people think that the best thing they can give to a caged bird is his liberty.
8. The horrible thought came coldly over me that the tiger was keeping me company until a good chance offered for a spring.
9. Possibly the reason why monkeys have been so little on the stage is that their appearance there would emphasize too strongly the striking similarity between man and monkey.
10. An elephant who will not work and is not tied up is about as manageable as an eighty-one ton gun in a heavy seaway.
11. Nothing cleverer than was Moufflou had ever walked upon four legs.
12. The truth is that boys have always been so plenty that they are not half appreciated.
13. The professor was so pleased with his witticism that I was let off without even a scolding.
14. Those Indian nations who still preserve their ancient mode of life, have dogs which bear a strong resemblance to wolves.
15. The partridge remembered the time when the chickadees had seemed such big, important creatures.
Criticize the use of _between_ in sentence 6.
LXXX. REVIEW OF PRONOUNS
=314.= We have learned that pronouns may be classified as follows:—
(1) Personal pronouns.
(2) Compound personal pronouns.
(3) Interrogative pronouns.
(4) Adjective pronouns.
(5) Relative pronouns.
(6) Indefinite pronouns.
=Exercise 1.=—Study again Lessons V, XXXIX-XLIII, XLVIII, LXXVI, LXXVIII, and then be prepared to explain each class of pronoun, and to tell the various uses of each class. Illustrate each point with an original sentence or with one that you yourself have found in some book.
=Exercise 2.=—Parse all the pronouns in the following sentences. If there is anything peculiar in the use of any pronoun, comment upon it. (See pp. 100, 106, 108, 122, 197.)
1. What was the Great Stone Face?
2. To make a quarrel needs, indeed, two; but to make peace needs only one.
3. When the swarm comes out, it consists of both old and young bees, and, indeed, some say that the old queen leads them, and the young one takes her vacant throne.
4. We could easily surmise who the Halloween rascals were, but what was the terrifying apparatus they applied to our window panes we could not imagine.
5. All of this is mine and thine.
6. Attracted by the smell either of the newly killed waterbuck or of ourselves, the hungry lions were storming our position.
7. Oh, give me my lowly thatched cottage again.
8. The interior of St. Paul’s is just what one would expect after viewing the outside. A maze of grand arches on every side encompasses the dome, which you gaze up at as at the sky; and from every pillar and wall look down the marble forms of the dead.
9. By the wholesome law of the prairie, he who falls asleep on guard is condemned to walk all day.
10.
Who has sight so keen and strong That it can follow the flight of song?
11. The schoolhouse was a high brick building, and the yard itself was made of brick.
12. The Eskimo dogs are of great use to their masters in discovering by the scent the winter retreats which the bears make under the snow.
13. The Taj Mahal is a Mohammedan tomb, the tomb of the favorite wife of an Indian Mogul. It is her tomb, and also his own, for he lies beside her, and it was built in compliance with a request of hers before she died.
14. I procured a bowl of soup from the steward, but as I was not able to eat it, I gave it to an old man whose hungry look and wistful eyes convinced me it would not be lost on him.
15.
What’s a fair or noble face If the mind ignoble be?
16.
Keep fresh the grass on Wordsworth’s grave, O Rotha, with thy living wave! Sing him thy best! for few or none Hears thy voice right, now he is gone.
LXXXI. INFINITIVES
=315.= Look at the following sentences:—
Dare _to be_ true.
It is high time _to go_.
The bishop seemed _to have talked_ with angels.
You ought _to have been paying_ attention.
We have here certain verb forms,—_to be_, _to go_, _to have talked_, _to have been paying_,—which are very familiar to all of us, but which we have not yet studied. They are not forms of the indicative, subjunctive, or imperative mode, nor are they like any of the verb phrases that we have examined. They all begin with the word _to_, and they contain two, three, or four words, the last of which is the important one. We call these groups of words =infinitives=.
=316.= An intransitive verb has four infinitives, two of them denoting a present action, hence called =present infinitives=; and the other two denoting an action already completed, hence called =perfect infinitives=.
The four infinitives of the intransitive verb _laugh_ are these:—
PRESENT PERFECT
to laugh to have laughed to be laughing to have been laughing
Which two of these infinitives belong to the progressive conjugation?
=317.= Transitive verbs have six infinitives. The infinitives of the transitive verb _eat_ are these:—
PRESENT PERFECT
_Active_ to eat to have eaten _Active Progressive_ to be eating to have been eating _Passive_ to be eaten to have eaten
=318.= The infinitives above are called =infinitives with _to_=, because they begin with the word _to_. This word is not used as a preposition, but merely as a sort of handle, or introduction, to the infinitive.
=319.= Besides the infinitive with _to_ there is another form called the =infinitive in _-ing_=. The infinitives in _-ing_ of the verb _eat_ are these:—
PRESENT PERFECT
_Active_ eating having eaten _Active Progressive_ having been eating _Passive_ being eaten having been eaten
What are the infinitives in _-ing_ of the verb _laugh_? Which two forms does it lack?
Find the infinitives in _-ing_ in these sentences:—
He was fined for losing his temper.
“Being a Boy” is the title of a book.
He was vexed at having misspelled so many words.
=320.= All infinitives are forms of verbs, but they cannot be predicate verbs because they do not assert. They are spoken of as =verbals=.
=321.= A verbal is used in a sentence like some part of speech,—a noun, an adjective, or an adverb. The infinitive is most frequently used like a noun. The infinitive in _-ing_ is very much like a noun in another respect too,—it _names_ the action or state that the predicate verb _asserts_. If we should ask for the name of any action that we saw a person performing, the answer would be an infinitive in _-ing_; as, _reaping_, _mowing_, _plowing_, _driving_.
=322.= The infinitive in _-ing_ is so much like a noun that it can be modified by a possessive noun or pronoun. We say, “_Your_ winning the victory depends on your keeping cool.” “The farmer’s chagrin was due to his _hay’s_ having spoiled.” Explain the use of all the possessives in these sentences.
NOTE.—The infinitive in _-ing_ is often called a =gerund=.
=323.= The infinitive may take the same complements and modifiers that any other form of the same verb might take. The infinitive, together with all the words associated with it, makes an =infinitive phrase=. The base word of an infinitive phrase is always an infinitive. What are the infinitive phrases in all the illustrative sentences in this lesson?
=Summary.=—A =verbal= is a verb form that denotes action or being without asserting it.
A verbal is used in a sentence as a noun, an adjective, or an adverb.
An =infinitive= is a verbal that is generally used as a noun.
There are two classes of infinitives,—the infinitive with _to_, and the infinitive in _-ing_.
The infinitive has two tenses,—present and perfect.
The infinitive may be active or passive or progressive.
An =infinitive phrase= is a group of words consisting of an infinitive together with its complement and modifiers.
=Exercise 1.=—Write all the infinitives of the verbs _be_, _bring_, _come_, _find_, _freeze_, _go_, _leave_, _seem_, _taste_, _turn_.
=Exercise 2.=—Select all the infinitive phrases in the following sentences. Tell the voice and tense of each infinitive.
MODEL—_It is hard to teach an old dog new tricks._ _To teach an old dog new tricks_ is an infinitive phrase. _To teach_ is the present active infinitive of the transitive verb _teach_.
1. Am I to give a reason for all I choose to do?
2. The cherry pie seemed to have been left in the refrigerator for that hungry young pair.
3. Driving between these long lines of dainty-flowering and sweet-smelling rows of hedges is very delightful.
4. All the lines of pain smoothed out of her brow, and she seemed to be peacefully sleeping.
5. The lights had been extinguished, the buoys removed, and the whole coast seemed to have gone back hundreds of years.
6. Your having given me the opera glasses is no reason that you have a right to borrow them continually.
7. Any child should know that a hot stove is a thing to be avoided, but I did not seem to realize the fact.
8. The boy would like to have thrown a stone at the wagon.
9. Did you mind being reproved by your mother for sitting up so late?
10. It was already past the appointed hour for Mr. Cobb and his coach to be lumbering down the street.
11. From her having been staying at the Antlers the entire season, I should judge her to be wealthy.
12. Scrooge was not a man to be frightened by echoes.
13. There’s no use in making two bites of a cherry.
14. The fact of the letter’s having been opened was evident, but it could not be proved against the mail carrier.
Tell the part of speech and use of _your_, sentence 6, _her_ 11, _letter’s_ 14.
LXXXII. INFINITIVES AS SUBJECTS OR COMPLEMENTS
=324.= If we wish to make an assertion about a person, a place, or an object, we use a noun for the base word of our subject; but if we wish to make an assertion about an action, we use an infinitive or an infinitive phrase for subject; as, “Just to breathe the air and feel one’s self alive was enough,” “Going after the cows was a serious thing in my day.”
=325.= We have seen that a noun clause used as subject may be thrown to the end of the sentence by means of the anticipative subject _it_; as, “It is a good thing _that somebody likes to cook_.” In the same way an infinitive phrase used as subject may come after the predicate; as, “It pleased the jackal to see Mother and Father Wolf look uncomfortable.” Recast this sentence, omitting _it_.
=326.= The infinitive phrase is often used as the object of a verb. Not all transitive verbs, however, can be completed by infinitives—only those which can take for an object the name of an action or a condition; as, “The cloud began to sink softly down to the earth,” “After a struggle Bess gave up using two lumps of sugar in her coffee.”
Why cannot the verbs _break_, _bring_, _buy_, _cut_, _eat_, and _plow_ take infinitives for objects?
=327.= The infinitive is used as a subjective complement of an intransitive verb in two ways that differ slightly; as, “The hunter’s first impulse was to laugh at his own folly,” “No trees of any magnitude were to be seen.”
In the first sentence the infinitive phrase, _to laugh at his own folly_, completes the verb _was_ and explains just what the impulse was, hence it denotes identity with the subject. Its use is precisely like that of the word _dime_ in the sentence, “My ‘lucky penny’ is a silver _dime_,” hence we say that it is used like a noun.
In the second sentence it is clear that the infinitive _to be seen_ completes the verb _were_ and tells something about the subject, hence it must be a subjective complement. But instead of being used like a noun to denote identity with the subject, it is equivalent to the adjective _visible_, hence may be said to be used like an adjective.
=Summary.=—The infinitive phrase may be the subject of a verb, the object of a verb, or a subjective complement.
By means of the anticipative subject _it_, the real subject, an infinitive phrase, may be placed at the end of the sentence.
As subjective complement the infinitive phrase may have the use of a noun or of an adjective.
=Exercise.=—Tell the grammatical use of all infinitive phrases in these sentences, and classify all infinitives:—
1. Mowgli said that he never wished to see, or hear, or smell man again.
2. That which most resembles living one’s life over again is recalling all the circumstances of it and recording them in writing.
3. To fit out a fleet, and to levy and equip an army, and to continue the forces thus raised in action during a long and uncertain campaign would cost a large sum of money.
4.
When the days begin to lengthen, Then the cold begins to strengthen.
5. It is delightful to look upon the charming country which springs up under a watering-pot sky.
6. One of the best things in farm life is gathering the chestnuts, hickory nuts, butternuts, and beechnuts.
7. Speaking of Latin reminds me that I once taught my cows Latin.
8. The quaint, picturesque old town seems to bristle with forts.
9. When I wanted to hit a mark, my usual way was to aim at something else.
10. The one idea in Mowgli’s head was to get Messua and her husband out of the trap.
11. This boy was so forward in domestic arts that he undertook sewing on the machine when he was only five years old.
12. It is bad manners to find fault with your food at the table.
13. To climb a tree and shake it, to club it, to strip it of its fruit, and pass to the next, is the sport of a brief time.
14. One of Jakie’s amusements was dancing across the back of a tall chair, taking funny little steps, coming down hard, jouncing his body, and whistling as loud as he could.
15. The Englishman learned to fight from behind a tree, to follow a trail, and to cover his body with hemlock boughs for disguise.
16. It exactly suits the temperament of a real boy to be very busy about nothing.
17. Trotting on city pavements is very hard on the dray horses.
18. The reward of a good sentence is to have written it.
Tell the part of speech and use of _that_ and _which_ in sentence 2, _sum_ 3, _then_ 4, _years_ 11. What is the object of _from_ in sentence 15? Think of similar expressions.
LXXXIII. INFINITIVES AS MODIFIERS OF NOUNS
=328.= The infinitive phrase is often a modifier of a noun, and may be used either like an adjective or like an appositive.
In the sentence, “Ulf still had a name to win,” what noun does the infinitive modify? How do you know?
In the sentence, “The mayor gave the order to close the skating rink,” the infinitive phrase _to close the skating rink_ modifies the noun _order_ by telling exactly what the order was; hence we must say that it is in apposition with _order_.
=329.= The infinitive in _-ing_ is not used as an adjective modifier of a noun except in some compound words like these: _rolling-pin_, _laughingstock_, _meetinghouse_, _drawing-room_.
=330.= Often the infinitive in _-ing_ is used in apposition, as in the sentence, “Her household tasks, keeping the bedrooms tidy and caring for the canary birds, left her little time for music practice.”
=Summary.=—The infinitive phrase may modify a noun either as an adjective or as an appositive.
=Exercise.=—Select all the infinitive phrases, and explain the use of each. Classify also each infinitive, as in the preceding exercise.
1.
Is this a time to be cloudy and sad When our Mother Nature laughs around?
2. As the Cloud became larger, this wish to do something for the people of earth was ever greater in her heart.