- Jane plays very well.
- Robert spoke almost hopefully.
- She answered quite at random.
- I write to him at least once a year.
499. An adjective may be modified by an infinitive ([§ 321]).
- Unable to move, I suffered torments of anxiety.
- The sailors, eager to reach the island, plunged into the sea.
- Reluctant to act, but unwilling to stand idle, Burwell was in a pitiful state of indecision.
500. Adjective and adverbial clauses are very common as modifiers of modifiers (cf. [§ 496]).
- Geronimo, an old chief who bore the scars of many battles, led the attack. [The adjective clause modifies the appositive chief.]
- The servant, angry because he had been rebuked, slammed the door as he went out.
- The hunter, confident that the deer had not heard him, took deliberate aim.
- The fugitive, in a panic lest he should be overtaken, made frantic efforts to scale the cliff. [The adverbial clause modifies the adjective phrase in a panic.]
CHAPTER VI
INDEPENDENT ELEMENTS
501. A word or group of words that has no grammatical connection with the sentence in which it stands is called an independent element.
Independent elements are of four kinds,—interjections, vocatives (or nominatives by direct address), exclamatory nominatives, and parenthetical expressions.
- Ah! why did I undertake this task?
- Help arrived, alas! too late.
- You are a strange man, Arthur.
- Mary, come here!
- Poor Charles! I am sorry for him.
- Clothes! clothes! you are always wanting clothes.
- Lucky she! we are all envious of her prospects.