CLAUSES OF PURPOSE AND RESULT
The preceding chapter treated of clauses bearing the relation of cause to the principal proposition and denoting something true or operative before the thought in the principal proposition was true or operative. We have now to consider clauses which are the reverse of causal clauses, namely, final clauses. These denote something that is true or will be true after what is stated in the principal proposition is true. In other words, they denote an end or a consequence realized or to be realized as a result or outcome of the statement in the principal proposition. According to their relation to the principal proposition, they may be classified as clauses of purpose and clauses of result.
1. The Clause of Purpose.—The purpose clause denotes an intended consequence, which is to follow from the action or condition expressed in the principal proposition; as, “If natural death seemed to be coming on, they would cut wounds in their flesh, that Odin might receive them as warriors slain.”—Carlyle. This sentence shows that the clause of purpose answers the question what for? and is put into a sentence to explain or justify the act in the principal proposition.
It is evident that, since a clause of purpose denotes an intended consequence of an act or condition, that act or condition must be performed or brought about by some being capable of forming an intention, hence the principal proposition states something, either directly or indirectly, about a voluntary act, usually the act of a human being. This is oftenest stated directly, as in the example above; but occasionally we find such sentences as the following,—“The door of Scrooge’s counting-house was open that he might keep his eye upon his clerk.”—Dickens. Here the clause by no means denotes the door’s purpose in being open, but Scrooge’s purpose in keeping it open.
The clause of purpose may be introduced by the conjunctions that, so that, in order that. The negative purpose clause is introduced by lest (= that not); as, “We must both speak low lest she should waken.”—Brontë.
The clause of purpose is seldom met, not because the purpose of an act is seldom told, but because it can usually be told more briefly by means of the infinitive; thus, “Garrisons were established in the larger cities to keep down revolt and to enforce the payment of tribute.”
2. The Clause of Result.—This denotes not an intention but the consequence of the act or condition expressed in the principal proposition; as, “The kingly power among the Jews was checked and hedged by other powers, so that an overgrown tyranny was difficult and unusual.”—Lord.
The clause of result is often employed to tell the degree of some quality or attribute, as in the sentence,—“Washington was so rigidly punctual that when Hamilton, his secretary, pleaded a slow watch as an excuse for being five minutes late, he replied, ‘Then, sir, either you must get a new watch or I must get a new secretary.’” Here the clause tells how punctual Washington was, but it does this by telling a result of his punctuality. Notice that in the first example the clause may be said to modify the verbs in the principal proposition, was checked and was hedged, but in the second sentence it modifies the verb and its complement, was so rigidly punctual.
The clause of result is introduced by that, so that, or, if both principal proposition and clause are negative, by but or but that. These connectives except so that are usually associated with the correlative so or such in the principal proposition. This correlative modifies an adjective or an adverb, and serves as a hint that a clause of result is to follow. As an example of a negative clause of result, we have the following sentence,—“The long, warm days of summer never return but they bring with them a gloom.”—Lamb.
Exercise 14