Coming from a race of day-dreamers, Ayrault had inherited the faculty of dreaming also by night.—Higginson.
This universal frame began.
—Dryden.
(3) Time.
A distrustful, if not a desperate man, did he become from the night of that fearful dream—Hawthorne.
(4) Motive, cause, or reason.
It was from no fault of Nolan's.—Hale.
The young cavaliers, from a desire of seeming valiant, ceased to be merciful.—Bancroft.
Exercise.—Find sentences with three meanings of from.
Of.
323. The original meaning of of was separation or source, like from. The various uses are shown in the following examples:—
I. The From Relation.
(1) Origin or source.
The king holds his authority of the people.—Milton.
Thomas à Becket was born of reputable parents in the city of London.—Hume.
(2) Separation: (a) After certain verbs, such as ease, demand, rob, divest, free, clear, purge, disarm, deprive, relieve, cure, rid, beg, ask, etc.
Two old Indians cleared the spot of brambles, weeds, and grass.—Parkman.
Asked no odds of, acquitted them of, etc.—Aldrich.
(b) After some adjectives,—clear of, free of, wide of, bare of, etc.; especially adjectives and adverbs of direction, as north of, south of, etc.
The hills were bare of trees.—Bayard Taylor.
Back of that tree, he had raised a little Gothic chapel. —Gavarre.
(c) After nouns expressing lack, deprivation, etc.
A singular want of all human relation.—Higginson.
(d) With words expressing distance.
Until he had come within a staff's length of the old dame. —Hawthorne
Within a few yards of the young man's hiding place.—Id.
(3) With expressions of material, especially out of.
White shirt with diamond studs, or breastpin of native gold.—Bancroft.
Sandals, bound with thongs of boar's hide.—Scott
Who formed, out of the most unpromising materials, the finest army that Europe had yet seen.—Macaulay
(4) Expressing cause, reason, motive.
The author died of a fit of apoplexy.—Boswell.
More than one altar was richer of his vows.—Lew Wallace.
"Good for him!" cried Nolan. "I am glad of that."—E. E. Hale.
(5) Expressing agency.
You cannot make a boy know, of his own knowledge, that Cromwell once ruled England.—Huxley.
He is away of his own free will.—Dickens
II. Other Relations expressed by Of.
(6) Partitive, expressing a part of a number or quantity.
Of the Forty, there were only twenty-one members present. —Parton.
He washed out some of the dirt, separating thereby as much of the dust as a ten-cent piece would hold.—Bancroft.
(7) Possessive, standing, with its object, for the possessive, or being used with the possessive case to form the double possessive.
Not even woman's love, and the dignity of a queen, could give shelter from his contumely.—W. E. Channing.
And the mighty secret of the Sierra stood revealed.—Bancroft.
(8) Appositional, which may be in the case of—
(a) Nouns.
Such a book as that of Job.—Froude.
The fair city of Mexico.—Prescott.
The nation of Lilliput.—Swift.
(b) Noun and gerund, being equivalent to an infinitive.
In the vain hope of appeasing the savages.—Cooper.
Few people take the trouble of finding out what democracy really is.—Lowell.
(c) Two nouns, when the first is descriptive of the second.
This crampfish of a Socrates has so bewitched him.—Emerson
A sorry antediluvian makeshift of a building you may think it.—Lamb.
An inexhaustible bottle of a shop.—Aldrich.
(9) Of time. Besides the phrases of old, of late, of a sudden, etc., of is used in the sense of during.
I used often to linger of a morning by the high gate.—Aldrich
I delighted to loll over the quarter railing of a calm day. —Irving.
(10) Of reference, equal to about, concerning, with regard to.
The Turk lay dreaming of the hour.—Halleck.
Boasted of his prowess as a scalp hunter and duelist.—Bancroft.
Sank into reverie of home and boyhood scenes.—Id.
Of is also used as an appendage of certain verbs, such as admit, accept, allow, approve, disapprove, permit, without adding to their meaning. It also accompanies the verbs tire, complain, repent, consist, avail (one's self), and others.
Exercise.—Find sentences with six uses of of.
On, Upon.
324. The general meaning of on is position or direction. On and upon are interchangeable in almost all of their applications, as shown by the sentences below:—
(1) Place: (a) Where.
Cannon were heard close on the left.—Parkman.
Upon their native strand.
—Mrs. Sigourney.
(b) With motion.
It was the battery at Samos firing on the boats.—Parkman.
Thou didst look down upon the naked earth.—Bryant.
(2) Time.
The demonstration of joy or sorrow on reading their letters. —Bancroft.
On Monday evening he sent forward the Indians.—Parkman.
Upon is seldom used to express time.
(3) Reference, equal to about, concerning, etc.
I think that one abstains from writing on the immortality of the soul.—Emerson.
He pronounced a very flattering opinion upon my brother's promise of excellence.—De Quincey.
On my life, you are eighteen, and not a day more.—Aldrich.
Upon my reputation and credit.—Shakespeare
(5) Idiomatic phrases: on fire, on board, on high, on the wing, on the alert, on a sudden, on view, on trial, etc.
Exercise.—Find sentences with three uses of on or upon.
To.
325. Some uses of to are the following:—
(1) Expressing motion: (a) To a place.
Come to the bridal chamber, Death!—Halleck.
Rip had scrambled to one of the highest peaks.—Irving.
(b) Referring to time.
Full of schemes and speculations to the last.—Parton.
Revolutions, whose influence is felt to this hour.—Parkman.
(2) Expressing result.
He usually gave his draft to an aid...to be written over,—often to the loss of vigor.—Benton
To our great delight, Ben Lomond was unshrouded.—B. Taylor
(3) Expressing comparison.
'Tis ten to one you find the girl in tears.
—Aldrich
They are arrant rogues: Cacus was nothing to them.—Bulwer.
Bolingbroke and the wicked Lord Littleton were saints to him.—Webster
(4) Expressing concern, interest.
To the few, it may be genuine poetry.—Bryant.
His brother had died, had ceased to be, to him.—Hale.
Little mattered to them occasional privations—Bancroft.
(5) Equivalent to according to.
Nor, to my taste, does the mere music...of your style fall far below the highest efforts of poetry.—Lang.
We cook the dish to our own appetite.—Goldsmith.
(6) With the infinitive (see Sec. 268).
Exercise.—Find sentences containing three uses of to.
With.
326. With expresses the idea of accompaniment, and hardly any of its applications vary from this general signification.
In Old English, mid meant in company with, while wið meant against: both meanings are included in the modern with.
The following meanings are expressed by with:—
(1) Personal accompaniment.
The advance, with Heyward at its head, had already reached the defile.—Cooper.
For many weeks I had walked with this poor friendless girl.—De Quincey.
(2) Instrumentality.
With my crossbow I shot the albatross.—Coleridge.
Either with the swingle-bar, or with the haunch of our near leader, we had struck the off-wheel of the little gig.—De Quincey.
(3) Cause, reason, motive.
He was wild with delight about Texas.—Hale.
She seemed pleased with the accident.—Howells.
(4) Estimation, opinion.
How can a writer's verses be numerous if with him, as with you, "poetry is not a pursuit, but a pleasure"?—Lang.
It seemed a supreme moment with him.—Howells.
After battling with terrific hurricanes and typhoons on every known sea.—Aldrich.
The quarrel of the sentimentalists is not with life, but with you.—Lang.
(6) The equivalent of notwithstanding, in spite of.
With all his sensibility, he gave millions to the sword.—Channing.
Messala, with all his boldness, felt it unsafe to trifle further.—Wallace
(7) Time.
He expired with these words.—Scott.
With each new mind a new secret of nature transpires.—Emerson.
Exercise.—Find sentences with four uses of with.
HOW TO PARSE PREPOSITIONS.
327. Since a preposition introduces a phrase and shows the relation between two things, it is necessary, first of all, to find the object of the preposition, and then to find what word the prepositional phrase limits. Take this sentence:—
The rule adopted on board the ships on which I have met "the man without a country" was, I think, transmitted from the beginning.—E. E. Hale.
The phrases are (1) on board the ships, (2) on which, (3) without a country, (4) from the beginning. The object of on board is ships; of on, which; of without, country; of from, beginning.
In (1), the phrase answers the question where, and has the office of an adverb in telling where the rule is adopted; hence we say, on board shows the relation between ships and the participle adopted.
In (2), on which modifies the verb have met by telling where: hence on shows the relation between which (standing for ships) and the verb have met.
In (3), without a country modifies man, telling what man, or the verb was understood: hence without shows the relation between country and man, or was. And so on.
The parsing of prepositions means merely telling between what words or word groups they show relation.
Exercises.
(a) Parse the prepositions in these paragraphs:—
1. I remember, before the dwarf left the queen, he followed us one day into those gardens. I must needs show my wit by a silly illusion between him and the trees, which happens to hold in their language as it does in ours. Whereupon, the malicious rogue, watching his opportunity when I was walking under one of them, shook it directly over my head, by which a dozen apples, each of them near as large as a Bristol barrel, came tumbling about my ears; one of them hit me on the back as I chanced to stoop, and knocked me down flat on my face; but I received no other hurt, and the dwarf was pardoned at my desire, because I had given the provocation.—Swift
2. Be that as it will, I found myself suddenly awakened with a violent pull upon the ring, which was fastened at the top of my box for the conveniency of carriage. I felt my box raised very high in the air, and then borne forward with prodigious speed. The first jolt had like to have shaken me out of my hammock. I called out several times, but all to no purpose. I looked towards my windows, and could see nothing but the clouds and the sky. I heard a noise just over my head, like the clapping of wings, and then began to perceive the woeful condition I was in; that some eagle had got the ring of my box in his beak, with an intent to let it fall on a rock: for the sagacity and smell of this bird enabled him to discover his quarry at a great distance, though better concealed than I could be within a two-inch board.—Id.
(b) Give the exact meaning of each italicized preposition in the following sentences:—
1. The guns were cleared of their lumber.
2. They then left for a cruise up the Indian Ocean.
3. I speak these things from a love of justice.
4. To our general surprise, we met the defaulter here.
5. There was no one except a little sunbeam of a sister.
6. The great gathering in the main street was on Sundays, when, after a restful morning, though unbroken by the peal of church bells, the miners gathered from hills and ravines for miles around for marketing.
7. The troops waited in their boats by the edge of a strand.
8. His breeches were of black silk, and his hat was garnished with white and sable plumes.
9. A suppressed but still distinct murmur of approbation ran through the crowd at this generous proposition.
10. They were shriveled and colorless with the cold.
11. On every solemn occasion he was the striking figure, even to the eclipsing of the involuntary object of the ceremony.
12. On all subjects known to man, he favored the world with his opinions.
13. Our horses ran on a sandy margin of the road.
14. The hero of the poem is of a strange land and a strange parentage.
15. He locked his door from mere force of habit.
16. The lady was remarkable for energy and talent.
17. Roland was acknowledged for the successor and heir.
18. For my part, I like to see the passing, in town.
19. A half-dollar was the smallest coin that could be tendered for any service.
20. The mother sank and fell, grasping at the child.
21. The savage army was in war-paint, plumed for battle.
22. He had lived in Paris for the last fifty years.
23. The hill stretched for an immeasurable distance.
24.
He spurred his courser on,
Without stop or stay, down the rocky way
That leads to Brotherstone.
25. With all his learning, Carteret was far from being a pedant.
26. An immense mountain covered with a shining green turf is nothing, in this respect, to one dark and gloomy.
27. Wilt thou die for very weakness?
28. The name of Free Joe strikes humorously upon the ear of memory.
29. The shout I heard was upon the arrival of this engine.
30. He will raise the price, not merely by the amount of the tax.
WORDS THAT NEED WATCHING.
328. If the student has now learned fully that words must be studied in grammar according to their function or use, and not according to form, he will be able to handle some words that are used as several parts of speech. A few are discussed below,—a summary of their treatment in various places as studied heretofore.
THAT.
329. That may be used as follows:
(1) As a demonstrative adjective.
That night was a memorable one.—Stockton.
(2) As an adjective pronoun.
That was a dreadful mistake.—Webster.
That makes the heavens be mute.
—Coleridge.
(4) As an adverb of degree.
That far I hold that the Scriptures teach.—Beecher.
(5) As a conjunction: (a) Of purpose.
Has bounteously lengthened out your lives, that you might behold this joyous day.—Webster.
(b) Of result.
Gates of iron so massy that no man could without the help of engines open or shut them.—Johnson.
(c) Substantive conjunction.
We wish that labor may look up here, and be proud in the midst of its toil.—Webster.
WHAT.
330. (1) Relative pronoun.
That is what I understand by scientific education.—Huxley.
(a) Indefinite relative.
Which be they what they may,
Are yet the fountain light of all our day.
—Wordsworth.
(2) Interrogative pronoun: (a) Direct question.
What would be an English merchant's character after a few such transactions?—Thackeray.
(b) Indirect question.
I have not allowed myself to look beyond the Union, to see what might be hidden.—Webster.
(3) Indefinite pronoun: The saying, "I'll tell you what."
But woe to what thing or person stood in the way.—Emerson.
(a) Indefinite relative adjective.
To say what good of fashion we can, it rests on reality.—Id.
(5) Interrogative adjective: (a) Direct question.
What right have you to infer that this condition was caused by the action of heat?—Agassiz.
(b) Indirect question.
At what rate these materials would be distributed,...it is impossible to determine.—Id.
(6) Exclamatory adjective.
Saint Mary! what a scene is here!—Scott.
(7) Adverb of degree.
If he has [been in America], he knows what good people are to be found there.—Thackeray.
(8) Conjunction, nearly equivalent to partly... partly, or not only...but.
What with the Maltese goats, who go tinkling by to their pasturage; what with the vocal seller of bread in the early morning;...these sounds are only to be heard...in Pera.—S.S. Cox.
(9) As an exclamation.
What, silent still, and silent all!—Byron.
What, Adam Woodcock at court!—Scott.
BUT.
331. (1) Coördinate conjunction: (a) Adversative.
His very attack was never the inspiration of courage, but the result of calculation.—Emerson.
(b) Copulative, after not only.
Then arose not only tears, but piercing cries, on all sides. —Carlyle.
(2) Subordinate conjunction: (a) Result, equivalent to that ... not.
Nor is Nature so hard but she gives me this joy several times.—Emerson.
(b) Substantive, meaning otherwise ... than.
Who knows but, like the dog, it will at length be no longer traceable to its wild original—Thoreau.
(3) Preposition, meaning except.
Now there was nothing to be seen but fires in every direction.—Lamb.
(4) Relative pronoun, after a negative, stands for that ... not, or who ... not.
There is not a man in them but is impelled withal, at all moments, towards order.—Carlyle.
(5) Adverb, meaning only.
The whole twenty years had been to him but as one night.—Irving.
To lead but one measure.—Scott.
AS.
332. (1) Subordinate conjunction: (a) Of time.
Rip beheld a precise counterpart of himself as he went up the mountain.—Irving.
(b) Of manner.
He yearned to our patriot bands.
—Mrs Browning.
(c) Of degree.
Gaze on the empty scene as vacantly
As ocean's moon looks on the moon in heaven.
—Shelley.
I shall see but little of it, as I could neither bear walking nor riding in a carriage.—Franklin.
(e) Introducing an appositive word.
Reverenced as one of the patriarchs of the village.—Irving.
Doing duty as a guard.—Hawthorne.
(2) Relative pronoun, after such, sometimes same.
And was there such a resemblance as the crowd had testified?—Hawthorne.
LIKE.
333. (1) An adjective.
The aforesaid general had been exceedingly like the majestic image.—Hawthorne.
They look, indeed, liker a lion's mane than a Christian man's locks.-SCOTT.
No Emperor, this, like him awhile ago.—Aldrich.
There is no statue like this living man.—Emerson.
That face, like summer ocean's.—Halleck.
In each case, like clearly modifies a noun or pronoun, and is followed by a dative-objective.
(2) A subordinate conjunction of manner. This follows a verb or a verbal, but the verb of the clause introduced by like is regularly omitted. Note the difference between these two uses. In Old English gelic (like) was followed by the dative, and was clearly an adjective. In this second use, like introduces a shortened clause modifying a verb or a verbal, as shown in the following sentences:—
Goodman Brown came into the street of Salem village, staring like a bewildered man.—Hawthorne.
Give Ruskin space enough, and he grows frantic and beats the air like Carlyle.—Higginson.
They conducted themselves much like the crew of a man-of-war. —Parkman.
[The sound] rang in his ears like the iron hoofs of the steeds of Time.—Longfellow.
Stirring it vigorously, like a cook beating eggs.—Aldrich.
If the verb is expressed, like drops out, and as or as if takes its place.
The sturdy English moralist may talk of a Scotch supper as he pleases.—Cass.
Mankind for the first seventy thousand ages ate their meat raw, just as they do in Abyssinia to this day.—Lamb.
I do with my friends as I do with my books.—Emerson.
NOTE.—Very rarely like is found with a verb following, but this is not considered good usage: for example,—
A timid, nervous child, like Martin was.—Mayhew.
Through which they put their heads, like the Gauchos do through their cloaks.—Darwin.
From a well-experienced archer hits the mark.
—Shakespeare.
INTERJECTIONS.
334. Interjections are exclamations used to express emotion, and are not parts of speech in the same sense as the words we have discussed; that is, entering into the structure of a sentence.
Some of these are imitative sounds; as, tut! buzz! etc.
Humph! attempts to express a contemptuous nasal utterance that no letters of our language can really spell.
Other interjections are oh! ah! alas! pshaw! hurrah! etc. But it is to be remembered that almost any word may be used as an exclamation, but it still retains its identity as noun, pronoun, verb, etc.: for example, "Books! lighthouses built on the sea of time [noun];" "Halt! the dust-brown ranks stood fast [verb]," "Up! for shame! [adverb]," "Impossible! it cannot be [adjective]."
PART II.
ANALYSIS OF SENTENCES.
CLASSIFICATION ACCORDING TO FORM.
335. All discourse is made up of sentences: consequently the sentence is the unit with which we must begin. And in order to get a clear and practical idea of the structure of sentences, it is necessary to become expert in analysis; that is, in separating them into their component parts.
A general idea of analysis was needed in our study of the parts of speech,—in determining case, subject and predicate, clauses introduced by conjunctions, etc.
A more thorough and accurate acquaintance with the subject is necessary for two reasons,—not only for a correct understanding of the principles of syntax, but for the study of punctuation and other topics treated in rhetoric.
336. A sentence is the expression of a thought in words.
337. According to the way in which a thought is put before a listener or reader, sentences may be of three kinds:—
(1) Declarative, which puts the thought in the form of a declaration or assertion. This is the most common one.
(2) Interrogative, which puts the thought in a question.
(3) Imperative, which expresses command, entreaty, or request.
Any one of these may be put in the form of an exclamation, but the sentence would still be declarative, interrogative, or imperative; hence, according to form, there are only the three kinds of sentences already named.
Examples of these three kinds are, declarative, "Old year, you must not die!" interrogative, "Hath he not always treasures, always friends?" imperative, "Come to the bridal chamber, Death!"
CLASSIFICATION ACCORDING TO NUMBER OF STATEMENTS.
SIMPLE SENTENCES.
338. But the division of sentences most necessary to analysis is the division, not according to the form in which a thought is put, but according to how many statements there are.
The one we shall consider first is the simple sentence.
339. A simple sentence is one which contains a single statement, question, or command: for example, "The quality of mercy is not strained;" "What wouldst thou do, old man?" "Be thou familiar, but by no means vulgar."
340. Every sentence must contain two parts,—a subject and a predicate.
The predicate of a sentence is a verb or verb phrase which says something about the subject.
In order to get a correct definition of the subject, let us examine two specimen sentences:—
1. But now all is to be changed.
2. A rare old plant is the ivy green.
In the first sentence we find the subject by placing the word what before the predicate,—What is to be changed? Answer, all. Consequently, we say all is the subject of the sentence.
But if we try this with the second sentence, we have some trouble,—What is the ivy green? Answer, a rare old plant. But we cannot help seeing that an assertion is made, not of a rare old plant, but about the ivy green; and the real subject is the latter. Sentences are frequently in this inverted order, especially in poetry; and our definition must be the following, to suit all cases:—
The subject is that which answers the question who or what placed before the predicate, and which at the same time names that of which the predicate says something.
341. In the interrogative sentence, the subject is frequently after the verb. Either the verb is the first word of the sentence, or an interrogative pronoun, adjective, or adverb that asks about the subject. In analyzing such sentences, always reduce them to the order of a statement. Thus,—
(1) "When should this scientific education be commenced?"
(2) "This scientific education should be commenced when?"
(3) "What wouldst thou have a good great man obtain?"
(4) "Thou wouldst have a good great man obtain what?"
In the imperative sentence, the subject (you, thou, or ye) is in most cases omitted, and is to be supplied; as, "[You] behold her single in the field."
Exercise.
Name the subject and the predicate in each of the following sentences:—
1.
Floated midway on the waves.
2. Hence originated their contempt for terrestrial distinctions.
3. Nowhere else on the Mount of Olives is there a view like this.
4. In the sands of Africa and Arabia the camel is a sacred and precious gift.
5. The last of all the Bards was he.
6. Slavery they can have anywhere.
7. Listen, on the other hand, to an ignorant man.
8. What must have been the emotions of the Spaniards!
9. Such was not the effect produced on the sanguine spirit of the general.
10. What a contrast did these children of southern Europe present to the Anglo-Saxon races!
ELEMENTS OF THE SIMPLE SENTENCE.
342. All the elements of the simple sentence are as follows:—
(1) The subject.
(2) The predicate.
(3) The object.
(4) The complements.
(5) Modifiers.
(6) Independent elements.
The subject and predicate have been discussed.
343. The object may be of two kinds:—
(1) The DIRECT OBJECT is that word or expression which answers the question who or what placed after the verb; or the direct object names that toward which the action of the predicate is directed.
It must be remembered that any verbal may have an object; but for the present we speak of the object of the verb, and by object we mean the direct object.
(2) The INDIRECT OBJECT is a noun or its equivalent used as the modifier of a verb or verbal to name the person or thing for whose benefit an action is performed.
Examples of direct and indirect objects are, direct, "She seldom saw her course at a glance;" indirect, "I give thee this to wear at the collar."
344. A complement is a word added to a verb of incomplete predication to complete its meaning.
Notice that a verb of incomplete predication may be of two kinds,—transitive and intransitive.
The transitive verb often requires, in addition to the object, a word to define fully the action that is exerted upon the object; for example, "Ye call me chief." Here the verb call has an object me (if we leave out chief), and means summoned; but chief belongs to the verb, and me here is not the object simply of call, but of call chief, just as if to say, "Ye honor me." This word completing a transitive verb is sometimes called a factitive object, or second object, but it is a true complement.
The fact that this is a complement can be more clearly seen when the verb is in the passive. See sentence 19, in exercise following Sec. 364.