d. In the sentence

1. He is a little taller than I,

the adverbial noun bit or its equivalent is omitted, leaving in the sentence only the article and the adjective that went with it. A similar expression is the concessive phrase in

2. I do not believe it, just the same [=in spite of the evidence].

275. It is ... that emphasizes phrases and clauses. See Kellner, English Syntax, § 282.

1. It is because I am a bachelor that I am miserable.-BULWER, The Lady of Lyons i. 2.

2. It was in the time of Julius Cæsar that the Romans invaded Britain.

3. It is when to-morrow's burden is added to the burden of to-day that the weight is more than we can bear.

4. It is to you that I speak.

Read these four sentences, omitting the italicized words. Observe that the meaning of the sentence is complete without them; that they serve, by their own want of emphasis, to draw attention to the emphatic phrase or clause included between them.

Kellner (§ 282) calls this the use of it is . . . that "to emphasize words, phrases, clauses." The construction can be traced back to Old English, and was doubtless confirmed in Middle English by French usage. (See Fraser and Squair, French Grammar, § 392, 2, note 2.)

The that cannot be regarded as a relative pronoun, because any such interpretation of it will violate the meaning of the sentence. It is best to say, merely, that it is and that are unemphatic words, used to throw into stronger light the emphatic expression comprehended between them.

That is omitted in

5. It is to that Union we owe our safety.-WEBSTER.

AS YET

276. As has so many meanings and constructions that it should be carefully studied in Ñ. E. D. or the Century. Study each definition, fit it carefully into the example given under it, and try to compose a sentence containing the same construction. One confusing construction is its combination with yet, where it seems to have very little significance. As was formerly joined in such a pleonastic man

ner to many other particles. Chaucer says when as, there as, as then, etc. We have kept the combination as yet, where the as has the same pleonastic construction. It serves to introduce the word yet, and the expression seems to mean, as far as the time down to the present is concerned." Compare,

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1. As yet we have had no letter.

2. As for letters, we have had none yet. 3. As for me, I can get along very well.

In none of these sentences is as absolutely essential for the full sense.

COST

277. The N. E. D. has the following to say concerning the verb cost:

"The construction of this verb is idiomatic, and for its analysis it is necessary to go back to Latin. Hoc constitit mihi tribus assibus was literally "This stood (to) me in three asses [Roman coins].' The dative of the person has in English become an indirect object, to being never expressed; the Latin locative (ablative or genitive) of the amount or price became a simple object in French, and remains an adverbial object [= adverbial noun] in English, in being never expressed. Hence a natural tendency to view the noun expressing the price as a simple object, and the verb as transitive. That it is yet really intransitive is shown by the fact that it has no passive with either the price or the indirect object as subject; 'This cost me nothing' cannot be changed into 'Nothing was cost me by this' or 'I was cost nothing by this.' The adverbial adjunct may also be expressed by an adverb, as much, little, more, less, dear(ly) (cf. Latin carius constat [it costs more dearly]).'

Cost, then, is followed by the dative (indirect object) of the person, and by an adverb or an adverbial noun, expressing the measure of value.

1. And woe, but they cost me dear.—LOWELL.

2. This cruelty cost him deerely afterward.--Herbert (1634).

3. The king's violence cost him the support of the clergy.—Green. 4. His eagerness to witness the spectacle cost him his life.-HUXLEY. 5. The construction of their combs costs them [the bees] a great deal of labor.-GOLDSMITH.

6. Such an establishment would cost the state a very small matter. -HUNTER.

7. A bureau cost forty dollars.-G. SMITH.

8. What will it cost him to set up the frame of such a ship?-BARRY. In the sentence

9. It cost me a dollar a yard last week,

cost is followed by an indirect object (me) and by three adverbial nouns: one (dollar) expressing measure of value; one (yard) expressing measure of quantity; and one (week) expressing time.

A similar construction is found with take.

10. It took him twenty years to do that work.

Compare, "That work cost him twenty years of his life."

Without the indirect object the adverbial noun occurs in

II. It took all our money to buy the house; we have none left for furnishing.

The adverbial noun is less definite in meaning in

12. It will take some time to do that.

KIND OF, SORT OF

278. Kind of; sort of. See the N. E. D. under kind, 14 c, d. “A kind of. ; a sort of ; a (person or thing) of a kind; an individual that is, or may be, included in the class in question, though not possessing its full characteristics.

"A kind of gentleman and a gentleman of a kind differ in that the former expresses approach to the type, admitting failure to reach it, while the latter emphasizes the non-typical position of the individual. Hence, a kind of may be used as a saving qualification, as in ‘a kind of knave.'

""The rock .. bent by the pressure so as to form a kind of arch.' -TYNDALL, Glaciers i. ix. 62.

"Kind of (vulgarly Kind o', kind a', kinder, etc.) is used adverbially: in a way, as it were, to some extent. The adverbial use rises out of the adjectival: compare,

"She was a mother of a kind to me.' "She was a kind of mother to me.'

"She kind o' mothered me.'

A COMPARISON OF ACTIVE AND PASSIVE SENTENCES

279. When a sentence is changed from the active to the passive form, the direct object usually becomes the passive subject, and the active subject is put into a phrase of agent.

1a. John struck the ball.

b. The ball was struck by John.

20. They gave me some books.

b. Some books were given me by them.

But in sentences like 2, that is, those containing an indirect object, a different construction is permitted. The indirect object of the active may appear before the passive verb-phrase in the nominative form.

2c. I was given some books by them.

34. They forbade him access to the sacrifices; they refused him the protection of the law.

b. Access to the sacrifices was forbidden him; the protection of the law was refused him.

c. He was forbidden access to the sacrifices; he was refused the protection of the law.-MACAULAY.

The explanation of the idiomatic passive construction of 2c and 3c is historical and may be found in Professor C. Alphonso Smith's Studies in English Syntax, pp. 66-71. The substance of the explanation is given in the following paragraph:

"In Old English He gave me a book appeared in the passive as A book was given me by him, or, in better Old English order, Me (dative) was given a book (subject nominative) by him. The position of dative me in front of the predicate—that is, in the usual position of the subject-led to its being taken for the subject; it was therefore changed to I. The position of book immediately after the predicate-that is, in the usual position of the object-led to its being taken for the object. In such a sentence, then, as I was given a book, it would be best to call I a nominative by position, and book an objective by position." Compare the German, "Mir [dative] ist ein Buch [subject] gegeben worden."

A somewhat different view is expressed by George O. Curme, writing on "The Proper Subject of a Passive Verb," in Modern Language Notes, April, 1913. Professor Curme thinks that the true explanation lies in "the imitation of the double passive construction which in the one word teach had by almost a miracle escaped the destruction which had befallen this double type in every other word of this group: 'Me was taught' and 'I was taught.' From this one verb the double construction slowly spread, but it was limited at first strictly to pronouns, as the dative could not be distinguished from the nominative in nouns. Thus after the analogy of 'Me was taught' and 'I was taught' arose 'Me was told' and 'I was told." Thus the language passed from "He taught me [dative] this [accusative]" to "Me [dative] was taught [told] this [nominative]," and then to "I was taught [told] this [accusative]." In the formative period of this construction (the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries), it had a much more extensive use than it has at present. A dative of interest might appear as the subject. "He was thus ileten blod."-Ancren Riwle (Rule of Nuns), early 13th century. Such expressions, however, have not in general persisted.

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Change the following sentences into regular passive sentences and into idiomatic passive sentences (like 3c above):

4. They offered me this chance.

5. They allowed him food.

6. They denied him speech.
7. They gave the man no rest.

8. He taught me the greatness of our country.

9. They did the old man scant justice.

Change the following sentences into active and when possible into regular passive sentences:

10. I have often been told by my friends that I was too modest. II. I am told by my agent that this house is for sale.

12. He was told to go. (Compare, "He was told the truth"; and see Section 251b.)

13. The men were told to be ready.

14. I was given to understand that.

15. May I be permitted to ask?

16. He was told to leave.

280. The verb ask, which takes two objects in the active (Section 72), when it becomes passive may take either object as its subject, and retain the other object after the passive verb-phrase; or in the passive the object of the person may be preceded by a preposition.

1a. They asked me that question.

b. I was asked that question by them.

c. That question was asked [of] me. 24. They asked him to go.

b. He was asked to go.

3a. They asked him how he could do that.

b. He was asked how he could do that.

When one object of the active ask is a clause or an infinitive, the subject in the corresponding passive sentence is always the object of the person, and the clause or infinitive remains after the passive verbphrase. See examples 2 and 3 above.

281. Group objects after an active verb, composed of an objective case plus a participle or an infinitive (Sections 238b and 251a), when the sentence is changed to the passive form, divide, the accusative becoming the subject of the passive sentence, and the verbal remaining after the verb, as a species of subjective complement (Sections 239, 252).