A relative clause, for example, should as a rule follow its antecedent without the intervention of another noun. This rule is more strict than the rule for the placing of adverbial phrases and clauses, and must be observed carefully. Any unusual position of the adjective or adverbial clause emphasises it. EXAMPLES. Incorrect Form. The man of letters can't but love the place which has been inhabited by so many of his brethren, or peopled by their creations, as real to us at this day as the authors whose children they were; and Sir Roger de Coverley is just as lively a figure to me walking in the Temple Garden, and discoursing about the beauties in hoops and patches who are sauntering over the grass, with Mr. Spectator, as old Samuel Johnson with the Scotch gentleman at his heels, on their way to Dr. Goldsmith's chambers in Brick Court rolling through the fog, or Harry Fielding dashing off arti Correct Form. "The man of letters can't but love the place which has been inhabited by so many of his brethren, or peopled by their creations, as real to us at this day as the authors whose children they were; and Sir Roger de Coverley walking in the Temple Garden, and discoursing with Mr. Spectator about the beauties in hoops and patches who are sauntering over the grass, is just as lively a picture to me as old Samuel Johnson rolling through the fog with the Scotch gentleman at his heels on their way to Dr. Goldsmith's chambers in Brick Court, or Harry Fielding with inked ruffles and a cles at midnight for the Covent Garden Journal, while the printer's boy is asleep in the passage with inked ruffles and a wet towel round his head. wet towel round his head, dashing off articles at midnight for the Covent Garden Journal, while the printer's boy is asleep in the passage." Pendennis, The Knights of the Temple. Study carefully the following examples of adverbial and adjective phrases and clauses emphatically placed. 1. "In the ever memorable year of our Lord, 1609, on a Saturday morning, the five-and-twentieth day of March, old style, did that worthy and irrecoverable discoverer (as he has justly been called), Master Henry Hudson, set sail from Holland in a stout vessel called the Half Moon, being employed by the Dutch East India Company, to seek a northwest passage to China." IRVING, Knickerbocker's History of New York. Notice that the adverbial phrase at the beginning of this sentence denotes time, that the adverbial phrase following the verb denotes place, that following it, manner, and the participial phrase at the end, purpose. It is clear that a certain natural order of ideas has here governed the placing of these several modifying phrases. When several adverbial phrases modify one verb, there can be no hard and fast rule for their relative positions. Often a phrase denoting time or place precedes the others, and is emphasised by being placed before the verb and at the beginning of the sentence; the time or place of an incident naturally occurs to the mind first, and is, as a rule, important. This is not always true, however, and in each case the natural order of ideas and their relative importance must decide the relative position of the phrases. 2. "When thou hast assumed these names, - good, modest, true, rational, equal-minded, magnanimous, - take care that thou dost not change these names; and if thou shouldst lose them, quickly return to them. If thou maintainest thyself in possession of these names without desiring that others should call thee by them, thou wilt be another being, and wilt enter on another life. Therefore fix thyself in the possession of these few names: and if thou art able to abide in them, abide as if thou wast removed to the Happy Islands." MARCUS AURELIUS, Meditations. Notice, again, that the first italicised adverbial clause denotes time which must come, or circumstances which must be brought about before the idea expressed in the main clause can become a reality. The remaining italicised clauses denote condition, and, like the temporal clause above, are important because the condition expressed in them must be fulfilled before the main idea of the sentence can become a reality. Since a conditional or temporal clause is often important, it is often emphasised by being placed before the main clause. 3. "Whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely." Apocalypse, xxii. 17. Notice here that the relative clause would naturally follow the "him" to which it is related, and is emphasised by being placed before the main clause. 4. "Yes; the river sleeps along its course and dreams of the sky and of the clustering foliage, amid which fall showers of broken sunlight, imparting specks of vivid cheerfulness, in contrast with the quiet depth of the prevailing tint. Of all this scene, the slumbering river has a dream picture in its bosom." HAWTHORNE, Mosses from an Old Manse, The Old Manse. Notice the emphasis laid on the adjective phrase “of all this scene" by its position at the beginning of the sentence, so far from its noun. Frequently an adjective phrase, or an adverbial phrase, such as "at this time," "in this manner," etc., is emphasised at the beginning of the sentence to mark the connection with what has preceded.1 A clause, too, may be emphasised for the same purpose. LESSON VI. EXERCISE. Point out the natural and the emphatic positions for the phrases and clauses in brackets in the following passages: 1. [In England] the love of freedom itself is hardly stronger [in England] than the love of aristocracy [in England]. 2. [On Sunday mornings] in obedience to a feeling I am not ashamed of [on Sunday mornings] I have always tried [on Sunday mornings] to give a more appropriate character to our conversation. 3. It is impossible to read carefully the great ancients without losing something of our caprice and eccentricity, and [to emulate them] we must [at least] read them [at least] [to emulate them]. 1 See Lesson II., footnote, page 206. 4. [In gay profusion] [on the gentle declivities of the hills] [in gay profusion] [were scattered] the dogwood, the sumach, and the wild brier [were scattered] [on the gentle declivities of the hills] [in gay profusion]. 5. Their mode of life [in peace and war] is described [in peace and war]. 6. [When the sunlight left them last night, and the west wind blew them before it like withered leaves] who saw the dance of the dead clouds [when the sunlight left them last night and the west wind blew them before it]? 7. A host of different forces [without enlightenment and without restraint] were everywhere and incessantly struggling for dominion [without enlightenment and without restraint]. 8. Thus [in the eighth century], he foreshadowed the extension [in the eighth century] which [in the nineteenth] was to be accorded to primary instruction [in the nineteenth], to the advantage and honour, not only of the clergy, but also of the whole people [in the nineteenth]. 9. [Though of a mildly cheerful and entirely amiable disposition], Mary [though of a mildly cheerful and entirely amiable disposition] necessarily touched the household heart with the sadness of her orphanage [though of a mildly cheerful and entirely amiable disposition], and something interrupted its harmony by the difference [which my mother could not help showing] between the feelings with which she regarded her niece and her child [which my mother could not help showing]. |