LESSON LXI.
Observe the order of the words in the following sentence:—
The woods tossed their giant branches against a stormy sky.
The logical order of the parts of a sentence is: 1. The subject (with its attributes); 2. The verb; 3. The object (with its attributes) or the complement; 4. The adverbial modifiers.
This order may be changed to secure greater emphasis, clearness or elegance.
A member of a sentence may be given prominence by taking it out of its logical position and placing it first. This causes the arrangement of the other members to be changed and the sentence thus acquires emphasis by the members being placed out of their ordinary positions.
| 1. | The verb may be placed first; as, | |
| Flashed all their sabres bare. | ||
| 2. | The object may be placed first; as, | |
| Knowledge I do not slight. | ||
| 3. | The complement may be placed first; as, | |
| Broad is the way that leadeth to destruction. | ||
| 4. | The adverbial modifier may be placed first; as, | |
| Still in thy right hand carry gentle peace. |
The subject of the sentence may follow the verb:—
1. In interrogative sentences; as, Are you there?
2. In expressing a wish; as, May you succeed.
3. In imperative sentences; as, Seek ye not my face again.
4. In poetry; as,
Then off there flung in smiling joy,
And held himself erect
By just his horse’s mane, a boy.—Browning.
5. In subjunctive clauses without if; as, Had I your advantages I should improve them.
6. In introducing quotations; as, “Pardon!” said the Emperor.
7. In inversion for emphasis; as, Flashed all their sabres bare.
8. When the real subject is a clause, and the representative subject is it; as, It is well known that he received money.
The object may precede the verb that governs it:—
1. When it is an interrogative or relative pronoun; as, Whom did you see? I saw the man whom you want.
2. For emphasis; as, Honor and fame I seek not.
Attributes naturally precede the noun, but they may follow:—
1. When they consist of a phrase or clause; as, I love the song of birds. The book that I found is here.
2. When they consist of two or more adjectives; as, And fast through the midnight dark and drear, the vessel swept.
3. In poetry; as,
See how from far upon the eastern road
The star-led wizards haste with odors sweet!
The adjectives a, an and the always precede the noun. When the noun is qualified by another adjective, these adjectives generally precede it, but they stand between the following adjectives and the noun to which they refer:—
| 1. | Such; as, One cannot admire such a man. | |
| 2. | Many; as, Many a poor man’s son would have lain still. | |
| 3. | Both; as, Both the boys came home. | |
| 4. | All; as, All the girls are in the room. | |
| 5. | What; as, What a trial it was. |
The relative is always the first word in its clause, but when it is governed by a preposition, the preposition generally precedes it; as, I found the knife which you lost. I know the person to whom you refer.
The adverbial modifier, when a phrase, generally follows the verb, or the object if the verb be transitive; as, James fell into the lake. He found an apple on the ground.
The adverbial modifier, when a single word, generally follows an intransitive verb, and either precedes a transitive verb, or follows its object; as, This river flows rapidly. He did his work well.
When there are a number of adverbial modifiers in a sentence, they should be distributed over the sentence; as, At the request of my father, I gladly left my studies, to accompany him.
An adverb may stand in any part of the sentence, but its meaning generally varies with its position, hence the adverb should be placed as near as possible to the word or words it modifies.
Observe the following example:—
| He-only lost his book. | (No one else lost a book.) | |
| He only-lost his book. | (He did nothing else with it.) | |
| He lost only his book. | (He lost nothing else.) | |
| He lost his only book. | (His single book.) |
Certain adverbs and conjunctions are correlative (that is, having a mutual relation) to one another. Be careful to use the proper correlatives; as, He is esteemed not only for his accomplishments, but also for his piety.
The following is a list of correlatives:—
| Adverbs. | Conjunctions. | ||
| not only, | but also, | ||
| not, | but, but only, | ||
| only, | not, | ||
| so, | that, | ||
| so, | as, | ||
| such, | that, | ||
| both, | and, | ||
| as, well, soon, | as, | ||
| neither, | nor, | ||
| either, | or. |
The correlatives must be attached to the corresponding words and phrases; as, They gave me neither money nor shoes. I assisted only in the evening, not in the morning.
The preposition generally stands immediately before the word it governs; as, We live in Toronto.
1. When the noun has attributive adjectives, the preposition precedes the adjective; as, I walked through a beautiful park.
2. When the object of the preposition is a relative, the preposition sometimes stands at the end of the clause; as, My brother owns the building which he lives in, [in which he lives is preferable.]
3. In poetry the preposition often follows its object; as, The heavy night hung dark the hills and waters o’er.
4. When two verbs or adjectives in association are followed by different prepositions, the prepositions must be repeated after each; as, He found him a man whom he agreed with on a few subjects, and differed from on many; or, He found him a man with whom he agreed on a few subjects, from whom he differed on many.