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A negative clause of degree and result is introduced by but (=that... not).

7. He cannot do this so well but the merit will be recognized.

8. Nothing so very hard but I could bear it.

-RowE, The Fair Penitent i. 1. 357.

9. No knight in Cumberland so good
But William may count with him kin and blood.

-SCOTT, Last Minstrel iv. 26.

EXERCISE

The subordinate clauses in the following sentences express more than one modification of the main clause. Explain them.

1. I was so much struck with this extraordinary narrative that I have written it out.-IRVING, Bracebridge Hall.

2. The roads which led to the secluded town were so bad that few travellers had ever visited it.-MACAULAY, Essays v. 91.

3. They were all amazed, insomuch that they questioned among themselves.-Mark i. 27.

4. And they shall fall when none pursueth.-Leviticus xxvi. 36. 5. Mr. Pinch . . was particularly struck by the itinerant cutlery insomuch that he purchased a pocket-knife with seven blades in it.-DICKENS, Martin Chuzzlewit i. 5.

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6. Such has been the perplexing ingenuity of commentators that it is difficult to extricate the truth from the web of conjectures.— IRVING, Columbus i. 1.

7. When they will not give a doit to relieve a lame beggar, they will lay out ten to see a dead Indian.-SHAKESPEARE, The Tempest ii. 2. 33-5.

8. The remaining eight-and-twenty vociferate to that degree, that a pack of wolves would be music to them.-DICKENS, Pictures from Italy.

9. I was not so young when my father died but that I perfectly remember him.-BYRON.

10. It is never well to put ungenerous constructions, when others, equally plausible, and more honorable, are ready.-LEWES.

II. Now that her father was gone, she clung to her brother. 12. You might be sure, when you saw that book in his hand, that he was happy.

13. A man cannot bury his meanings so deep in books but time and like-minded men will find them.-EMERSON.

14. Even when they fail they are entitled to praise.—MACAULAY. 15. When you feel a true admiration for a friend, give it expres

sion.

16. Where a man can trust his own heart and those of his friends, to-morrow is as good as to-day.-EMERSON.

17. When faith is lost, when honor dies,

The man is dead.-WHITTIER.

18. The pains are no sooner over than they are forgotten.-ROGERS, Italy.

19. If I fed the tramp, my door was haunted by the brotherhood for a month after.

20. We so arranged our work that we had plenty of leisure for reading.

21.

Now I think on thee,

My hunger's gone.-SHAKESPEARE, Cymbeline iii. 6. 15-16. 22. The minds of men were now in such a temper that every public act excited discontent.-MACAULAY, History of England i. 48. 23. This is so great a favor that I am sure I don't know how to receive it or thank you enough.

24. The strings are swept with such a power so loud

The storm of music shakes th' astonished crowd.-CowPER. 25. Our psychology is in so chaotic a condition that I dare not employ its language, lest it mislead.-LEWES, Goethe i. 65. 26. Breathes there the man with soul so dead,

Who never to himself hath said,

This is my own, my native land!-SCOTT, Last Minstrel vi. 1. NOTE.-Change the who-clause in sentence 26 to one of result and degree, and compare the meaning.

222. Occasionally sentences are so inverted in form that the main clause contains the subordinate notion, and the clause dependent in form contains the main thought of the sentence.

NOTE. A similar inversion occurs in Latin. See Allen and Greenough, Latin Grammar, § 325b.

1. Scarcely was the artillery got into position when a rapid fire was opened on it from the shore. (Compare, "A fire was opened as soon as the artillery was in position.")

2. The discomforts of travel are no sooner over than they are forgotten. (Compare, "They are forgotten as soon as they are over.") 3. Hardly had he finished speaking when the stranger entered.

4. He was taking his umbrella from the rack when his wife came up to him and began to speak.

SUBORDINATE PARENTHETICAL CLAUSES

223. A parenthetical or absolute clause sometimes assumes the form of a dependent clause. What form has the absolute clause in each of the following sentences? Observe that in

some of them as is a relative pronoun (which), sometimes with a group of words (often the sentence proper) for its antecedent, and that the clause then has the adjective form (see Section 195).

1. As far as I am concerned, I do not believe the report in the paper. This emphasizes the fact that the statement in the main clause applies strictly to the speaker; it is nearly equivalent to an emphatic I, subject of do. As far as serves to introduce the clause. It is a phrase made up like the connectives in Section 218; the modifying force of far is no longer felt.

2. As I had expected, I found them very destitute.
3. By foul play, as thou say'st, were we heav'd thence.

-SHAKESPEARE, The Tempest i. 2. 62. 4. Sir Everard's reception in this family was, as it may be easily conceived, sufficiently favourable.-SCOTT, Waverley ii.

5. Your father was only a sleeping partner, as the commercial phrase goes.-SCOTT, Rob Roy i.

6. As far as they could judge by ken,

Three hours would bring to Teviot's strand

Three thousand armèd Englishmen.-SCOTT.

7. He is, as far as we recollect, the only great author who illustrated his own works.-BROWN, Thackeray.

8. Such of my readers as may not be familiar with Scottish history (though the manner in which it has of late been woven with captivating fiction has made it a universal study), may be curious to learn something of the subsequent history of James.

9. This was, as his critics say, a great mistake.

10. It was, as has been said, a rich nation.

11. Their friends or enemies, as the case might be, were always on hand.

NOTE 1.-As in sentence II seems to have indefinite force.

12. If I had been present, as I was not, this would not have happened.

13. A kind of intimacy, as we have said, grew up between these two cultivated minds.-HAWTHORNE, The Scarlet Letter ix.

14. This was, as far as I could see, his only chance.

15. We rode on small donkeys, or "jacks," as they are called.

NOTE 2. For as it were see N. E. D. as 9c. The idiom is there explained as a parenthetical clause, used to indicate "that a word or statement is perhaps not formally exact though practically right”: “as if it were so, if one might so put it."

The messenger, and as it were the forerunner of springe.-E. K. in SPENSER'S Shepherd's Calendar, March 11, Glossary.

CHAPTER XV

COMPLEX SENTENCES-CONTRACTIONS AND

ELLIPSES

NOTE. For a discussion of the essential nature of the sentence, and of combinations of words essentially, but not formally, sentences, see Strong, Logeman, and Wheeler, History of Language, Chapter VI, "The Fundamental Facts of Syntax," and Chapter XVIII, "Economy of Expression."

ELLIPSES

224. Our effort to speak and write concisely (Section 235) leads us to omit clauses or parts of clauses from a sentence, when the meaning is quite clear without them. Such ellipses must be supplied before we can explain the sentence grammatically. A few of the simpler ones have already been spoken of in connection with the regular clauses, and those found particularly in exclamatory sentences have been treated in Chapter X. Others, more complicated or difficult to fill out, will be mentioned in this chapter. See also Smith, Studies in English Syntax, Chapter II.

ELLIPSES IN CLAUSES OF DEGREE

225. Our idiom requires omission, in a clause of degree or comparison, of words present in the main clause.

1. You are not as tall as I [am tall].

2. Beauty's tears are lovelier than her smile [is lovely].

-CAMPBELL.

Make grammatically complete the examples given for practice in Sections 218 and 219.

In some cases the words are not formally present in the main clause, but the sense is readily gathered from the general context. Suppose that a shy young man says to his friend, "I think I won't go on the excursion to-morrow; there will be such a crowd"; and the friend replies,

3a. "The more, the merrier."

We know very well that the friend means,

36. The more of us there are, the merrier we shall be.

With "The more haste, the less speed" compare the Latin quò magis eo minus. See Section 164.

A number of examples of various ellipses in clauses of degree follow.

4. I do not understand this as clearly as [it] might be wished [that I should understand it clearly].

5. This is not so universally the case at present as [it was] formerly [universally the case].

6. This is not as clear as [it] might be thought [clear] at first. 7. They will conclude him to be weak as well as [they will conclude him to be] bad.

8. I could hear as well there [as I could hear anywhere else]. 9. [As] Quick as thought [is quick], he started.

10. I can do this as well as [I can] not [do it].

11. This way would be as well [as the other is well].

12. Some men have heart, and some have as good [="little"]

as none [is good].

13. They were imprisoned as fast as [they were] captured.

14. You may as well come [as you may not come].

15. He did not seem as desirous of obtaining information as [he seemed desirous] of provoking discussion.

16. It is as cold as [the] usual [temperature is cold].

17. She is as bright as [she] ever [was bright].

18. He worked as fast as [it was] possible [for him to work].

19. I will come as soon as [it is] possible [for me to come].

20. These hopes are mine as much as [they are] theirs.

21. I get vexed with her; and she gets just as impatient with me [as I get vexed with her].

22. This is as much as to say [would be much] that you were not there.

23. My errand is not so much to buy as [my errand is] to borrow. 24. An idler is a watch that wants both hands, [which is] as useless if it goes as [it is useless] when it stands still.

25. It is colder than [the] usual [weather is cold].

26. In no other way has he shown kindness than [he has shown it] by going away.

27. He was more polite than [it] was usual in that neighborhood [for people to be polite].

28. He had more sympathy than [the amount of sympathy was that] he expressed.

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