CLAUSES OF PURPOSE AND RESULT
The preceding chapter treated of clauses bearing the relation of cause
to the principal proposition and denoting something true or operative
before the thought in the principal proposition was true or operative.
We have now to consider clauses which are the reverse of causal
clauses, namely, _final_ clauses. These denote something that is true
or will be true after what is stated in the principal proposition is
true. In other words, they denote an end or a consequence realized or
to be realized as a result or outcome of the statement in the principal
proposition. According to their relation to the principal proposition,
they may be classified as clauses of _purpose_ and clauses of _result_.
* * * * *
=1. The Clause of Purpose.=--The purpose clause denotes an intended
consequence, which is to follow from the action or condition expressed
in the principal proposition; as, “If natural death seemed to be coming
on, they would cut wounds in their flesh, _that Odin might receive them
as warriors slain_.”--_Carlyle._ This sentence shows that the clause of
purpose answers the question _what for?_ and is put into a sentence to
explain or justify the act in the principal proposition.
It is evident that, since a clause of purpose denotes an intended
consequence of an act or condition, that act or condition must be
performed or brought about by some being capable of forming an
intention, hence the principal proposition states something, either
directly or indirectly, about a voluntary act, usually the act of a
human being. This is oftenest stated directly, as in the example above;
but occasionally we find such sentences as the following,--“The door
of Scrooge’s counting-house was open _that he might keep his eye upon
his clerk_.”--_Dickens._ Here the clause by no means denotes the door’s
purpose in being open, but Scrooge’s purpose in keeping it open.
The clause of purpose may be introduced by the conjunctions _that_,
_so that_, _in order that_. The negative purpose clause is introduced
by _lest_ (= _that not_); as, “We must both speak low _lest she should
waken_.”--_Brontë._
The clause of purpose is seldom met, not because the purpose of an
act is seldom told, but because it can usually be told more briefly
by means of the infinitive; thus, “Garrisons were established in the
larger cities _to keep down revolt and to enforce the payment of
tribute_.”
* * * * *
=2. The Clause of Result.=--This denotes not an intention but the
consequence of the act or condition expressed in the principal
proposition; as, “The kingly power among the Jews was checked and
hedged by other powers, _so that an overgrown tyranny was difficult and
unusual_.”--_Lord._
The clause of result is often employed to tell the degree of some
quality or attribute, as in the sentence,--“Washington was so rigidly
punctual _that when Hamilton, his secretary, pleaded a slow watch as an
excuse for being five minutes late, he replied, ‘Then, sir, either you
must get a new watch or I must get a new secretary.’_” Here the clause
tells how punctual Washington was, but it does this by telling a result
of his punctuality. Notice that in the first example the clause may be
said to modify the verbs in the principal proposition, _was checked_
and _was hedged_, but in the second sentence it modifies the verb and
its complement, _was so rigidly punctual_.
The clause of result is introduced by _that_, _so that_, or, if both
principal proposition and clause are negative, by _but_ or _but
that_. These connectives except _so that_ are usually associated with
the correlative _so_ or _such_ in the principal proposition. This
correlative modifies an adjective or an adverb, and serves as a hint
that a clause of result is to follow. As an example of a negative
clause of result, we have the following sentence,--“The long, warm days
of summer never return _but they bring with them a gloom_.”--_Lamb._
Exercise 14
Dispose of all final clauses in the following sentences.
1. The oak chooses the horizontal direction for its limbs so that
their whole weight may tell,--and then stretches them out fifty
or sixty feet so that the strain may be mighty enough to be worth
resisting.--_Holmes._
2. High forest-clad hills rose on every side, enclosing the river, so
that its only method of escape was through deep rifts cut into their
slopes.--_Bolles._
3. Every pot made by any human potter or brazier had a hole in its
cover, to let off the enemy, lest he should lift pot and roof, and
carry the house away.--_Emerson._
4. Leonardo da Vinci would walk the whole length of Milan
that he might alter a single tint in his picture of the Last
Supper.--_Trevelyan._
5. Is the old Grecian spirit frozen in your veins, that you do
crouch and cower like a belabored hound beneath his master’s
lash?--_Kellogg._
6. I find myself so much like other people that I often wonder at the
coincidence.--_Holmes._
7. He wished the other examinations over, that his own might come
on.--_Shorthouse._
8. The two young Cratchits crammed spoons into their mouths
lest they should shriek for goose before their turn came to be
helped.--_Dickens._
9. Even to this day they never hear a thunderstorm of a summer
afternoon about the Kaatskill, but they say Hendrick Hudson and his
crew are at their game of ninepins.--_Irving._
10. She had pushed her bonnet entirely off, so that it hung by the
strings at the back of her neck.--_J. L. Allen._
11. And even Scrooge was not so dreadfully cut up by the sad event
but that he was an excellent man of business on the very day of the
funeral, and solemnized it with an undoubted bargain.--_Dickens._
12. The new Ranee hated the seven poor Princesses, and wanted to get
them, if possible, out of the way, in order that her daughter might
have all their riches.--_Old Deccan Days._
Exercise 15
Analyze the following sentences:
These lofty trees
Wave not less proudly that their ancestors
Moulder beneath them.--_Bryant._
2. Dante shows us the punishment of sins against God and one’s
neighbor in order that we may shun them and so escape the doom that
awaits them in the other world.--_Lowell._
3. A man cannot bury his meanings so deep in his books but time and
like-minded men will find them.--_Emerson._
4. Among people who submit to great physical suffering that they may
have themselves handsomely tattooed, extremes of temperature are borne
with but little attempt at mitigation.--_Spencer._
5. He is not tempted to levity or impatience, for he does not see the
joke and is thick-skinned to present evils.--_Bagehot._
6. We should naturally think that excitement and pleasure and
knowledge would make people happy, since they stimulate the
intellectual powers.--_Lord._
7. Then she dropped her head quickly, so that her own face remained
hidden, and silently plied her work.--_J. L. Allen._
8. Their visit was not wholly unexpected, for his house, which fronted
the street, was strongly barricaded, the wicket gate of the prison
was closed up, and at no loop hole or grating was any person to be
seen.--_Dickens._
9. The larger trees he had girdled and killed in order that their
foliage should not cast a shade.--_Wm. James._
10. The Watsons were doubtless rich people, for they had the
confidence of conscious wealth in their bearing.--_Brontë._
11. There are actually districts in Africa where _three_ natives
cannot be sent on a message in case two should combine and sell the
third before they return.--_Drummond._
12. Here was one who never resisted any temptation, never had a desire
but he coddled and pampered it.--_Thackeray._
13. A man cannot speak but he judges himself.--_Emerson._
14. For every bucket of water that ye bring to us, that we may pour
it into the tank, which is the Market, behold! we will give you a
penny.--_Bellamy._
15. A ruined man staggers down to ruin because there was not wisdom
enough in him.--_Carlyle._
16. Be clean, for the strength of the hunter is known by the gloss of
his hide.--_Kipling._
17. He only meant to walk up and down her street, so that she might
see him from the window, and know that this splendid thing was
he.--_Barrie._
18. If we wore prints, instead of summer silks, it was because we
preferred a washing material.--_Mrs. Gaskell._