THE ADVERBIAL CLAUSE OF PLACE
=Function.=--Just as all events occur at some time, so do they also
occur in some place. We have not many adverbs of place in English, and
few of these are very definite; for example, _here_, _there_, _yonder_,
_somewhere_, _anywhere_, _hither_, _thither_, _up_, _down_, _in_. Hence
we usually tell place by means of prepositional phrases, and we have
many prepositions of place, such as _above_, _across_, _along_, _amid_,
_among_, _around_, _at_, _before_, _behind_, _below_, _beneath_,
_beside_, _between_, _beyond_, _in_, _on_, _over_, _up_. The value
of the prepositional phrase denoting place is seen in the following
sentence from Longfellow, which contains three such phrases:
“It stood upon the brink of a little glassy pool whose tranquil bosom
was the image of a quiet and secluded life, and stretched its parental
arms over a rustic bench that had been constructed beneath it for the
accommodation of the foot traveler, or, perchance, some idle dreamer
like myself.”
But the prepositional phrase will not always serve our turn, for
sometimes we wish to denote a certain place by telling what happens
there, and to do this it is usually best to employ a proposition. This
gives rise to the adverbial local clause. In the following sentence
from Lowell,--
“Where today the martyr stands,
On the morrow crouches Judas with the silver in his hands,”
in order to tell the place where Judas crouches, the poet tells what
happens in that place, namely, that it is the place where today the
martyr stands.
* * * * *
=Introductory Word.=--The local clause is introduced by the
subordinating conjunctions of place, _where_, _wherever_, _whence_,
_whither_, _whencesoever_, _whithersoever_. _Whither_ conveys the idea
of action going _toward_ a place, and _whence_ of action proceeding
_from_ a place. These two conjunctions and their compounds as well are
not often used by modern writers.
_Wherever_ means _in any place_; as, “Wherever the Anglo-Saxon race
goes, there law, industry, and safety for life and property are certain
to arise.”--_Dickens._
Just as _when_ in a temporal clause often takes the correlative _then_,
so _where_ or _wherever_ in a local clause is often accompanied by
_there_ in the principal proposition, as in the sentence just quoted.
* * * * *
=Peculiarities of the Local Clause.=--Often a local clause denotes
condition as well as place; for example, “Wherever money is the
principal object of life with either man or nation, it is both got ill
and spent ill.”--_Ruskin._
Sometimes the idea of time exists along with that of place; for
example, “Where one person is really interested by music, twenty are
pleased by good reading.”--_Hart._
The adverbial clause of place is not common, and yet we frequently
meet clauses introduced by _where_, _whence_, etc. Most of these are
adjective clauses, and as such they have two uses, as may be seen in
the following typical sentences:
(1) “Being newly from a land _where everything, morally and materially,
was in good repair_, I rioted sentimentally on the picturesque ruin,
the pleasant discomfort and hopelessness of everything about me
here.”--_Howells._ The clause here is restrictive, used to point out a
certain land, and _where_ is equivalent to _in which_.
(2) “Dr. Livingstone, a Scotchman, spent many years in exploring
Central Africa, _where he finally perished_.”--Here the clause is
equivalent in meaning to an independent proposition, _where_ meaning
_and there_, but nevertheless it has the structure of a dependent
proposition.
Exercise 10
Select local clauses in the following sentences, telling what each
clause modifies, what it denotes, and its connective:
1. We knew that we were standing at a time of high and palmy
prosperity, where he had stood in the hour of utmost peril; that
we saw nothing but liberty and security where he had met the frown
of power; that we were enjoying everything where he had hazarded
everything.--_Webster._
2. Where’er a human heart doth wear
Joy’s myrtle wreath or sorrow’s gyves,
Where’er a human spirit strives
After a life more true and fair,
There is the true man’s birthplace grand.--_Lowell._
3. Descending, I went wandering whither chance might lead, in a still
ecstasy of freedom and enjoyment.--_Brontë._
4. Wheresoever a thinker appeared, there in the thing he thought of
was a contribution, accession, a change or revolution made.--_Carlyle._
5. Where boat conveyance along rivers could not be had,
pack-horses and mules were resorted to for the transportation of
merchandise.--_Draper._
6. Coal is the means of transporting itself whithersoever it is
wanted.--_Emerson._
7. Hendry had a way of resuming the conversation where he had left off
the night before.--_Barrie._
8. He was a soldier of fortune, and had fought wherever the Roman
eagles flew.--_Motley._
9. He discerned her not there where she stood.--_Carlyle._
10. Beginning where it empties itself into the sea, and following it
backwards, we find it from time to time joined by tributaries which
swell its waters.--_Tyndall._
11. Where there is no honest poverty, where education is diffused
and political intelligence is common, it is easy for the mass of the
people to elect a fair legislature.--_Bagehot._
12. Why did we stay here, where there is no shelter and no
anchorage?--_Black._