Higher Lessons in English Part 30

You are now to learn that you can expand it into a clause of +Time+, and say, He arrived _when the clock struck twelve_.

_He stood where I am_. The clause introduced by _where_ expresses +Place+, and is equivalent to the adverb _here_ or to the phrase _in this place_.

_This exercise is as profitable as it is pleasant_. The clause introduced by _as ... as_ modifies _profitable_, telling the +Degree+ of the quality expressed by it.

A clause that does the work of an adverb is an +Adverb Clause+.

a.n.a.lysis.

The +adverb clause+ may express +time+.

1. When pleasure calls, we listen.

we | listen ===|========= | `When ` pleasure | calls ---------|---------- |

+Explanation+.--_When_ modifies both _listen_ and _calls_, denoting that the two acts take place at the same time. It also connects _pleasure calls_, as an adverb modifier, to _listen_. The offices of the conjunctive adverb _when_ may be better understood by expanding it into two phrases thus: We listen _at the time at which_ pleasure calls. _At the time_ modifies _listen_, _at which_ modifies _calls_, and _which_ connects.

The line representing _when_ is made up of three parts to picture these three offices. The part representing _when_ as a modifier of _calls_ is, for convenience, placed above its princ.i.p.al line instead of below it.

2. While Louis XIV. reigned, Europe was at war.

3. When my father and my mother forsake me, then ths Lord will take me up.

Lord | will take | me ======|===================== The | up .. then ` ` `When father ------------' my ' ' ' | forsake | me 'and ----|--------------------- ' / | ' / mother ' / ------------'/ my

+Explanation+.--By changing _then_ into _at the time_, and _when_ into _at which_, the offices of these two words will be clearly seen. For explanation of the line representing _when_, see Lesson 14 and (1) above.

4. Cato, before he durst give himself the fatal stroke, spent the night in reading Plato's "Immortality." [Footnote: Some prefer, in constructions like this, to treat _before_, _ere_, _after_, _till_, _until_, and _since_ as prepositions followed by noun clauses.]

5. Many a year is in its grave since I crossed this restless wave.

[Footnote: See (11), Lesson 38, and foot-note.]

+Explanation+.--_Many_ here modifies _year_, or, rather, _year_ as modified by _a_.

6. Blucher arrived on the field of Waterloo just as Wellington was meeting the last onslaught of Napoleon.

Blucher | arrived ===========|=========== | ------ `as just ` ` Wellington | was meeting | onslaught --------------|----------------------------- |

+Explanation+.--_Just_ may be treated as a modifier of the dependent clause. A closer a.n.a.lysis, however would make it a modifier of _as_. _Just as_=_just at the time at which_. _Just_ here modifies _at the time_. _At the time_ is represented in the diagram by the first element of the _as_ line.

The +adverb clause+ may express +place+.

7. Where the snow falls, there is freedom.

8. Pope skimmed the cream of good sense and expression wherever he could find it.

9. The wind bloweth where it listeth.

The +adverb clause+ may express +degree+.

10. Was.h.i.+ngton was as good as he was great.

+Explanation+.--The adverb clause _as he was great_ modifies the first _as_, which is an adverb modifying _good_. The first _as_, modified by the adverb clause, answers the question, Good to what extent or degree? The second _as_ modifies _great_ and performs the office of a conjunction, and is therefore a conjunctive adverb. Transposing, and expanding _as ... as_ into two phrases, we have, Was.h.i.+ngton was good _in the degree in which_ he was great. See diagram of (3) and of (20).

11. The wiser he grew, the humbler he became. [Footnote: _The_, here, is not the ordinary adjective _the_. It is the Anglo-Saxon demonstrative p.r.o.noun used in an instrumental sense. It is here an adverb. The first _the_ = _by how much_, and modifies _wiser_; the second _the_ = _by so much_, and modifies _humbler_.]

+Explanation+.--The words _the ... the_ are similar in office to _as ...

as_--He became humbler _in that degree in which_ he became wiser.

12. Gold is heavier than iron.

Gold | is heavier =======|============== | ` than ` iron | x x -------|---------------

+Explanation+.--_Heavier_ = _heavy beyond the degree_, and _than_ = _in which_. The sentence = _Gold is heavy beyond the degree in which iron is heavy_. _Is_ and _heavy_ are omitted. Frequently words are omitted after _than_ and _as_. _Than_ modifies _heavy_ (understood) and connects the clause expressing degree to _heavier_, and is therefore a conjunctive adverb.

13. To be right is better than to be president.

+Explanation+.--To be right is better (good in a greater degree) than to be president (would be good).

14. It was so cold that the mercury froze. [Footnote: In this sentence, also in (15) and (17), the dependent clause is sometimes termed a clause of Result or Consequence. Clauses of Result express different logical relations, and cannot always be cla.s.sed under Degree.]

+Explanation+.--The degree of the cold is here shown by the effect it produced. The adverb _so_, modified by the adverb clause _that the mercury froze_, answers the question, Cold to what degree? The sentence = It was cold _to that degree in which_ the mercury froze. _That_, as you see, modifies _froze_ and connects the clauses; it is therefore a conjunctive adverb.

15. It was so cold as to freeze the mercury.

+Explanation+.--It was so cold as to freeze the mercury (would indicate or require).

16. Dying for a principle is a higher degree of virtue than scolding for it.

17. He called so loud that all the hollow deep of h.e.l.l resounded.

18. To preach is easier than to practice.

19. One's breeding shows itself nowhere more than in his religion.

[Footnote: For the use of _he_ instead of the indefinite p.r.o.noun _one_ repeated, see Lesson 124.]

20. The oftener I see it, the better I like it.

I | like | it =====|=========== | ---- better the ... ` ` I | ` see | it ----|--`-------------- ` `The `.....oftener

LESSON 64.

ADVERB CLAUSE-CONTINUED.

+Introductory Hints+.--_He lived as the fool lives_. The adverb clause, introduced by _as_, is a clause of +Manner+, and is equivalent to the adverb _foolishly_ or to the phrase _in a foolish manner_.

_The ground is wet because it has rained_. The adverb clause, introduced by _because_, a.s.signs the +Real Cause+ of the ground's being wet.

_It has rained, for the ground is wet_. The adverb clause, introduced by _for_, does not a.s.sign the cause of the raining, but the cause of our believing that it has rained; it gives the +Evidence+ of what is a.s.serted.

[Footnote: Evidence should be carefully distinguished from Cause. Cause produces an effect; Evidence produces knowledge of an effect.

Clauses of Evidence are sometimes treated as independent.]