CHAPTER XXIV
THE APPOSITIVE PHRASE
Function.—As a means of avoiding a predication, perhaps no other sentence-element is oftener employed than the appositive phrase; as, “They have the genius for hard work—the most desirable kind of genius.” The appositive is a very loosely joined adjunct, but its position in the sentence and the frequency of its use make its relation easily intelligible.
The appositive phrase comes about in this way. The sentence quoted above really amounts to two independent propositions; namely, They have the genius for hard work, and, The genius for hard work is the most desirable kind of genius. These propositions joined into a closely built sentence with proper subordination might read thus,—They have the genius for hard work, which is the most desirable kind of genius. Here we have an unrestrictive adjective clause.
The important part of this clause, the only part that adds anything new to the sentence, is the complement, the most desirable kind of genius. The subject which merely represents a previous word, and the verb is is only a link between the subject and its attribute, the complement. These two words help in the grammatical structure of the proposition, but since they are easily supplied by a reader, they may just as well be omitted, as in fact is often the case. This brings the really important words into a position next to what they explain or describe, but without any relation-words between them. A group of words so used is called an appositive phrase. The base-word of the phrase, usually a noun, is called a noun in apposition.
In general the appositive is not a necessary element of the sentence. So far as the truth of the statement and the grammatical structure of the sentence are concerned, it may be omitted. Sometimes, however, it is joined to a noun to point out a special individual or class, when it resembles the restrictive adjective clause; as, “It is quite true that practical life is a kind of long, competitive examination, conducted by that severe pedagogue, Professor Circumstance.”—Huxley.
The Base-Word of an Appositive Phrase.—When the base-word of an appositive phrase is a noun, it gives another name for something, and so makes that thing more fully known by revealing another of its attributes; as, “We turn to commemorate the genius and virtues of John Milton, the poet, the statesman, the philosopher, the glory of English literature, the champion and the martyr of English liberty.”—Macaulay.
Attributes are just as often told by adjectives as by nouns, hence we find many appositive adjectives; as,
“At the first glimpse he thought it a dog—long, lean, skulking, prowling, tawny—on the scent of his tracks.”—J. L. Allen. The adjectives are an abridgment of an unrestrictive adjective clause, just as appositive nouns are.
Besides the noun and the adjective, the base-word of an appositive phrase may be,—
(a) A reflexive pronoun; as, “The old Professor himself sometimes visited the house after it had changed hands.”—Holmes. This pronoun does not explain or describe in the least. It is put into the sentence for emphasis.
(b) A personal pronoun. This forms a convenient word to add a phrase or clause to; as,
“How good it was of him
To mind a slender man like me,
He of the mighty limb.”—Holmes.
(c) A pronominal adjective. This does not explain. It has not sufficient meaning in itself for that. Like the personal pronoun it is to be modified by some phrase or other sentence-element that has meaning; as, “On a gently rising ground in the heart of the city rises St. Paul’s, one of the largest churches in the world, and a masterpiece of Wren, one of the greatest architects.” In neither place here does one mean anything until it is modified by the phrase telling class.
Such an appositive may serve many purposes. In the following sentence from Lowell, “The poetry of the Danes was much of it authentic history,” it narrows the scope of what it modifies,—the poetry of the Danes.
(d) The infinitive. See Chapter XX.
(e) The gerund. See Chapter XXII.
(f) The participle. When a participial phrase is clearly an abridgment of an unrestrictive adjective clause, it may be said to be in apposition; as,
“All are architects of Fate,
Working in these walls of Time.”—Longfellow.
(g) The noun clause. See Chapter VII.
Words that take an Appositive Modifier.—The appositive is usually added to a noun, but not always. A pronoun may be made definite in its application by an appositive; thus, “We are doing the English cathedral towns, Aunt Celia and I.”—Mrs. Wiggin.
Note.—In the following sentence from Wordsworth,—
“But oh, ye fountains, meadows, hills, and groves,
Forebode not any severing of our loves,”
many would consider the nouns in the first line as appositives of ye. It seems better to consider ye as filling the office of a limiting adjective. If we spoke about the fountains, we would say these fountains; speaking to them it is usage to employ the pronoun ye in the place of these.
Occasionally we find an adjective, adverb, phrase, or clause, explained by some sort of appositive; as, “Active and sprightly people are called mercurial, that is, born under the planet Mercury.” Here a participial phrase is in apposition with the adjective mercurial.
The appositive may even be used to explain a predicate, a use in which it very much resembles one use of the adjective clause; as, “The surplus beyond what was required for the support of the national worship was distributed in alms among the poor; a duty strenuously prescribed by their moral code.”—Prescott.
Introductory Word.—The appositive is frequently introduced or brought into the sentence by such words or expressions as namely, to wit, as, that is, or, in other words; as, “The whale is a mammal, that is, a warm-blooded, air-breathing animal that suckles its young.”
The introductory as is useful in limiting the application of a noun, signifying that it is to be considered only to the extent denoted by the appositive; as, “To the Esquimaux, the auk, as an article of food, is second in importance only to the seal.”
With this restrictive office as often introduces an appositive to a possessive pronoun; as, “As masters your first object must be to increase your power.”—Ruskin. It will readily be seen that masters is an appositive of your if the sentence is changed thus, “The first object of you, as masters, must be, etc.”
Such as or as often brings in the names of several individuals belonging to a certain class; thus, “The leaves and tender twigs are an agreeable food to many domestic animals, as the cow, horse, sheep, and goat.”—Thoreau.
A noun whose meaning is broad may have two appositives, specific in meaning, joined by or and introduced by whether; as, “There is always something to see about a church, whether living worshipers or dead men’s tombs.”—Stevenson.
Case and Number of the Noun in Apposition.—The appositive noun is usually in the same case as the noun it explains, but often when it is joined to a possessive noun, the possessive case ending is dropped from the first noun for the sake of euphony, and added only to the appositive.
In number an appositive usually agrees with its noun, but not always; for example, “The priests were each devoted to the service of some particular deity.”
Position of the Appositive Phrase.—Usually the appositive follows immediately the group of words it explains; but sometimes the two are separated by intervening words; thus, “These votive pictures are no less interesting as works of art than as expressions of hopeless superstition.”—Howells.
Sometimes the appositive begins a sentence; as,
“One burnished sheet of living gold,
Loch Katrine lay beneath him rolled.”—Scott.
“Calm, strong, and nobly aglow with love of country, he has no need of going into paroxysms in order to prove his sincerity.”—Boyesen.
Exercise 29
Dispose of all appositives in the following sentences.
1. As a composition the Declaration is Mr. Jefferson’s.—Webster.
2. There is one topic peremptorily forbidden to all well-bred, to all rational mortals, namely, their distempers.—Emerson.
3. Long before I had dealings with him, I knew him by the superb song, or rather incantation, with which he announced his coming on the Grand Canal.—Howells.
4. He made his Masque what it ought to be, essentially lyrical and dramatic only in semblance.—Macaulay.
5. Do I not remember the time when I myself haunted the station?—Stevenson.
6. Grandchild of Henri Quatre, niece of Louis XIII., cousin of Louis XIV., first princess of the blood, and with the largest income in the nation (500,000 livres) to support these dignities, Mademoiselle was certainly born in the purple.—Higginson.
7. Two kinds of men make good teachers—young men and men who never grow old.—C. W. Eliot.
8. Devils, thicker than tiles on housetops, scare him not from his work.—Motley.
9. Unostentatious illustrations of divine power, such as healing the sick, opening the eyes of the blind, or the ears of the deaf, were not enough.—Geikie.
10. Punctuality must be cultivated by all who would succeed in any calling, whether lofty or humble.
11. The old Norse poets were many of them natives of Iceland.—Carlyle.
12. The bold assertions of these people have of late impressed a large portion of the public with an opinion that James the Second was expelled simply because he was a Catholic, and that the Revolution was essentially a Protestant Revolution.—Macaulay.
13. Restless, sleepless, unable to read, tired of sitting, driven on by the desire to get rid of his own thoughts, he started out to walk.—J. L. Allen.
14. We none of us spoke of money, because that subject savored of commerce and trade, and though some might be poor we were all aristocratic.—Mrs. Gaskell.
15. The question must have raised the sense of His supreme right as consecrated Son of God.—Geikie.
16. The refined formality with which the literary product of Provence is for the most part stamped as with a trade mark, was doubtless the legacy of Gallo-Roman culture, itself at best derivative and superficial.—Lowell.
17. This was Blomidon, simple, majestic, inspiring.—Bolles.
18. He was an accomplished scholar intimately acquainted with the languages and literatures of continental Europe.
19. They have all had a truth in them or men would not have taken them up.—Carlyle.
20. You Americans, he said, wear too much expression on your faces.—Wm. James.
Exercise 30
Analyze the following sentences.
1. Throughout this period, Rousseau was, for the last time in his life, at peace with most of his fellows.—Morley.
2. In life it is difficult to say who does the most mischief—enemies with the worst intentions, or friends with the best.—Bulwer.
3. For men of force are generally men of faults.
4. Close under the eastern foot of Gerizim, at the opening of the side valley from the wide plain, on a slight knoll, a mile and a half from the town, surrounded now by stones and broken pillars, is Jacob’s Well.—Geikie.
5. Prudence had kept him away from the other girl, but he was feeling a great want; some one to applaud him.—Barrie.
6. Self-reliance, self-restraint, self-control, self-direction, these constitute an educated will.—J. F. Clarke.
7. The aspect of the venerable mansion has always affected me like a human countenance.—Hawthorne.
8.
Farewell, ye vanishing flowers, that shone
In my fairy wreath, so bright and brief.—Moore.
9. What was it that filled the ears of the prophets of old but the distant tread of foreign armies, coming to do the work of justice?—George Eliot.
10. A woman kept the summer school, sharp, precise, unsympathetic, keen and untiring.—Beecher.
11.
The street-lamps always burn; but scarce a casement
In house or palace front from roof to basement
Doth glow or gleam athwart the mirk air cast.
—James Thomson.
12. Men dress their children’s minds as they do their bodies, in the prevailing fashion.—Spencer.
13. The choice of Capernaum by Jesus as his future center was significant.—Geikie.
14. But his marvelous moral beauty, even as a child, attracted the attention of the Emperor Hadrian.—Lord.
15. Facts and the consequences of facts draw the writer back to the falconer’s lure from the giddiest heights of speculation.—De Quincey.
16. The northern curve of the rock basin’s wall was broken by a narrow perpendicular rift, reaching from the sky down to within sixty or eighty feet of the surface of the pool.—Bolles.
17. She starts, and is lost sight of round the cliff, gone straight away for the very ends of the world.—Jefferies.
18. A veteran American sailor, he had learned to know the great Gulf as scholars know deep books by heart.—Hearn.
19. We come, as Americans, to mark a spot which must forever be dear to us and our posterity.—Webster.
20. Two of them were guests like ourselves, both men of the north.—Stevenson.
21. Indeed, man is naturally more prone to subtlety than open valor, owing to his physical weakness in comparison with other animals.—Irving.
22. Kotick was the only one who asked questions, and none of his companions could tell him anything except that the men always drove seals in that way for six weeks or two months of every year.—Kipling.
23. As compared with the two other writers, Epictetus shortens his sword; that is, his sentences.—Higginson.