72. All creatures joy in the sun's returning.

-BURNS, The Smiling Spring. 73. I have heard a noble earl descant on park and forest scenery with the science and feeling of a painter.-IRVING, Bracebridge Hall.

74. Well, Basil, only to think that we three should meet here prisoners!-JERROLD, Prisoners of War i. 1. 75. Is my apparel sumptuous to behold?

-SHAKESPEARE, 2 Henry VI iv. 7. 106. 76. We must not seem to understand him.—SHAKESPEARE, All's Well iv. 1. 5.

77. I won't stand being talked to by you.-OXENFORD, Twice Killed i. 2.

78. The hour of appointment being now come, Jones was forced to take a hasty leave.-FIELDING, Tom Jones xiii. 10.

79. He was a squeezing, grasping, scraping, clutching, covetous old sinner.-DICKENS, Christmas Carol 1.

80. We come then to that great concourse of the Dead, not merely to know from them what is True, but chiefly to feel with them what is Righteous.-RUSKIN, Sesame and Lilies.

81. You were not to be found, and I was fearful of losing a bargain. -POE, The Cask of Amontillado.

82.

They would dread far more
To be thought ignorant than to be known poor.

-JONSON, The Poetaster i. 1.

83. For wonderful indeed are all his works,

Pleasant to know.-MILTON, Paradise Lost iii. 702-3.

84. Even the blind men's dogs appeared to know him.-DICKENS, Christmas Carol 1.

85. You may think there's no being shot at without a little risk.SHERIDAN, The Rivals v. 3. 28-9.

86. The fair Julia having nearly recovered from the effects of her hawking disaster, it began to be thought high time to appoint a day for the wedding. IRVING, Bracebridge Hall.

87. Talking of subscriptions, here is one

To which your lordship may affix your name.

-KNOWLES, The Hunchback iii. 1. 88. In other hands I have known money to do good.-DICKENS, Martin Chuzzlewit i. 3.

89. I rather choose to travel all night, as cold as it is, wrapped in my furs, than go into the common stores.-MONTGOMERY, Letters. 90. Elsie! The words that thou hast said

Are strange and new for us to hear.-LONGFELLOW, Christus ii. 91. Let not a breath be seen to stir

Around yon grass-grown ruin's height.

-SHELLEY, Queen Mab i. 118-19.

92. I will teach you the trick to prevent your being cheated another time.-SOUTHERNE, Oroonoko v. 1.

93. This ceremony ended, the tribune passed into the banquet hall. -BULWER, Rienzi v. 1.

94. Granting now we should agree,

What is it you expect from me?-BUTLER, Hudibras iii. 1. 537-8. 95. The monk he instantly knew to be the prior.-SCOTT.

96. This small lake was of most value as a neighbor in the intervals of a gentle rain storm in August, when, both air and water being perfectly still, but the sky overcast, mid-afternoon had all the serenity of evening.-THOREAU, Walden.

97.

A softer train

Of mixed emotions, hard to be described,

Her sudden bosom seized.-THOMSON, Summer.

98. Some were heard to curse the shrine

Where others knelt to heaven.-MOORE.

99. There's no greater luxury in the world than being read to sleep. -DICKENS, Martin Chuzzlewit i. 6.

100. The cock's crowing shows also, that day is coming on: let then the crowing of the cock put thee in mind of that last and terrible day of judgment.-BUNYAN, The Pilgrim's Progress.

IOI. I hope she takes me to be flesh and blood.

-MRS. CENTLIVRE, The Wonder iii. 1.

102. I am too young to be your father, Though you are old enough to be

my

heir.

-SHAKESPEARE, Richard II iii. 3. 204-5.

103. All their objections will be found to relate to matters of detail.-MACAULAY, History viii. 5.

104. I have been wronged enough to arm my temper

Against the smooth delusion.-RowE, The Fair Penitent ii. 1.60. 105. What is to become of me?-BULWER, Ernest Maltravers ii. 5. 106. Hark! hark! the lark at heaven's gate sings,

And Phoebus gins arise

His steeds to water at those springs

On chaliced flowers that lies:
And winking Mary-buds begin
To ope their golden eyes:

With everything that pretty is,

My lady sweet, arise!

Arise, arise!-SHAKESPEARE, Cymbeline ii. 3. 21-9.

CHAPTER XX

THE ORDER OF WORDS

THE IMPORTANCE OF THE ORDER OF WORDS

261. The order of words in English is important, because, in the absence of inflection, we depend on it for an indication of the relation of words. At the same time, we have great liberty in word order, as long as we do not obscure the meaning we wish to convey. We often prefer an unusual order, for the sake of emphasizing some part of the sentence; for a part out of place attracts attention to itself. Words may be placed in unusual positions for various other literary effects; as variety, improvement in rhythm, etc. In poetry particularly, an unusual order is often found, and it sometimes makes rather difficult the interpretation of the poet's thought.

A full discussion of this topic here is hardly necessary. A few of the commonest rules of word order, and some of the most frequent exceptions to them are mentioned in this chapter.

THE ORDER OF WORDS IN VARIOUS SENTENCES

262. In the declarative sentence, the regular order is subject, verb, complement.

The man found his horse.

a. The complement may be put first for emphasis, if it expresses the main part of the thought. The order may be reversed, too, to secure better coherence. The subject, in that case, generally follows the verb. See also Section 163g.

1. Silver and gold have I none.-Acts iii. 6.

2. Pretty lads they were.-FIELDING, Joseph Andrews ii. 17. 3. "It is a false conclusion," said Tinto; "I hate it."-SCOTT, Bride i. 4. Thorns and thistles shall the earth bring forth.

5. Me restored he to mine office.

b. An adverb may be put first for emphasis. It generally attracts the verb to the second place, as the word most closely associated with it.

1. Rarely did the wrongs of individuals come to the knowledge of the public.

2. Kindly have you treated me.

263. An interrogative sentence inclines to put the interrogative word, whether pronoun, adjective, or adverb, at the beginning, and to follow it with the verb.

1. What is this Fingal?-MARRYAT, Peter Simple i. 12.

2. Why should not the generosity of our poets be equally interesting to us?-LEWES, Goethe i. 8.

3. Whom shall I expect to find there?

a. An interrogative sentence is frequently made, not by an interrogative word, but by the inversion of subject and predicate. 1. Will nothing move you?-BYRON, Foscari i. 1.

The declarative order may be kept and the sentence may express anxiety or incredulity.

2. They will not banish me again?-BYRON, Foscari i. 1.

b. An interrogative sentence is sometimes made by attaching a question, usually elliptical, to a declarative sentence.

1. You did not find your book, did you [find it]?

2. You can see the sail, can't you [see it]?

264. If the subject of an imperative sentence is expressed at all, it generally follows its verb.

1. Vex not thou the poet's mind.—TENNYSON.

Colloquially the subject is often put first: this sometimes gives the effect of a peremptory command (Section 129b).

2. You do this work.

After the auxiliary do the expression of the subject seems to have no such autocratic force.

3. Don't you tell that.

265. The exclamatory sentence may be introduced by some exclamatory word, and the verb often follows this (Section 179). How are the mighty fallen!-2 Samuel i. 19.

ADVERBS AND PRONOUNS INTRODUCING SUBORDINATE

CLAUSES

266. Substantive clauses regularly place an introductory adverb or indefinite pronoun at the beginning; and adjective clauses place the relative pronoun in the first part of the clause. See examples in Sections 192, 195, 204, 205.

THE ORDER OF MODIFIERS

267. Modifiers go where their relation to the parts they modify is perfectly clear. It should be especially noted that adverbs and adverbial phrases of time and place very often come first in the sentence, such details being of importance; also that the influence of the context is frequently sufficient to transpose the order of words in a sentence; as may also the requirements of rhetorical suspense and emphasis, especially in the periodic

sentence.

1. On the summit of one of the heights of the Odenwald, a wild and romantic tract of Upper Germany, that lies not far from the confluence of the Maine and the Rhine, there stood, many, many years since, the castle of the Baron von Landshort.—IRVING, The SketchBook.

2. One day, in the sick chamber of Father Ephraim, who had been forty years the presiding elder over the Shaker settlement at Goshen, there was an assemblage of several of the chief men of the sect.HAWTHORNE, Twice-Told Tales.

3. She had, moreover, been brought up with great care, under the superintendence of two maiden aunts, who had spent some years of their early life at one of the little German courts, and were skilled in all the branches of knowledge necessary to the education of a fine lady. Under their instructions she became a miracle of accomplishments. By the time she was eighteen she could embroider to admiration, and had worked whole histories of the saints in tapestry, with such strength of expression in their countenances, that they looked like so many souls in purgatory.—IRVING, The Sketch-Book.

Study the position of modifiers in the exercises that follow Chapters III, V, VIII, XV, and XIX, and point out reasons for all unusual or unnatural order.