Exercise.
Parse the verbs, verbals, and verb phrases in the following sentences:—
1. Byron builds a structure that repeats certain elements in nature or humanity.
2. The birds were singing as if there were no aching hearts, no sin nor sorrow, in the world.
3. Let it rise! let it rise, till it meet the sun in his coming; let the earliest light of the morning gild it, and parting day linger and play on its summit.
4. You are gathered to your fathers, and live only to your country in her grateful remembrance.
5. Read this Declaration at the head of the army.
6.
Right graciously he smiled on us, as rolled from wing to wing,
Down all the line, a deafening shout, "God save our Lord the King!"
7. When he arose in the morning, he thought only of her, and wondered if she were yet awake.
8. He had lost the quiet of his thoughts, and his agitated soul reflected only broken and distorted images of things.
9.
So, lest I be inclined
To render ill for ill,
Henceforth in me instill,
O God, a sweet good will.
10. The sun appears to beat in vain at the casements.
11. Margaret had come into the workshop with her sewing, as usual.
12.
Two things there are with memory will abide—
Whatever else befall—while life flows by.
13. To the child it was not permitted to look beyond into the hazy lines that bounded his oasis of flowers.
14. With them, morning is not a new issuing of light, a new bursting forth of the sun; a new waking up of all that has life, from a sort of temporary death.
15. Whatever ground you sow or plant, see that it is in good condition.
16. However that be, it is certain that he had grown to delight in nothing else than this conversation.
17. The soul having been often born, or, as the Hindoos say, "traveling the path of existence through thousands of births," there is nothing of which she has not gained knowledge.
18. The ancients called it ecstasy or absence,—a getting-out of their bodies to think.
19. Such a boy could not whistle or dance.
20. He had rather stand charged with the imbecility of skepticism than with untruth.
21. He can behold with serenity the yawning gulf between the ambition of man and his power of performance.
22. He passed across the room to the washstand, leaving me upon the bed, where I afterward found he had replaced me on being awakened by hearing me leap frantically up and down on the floor.
23. In going for water, he seemed to be traveling over a desert plain to some far-off spring.
24. Hasheesh always brings an awakening of perception which magnifies the smallest sensation.
25. I have always talked to him as I would to a friend.
26. Over them multitudes of rosy children came leaping to throw garlands on my victorious road.
27. Oh, had we some bright little isle of our own!
28.
Better it were, thou sayest, to consent;
Feast while we may, and live ere life be spent.
29. And now wend we to yonder fountain, for the hour of rest is at hand.
ADVERBS.
Adverbs modify.
279. The word adverb means joined to a verb. The adverb is the only word that can join to a verb to modify it.
A verb.
When action is expressed, an adverb is usually added to define the action in some way,—time, place, or manner: as, "He began already to be proud of being a Rugby boy [time];" "One of the young heroes scrambled up behind [place];" "He was absolute, but wisely and bravely ruling [manner]."
An adjective or an adverb.
But this does not mean that adverbs modify verbs only: many of them express degree, and limit adjectives or adverbs; as, "William's private life was severely pure;" "Principles of English law are put down a little confusedly."
Sometimes a noun or pronoun.
Sometimes an adverb may modify a noun or pronoun; for example,—
The young man reveres men of genius, because, to speak truly, they are more himself than he is.—Emerson.
Is it only poets, and men of leisure and cultivation, who live with nature?—Id.
To the almost terror of the persons present, Macaulay began with the senior wrangler of 1801-2-3-4, and so on.—Thackeray.
Nor was it altogether nothing.—Carlyle.
Sounds overflow the listener's brain So sweet that joy is almost pain.—Shelley.
The condition of Kate is exactly that of Coleridge's "Ancient Mariner."—De Quincey.
He was incidentally news dealer.—T. B. Aldrich.
NOTE.—These last differ from the words in Sec. 169, being adverbs naturally and fitly, while those in Sec. 169 are felt to be elliptical, and rather forced into the service of adjectives.
Also these adverbs modifying nouns are to be distinguished from those standing after a noun by ellipsis, but really modifying, not the noun, but some verb understood; thus,—
The gentle winds and waters [that are] near, Make music to the lonely ear.—Byron.
With bowering leaves [that grow] o'erhead, to which the eye Looked up half sweetly, and half awfully.—Leigh Hunt.
A phrase.
An adverb may modify a phrase which is equivalent to an adjective or an adverb, as shown in the sentences,—
They had begun to make their effort much at the same time.—Trollope.
I draw forth the fruit, all wet and glossy, maybe nibbled by rabbits and hollowed out by crickets, and perhaps with a leaf or two cemented to it, but still with a rich bloom to it.—Thoreau.
A clause or sentence.
It may also modify a sentence, emphasizing or qualifying the statement expressed; as, for example,—
And certainly no one ever entered upon office with so few resources of power in the past.—Lowell.
Surely happiness is reflective, like the light of heaven. —Irving.
We are offered six months' credit; and that, perhaps, has induced some of us to attend it.—Franklin.
Definition.
280. An adverb, then, is a modifying word, which may qualify an action word or a statement, and may add to the meaning of an adjective or adverb, or a word group used as such.
NOTE.—The expression action word is put instead of verb, because any verbal word may be limited by an adverb, not simply the forms used in predication.
281. Adverbs may be classified in two ways: (1) according to the meaning of the words; (2) according to their use in the sentence.