THE ADVERBIAL CLAUSE OF MANNER
=Function.=--A common question in regard to activities is _how?_ This
is oftenest answered by means of an adverb or a prepositional phrase;
as, sew _neatly_, study _diligently_, go _with dispatch_. But it is
to be noticed that these elements tell how in an absolute way with
no reference to a fixed standard, and are capable of many degrees
of interpretation, for people’s notions of neatness, diligence, and
dispatch differ.
Adverbs and prepositional phrases are unsatisfactory in another respect
also;--the manner of an action can seldom be characterized by one term,
so unless we wish to call attention to only one characteristic, we must
employ several terms, or leave the action incompletely described. But
if we use a clause we may tell exactly how an action is performed by
comparing it with some other action familiar and understood, which it
more or less precisely resembles; for example, “Sing out, children, _as
the little thrushes do_.”--_Mrs. Browning._ Here the clause conveys
one clear and definite impression to all who have heard the thrushes
sing, an impression that it would take a whole list of adverbs to
convey, like _sweetly_, _joyfully_, _thrillingly_, _spontaneously_; but
how like a catalogue these sound, and how little they appeal to the
imagination.
Frequently a mental action, an action of the emotions or of the
will, or something else not immediately intelligible, is made clear
by comparing it with something material, something evident to the
senses. In such sentences we find the familiar figure of speech
called _simile_; thus, “Poetry produces an illusion on the eye of
the mind, _as a magic lantern produces an illusion on the eye of the
body_.”--_Macaulay._ Here the clause of manner modifies the entire
predicate of the principal proposition.
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=Introductory Word.=--The ordinary connective of the modal clause is
the subordinating conjunction _as_, though its place is sometimes
taken by _as if_ or _as though_, both of which expressions it is best
to consider one conjunction. In the sentence,
“The maiden paused as if again
_She thought to catch that distant strain_,”
the clause conveys an idea of purpose in the maiden’s pausing as well
as an idea of manner. This clause may be expanded to read _as she would
pause if again she thought to catch that distant strain_, where the
clause of manner contains a clause of condition.
A clause introduced by _as though_ cannot be so expanded. “I will
invest your money _as though it were my own_,” cannot be made to
read--“I will invest your money as I would invest it though it were
my own.” This is proof that the clause has been thought of only as a
clause of manner, and _as though_ as only one connective.
Notice that when a modal clause is introduced by _as if_ or _as
though_, the action or state in the clause is represented not as real
but only as assumed.
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=Position of the Modal Clause.=--The usual position of a clause of
manner is after the predicate it modifies, but sometimes it precedes
the principal proposition and is made emphatic by the adverb _just_,
_even_, or _precisely_, used as a clause modifier; thus, “_Just as
we estimate the importance of a river--not by its length nor by its
breadth, but by the amount of water it contributes to the ocean_--so we
estimate the size of a city by the number of people it contains.”
When the clause is long and comes first, the principal proposition is
often introduced by _so_, a correlative of _as_ in the clause; as in
the example above.
Exercise 11
Select the adverbial clauses of manner, telling what each clause
modifies, and its connective.
1. These poems differ from others as attar of roses differs from
ordinary rose-water.--_Macaulay._
2. The beggars and the wretcheder poor keep themselves warm, I
think, by sultry recollections of summer, as Don Quixote proposed
to subsist upon savory remembrances, during one of his periods of
fast.--_Howells._
3. The stars all seemed brighter than usual, as if the wind blew them
up like burning coals.--_Burroughs._
4. And ever with the years
Waxed this compassionateness of our Lord
Even as a great tree grows from two soft leaves,
To spread its shade afar.--_E. Arnold._
5. And as the piety of Noah could not save the antediluvian empires,
as the faith of Abraham could not convert idolatrous nations, as
the wisdom of Moses could not prevent the sensualism of emancipated
slaves, so the lofty philosophy of Aurelius could not save the empire
which he ruled.--_Lord._
6. The foreign merchants, manufacturers, and artisans fled from her
gates as if the plague were raging within them.--_Motley._
7. The Creole neighbors rushed bareheaded into the middle of
the street, as though there were an earthquake or a chimney on
fire.--_Cable._
8. For, as there is a curiosity about intellectual matters which is
futile and merely a disease, so there is certainly a curiosity which
is, in an intelligent being, natural and laudable.--_M. Arnold._
9. Dislike at first sight is more common than love, as discord is more
common than harmony.--_A. S. Hardy._
10. The will has great though indirect power over the taste, just as
it has over the belief.--_Bagehot._