_and_. The first predicate verb is _fixed_. It is completed by the direct
object _his great hind claws_, and then modified by the prepositional
phrase _in the softer skin of the crocodile’s throat_. The base word
of the object is _claws_; it is modified by the adjectives _hind_ and
_great_, and by the possessive pronoun _his_. The base word of the object
of the preposition _in_ is _skin_. It is modified by the adjectives
_softer_ and _the_, and by the prepositional phrase of _the crocodile’s
throat_. The base word of the object of the preposition _of_ is _throat_;
it is modified by the possessive noun _crocodile’s_, which is modified by
the adjective _the_.
The second predicate verb is _ripped_. It is completed by the direct
object _it_ and the objective complement _open_, and then modified by
the adverbial clause of manner _as one would rip a glove_, which is
introduced by the subordinate conjunction _as_.
The subject of this clause is the adjective pronoun _one_. The predicate
is _would rip a glove_. The predicate verb is _would rip_. It is
completed by the direct object _a glove_.
=Exercise.=—Analyze the following sentences. When you write the analysis
of a sentence, use abbreviations, and instead of writing out a group of
words in full, as is done in the model, write only the first and last
words of the group with a dash between them. Be sure to underline all
words quoted from the sentence.
1.
He looks the whole world in the face,
For he owes not any man.
2. The young lion was growing so fast that the milk of three
goats was scarcely sufficient for him.
3.
When the glorious sun is set,
When the grass with dew is wet,
Then you show your little light.
4. When Charles was studying shorthand, his mother read sermons
to him for an hour every morning, so that he might have
practice in the writing of long words.
5. If you save the pennies, the dollars will take care of
themselves.
6.
Where the purple violet grows,
Where the bubbling water flows,
Where the grass is fresh and fine,
Pretty cow, go there and dine.
7. Tommy, though he was getting a big boy, retained some of the
habits of a baby.
8. I was sitting on the top rail of the front fence, when a
party of gypsies went by on their way to a camp.
9.
The day is done, and the darkness
Falls from the wings of night,
As a feather is wafted downward
From an eagle in his flight.
10. Whenever you see many drones, you will find plenty of young
bees.
11. After the robins have pinched and shaken all the life
out of an earthworm, as Italian cooks pound all the spirit
out of a steak, and then gulped him, they stand up in honest
self-confidence, expand their red waistcoats with a virtuous
air, and outface you with their bold calm eyes.
12. Moti Guj, the elephant, never trampled the life out of his
master Deesa, for, after the beating was over, Deesa would
embrace his trunk, and call him his love and his life and the
liver of his soul, and give him some liquor.
13. If imitation be the sincerest form of flattery, the
mischief of the monkey should be regarded more leniently.
14. I liked dolls well enough, though my assortment was not a
choice one.
15. Her nails were so hard that they would yield to the
scissors only after a day’s soaking in hot soapsuds.
16.
His words were shed softer than leaves from the pine,
And they fell on Sir Launfal as snows on the brine.
LXXV. ADJECTIVE CLAUSES
=295.= We learned in Lesson XX that a dependent clause often has the use
of an adjective, that is, it modifies a noun; as in the sentence, “This
is the house that Jack built.” Such a clause as _that Jack built_ is
called an adjective clause. Why?
=296.= An adjective clause may be used for two different purposes.
(1) It may serve to point out a particular person, place, or thing; as,
“This is the maiden all forlorn that milked the cow with the crumpled
horn.” Here the clause tells what particular maiden is meant. A clause
of this sort is called a =restrictive= clause, because it limits, or
restricts, the application of the word it modifies.
(2) An adjective clause may serve merely to bring in a new thought,
something that is worth telling, of course, but still not necessary to
the truth of the sentence; as, “My father had ten cows, which I had to
escort to and from pasture night and morning.” This clause does not tell
what particular cows my father had, but merely tells an additional fact
about them. Such a clause as this is called an =unrestrictive= clause. It
is set off by a comma.
=297.= A restrictive clause is usually necessary to the truth of a
sentence; as, “A city that is set on a hill cannot be hid,” “A prince
that is a tyrant is unfit to rule.”
To find out whether a clause is restrictive or not, determine first what
word it modifies; then ask yourself the question, Did the author put this
clause into the sentence to point out a particular object?
Could such a term as _The Declaration of Independence_, _my mother’s
father_, _Theodore Roosevelt_, _the planet Mars_, or _Boston_ be modified
by a restrictive adjective clause?
=Summary.=—An =adjective clause= is a dependent clause that modifies a
noun or a pronoun.
A =restrictive= adjective clause is one that points out a particular
person, place, or thing. A restrictive clause is not set off by commas.
An =unrestrictive= adjective clause is one that merely adds a new thought
to the sentence. An unrestrictive clause is set off by a comma.
=Exercise 1.=—Select the adjective clauses. Tell what they modify. Then
find out whether they are restrictive or not, and why.
NOTE.—Always test an adjective clause first to find out whether
it is restrictive. If you decide that it is not restrictive,
then it must be unrestrictive.
1. Charley Marden, whose father had promised to cane him if he
ever set foot on sail or row boat, came down to the wharf in a
sour-grape humor to see us off.
2. A sharp tongue is the only edged tool that grows keener with
constant use.
3. From one corner of St. Paul’s churchyard runs the lively
street called Cheapside, from which John Gilpin started on his
famous ride.
4. The reason why the women and children slept upon the floor
was their fear lest the Indians should fire through the windows
and kill them in their beds.
5. The king whose despotic power was felt over the entire
extent of the cattle range was an old gray wolf.
6. The monks who put peas in their shoes as a penance do not
suffer more than the country boy in his penitential Sunday
shoes.
7. There is a girl in the carriage, who looks out at John, who
is suddenly aware that his trousers are patched on each knee
and in two places behind.
8. He could see the pale and naked trunk of a pine tree, which
the lightning had shattered.
9. The night that was so favorable to the wild rabbits was
favorable also to the fox, the wildcat, and the weasel.
10. The only days that I can remember in Yonkers were hot.
11.
All things that are on earth shall wholly pass away,
Except the love of God, which shall live and last for aye.
12. Sleek, unwieldy porkers were grunting in the repose and
abundance of their pens, whence sallied forth, now and then,
troops of sucking pigs, as if to snuff the air.
=Exercise 2.=—Write sentences containing restrictive adjective clauses
pointing out a certain river, a certain boy, a certain bridge, a certain
house, a certain day.
Write sentences containing unrestrictive clauses that tell something
about the moon, the President of the United States, Salt Lake City, the
Sistine Madonna, the Eiffel Tower.
Write sentences containing adjective clauses introduced by the
conjunctive adverbs _when_, _where_, and _why_. (See Lesson LXVI.) Tell
whether your clauses are restrictive or unrestrictive.
LXXVI. RELATIVE PRONOUNS
=298.= Just as an adverbial clause is joined to what it modifies by a
conjunctive adverb or a subordinate conjunction, so an adjective clause
must be joined to the noun it modifies by some connecting word.
In Lesson LXVI it was shown that this word may be a conjunctive adverb,
as in the sentence, “I can never forget the night when I first heard the
whippoorwill sing.” What is the clause here? What does it modify? How is
it joined to the word that it modifies?
=299.= Most adjective clauses are introduced by some other word than a
conjunctive adverb. In the sentence, “The hand that rocks the cradle
rules the world,” the adjective clause _that rocks the cradle_ is joined
to the noun _hand_, which it modifies, by the word _that_. This word
is used as subject of the verb _rocks_, and really means _hand_. Since
it takes the place of a noun, it is a pronoun; and since this noun, or
antecedent, precedes the pronoun, we say that the pronoun _relates_ to
its antecedent, and we call it a =relative= pronoun.
=300.= The relative pronouns that introduce adjective clauses are _who_,
_which_, and _that_.
_Who_ has three case forms: nominative, _who_; possessive, _whose_;
objective, _whom_.
_Which_ has the possessive form _whose_; _that_ has no possessive form.
_Which_ and _that_ do not change their form for the objective case.
=301.= A relative pronoun always has a use in the adjective clause that
it introduces. This is the same use that the antecedent would have if it
were used in place of the pronoun.
The four common uses are:—
(1) Subject of a verb; as, “He who fights and runs away may live to fight
another day.”
(2) Object of a verb; as, “This is the day that the Lord hath made.”
(3) Object of a preposition; as, “I saw the room in which Shakespeare was
born.”
NOTE.—Sometimes the pronoun comes before the preposition; as,
“The buggy that we rode in was low and light.”
(4) Possessive modifier; as, “Any boy whose memory is good can learn a
history lesson.”
=302.= The relative pronoun _that_ introduces only restrictive adjective
clauses. The pronouns _who_, _whose_, _whom_, and _which_ may introduce
either restrictive or unrestrictive clauses.
=303.= _Who_ has for its antecedent the name of some person; _which_ has
for its antecedent the name of some thing. The antecedent of _that_ may
be the name of a person or a thing.
=304.= The word _but_ may be used as a relative pronoun as a substitute
for the two words _that not_. Instead of saying, “There is no day that
has not an end,” we may say, “There is no day _but_ has an end.” This is
a better sentence than the first because it contains only one negative
word.
=305.= The word _as_ may be used as a relative pronoun following the
words _such_, _same_, or _as many_. We say,—
I like _such_ flowers _as_ you sent me.
Your dress is the _same_ color _as_ mine.
I will take _as many_ apples _as_ will fill this basket.
I want _such_ a chair _as_ you are sitting in now.
In each of the sentences above, what is the use of the relative pronoun
_as_ in the clause that it introduces?
=Summary.=—A =relative pronoun= is one that refers to a preceding noun or
pronoun, and joins to it an adjective clause.
The relative pronouns that introduce adjective clauses are _who_,
_which_, and _that_.
_As_ and _but_ are sometimes used as relative pronouns.
=306.= When we parse a relative pronoun we tell,—
(1) Its antecedent.
(2) What adjective clause it joins to its antecedent.
(3) Its case.
(4) Its use in the adjective clause.
=Exercise 1.=—Parse all the relative pronouns in the following sentences:—
1. In came the six young followers whose hearts the Misses
Fezziwig broke.
2. There were the wide sweeps of forest through which the
winter tempests howled, upon which hung the haze of summer
heat, over which the great shadows of summer clouds traveled.
3. Susie was a well-behaved child, who took care of her clothes
and played quiet games.
4. And now the dandelion is a pest—the same yellow dandelion
with its long, bitter, milky stem that we children sought for
in the shady fence corners to make into spiral curls.
5. Buffers had a small moustache, which he fostered much, and a
cane with which he was not yet very familiar.
6. She bade me good-by as if I were a friend of her family whom
she would gladly meet again.
7. There is only one bird that terrifies the crow, and that is
the owl.
8. Solomon John proposed that they should open the window, a
thing which Agamemnon could easily do with his long arms.
9. There was one lady whose conversation at the best of times
made my mother sleepy.
10. The two men shared those mysterious rites of smoking and
shaving and discussing stocks which occupy men when they are
left to themselves.
11. The turkey cock, who had been born into the world with
spurs, and thought he was a king, puffed himself out like a
ship with full sails, and flew at the duckling.
12. In a few moments Ned arrived at a small open glade in the
middle of the forest, in which, to his horror, he saw a lion
upon the body of a man, whom he seized by the throat, while
Nero stood within a few yards, baying him furiously.
13. He lives longest who does most.
=Exercise 2.=—Analyze the following sentences:—
1.
No time is like the old time when you and I were young,
When the buds of April blossomed, and the birds of spring-time sung.
2.
No place is like the old place, where you and I were born,
Where we lifted first our eyelids on the splendor of the morn.
3. No friend is like the old friend, who has shared our morning
days.
4. At the teachers’ meeting, which she regularly attended with
her mother, Gertrude saw the pale-faced little lady whom the
children called a “Grahamite.”
5. The old broken gate which a gentleman would not tolerate an
hour upon his grounds is a great beauty in the picture which
hangs in his parlor.
6. Often the road passes between lofty walls of solid rock,
from the crevices of which all lovely growths are springing.
7.
Read from some humbler poet,
Whose songs gushed from his heart,
As rain from the clouds in summer,
Or tears from the eyelids start.
8. Michel was a vivacious, lean little Frenchman, who fulfilled
the duties of a chambermaid very adroitly.
9. The first thing that my pet starling imitated was the
rumbling of carts and carriages on the street.
10. In one corner of the fireplace sat a superannuated crony,
whom the sexton called John Ange, and who had been his
companion from childhood.
11. The good ship _Humber_ is taking home a regiment whose term
of service has expired.
12. Madame took for breakfast two fresh eggs, which her two
hens laid for her every morning with the perfect regularity
that is the politeness of all well-bred poultry.
13.
The boy stood on the burning deck,
Whence all but him had fled.
14. Lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither
moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break
through and steal.
15. Sycamore Ridge might have been one of the dreary villages
that dot the wind-swept plain to-day, instead of the bright,
prosperous elm-shaded town that it is.
LXXVII. NOUN CLAUSES
=307.= We have seen that a dependent clause may have the use of an
adverb or of an adjective. It may also have another use, as may be seen
in the sentence, “Whatever Midas touched with his finger immediately
glistened and grew yellow.” If we ask the question, _What glistened
and grew yellow?_ we get the answer, _Whatever Midas touched with his
finger_; hence this group of words must be the subject. But this group is
a clause, for it contains the subject _Midas_ and the verb _touched_. A
clause used as the subject of a predicate is used like a noun, hence we
call it a =noun clause=.
=308.= The noun clause has several other uses of a noun besides that of
subject. It may be,—
(1) Object of a verb; as, “I think that life would be very dull without
meals.”
(2) Subjective complement; as, “The sad part of this tale is that the
trouble was not with poor little Quackalina’s eyes at all.”
(3) In apposition; as, “He had a theory that the big horned owl might be
tamed.” Here the clause explains the noun _theory_ telling exactly what
the theory is. This may seem at first like an adjective clause, but there
is a clear difference. We can make a sentence by putting the verb _is_
between the noun _theory_ and the clause. This shows that the two are
identical, but we cannot do this with the noun _theory_ and an adjective
clause, as in this sentence, “I do not believe in the theory that he sets
forth in his book.”
(4) Object of a preposition; as, “Aladdin’s mother listened with surprise
to what her son told her.” If you ask the question, _listened to what?_
you get the answer, _what her son told her_. Therefore, the group of
words _what her son told her_, which is a dependent proposition, must be
the object of the preposition _to_.
(5) Some adjectives, like _anxious_, _aware_, _careful_, _certain_,
_glad_, _hopeful_, _sorry_, and _sure_, especially when used as
subjective complements, are modified by noun clauses that take the place
of adverbial prepositional phrases. We may say,—
I am sure _of his election_.
I am sure _that he will be elected_.
In the first sentence the adjective _sure_ is modified by the phrase _of
his election_. In the second sentence the adjective _sure_ is modified
by the noun clause _that he will be elected_, which answers the question
_sure of what?_ This may be called the adverbial use of the noun clause.
=309.= Often, when a noun clause is used as subject, it is placed after
the predicate, and the sentence begins with the word _it_; as, “It is
curious that almost every nation on earth has some particular traditions
regarding the dog.” If we ask the question, _what is curious?_ the answer
is not _it_, for that tells nothing, but the clause. The word _it_ is
called an =anticipative subject=, because it comes before the real
subject, and signifies also to the reader that the real subject may be
expected after the predicate.
=310.= The tense of the verb in a noun clause is determined partly by
the meaning of the sentence and partly by the tense of the verb in
the independent clause. What is the meaning of each of the following
sentences, and what is the tense of each verb?
I understand that he builds bridges.
I understand that he will build the bridge.
I understand that he has built the bridge.
I understood that he builds bridges.
I understood that he would build the bridge.
I understood that he had built the bridge.
=Summary.=—A noun clause is a dependent clause having the use of a noun.
The noun clause may be used adverbially to modify certain adjectives.
The word _it_ may be used as an anticipative subject to throw the real
subject, a noun clause, after the verb.
=Exercise 1.=—Select all the noun clauses, and explain the use of each.
1. Just then a shout from the boys’ tent proclaimed that the
twins were awake.
2. There were two summer houses at one end of what we called a
park.
3. The probability is very great that the Vikings did land on
our coast.
4. What made the little silver teapot so alluring was that it
held just enough for two.
5. Be careful how you handle my razor.
6. It so happened that one of his neighbors had two very
beautiful daughters.
7. I discovered that the world was not created exclusively on
my account.
8. Mr. Cobb had a feeling that he was being hurried from peak
to peak of a mountain range without time to take a good breath
in between.
9. That supply follows demand is a sure rule of political
economy.
10. The truth is that my dancing days are over.
11. In choosing words it is to be remembered that there is not
a really poor one in any language.
12. Are you aware that Phio has gone to the hospital?
13. On the very day of his inauguration Jefferson took a step
toward what he called simplicity, and what his opponents
thought vulgarity.
14. I knew that I was born at the North, but I hoped that
nobody in New Orleans would find it out.
15. The Austrian commander noticed this peculiarity about the
firing,—that every shot seemed to come from the same place.
16. That the monkeys had stolen the snuffbox was obvious, for
both of them were seized with convulsions of sneezing.
17. I am glad that you are going to talk on the peace movement.
18. The disadvantage of being a boy is that it does not last
long enough.
19. We are all sorry that some days never come but once.
=Exercise 2.=—Justify the tense of the verb in the noun clause in each of
these sentences—
I know that fever produces thirst.
I knew that tennis is a healthful sport.
I know that the lake will freeze to-night.
I knew that the lake would freeze last night.
I know that my turn comes next.
I knew that my turn came next.
I know that she has heard the news.
I knew that she had heard the news.
LXXVIII. INTRODUCTORY WORDS OF NOUN CLAUSES
=311.= We have learned that adjective clauses and adverbial clauses are
joined to what they modify by some connective. This word also serves to
show that the clause it introduces is not independent but dependent.
The noun clause also is introduced by some connecting word. In the
sentence, “That you have wronged me doth appear in this,” the first word
_that_ could be placed nowhere in the clause except at the beginning, and
it reveals at once that the clause it introduces is dependent.
=312.= The introductory word of a noun clause may be several parts of
speech:
(1) The subordinating conjunctions _if_, _that_, and _whether_.
Go and see _if_ your father is coming home.
I believe _that_ all men are created free and equal.
I do not know _whether_ Mary is a suffragist or a suffragette.
Often the connective _that_ is omitted; as, “You said you were coming
home early,” “David thought Dora was an angel.”
(2) The interrogative pronouns _who_, _whose_, _whom_, _which_, _what_.
Nobody knows _who_ first wrote the story of little Red Riding
Hood.
Can you tell _whose_ picture this is?
We cannot tell _whom_ the baby looks like.
Have you heard _which_ came out ahead?
Tell me _what_ you like, and I will tell you _what_ you are.
In sentences of this sort the interrogative pronoun is not used in a
direct question, but always when a noun clause is introduced by an
interrogative pronoun there is an indirect, or implied question. Make a
direct question out of each of the noun clauses above.
The interrogative pronoun always has a use in the noun clause that it
introduces, just as the relative pronoun has a use in the adjective
clause. What is the use of each interrogative pronoun in the preceding
sentences?
(3) The relative pronoun _what_. This pronoun is always equivalent to the
two words _that which_, and there is no question implied in a noun clause
introduced by this pronoun.
_What_ Martha told me about the will did not surprise me.
Getting dinner is _what_ takes most of my time.
(4) The indefinite pronouns _whoever_, _whichever_, _whatever_, etc.
_Whoever_ came was made welcome.
Take _whichever_ you like.
_Whatever_ is, is right.
What is the use of each noun clause in these sentences? What is the use
in the clause of each indefinite pronoun?
(5) The conjunctive adverbs _when_, _where_, _why_, _how_, _whither_, etc.
Do you know _when_ the steamer sails?
I cannot remember _where_ I put my spectacles.
Can you tell _why_ he never wears a muffler?
I never understood _how_ the purse was returned.
It is strange _how_ the memory clings to some things.
Who knows _whither_ the clouds have fled?
The adverb introducing a noun clause modifies some word within the
clause, usually the verb.
=Summary.=—The noun clause may be introduced by (1) a subordinate
conjunction, (2) an interrogative pronoun, (3) the relative pronoun
_what_, (4) an indefinite pronoun, (5) a conjunctive adverb.
=Exercise.=—Select all the noun clauses, and tell the use of each in the
sentence. Tell the introductory word of each clause, and its use in the
clause.
1. What disgusted them still more was that Bluebeard had
already been married several times, and no one knew what had
become of his wives.
2. Ernest was always ready to believe in whatever seemed
beautiful and good.
3. We asked the boatman why he did not speak Gaelic to his dog
as well as to his family.
4. Whoever has been hypnotized by a book agent will understand
how mother felt about the spectacles that she bought and could
not wear.
5. I wonder if Burbank ever really produced a deodorized onion.
6. Shakespeare’s chair stands in the chimney nook of a small
gloomy chamber, just behind what was his father’s shop.
7. Whatever was iron or brass in other houses was silver or
gold in this.
8. The apothecary listened as calmly as he could to the story
of how Mrs. Peterkin had put salt in her coffee.
9. The lady from Philadelphia asked where the milk was kept.
10. Fortunately, what God expects of us is not _the_ best, but
_our_ best.
11. Why this spot was selected for a mansion was always a
mystery, unless it was that the newcomer desired to isolate
himself completely.