The structure of the English sentence

by Lillian Kimball Stewart

CHAPTER XXXI

INDEPENDENT ELEMENTS

In the chapters on the infinitive phrase and the participial phrase, we discussed those phrases used independently, that is, thrown loosely into the sentence and forming no part of its structure, as in the following sentences,—“It will then, to borrow the elegant language of the play-bills, be withdrawn to make room for the forthcoming novelties.”—Macaulay. “There is no custom that can, properly speaking, be final.”—Carlyle.

Besides phrases of these kinds, there are several other varieties of independent elements that are commonly used and form very interesting material in the sentence. Their function is often an important one, and they could not be dispensed with without necessitating a very roundabout and clumsy form of expression. Some of these elements are single words, some are phrases, and some are propositions, both independent in structure and dependent.

Words used Independently.—I. The noun of address.—This is used in two ways:

(a) In oral or written conversation or formal address, where the name of the person spoken is used, either to invite his attention or for the sake of courtesy; as, “Upon my life, Mr. Caudle, that’s very cool.”—Jerrold.

(b) In more or less impassioned composition, often poetry or oratory, where the person or thing spoken about is addressed as if actually present and capable of understanding the address. Such an address has the nature of an explanation. It forms the figure of speech called apostrophe; as,—

“O star of strength. I see thee stand

And smile upon my pain.”—Longfellow.

2. We also have the noun used independently by pleonasm, that is, either for emphasis or to call the reader’s attention to the subject that is to be talked about; as, “The birds that come about one’s door in winter or that build in his trees in summer, what a peculiar interest they have.”—Burroughs. The base of this independent element is the noun birds; the element is long because of the two restrictive adjective clauses modifying birds.

Often this independent noun is introduced by as for or as to; thus, “As for the boy, he turned up after a while as a constant guest.”—Howells. The words as for indicate that the boy had already been the subject of discourse in some previous sentence.

3. The words well, now, why often begin a sentence. They may indicate the writer’s state of mind, his attitude toward what he is going to say, also the tone, whether of conviction, remonstrance, surprise, or deliberation, with which the sentence should be read; as, “Why, let him go home in the rain, to be sure.”—Jerrold. “Now, the capitalists were men of understanding and wise in their generation.”—Bellamy.

4. The interjection is an independent element. It may be a single word or a group of words with the office of one. Such words and expressions as Ah! Oh! Alas! Dear me! O my stars and garters! Hurrah! fudge! pooh! are used to communicate not our thoughts but our feelings. In doing this they perform the work of a whole declarative sentence; as,—

“Hurrah!—Hurrah!—the west wind

Comes freshening down the bay,

The rising sails are filling,—

Give way, my lads, give way!”

—Whittier.

The interjection eh? is interrogative. Whoa! and hist! are imperative. O is frequently used before the noun of address.

The Prepositional Phrase used Independently.—This is usually a stereotyped phrase ready to hand for any one who wishes to use it, such a phrase as for example, in fact, in short, at any rate. In the following sentence from Stevenson, “I take it, in short, that I was about as near Nirvana as would be convenient in practical life; and if this be so I make the Buddhists my sincere compliments,” the little independent phrase signifies to the reader that the author, instead of going on with a long description of his state of feeling, has thought of a happy way by which he can communicate a knowledge of it in very few words.

In Irving’s sentence, “This, by the way, is a mere casual remark, which I would not for the universe have it thought I apply to Governor Van Twiller,” the independent phrase indicates that this sentence also is only a casual remark, much like a personal “aside” from the author to the reader.

In this sentence from Mrs. Gaskell,—“In the first place, Cranford is in possession of the Amazons,” the phrase is equivalent to the independent infinitive phrase to begin with. It informs the reader that the remark it introduces is necessary as a setting or background for further description of Cranford.

Propositions used Independently.—1. The imperative sentence addressed to the reader; as, “Mind you, this was the world as I first knew it.”—Holmes. This independent element is like a note of warning, telling the reader not to conclude that this is the world as the writer knew it later.

2. An exclamation like “Bless your soul!” or “Thank God!” wherein the subject of the verb is omitted. Such an expression reveals the author’s feeling about the statement; as, “The civilized world is learning, thank God, more and more of the importance of physical science.”—Kingsley.

An expression somewhat similar to this is found in the sentence, “Thanks to you, I am able to speak French.” Here the cause of my ability to speak French is given in the expression Thanks to you; but this is not so constructed as to be a grammatical modifier of the predicate, and hence must be considered independent.

3. A proposition introduced by as.—This has the structure of an adverbial clause, but in meaning it is not a modifier of any part of the sentence. Many of these expressions are stereotyped; for example, as it were, as it will be seen, as the case might be, as it was called. They are usually parenthetical. Their value in the sentence can best be seen from a few examples.

(a) “Time, as it will be seen afterward, did not allow Sir George Lewis any chance of making good this prediction.”—McCarthy. The independent element here informs the reader that the author will not drop the matter under discussion with the single statement of it, but will take it up more at length later.

A similar expression, “as we have seen,” takes the reader’s mind back to something he has read before.

(b) “The Saxon, as it appears to me, has never shown any capacity for art.”—Lowell. The independent clause signifies here that the author makes his statement not as a matter of fact but only as a matter of personal opinion.

(c) “She was, as I had supposed, a gentlewoman whom a change of circumstances had brought down from her high estate.”—Holmes. This independent clause conveys to the reader the author’s satisfaction in making a statement that is true and that coincides with his own supposition.

(d) “‘You don’t know what your thoughts are going to be beforehand!’ said the ‘Member of the Haouse,’ as he called himself.”—Holmes. This independent element gives the authority for the preceding quotation, and together with the quotation marks absolves the writer from all responsibility for spelling and pronunciation.

Familiar forms of this clause are—as everybody says, as the Bible says, as Shakespeare puts it. We often use the first of these when we are unwilling ourselves to be held responsible for our statements. The other two are sometimes used lest people should think we are trying to pass off a quoted remark for an original one.

4. A clause of reason introduced by for. When such a clause is independent, it gives the reason not for any action expressed in the sentence nor for the whole statement, but rather the author’s reason for using a particular word or phrase; as, “The bitterest opponent of the poet (for like every strong personality he has many enemies) is thus no less his debtor than his warmest admirer.”—Boyesen. Such a clause is not always enclosed in a parenthesis; it is just as often set off by commas or dashes.

5. An independent proposition, declarative.—Many of these independent elements are stereotyped; such as, I dare say, it seems, it is said, it is true. The following sentences contain familiar instances.

(a) “Mr. Swinburne, Heaven knows, has been imitated enough.”—Saintsbury. The independent element here makes the sentence emphatic, even makes it mean that Mr. Swinburne has been imitated too much.

(b) “To equip so small a book with a preface is, I am half afraid, to sin against proportion.”—Stevenson. The independent words are here apologetic, revealing to the reader the author’s misgiving that the preface is uncalled for, but not his full conviction.

(c) “I want my ‘asides,’ you see, to whisper loud to you who read my notes.”—Holmes. The independent words, a familiar personal remark to the reader, indicate the author’s appreciation of the fact that the reader understands fully as well as the author the purpose of the “asides.”

Sentences like the last three quoted could be re-arranged so that the independent element would become the principal proposition and the rest of the sentence a noun clause; thus, “Heaven knows that Mr. Swinburne has been imitated enough.” This transposition is unjust, for it makes a different sentence from what the author intended. Oftentimes sentences read as if the independent element were not in the author’s mind when he began to write, but occurred to him during the writing and so was put in loosely, parenthetically—for a purpose, to be sure, but not as part of the structure of the sentence. If we transpose such sentences, we give the independent element an undue importance, not intended for it by the author.

Exercise 39

Select the independent elements in the following sentences. Tell the function of each.

1.

Keen son of trade, with eager brow,

Who is now fluttering in thy snare?

Thy golden fortunes, tower they now

Or melt the glittering spires in air?—Bryant.

2. Now, we will not discuss the point on any rigid principles of morality.—Macaulay.

3. For my part, I had never been in a canoe under sail in my life.—Stevenson.

4. These strangers or neighbors, as the case might be, were looking at the display of toys and petty commodities in Hepzibah’s shop-window.—Hawthorne.

5. Without a word to either of them—and that was not his wont—he passed to the stern of the yacht.—Black.

6. Why, bless your soul, if all the cities of the world were reduced to ashes, you’d have a new set of millionaires in a couple of years or so out of the trade in potash.—Holmes.

7. As to the nature of the dinner, it of course varies somewhat according to the nature of the diner.—Howells.

8. To be frank, the Doctor’s little establishment was dusty and disorderly—very.—Cable.

9. They’ll come and look at me, but, you may depend upon it, they will dine at your expense before they go home again.—Froude.

10. When the thunders of universal France, as even yet may happen, shall proclaim the grandeur of the poor shepherd-girl that gave up all for her country, thy ear, young shepherd-girl, will have been deaf for five centuries.—De Quincey.

11. Depend upon it, there is now truer duty to be done in raising harvests than in burning them.—Ruskin.

12.

And hark! how blithe the throstle sings!

He, too, is no mean preacher;

Come forth into the light of things,

Let Nature be your teacher.—Wordsworth.

13. In a word, Rip was ready to attend to anybody’s business but his own.—Irving.

14. Poor as he was,—for his income was little more than two hundred a year,—and springing as he did from a family of no political importance, it was by sheer dint of genius that the young cornet of horse, at whose youth and inexperience Walpole had sneered, seized a power which the Whig houses had ever since the Revolution kept in their grasp.—J. R. Green.

15. Call her, King of France, but she will not hear thee!—De Quincey.

16. The beauty of the scene increased, thanks largely to the brilliant effects of cloud masses and an ardent setting sun.—Bolles.

17. As for the carnival, which once lasted six months of the year, charming hither all the idlers of the world by its peculiar splendor and variety of pleasure, it does not, as I said, any longer exist.—Howells.

18. The fireplace, it should be noted, was built on the side of the room opposite to the windows; that is to say, in one of the partition walls.—J. Hawthorne.

19.

Ho! ye who suffer! know

Ye suffer from yourselves. None else compels.

—E. Arnold.

20. And now, being a trifle choleric in his temperament, the lieutenant governor uplifted the heavy hilt of his sword, wherewith he so beat and banged upon the door that, as some of the bystanders whispered, the racket might have disturbed the dead.—Hawthorne.

21. Maule’s Lane, or Pyncheon Street, as it were now more decorous to call it, was thronged at the appointed hour as with a congregation on its way to church.—Hawthorne.