THE ADVERBIAL CLAUSE OF DEGREE OR COMPARISON
=Function.=--In Chapter XI. we showed that the manner in which an
action is performed is often denoted by an adverbial clause. Now,
it may sometimes be denoted by an adverb, as in the sentence,--He
accumulated his learning _quietly_. But, in order to give force and
point to this adverb, it is frequently accompanied by a clause of
degree bringing in a comparison; thus, “He accumulated his learning _as
quietly as a stout lady accumulates her fat_, by the daily satisfaction
of his appetite.”--_Hamerton._ By comparing the quietness with which
he accumulated learning to the quietness with which a stout lady
accumulates fat, we provide a standard or illustration for the first
thought, and so make it clear and impressive.
We often wish to tell in what degree a certain attribute is possessed.
This may be done by a clause of result, as was seen in Chapter XIV.,
but we may also do it by comparison; for example, “Thou shalt be happy
_as heart can wish_.” Here the degree of happiness thou shalt have is
fixed by saying that it is equal to what thy heart wishes.
Number and amount often cannot be told absolutely but may be told
relatively by means of a comparison; thus, “Mrs. Patten had more
respect for her neighbor Mr. Hackit _than for most people_.”--_George
Eliot._ It would hardly be possible or worth while to tell exactly the
amount of respect that Mrs. Patten had for Mr. Hackit, but it is worth
telling how this respect compared with the respect she had for other
people.
* * * * *
=Classification of Clauses of Degree.=--1. A sentence may assert that
two attributes are _equal_ in degree; as, “They were as timid and
cowardly as they were rebellious.”--_Lord._ Here the degree of their
timidity and cowardice is shown by comparing these qualities with
their rebelliousness, and the two sets of attributes are found to be
equal. The clause in such a sentence is usually introduced by the
subordinating conjunction _as_, and a correlative of this word usually
precedes the word in the principal proposition denoting the idea to
be compared. The first _as_ is an adverb, being an adjunct of either
an adjective or an adverb. It may be omitted, as was shown in the
sentence,--Thou shalt be happy as heart can wish.
A clause denoting equality of degree is sometimes introduced by _as
if_, which may be considered a compound conjunction unless we choose
to supply the ellipsis. In the following sentence from Henry James, “I
found as great a fascination in watching the odd lights and shades of
his character _as if he had been a creature from another planet_,”--we
may supply between _as_ and _if_ the words _I would have found_, thus
obtaining a clause of degree having within it a clause of condition.
If the whole comparison is placed first in the sentence, the principal
proposition is introduced by _so_ followed by the word denoting the
respect in which two ideas are compared; as, “But, as eminently
as Homer is plain, so eminently is the Elizabethan literature in
general, and Chapman in particular, fanciful.”--_Arnold._ The words
_so eminently_ are not necessary for the complete structure of the
sentence, but they add to its clearness.
A statement containing a comparison of equality may be denied by means
of the negative adverb _not_, so that the sentence amounts finally to
an assertion of inequality in degree; thus, “He is not by any means so
wise as he looks.”
2. A sentence may assert that two attributes are _unequal_ in degree;
for example, “The manner of saying things often makes a deeper
impression than the thing that is said (_makes_).”--_Brook._ Here the
impression made by the manner of speaking and the impression made
by the thing spoken are compared and said to be unequal in depth.
The clause in such a sentence is introduced by the subordinating
conjunction _than_, and is always an adjunct of some word in the
comparative degree, or the words _else_, _other_, _otherwise_, or
_rather_, the last being in reality a comparative of the Old English
word _rathe_.
When a statement signifying inequality is denied by some negative word,
the sentence amounts to a statement of equality; thus, “It is not more
certain that Sarah Gamp liked her beer drawn mild than it is that your
Englishman likes his poetry cut short.”--_Birrell._
In clauses of both varieties given above there is often an ellipsis,
the words omitted being those already expressed in the principal
proposition and hence easily supplied. In the sentence, “Mrs. Patten
had more respect for her neighbor Mr. Hackit than for most people,”
when we analyze the clause we must fill it out so as to make it read,
_than she had respect for most people_.
3. The clause of degree may tell not that things _stand_ to each other
in a relation of equality or inequality, but that they vary in the
same proportion; thus, “The deeper the snow, the nearer the rabbit is
brought to the tops of the tender bushes and shrubs.”--_Burroughs._
Here the rabbit’s nearness to the tops of the shrubs is said to vary
with the depth of the snow.
In sentences of this sort, both principal proposition and subordinate
proposition are constructed in the same form, but the principal
proposition may always be ascertained by questioning the sentence; for
example, does the foregoing sentence assert that the depth of snow
varies with the rabbit’s nearness, or that the rabbit’s nearness varies
with the depth of snow? Clearly, the latter. Indeed, it will almost
invariably be found that in a sentence of this kind, especially if it
be addressed to the eye, the second proposition contains the principal
thought.
Sentences of this kind are often much abridged; thus, “The more, the
merrier,” “The sooner, the better.”
Another form of the idiomatic sentence just given is one which makes
use of the connective _in proportion as_; for example, “People dread
to be thought unsafe _in proportion as they get their living by being
thought to be safe_.”--_Bagehot._ This can easily be changed to the
older form,--“The more people get their living by being thought to be
safe, the more do they dread to be thought unsafe.”
NOTE.--_According_ as may be used in place of _in proportion as_, as
in the following sentence,--“The Sonnets are more or less striking
according as the occasions which gave birth to them are more or less
interesting.”--_Macaulay._
Another form of this comparison is one in which the two propositions
are introduced by the prepositional phrases _by as much_ and _by so
much_; for example, “Look at the most vigorous species; _by as much
as it swarms in numbers_, by so much will it tend to increase still
further.”
4. A fourth variety of the clause of degree is found in the following
sentence,--“Night in the tropics, _so far as animal life is concerned_,
is as the day.”--_Drummond._ Here the group of words, _so far as animal
life is concerned_, tells the extent or degree to which night is
like day. It might be separated into the base-word _far_ modified by
the adverb _so_ and the clause _as animal life is concerned_; but it
does not seem to be the author’s purpose to institute any comparison
whatever, hence it is better to consider the whole group of words as
one element denoting degree, and treat _so far as_ as one subordinating
connective.
Sometimes a clause of this kind performs a double duty. It gives the
reason or ground for the main assertion and at the same time makes
that assertion somewhat doubtful; for example, “_As far as I could
observe when the meeting broke up_, they separated without remark on
the sermon.”--_Emerson._ Here the principal statement is based upon the
writer’s observation when the meeting broke up; but he implies that
his main assertion may not be true, for his observation may not have
extended far enough to warrant any certainty in his conclusion.
Exercise 18
Dispose of all clauses of degree in the following sentences.
1. Never did people believe anything more firmly than nine Englishmen
out of ten at the present day believe that our greatness and welfare
are proved by our being so very rich.--_M. Arnold._
2. A shocking bad hat is perhaps as indifferent to Gladstone as a
dirty old cloak was to Socrates.--_Lord._
3. So far as a man thinks, he is free.--_Emerson._
4. No nobler feeling than this of admiration for one higher than
himself dwells in the breast of man.--_Carlyle._
5. The drier the air, and the hotter the air, the greater is the
amount of cloud which can be dissolved in it.--_Tyndall._
6. The heretic was excluded, so far as ecclesiastical dogma could
exclude him, from the pale of humanity, from consecrated earth, and
from eternal salvation.--_Motley._
7. The face of the water in time became a wonderful book--a book that
was a dead language to the uneducated passenger, but which told its
mind to me without reserve, delivering its most cherished secrets as
clearly as if it uttered them with a voice.--_S. L. Clemens._
8. Leave a youth idle; and, the more brave and active and capable he
is by nature, the more he will thirst for some appointed field for
action.--_Ruskin._
9. A long, dark hall stretched before me, extending, as well as I
could judge in the gloom, entirely across the house.--_Page._
10. The trumpet does not more stun you by its loudness, than a whisper
teases you by its provoking inaudibility.--_Lamb._
11. The less a man thinks or knows about his virtues, the better we
like him.--_Emerson._
12. As far as I can make out, the League was founded by an American
millionaire.--_Conan Doyle._
13. In proportion as men know more and think more, they look less at
individuals and more at classes.--_Macaulay._
14. To me the silence of a summer morning is more touching than all
other silences.--_De Quincey._
15. But by as much as Kipling surpasses other poets and novelists
in originality, by so much does he surpass them in methodical
industry.--_Hillis._
Exercise 19
Analyze the following sentences:--
1. He who refuses to embrace a unique opportunity loses the prize as
surely as if he tried and failed.--_Wm. James._
2. If they embroidered dresses or worked tapestries, they also wove
the cloth for their husbands’ coats and made his shirts and knit his
stockings.--_Lord._
3. If I had my way, I would give the same education to the child of
the collier and to the child of the peer.--_Kingsley._
4. Fat as he is, and old as he is, his movements are astonishingly
light and easy.--_Collins._
5. The more we reflect upon this question, the harder it is to
answer.--_Stockton._
6. And no matter how superior you think yourselves, you will not pass
here till you have something of your own to produce.--_Froude._
7. Inglesant remained in prison, and would have thought that he had
been forgotten, but that every few weeks he was sent for by the
Committee and examined.--_Shorthouse._
8. I hardly know anything more strange than that you recognize honesty
in play, and you do not in work.--_Ruskin._
9. Though we believe that the intentions of Cromwell were at first
honest, though we believe that he was driven from the noble course
which he had marked out for himself by the almost irresistible
course of circumstances, though we admire in common with all men of
all parties the ability and energy of his splendid administration,
we are not pleading for arbitrary and lawless power even in his
hands.--_Macaulay._
10. Much would be lost, had Iceland not been burst up from the sea,
not been discovered by the Northmen.--_Carlyle._
11. Clam and worm might be forever undisturbed so far as he was
concerned.--_J. T. Fields._
12. If pride of rank was generated in this fraternity of gentlemen, so
also was scorn of lies and baseness.--_Lord._
13. But I soon found that my lines had fallen in a place where a
vegetable growth had to run the gauntlet of as many foes and trials as
a Christian pilgrim.--_Holmes._
14. The oriole shortens up its nest in proportion as the danger
lessens.--_Burroughs._
15. Suppose I gave you something to eat, would you listen to me
afterward?--_Miss Mulock._
16. Lord Mohun alone among historians, so far as my knowledge goes,
has done fit and full justice to the French Parliaments.--_Higginson._
17. No one is so blind to his own faults as a man who has the habit of
detecting the faults of others.--_Faber._
18. So high as the tree aspires to grow, so high will it find an
atmosphere suited to it.--_Thoreau._
19. And if you emigrate, you will soon find out, if you have eyes
and common-sense, that the vegetable wealth of the world is no more
exhausted than its mineral wealth.--_Kingsley._
20. But music and painting, though they may be exquisite adornments of
life, contain no living force that can develop a weak nation into a
strong one.--_Draper._
Exercise 20
Sentences containing all kinds of dependent propositions.
1. When you feel a true admiration for a teacher, a glow of enthusiasm
for work, a thrill of pleasure at some excellent saying, give it
expression.--_C. W. Eliot._
2. Though his opinions were democratic, his tastes and his
associations were such as harmonize best with monarchy and
aristocracy.--_Macaulay._
3. You tremble when you think of how your sin has outgrown itself, and
is running far, far away where you can never follow it.--_Phillips
Brooks._
4. Broad steps ascended to a terrace broad,
Whereon lay still light from the open door.--_James Thomson._
5. Mankind in the aggregate is always wiser than any single man,
because its experience is derived from a larger range of observation
and experience, and because the springs that feed it drain a wider
region both of time and space.--_Lowell._
6. Whatever is fated, that will take place.--_Emerson._
7. Whenever it is proved that a man broke one of the Ten Commandments,
it is roundly replied that in his day there were only nine.--_Stephen._
8. The market-place and the factory owe much to thinkers, just as the
branches bowing down with ripe fruit owe much to the roots working in
silence and darkness.--_Hillis._
9. I myself must mix with action lest I wither by despair.--_Tennyson._
10. The Lone Wolf must have sprung and missed his hold, for Mowgli
heard the snap of his teeth and then a yelp as the Sambhur knocked him
over with his forefoot.--_Kipling._
11. The poorest and the richest students are equally welcome here,
provided that with their poverty or their wealth they bring capacity,
ambition, and purity.--_C. W. Eliot._
12. In the elder days of art,
Builders wrought with greatest care
Each minute and unseen part;
For the gods see everywhere.--_Longfellow._
13. I have no expectation that any man will read history aright
who thinks that what was done in a remote age by men whose names
have resounded far, has any deeper sense than what he is doing
today.--_Emerson._
14. Wherever men are gathered, all the air
Is charged with human feeling, human thought.
--_James Thomson._
15. I talk half the time to find out my own thoughts, as a schoolboy
turns his pockets inside out to see what is in them.--_Holmes._
16. Let us therefore send for the soothsayers, that they may interpret
this thing unto us.--_Bellamy._
17. Examples would indeed be excellent things, were not people
so modest that none will set, and so vain that none will follow
them.--_Hare._
18. Be the reasons what they may, the influence of generals,
statesmen, and inventors is less deep and abiding than the influence
of those poets who have sung of love and grief, of war and worship,
and of the shepherd-care of God.--_Hillis._
19. The Turk, who believes that his doom is written on the iron leaf
in the moment when he entered the world, rushes on the enemy’s sabre
with undivided will.--_Emerson._
20. Where a man can trust his own heart and those of his friends,
tomorrow is as good as today.--_Stevenson._
21. Have you ever observed that we pay much more attention to a
wise passage when it is quoted than when we read it in the original
author?--_Hamerton._
22. If thou art worn and hard beset
With sorrows, that thou would’st forget,
If thou would’st read a lesson that will keep
Thy heart from fainting and thy soul from sleep,
Go to the woods and hills.--_Longfellow._
23. While, therefore, good nature depends on the physical
organization, and cannot be cultivated by effort; while good humor
depends on circumstances, and is no part of the man himself,--good
temper is something which we can all acquire, if we choose.--_J. F.
Clarke._
24. And what wicked thing have you done, that they should haunt you
so?--_R. H. Dana, Sr._
25. There is no poltroon in the world but can brag about what he would
have done.--_Thackeray._
26. It is the bit of truth in every slander, the hint of likeness in
every caricature, that makes us smart.--_Lowell._
27. No man has learned anything rightly until he knows that every day
is Doomsday.--_Emerson._
28. Calvin, whose life was darkened by disease, had a morbid and
gloomy element in his theology.--_J. F. Clarke._