Another form of this comparison is one in which the two propositions are introduced by the prepositional phrases by as much and by so much; for example, “Look at the most vigorous species; by as much as it swarms in numbers, by so much will it tend to increase still further.”
4. A fourth variety of the clause of degree is found in the following sentence,—“Night in the tropics, so far as animal life is concerned, is as the day.”—Drummond. Here the group of words, so far as animal life is concerned, tells the extent or degree to which night is like day. It might be separated into the base-word far modified by the adverb so and the clause as animal life is concerned; but it does not seem to be the author’s purpose to institute any comparison whatever, hence it is better to consider the whole group of words as one element denoting degree, and treat so far as as one subordinating connective.
Sometimes a clause of this kind performs a double duty. It gives the reason or ground for the main assertion and at the same time makes that assertion somewhat doubtful; for example, “As far as I could observe when the meeting broke up, they separated without remark on the sermon.”—Emerson. Here the principal statement is based upon the writer’s observation when the meeting broke up; but he implies that his main assertion may not be true, for his observation may not have extended far enough to warrant any certainty in his conclusion.
Exercise 18
Dispose of all clauses of degree in the following sentences.
1. Never did people believe anything more firmly than nine Englishmen out of ten at the present day believe that our greatness and welfare are proved by our being so very rich.—M. Arnold.
2. A shocking bad hat is perhaps as indifferent to Gladstone as a dirty old cloak was to Socrates.—Lord.
3. So far as a man thinks, he is free.—Emerson.
4. No nobler feeling than this of admiration for one higher than himself dwells in the breast of man.—Carlyle.
5. The drier the air, and the hotter the air, the greater is the amount of cloud which can be dissolved in it.—Tyndall.