CHAPTER XXXIII
ELLIPTICAL SENTENCES
In preceding chapters we have spoken of the tendency in English speech and composition towards abridgment. Independent propositions become clauses, clauses become phrases, and phrases give place to words. This tendency to abbreviate the expression of thought is due to two causes: (1) a predominating interest in one’s ideas and a minor interest in the expression. In such a case one uses only the significant words, leaving out all those that can be supplied by the reader. (2) A desire to be impressive, to gain and keep the reader’s attention. At such times one rejects all unnecessary words as distracting attention from the main purpose and retarding the progress of the main thought. The result of either of these causes is an elliptical sentence—one that cannot be analyzed without supplying certain elements necessary to its grammatical structure.
Elliptical sentences are very common. Some of them have been already mentioned in different chapters, for instance, the common idiom, “I cannot but think.” Some other ellipses we shall make the subject of inquiry in the present chapter, and for convenience we shall take them up as ellipses in subordinate propositions and ellipses in principal propositions.
Ellipses in Subordinate Propositions.—
1. An elliptical adjective clause; as,—
“A sound as of myriads singing
From far and near stole in.”—Whittier.
This ellipsis comes about through the omission of (1) the correlative of as, which in this case is such, (2) the noun sound, which can easily be supplied from the principal proposition, and (3) the verb is. Expanded the sentence reads,—“Such a sound as a sound of myriads singing is, from far and near stole in.”
2. The elliptical adverbial clause of time; as, “St. Patrick, when a boy of twelve, lights a fire with icicles.”—Froude.
In discussing adverbs as modifiers of nouns in Chapter XXX, we found that an adjective clause is frequently abridged to an appositive phrase in which the base-word, or noun in apposition, is modified by an adverb. A sentence like the following might have arisen in such a way,—“St. Patrick, then a boy of twelve, lighted a fire with icicles.” Here we have an abridgment, but it is unnecessary to supply any ellipsis, for we may say that the adverb then modifies boy of twelve. But in the sentence quoted we have not the simple adverb then, but the subordinating connective when. In order that it may perform its ordinary and proper function in the sentence, we supply after it the two words he is, making a regular adverbial clause of time, when he is a boy of twelve.
3. The elliptical clause of manner; as, “A great city sprang up as if by magic.” This construction has been spoken of in the chapter on prepositional phrases. It resembles the elliptical time clause in that the connective as if is a subordinating connective and needs a complete proposition following it. In the sentence quoted we must therefore supply the words it sprang up.
In the elliptical modal clause the connective is often the one word as, though it generally has the meaning of as if; as, “On that I found scratched as with a nail or fork, the following inscription.”—Holmes.
4. The elliptical adverbial clause of condition.
(a) An omission of the connective and the subject; as, “This frame of mind was the great exploit of our voyage, take it all in all.”—Stevenson. Expanded for analysis this clause becomes, “if we take it all in all.”
(b) An omission of the subject and the verb. This is found in the familiar expression if possible, which is really if it be possible, also in such sentences as the following,—“What is the use of health and life if not to do some work with them?”—Here we may supply after if the words the use is or it is.
5. The elliptical adverbial clause of concession.
(a) An omission of connective and subject; as, “Do what we may, summer will have its flies.”—Emerson. In this sentence the verb do is also to be supplied after the auxiliary may. Expanded the clause reads, though we do what we may do.
(b) An omission of subject and verb, the latter being a copula; as, “Solitude, though silent as light, is, like light, the mightiest of agencies; for solitude is essential to man.”—De Quincey. Since the noun solitude immediately precedes the clause as subject of the principal proposition, the clause is perfectly clear without even the pronoun it for a subject, and the verb is is easily understood. Only the new and necessary ideas need be expressed and these are the attribute silent as light. The base of such an attribute is not always an adjective; it may be a noun, a participle, or a prepositional phrase.
(c) An omission of connective and subject, sometimes also of copula or auxiliary, before a pair of words in opposition to each other and joined by or; as, “Rain or shine, the King rode every day for hours.”—Thackeray. This elliptical expression means “though it might rain or might shine.”
6. The elliptical adverbial clause consisting of a connective and a participial phrase. This may denote various relations,—time, manner, condition, etc., but is so frequent a construction that it seems best to treat it by itself. We have already spoken of this construction in the chapter on participial phrases, where we gave illustrations which might be disposed of without supplying any ellipsis. However, this disposition is not always satisfactory, and some may prefer to expand the clause in all cases of this kind. Illustrations are found in the following sentences:—
(a) Denoting time,—“No amount of hereditary virtue has thus far saved the merely devout communities from deteriorating, when let alone, into comfort and good dinners.”—Higginson.
(b) Denoting manner,—“It blew in enormous sighs, dying away at regular intervals, as if pausing to draw breath.”—Hearn.
(c) Denoting concession,—“Such men, however pressed with business, are always found capable of doing a little more.”
7. The elliptical adverbial clause of degree.—This is so frequent that we seldom find a clause of degree involving a comparison that is not elliptical. We shall take up first the ellipses after the conjunction than.
(a) An omission of the predicate when it is about the same as the predicate of the principal proposition; as, “Alas! books cannot be more than the men who write them (are).”
(b) An omission of both subject and verb when these are readily supplied from the context; as, “In no other spot had sympathy been more fiercely kindled than along that Western border where life was always tense with martial passion.”—J. L. Allen. After than we are to understand the words it had been kindled.
(c) An omission of the subject. This may be the impersonal it; as, “His features were more refined than (it) was usual in Roman faces.”—Froude. Or the subject understood may be the indefinite pronoun what; as, “We have a great deal more kindness than (what) is ever spoken.”—Emerson.
(d) Very much like the last type of sentence is one in which we cannot supply what but must supply those who, with the verb are for the predicate of those; as, “He met more people than could be remembered.” This clause expanded reads, “than those are who can be remembered.” This gives us a restrictive adjective clause within the clause of degree.
(e) We find cases of ellipsis after than which it is difficult to supply, and some of them are familiar everyday expressions current everywhere and therefore invaluable in the communication of thought; as, “Naturally the coming of the Marques de Valdeflores at this critical juncture was regarded by the colonel as nothing less than providential.”—Janvier. Shall we make a clause here reading than a providential thing is?
Another difficult ellipsis is found in the sentence,—“He may look up to a tower of rock and see its broken edges, softened by more than three-fourths of a mile of distance, directly above his eyes.”—King. It seems best here not to attempt to supply anything, but to take the italicized words as a unit, as if the one word mile had been in their place. This sentence could, however, be expanded to read—softened by more of distance than three fourths of a mile is.
Another common instance is found in the sentence,—“He was more than venerated in his day.”—Lord. This passive construction comes from the active—“We more than venerated him,” which in turn comes from the sentence,—“We did more than venerate him.” It is possible to supply the ellipsis in the last sentence, making it,—“We did more than to venerate him (is much),” but the other two sentences must be considered idiomatic.
An idiom similar to the last is found in the sentence,—“In very marked contrast with this younger man is the something more than middle-aged Register of Deeds.”—Holmes. The italicized words are a group signifying one idea, for which we have no single word. The base-word of the group is more, but this alone is not a modifier of Register of Deeds. So far as the group of words modifies the noun phrase Register of Deeds, it cannot be separated.
We come now to ellipses in clauses of degree after the conjunction as.
(a) The subject may be omitted; as, “These are by no means so nearly connected as might be thought at first sight.”—Bagehot. Here we may supply it after as, or we may make the clause read “as they might be thought to be at first sight.”
(b) The subject and auxiliary of the verb may be omitted when they can easily be supplied from the principal proposition; as, “His fellow-conspirators were hanged nearly as fast as taken.”—Howells. The clause expanded is “as they were taken.”
(c) As after than, so after as we have some idiomatic expressions arising by ellipsis which it seems best not to fill out; as, “He knew that into the world where Ramona really lived he did not so much as enter.”—H. H. This predicate may be expanded to read did not do so much as to enter is much, but this is very awkward. Besides, so much as has to us an adverbial force, being almost equivalent to the adverb even.
An extension of this construction is found in the following sentence from Hawthorne,—“It was doubtful whether the poor lady had so much as closed her eyes during the brief night of midsummer.” The ellipsis could be supplied if the predicate were had done so much as close, but as it stands it must be considered an idiom and left as it is. This construction has even gone over into the passive voice; as, “Parliament is not so much as mentioned in the whole instrument.”—Webster.
Another familiar elliptical construction is found in the sentence,—“But you think you may as well have the right thing for your money.”—Ruskin. If one wishes he may expand this sentence so that it will read,—“you may have the right thing for your money as well as you may not have it.” Here the entire clause is to be supplied. Sometimes a portion of it is expressed, as in the sentence,—“You may as well go as not.”
A peculiar expression denoting degree, which it seems best to give here although it follows neither than nor as is found in the sentence, He was all but killed. It seems best not to separate all but, but to consider the expression as one adverbial modifier of the passive verb was killed. In the sentence, He was all but dead, we may say if we choose that all is used as the base-word of the adjective complement of was, and is modified by the prepositional phrase but dead. However, the sentence does not appeal to us in this way; we do not naturally make the separation between all on one side and but dead on the other. Still less do we make such a separation when the word following but is a verb; as in, “We all but won.” Instead of this we keep the words all but together as if they were one word, having almost the same meaning as the adverb nearly.
Ellipses in Principal Propositions.—1. The entire subject and part of the predicate may be omitted; as, “A prick (= I gave her a prick) and she passed the most inviting stable door.”—Stevenson. Here the abbreviated expression accords well with the thought.
2. If part of a compound sentence is the same as what has already been expressed, it is frequently omitted; as, “The former seems to have been a loyal and homely soul; the latter (seems to have been) restless, imperious, penetrating, unamiable.”—Morley.
3. In replies to questions, that part is often omitted which can be supplied from the question; as, “‘What do you hope?’ ‘That long before this moon has grown old, you will be quite strong again.’”—Miss Mulock. The reply is here a noun clause, object of hope, which with its subject I is to be supplied.
4. In sentences beginning with the words no wonder, the verb is and the anticipative subject it are to be supplied. The real subject is a noun clause following no wonder; as, “No wonder the princess loved him.”—Stockton.
5. The verb and the anticipative subject it are often omitted at the beginning of sentences introduced by no matter; as, “No matter just at this moment, what he said.”—Holmes. Here the real subject of the predicate is no matter is the noun clause what he said.
6. Some interrogative or exclamative sentences begin with the words what if. The word what is all that is left of a principal proposition, and if introduces a conditional clause. It may seem best sometimes to dispose of this if-clause as a noun clause used as the real subject of the principal proposition. The principal proposition may be expanded to read,—“What does it matter,” “what matter is it,” “what difference does it make,” etc.; as, “What (would the result be) if one of the Himalayas could be cloven from its topmost tile of ice to its torrid base?”—King.
7. A construction similar to the last is one in which the negative adverb not takes the place of a whole proposition; as, “Not that I could see the boat drift, for I could not, the stars being all gone by this time.”—S. L. Clemens. We may expand this sentence to read,—“I do not mean that I could see,” or “I would not say that I could see.”
8. Exclamative sentences expressing a wish often begin with the verb would, which is to be taken as equivalent to wish with the subject I omitted. Would is followed by a noun clause used as its object; as, “Would to Heaven that we had a sieve, that we could so much as fancy any kind of sieve that would do this work.”
9. The imperative let is sometimes omitted at the beginning of a sentence, especially before the verb suffice; as, “Suffice it here to say that the people in all times enjoyed a freedom far above that possessed by any other city of Europe.”—Besant.
Exercise 42
Expand the following elliptical sentences. Analyze them.
1. Slow wavelets caressed the bland brown beach with a sound as of kisses and whispers.—Hearn.
2.
I am alone; my bugle strain
May call some straggler of the train;
Or, fall the worst that may betide,
Ere now this falchion has been tried.—Scott.
3. The thing for thee to do is, if possible, to cease to be a hollow-sounding shell of hearsays and become a faithful discerning soul.—Carlyle.
4. Another, his big brother, though evidently some years younger, is selling doughnuts and bonbons.—Mrs. Dodge.
5. While resting thus, she became aware of another presence, and turning her head, beheld a small boy with his cap in one hand and a hammer in the other.—M. A. H. Clarke.
6. Philip, so far from having the least disposition to yield in the matter of the great religious persecution, was more determined as to his course than ever.—Motley.
7. The others, to do them justice, more than atoned for Dr. Théophile’s coldness by their effusive friendliness.—Janvier.
8. The stranger attempted once or twice to stem the torrent of words, but in vain; so he bowed his head and suffered it to flow on.—Irving.
9. No matter whether or not Moses was gifted in a most extraordinary degree to write his code.—Lord.
10.
What if thou withdraw
Unheeded by the living, and no friend
Take note of thy departure.—Bryant.
11. Would I were in a wilderness of apes, tossing cocoanuts about, grinning and grinned at.—Lamb.
12. The country rose as one man at his refusal.—J. R. Green.
13. Mr. Simon Watts, though of extremely limited means, had some ambition.—R. M. Johnston.
14. Never do we more evince our arrogant ignorance than when we boast our knowledge.—Everett.
15. They are soon to be matched in a longer and more determined combat than the world has ever seen.—Motley.
16. Grief of that sort, and at that age, has killed more than ever have been counted amongst its martyrs.—De Quincey.
17. This resolution was in the same words, when originally submitted by Mr. Lee, as when finally passed.—Webster.
18. What matter if the Governor removes you from office? he cannot remove you from the lake; and if readers or customers will not bite, the pickerel will.—Higginson.
19. To Thompson’s credit be it recorded he showed no tendency to desert the cause he had espoused.—Tyndall.
20. In 1784, when he was twenty-one years of age, Carlton Palace was given to him, and furnished by the nation with as much luxury as could be devised.—Thackeray.
21. More than a thousand feet beneath us was the arching head of a waterfall.—King.
22. Now it sank to a murmur, as of one who consoles and soothes and promises things to come.—Besant.
23. They built their cities as if for eternity.—Froude.
24. To Nature therefore we turn as to the oldest and most influential teacher of our race.—Mabie.
23. His legs, though exceeding short, were sturdy in proportion to the weight they had to sustain; so that, when erect, he had not a little the appearance of a robustious beer-barrel standing on skids.—Irving.
26. This is a sturdy looking personage of a good deal more than middle age.—Holmes.
27. There seems no end to the charm of their vast, smooth, all but melancholy expanses.—Howells.
28. No wonder that the ladies look complacently at the glassy ice; with a stove for a footstool, one might sit easily beside the North Pole.—Mrs. Dodge.
29. Not that my motives were not as pure and as patriotic as ever carried any man into public office.—Clay.
30. Despising every other acquirement as superficial and useless, they came to their task as to a sport.—Lamb.
31. Wet or dry, light or dark, the stout old George was always in his place to say amen to the chaplain.—Thackeray.
32. Here the poet caught the first glimpse of a greater and freer life than moved within the narrow horizon of the Norwegian capital.—Boyesen.
33. Seven altogether; a delightful number for a dinner party, supposing the units to be delightful, but everything depends on that.—George Eliot.
34. Even genius itself then feels rebuked and subdued as in the presence of higher qualities.—Webster.
35. We ought to be as cheerful as we can, if only because to be happy ourselves is a most effective contribution to the happiness of others.—Sir John Lubbock.
36. This only proves the profundity of an observation made by Mr. Bagehot—a man who carried away into the next world more originality of thought than is now to be found in the Three Estates of the Realm.—Birrell.
37. Venice lures you in a gondola into one of her remote canals, where you glide through an avenue as secret and as still as if sea-deep under our work-day world.—Howells.
38. What if their palaces were grand, and their villas beautiful, and their dresses magnificent, and their furniture costly, if their lives were spent in ignoble and enervating pleasures, as is generally admitted?—Lord.
39. Antwerp shook as with an earthquake.—Motley.
40. His age, though rich in minor decorative arts, had no accomplished statuary.—Lang.
41. His pride never appeared in loftier and nobler form than in his attitude towards the people at large.—J. R. Green.
42. Suffice it to say that he received an offer of the high and responsible station of Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Massachusetts.—Webster.
43. That one purpose of malice faithfully pursued has quartered some people upon our national funds of homage as by a perpetual annuity.—De Quincey.
44. Though not more than twice as large as New England, it presented every variety of climate.—Prescott.
45. Although it was slipping down more than half a mile of undisturbed depth it appeared to be creeping at its own will and leisure.—King.
46. He did not seem so much desirous of provoking discussion by the questions which he asked, as of obtaining information at any rate.—Lamb.
47. Would to Heaven I could persuade you of this world-old fact, than which Fate is not surer, that Truth and Justice alone are capable of being conserved.—Carlyle.
48. But death was then scarcely intelligible to me, and I could not so properly be said to suffer sorrow as a sad perplexity.—De Quincey.
49. Sink or swim, live or die, survive or perish, I give my hand and my heart to this vote.—Webster.
50. Their frequent overflow when forced back upon their currents by the strong sea, rendered the country almost uninhabitable.—Motley.
51. What if this man Odin should have felt that perhaps he was divine?—Carlyle.
52. I do not see my way through it as clearly as could be wished.—De Quincey.
53. Woe to the child who happens to be born with a weak will in New England.—J. F. Clarke.
54.
Turn wheresoe’er I may
By night or day,
The things which I have seen I now can see no more.
—Wordsworth.
55. At close quarters his striped coat is all but as fine as the tiger’s, while the form and movement of his body are in every way nobler.—Drummond.