Part 19
The absolute phrase consists of the noun _Amy_ and the participial phrase _having gone to Vermont_, which have the logical relation of subject and predicate. The base of the participial phrase is the participle _having gone_, etc.
=Exercise.=—Analyze the following sentences:—
1. In one store I would find a catbird moping on a high shelf or in a dark back room; in another a bluebird scared half to death, and dumb in the midst of squawking parrots and singing canaries.
2. In that first battle, Jim ran barking after the very first shell that came screaming over our heads.
3. The island is supplied with the best water imaginable, small streams leaping down from the sides of the hills and running through every valley.
4. The biting cold wind that shrunk our faces and pinched our noses blue only brought a wild-rose bloom to mother’s delicate cheeks.
5. The doings of the people thus suddenly become his neighbors, Bobby studied with all a bird’s curiosity.
6. Coming out into the road on my way home again, I fell in with an old friend.
7. The soldiers were miserably clad, and asked whether we had shoes to sell.
8. It is difficult to describe the left-half’s agony as he picked himself up and went limping back to his place.
9. At daylight, directly ahead of us was the island of Juan Fernandez, rising like a deep blue cloud out of the sea.
10. Long ears twinkling, round eyes softly shining, the rabbits leaped lightly hither and thither, pausing every now and then to touch each other with their sensitive noses, or to pound on the snow with their strong hind legs in mock challenge.
11. In long, graceful leaps, barely touching the fence, the fox went careering up the hill as fleet as the wind.
12. Joel’s long legs began to ache, and seemed stiffening at the thighs and knees.
13. After their supper of milk and oatmeal porridge, the children sat down, waiting and watching, and fancying they heard sounds in the hills.
14. Hearing loud cries of distress coming from the lawn, the gardener rushed across and found the crow lying on his back, his claw tightly gripping the end of one of the wings of a large hawk.
15. We soon found the vireo’s nest, suspended within the angle of two horizontal twigs, and trimmed outwardly with some kind of white silky substance.
16. He lay like a warrior taking his rest.
17. For four miles the pilot must race along a squirming, twisting, plunging thread of water, that leaps ahead like a greyhound, and changes its crookedness somewhat from day to day with wind and tide.
18. For centuries the trees had developed strength to resist the winds when they were clad in all their leaves, or to carry the load of those leaves weighted with raindrops, or to bear the winter snows; but they had no strength that would enable them to be coated thick with ice and then wrenched by angry blasts.
19. The servants having gone to their cabins, the great house was filled with the quiet of a Sunday afternoon.
XCV. ANTICIPATIVE SUBJECT
=368.= We have learned that the pronoun _it_ may be used as an anticipative subject to throw the real subject after the predicate. This real subject may be a noun clause or an infinitive phrase.
It will never be known whether the lady came out of that door or the tiger.
It is a mistake to suppose that the fox cannot be tamed.
=369.= We must not conclude that the word _it_ at the beginning of a sentence is always an anticipative subject. Sometimes it is the real subject, that is, it is a neuter personal pronoun having for its antecedent some term perfectly understood by both speaker and listener; as, “Have you read ‘The Call of the Wild’? _It_ is the story of a dog that reverted.”
=370.= Sometimes _it_ is used for subject with no special word for antecedent; as when we say, “It was blowing great guns.” (See § 252.)
=371.= In the familiar expression, “It is time to get up,” the antecedent of _it_ is the word _now_ or the term _the present moment_.
=372.= _It_ is not the only word used as anticipative subject. Another word is _there_; as in the sentence, “There is snow on the top of Pike’s Peak.” If we ask the question, _What is on the top of Pike’s Peak?_ the sensible answer is not _there_, but _snow_, hence _snow_ is the subject. The word _there_ does not denote place, hence it is not an adverb. It is used merely to fill a gap in a declarative sentence in which the subject has been placed after the verb, for if the gap were not filled and the sentence began with a verb, it would seem to be interrogative. When so used the word _there_ is called an =expletive=, which means a word used to fill up a gap.
=373.= Of course _there_ at the beginning of a sentence is not always an expletive. Sometimes it is an adverb denoting place; as, “There will I build me a nest.”
NOTE.—When _there_ is an adverb we pronounce it distinctly, but when it is an expletive used as anticipative subject, we slur it.
=Summary.=—The word _it_ is often used as an anticipative subject so that the real subject may come after the verb. The word _there_ may be an anticipative subject. It is then called an expletive.
=Exercise.=—Analyze the following sentences. If there is an anticipative subject, state that fact before giving the real subject; thus,—In the sentence, “Once upon a time there were four little rabbits,” the anticipative subject is the expletive _there_; the real subject is _four little rabbits_. The predicate is _were once upon a time_.
1. There would be several insuperable difficulties in adopting the moon as a residence.
2. Every object on the moon would be only one sixth as heavy as the same object on the earth. There a box containing a pound of chocolate bonbons would weigh only two or three ounces.
3. It is a little curious that the effect of a short allowance of food does not show itself in hunger.
4. There never was such a hailstorm in Wisconsin.
5. It is just the right time of the moon for planting sweet peas.
6. There were dances, theatricals, and sleighrides that winter.
7. It would amuse me very much to sing while I am hunting.
8. A cannon that breaks loose from its fastenings on a ship is suddenly transformed into a supernatural beast. It is a monster developed from a machine; it has the weight of an elephant, the agility of a mouse, the obstinacy of the ox; it takes one by surprise, like the surge of the sea; it flashes like lightning; it is deaf as the tomb; it weighs ten thousand pounds, and it bounds like a child’s ball.
9. That day there came our first great snowstorm.
10. There lay the beautiful piece of embroidery that mother had put away so carefully and forgotten so completely.
11. There’s a special providence that watches over idiots, drunken men, and boys.
12. There came to the beach a poor exile of Erin.
13.
It made the children laugh and play, To see a lamb at school.
14. In the reign of King Arthur, and in the county of Cornwall, near to the Land’s End in England, there lived a worthy farmer, who had an only son, named Jack.
15. There the two old dogs sat and talked of the wonderful tenacity of rheumatism that has once settled in a dog’s shoulder.
16. There was one passenger in the coach,—a small, dark-haired person in a glossy buff calico dress.
17. Professor Boyesen describes what he calls the _saeter_, the spring migration of the dairy and dairymaids. It is the great event of the year in all the rural districts.
18. There were three Catherines, two Annes, and a Jane.
19. It is said in Ceylon that the cocoanut, like the magpie and the robin, will flourish only within sound of the human voice.
20. There is always a sad element in the departure of a steamer.
XCVI. ELLIPTICAL SENTENCES
=374.= We have noted several constructions in which there is an ellipsis, or omission of some word or words necessary to the grammatical structure of the sentence.
(1) The subject of an imperative sentence, the pronoun _you_, _thou_, or _ye_ is usually omitted; as, “(_You_) Honor the flag.”
(2) A noun is often omitted after a possessive modifier; as, “Let us go over to Baker’s (_house_) this evening.”
(3) An auxiliary verb is often omitted; as, “Somebody has entered the hall and (_has_) taken my umbrella.”
(4) The predicate is often omitted in a clause of comparison; as, “I am not so tired as you (_are_ or _are tired_).” “He has no better right than I (_have_ or _have right_).”
(5) The relative pronoun _that_ is often omitted in an adjective clause; as, “The ring (_that_) you gave me is too small.”
(6) The subordinate conjunction _that_ is often omitted in a noun clause; as, “You said (_that_) I might take your skates.”
=375.= The elliptical sentence is very common, especially in conversation, where we do not have to depend entirely upon words to convey our meaning, as we have the help of emphasis, tone of voice, and gesture. It follows that in oral language we leave out many words that can easily be supplied by our listeners.
(1) In answering questions, we seldom make complete statements, as,—
What is your name? (_My name is_) Donald.
Whose boy are you? (_I am_) Mr. Hill’s (_boy_).
Where do you live? (_I live_) On Jackson Street.
(2) We often omit a word that has already been expressed in the sentence; as, “Our first maid was an Irish girl; our second (_maid was_) a Norwegian (_girl_).”
(3) In sentences beginning with _no wonder_ or _no matter_ we omit the main verb and the anticipative subject _it_.
“No wonder he died,” means “It is no wonder that he died.”
“No matter what I said,” means “It is no matter what I said.”
(4) Two very common questions are _What of it?_ and _What if I do?_ We may expand the first question thus, “What (_will come_) of it?” and the second thus, “What (_difference will it make_) if I do?”
(5) In adverbial clauses we find many cases of ellipsis, but the words omitted can readily be supplied; as,—
I lived on the south side when (_I was_) a child.
I cut my finger while (_I was_) paring an apple.
She sings as if (_she were singing_) by note.
I will be there if (_it is_) possible.
Though (_we were_) tired and hungry we plodded on.
I will go (_though it_) rain or (_though it_) shine.
=Exercise.=—Analyze the following sentences, supplying the words omitted wherever there is an ellipsis.
1. Wisdom is better than rubies.
2. A song to the oak, the brave old oak!
3. The sun shall not smite thee by day nor the moon by night.
4. She will close the house and go to her son’s.
5. Cæsar had his Brutus; Charles the First his Cromwell.
6. It is more blessed to give than to receive.
7. And then to breakfast with what appetite you have.
8. To-day he puts forth the tender leaves of hope; to-morrow blossoms.
9. Love’s wing moults when caged and captured.
10. He that is slow to anger is better than the mighty, and he that ruleth his spirit than he that taketh a city.
11. Few and short were the prayers we said.
12. All the world’s a stage and all the men and women merely players.
13.
Stone walls do not a prison make, Nor iron bars a cage.
14. Though mild, Calvin was also intolerant.
15.
Happy the man whose wish and care A few paternal acres bound.
16. Drink to me only with thine eyes.
17.
True hope is swift and flies with swallow’s wings, Kings it makes gods and meaner creatures, kings.
18. My true love hath my heart, and I have his.
19.
Lives of great men all remind us We can make our lives sublime.
20. What if the river is too deep for the cattle to ford?
21.
If all the year were playing holidays To sport would be as tedious as to work.
22. My kingdom for a horse!
23.
No matter what the daisies say, I know I’ll be married some fine day.
24. Blessings on thee, little man!
25.
Six white eggs on a bed of hay, Flecked with purple, a pretty sight.
26.
“Lady Moon, Lady Moon, where are you roving?” “Over the sea.”
27. The wind has a language, I would I could learn.
XCVII. REVIEW OF ANALYSIS
=Exercise.=—Analyze the following sentences. These sentences contain examples of the various constructions that have been presented in this book. If there is any doubt as to what part of speech a certain word is, the dictionary will usually enable you to decide. Where an ellipsis occurs, the word or words omitted should be supplied.
1. How the black cat had captured the alert and restless squirrel so quickly was a great mystery to me.
2. If a woman puts on airs with her equals, she probably has something about herself or her family that she is ashamed of.
3. In writing these memoirs I shall yield to the inclination so natural to old men, of talking of themselves and their own actions.
4.
When ye come where I have stepped, Ye will wonder why ye wept.
5. I sought out one of these few, Fred Ouillette, pilot and son of a pilot, an idol in the company’s eyes, a hero to the boys of Montreal, a figure to be stared at always by anxious passengers.
6. Must we conclude that the dignity of a bird depends upon the length of his tail?
7. During these gales, the top of the tableland is enveloped in thick clouds, which the people of the Cape call the Devil’s Table Cloth.
8. The sand-hills were gashed with numberless ravines; and as the sky had suddenly darkened, and a cold gusty wind arisen, the strange shrubs and the dreary hills looked doubly wild and desolate.
9.
Floweret and hope may die, But love with us shall stay.
10. There are three beautiful dandelions out on the terrace.
11.
I hope to see my Pilot face to face When I have crossed the bar.
12. Gray Brother did not come upon the night when I sent him the word.
13. The beasts cannot use me more cruelly than I have been used by my fellow creatures.
14. If I stroked the cat in my pet monkey’s presence, he would get into a paroxysm of rage and make great efforts to bite me.
15.
The spangled heavens, a shining frame, Their great Original proclaim.
16. He was a strange figure, this tattered, long-haired man, with the spear and wallet, and his boots cut down into sandals.
17. Gordon waited long for an opportunity to sing in the choir at old St. George’s.
18. When shall you leave Yarmouth? On the fifteenth, if possible.
19. The captain, whose ideas of hard riding were all derived from trans-Atlantic sources, expressed the utmost amazement at the feats of Sorel, who went leaping ravines, and dashing at full speed up and down the sides of precipitous hills, lashing his horse with the recklessness of a Rocky Mountain rider.
20. The Great American Desert is a land where no man permanently abides; for in certain seasons of the year there is no food either for the hunter or his steed.
21.
One constant element in luck Is genuine, solid, old Teutonic pluck.
22. Did you ever think why a dog’s nose is always wet?
23. One of the most difficult things is to get any wild animal to allow himself to be touched with the human hand.
24. Old Trinity’s steeple probably sways eighteen inches whenever an elevated train passes.
25. Do steeple climbers always work in pairs?
26. The chipmunk had made a well-defined path from his door out through the weeds and dry leaves into the territory where his feeding ground lay.
27. No wonder Eve ate the forbidden fruit.
28. In Bermuda the banana is as omnipresent as the onion.
29. We called the mice Jack, Jill, and Jenny, and they seemed to know their names.
30. Shooting the Lachine Rapids is like taming a particularly fierce lion.
31. Turk slept at night outside his master’s door, and no sentry could be more alert upon his watch than this faithful mastiff, who had apparently only one ambition,—to protect and to accompany his owner.
32. We fancied we could hear the huge bodies of the whales burrowing through the water.
33. At length, finding my life very solitary, I accepted the claw and heart of a rich and respectable green parrot, who offered me a good home and the devotion of a lifetime.
34. Be it ever so humble, there’s no place like home.
35. Presently the doe stepped away, and left her little one lying on a spotted heap of dead leaves and moss.
36. While traveling along the Rhine, we observed that when the German has nothing else to do, he eats and drinks.
37. The Spaniards changed the whole character and habits of the Indians when they brought the horse among them.
38. The fires in the Australian bush are often the work of the natives, to frighten away the white men; and sometimes the work of the shepherds, to make the grass sprout afresh.
39. Near the Pyramids, more wondrous and more awful than all else in the land of Egypt, there sits the lonely Sphinx.
40. The sexton had lived in Stratford for eighty years, and seemed still to consider himself a vigorous man, with the trivial exception that he had nearly lost the use of his legs.
41. What if this were my last day at school?
42. It was something to have seen the dust of Shakespeare.
43. A queen bee will lay two hundred eggs in a few hours, and in the year she will generally have laid twenty or thirty thousand.
44. The ground was carpeted with softest moss, into which the boy’s feet sunk so deep that they were almost covered; and all over the moss were sprinkled little star-shaped pink flowers.
45. The wolf asked little Red Riding Hood whither she was going.
46.
O happy harbor of God’s saints! O sweet and pleasant soil! In thee no sorrow can be found, Nor grief, nor care, nor toil.
47. She fell back upon the floor as if by the stroke of an unseen hand.
48. Whether she was attended by a physician from Canton or from Milton, I was unable to say; but neither the gig with the large allopathic sorrel horse, nor the gig with the homœopathic white mare was ever seen hitched at the gate during the day.
49. No sooner did I open their door than out the little starlings would all fly, and seat themselves on my head and shoulders.
50. Neither eye nor ear revealed him anything.
51. Small leisure have the poor for grief.
52. By a flight of winding stairs we reached a covered balcony, over which a tropical vine wanders at will.
53. Dora heard Marjorie singing, laughing, chatting, as she flashed here and there, helping and hindering in about equal proportions.
54. No matter what honors your ancestors attained, make your own name honorable.
55. As I trod the sounding pavement, there was something intense and thrilling in the idea that the remains of Shakespeare were moldering beneath my feet.
56. The lark, springing up from the reeking bosom of the meadow, towered away into the bright fleecy cloud, pouring forth torrents of melody.
57. I now found myself among noble avenues of oaks and elms, whose vast size bespoke the growth of centuries.
58. The air within the tunnel is somewhat damp, but fresh and agreeably cool, and one can scarcely realize in walking along the light passage, that a river is rolling above his head.
59. No frog egg may hope to develop into a turtle, or a bird, or anything but a frog.
60. I heard my own mountain goats bleating aloft.
61. Everybody knows that the porcupine is ridiculously fastidious in his choice of food.
62.
The daisy, by the shadow that it casts, Protects the lingering dewdrop from the sun.
63. If I choose to work eleven hours a day, what of it?
64. Far below lay the earth, brown, dry, and desolate, from drouth.
65. There was no sleep that long night for the little duck mother Quackalina.
66. One evening, after the ice of a sleet storm had clogged their wings, the pigeons settled on one of the highest buildings they could find, and sat and shivered through the long night.
67. The taking down of a steeple two hundred and thirty-eight feet high, that rises on a closely built city street, is not a simple proceeding.
68.
The legend of Felix is ended, the toiling of Felix is done; The master has paid him his wages, the goal of his journey is won.
69. There we were shown the chair on which the English monarchs have been crowned for several hundred years.
70. Under the seat is the stone brought from the Abbey of Scone, whereon the kings of Scotland were crowned.
71. Sleeping or waking, my thoughts are all of Ireland and of you.
72. Fortunately for us, our two lean, wiry little horses did not object to being used as aquatic animals.
73. Many Russian villages possess a public bath of the most primitive construction, but in some parts of the country the peasants take their vapor bath in the household oven in which the bread is baked!
74. This aptly illustrates a common Russian proverb, which says that what is health to the Russian is death to the German.
75. Scarfs, shawls, stuffs for dresses, morning gowns, and vests, handkerchiefs, sashes, purses, and tobacco bags are heaped in rich profusion.
76. When a man of fourscore, he continued his weekly visits to the schools.
77. His master having been honorably discharged before the close of the war, Jim was left with the regiment in care of Wiggins, the wagoner.
78. No other pigeon is so bold and fearless, so full of bulldog tenacity, so full of royal courage, as the homer.
79. The French carried their imitation of Indians so far that they often disguised themselves to resemble their allies, with paint, feathers, and all.
80. It was sometimes impossible to tell in an attacking party which were French and which were Indians.
81. The sea was dotted everywhere with the heads of seals hurrying to land and begin their share of fighting.
82. Old Marley was as dead as a door-nail.
83.
If eyes were made for seeing, Then beauty is its own excuse for being.
84.
Out on the lawn there arose such a clatter I sprang from my bed to see what was the matter.
85.
There is a pleasure in the pathless woods, There is a rapture on the lonely shore.
86. How I wish that when the Angel comes for me, I might reach out and feel your hand!
GENERAL REVIEW
Exercise 1
(1) The family of the Lambs had long been among the most thriving and popular in the neighborhood; the Miss Lambs were the belles of Little Britain, and everybody was pleased when old Lamb had made money enough to shut up shop, and put his name on a brass plate on his door. (2) In an evil hour, however, one of the Miss Lambs had the honor of being a lady in attendance on the Lady Mayoress, at her great annual ball, on which occasion she wore three towering ostrich feathers on her head. (3) The family never got over it; they were immediately smitten with a passion for high life; set up a one-horse carriage, put a bit of gold lace round the errand-boy’s hat, and have been the talk and detestation of the whole neighborhood ever since. (4) They could no longer be induced to play at Pope-Joan or blindman’s buff; they could endure no dances but quadrilles, which nobody had ever heard of in Little Britain; and they took to reading novels, talking bad French, and playing upon the piano. (5) Their brother, too, who had been articled to an attorney, set up for a dandy and a critic, characters hitherto unknown in these parts; and he confounded the worthy folks exceedingly by talking about Kean, the opera, and the “Edinburgh Review.”
—WASHINGTON IRVING, _Sketch Book_.