be. Predicate noun: Their belief was that the world is flat. Indirect object: Give what I say your closest attention. Object of a preposition: Give your sympathy to whoever most needs it. Appositive: The belief that the world is flat was questioned by Columbus. ELLIPSIS 313. Ellipsis is the omission of words grammatically necessary. The following are common instances: Subject of an imperative verb (i. e., of a verb expressing a command): (You) Do me a favor. After the subordinating conjunction than: He is taller than I (am tall). After the subordinating conjunction as: He is as tall as I (am tall). After the two subordinating conjunctions as if: He writes as if in haste, i. e., He writes as (he would write) if (he were) in haste. Relative pronoun: This is the very book (which) I want. Subordinate clause: He tripped while (he was) run ning. INDEPENDENT ELEMENTS 314. An independent element is an expression that has no grammatical relation to the rest of the sentence. Vocative: You have been, my dear sir, the victim of ill fortune. (A vocative is a noun used to address a person.) Interjection (or exclamation): Oh, how sorry I am! Pleonasm: The smith, a mighty man is he. Parenthetical expression: There was, it is true, no real need for going. Nominative absolute: The night having overtaken us, we were forced to stop. (A nominative absolute consists of a noun or pronoun, in agreement with a participle, together with any modifiers of each. Sometimes the participle is elliptical; as: He strolled about the room, his hands in his pockets.) It expletive (An it expletive temporarily supplies the place of the grammatical subject, which follows the verb): It is hard to study; it is true that he is honest. There expletive (A there expletive temporarily supplies the place of the grammatical subject, which follows the verb): There was once a bridge over the brook. PARTICIPLES 315. A participle is an adjective-form derived from a verb. It may take an object, a predicate noun, an objective complement, etc., as a verb may do; and it may be modified by an adverb, as a verb may be; but it is used like an adjective. Examples: A rolling stone gathers no moss; he, having heard my answer, was silent; the tune became very wearying. INFINITIVES (AND GERUNDS) 316. An infinitive is a noun-form derived from a verb. It may take an object, a predicate noun, an objective complement, etc., as a verb may do; and it may be modified by an adverb, as a verb may be; but it is used like a noun. The following are its commonest noun-constructions (infinitives introduced by to are called root-infinitives; infinitives in ing are sometimes called gerunds): Subject: To run away would be cowardly; playing the piano was her only accomplishment. Object I should hate to be heard; he dreaded being seen. Predicate noun: His chief delight is to row on the river; her hobby was collecting stamps. Object of a preposition: He had no choice except to fight; he received the news without moving a muscle in his face. Appositive: His principal object, to force the enemy across the river, was accomplished; he was deprived by the jailer of his only diversion, reading the newspapers. 317. In addition, an infinitive beginning with to may be used Adverbially, to express purpose: I came here to see you. Adverbially, to express specification: His letters are difficult to read. Adjectivally: The winter is the right time to travel south. 318. In addition, an infinitive (beginning with to, expressed or elliptical) may be used as the predicate of an infinitive clause, taking a subject in the objective case; as: I wanted him to see me; I allowed him to go; I let him go. MISCELLANEOUS CONSTRUCTIONS 319. Direct discourse is object of a verb of saying; as: "You are either my friend," I retorted, "or my enemy." 320. A single modifier may modify a number of expressions in the same construction; as: He ran, leaped, and danced to show his joy. 321. A noun may be used adverbially to express measure or time; as, He read the book four times last year. 322. An adjective may be used as a noun; as: The land of the free and the home of the brave. 323. An adverb may modify a phrase; as: He reported just on time. 324. An adverb may modify a clause; as: He reported just as the clock was striking. THE SAME WORD AS DIFFERENT PARTS OF SPEECH 325. The same word may be used at different times as different parts of speech. Its part of speech is determined sometimes by its meaning, sometimes by its construction, sometimes by both. Examples: He works fast (adverb); he is a fast worker (adjective); they fast every Friday (verb); Lent is a forty-day fast (noun). That book is mine (adjective); that is my book (pronoun); here is the book that you ordered (relative pronoun); I had forgotten that you ordered the book (subordinating conjunction). Exercise 61, in Appendix 12, consists of four hundred sentences for analyzing, graded in accordance with the steps of the foregoing grammatical review. APPENDIX 9 SUPPLEMENTARY RHETORICAL PRINCIPLES FOR REFERENCE OR ADVANCED STUDY CLEARNESS 326. Topic-sentences (sections 35-49) are very frequently omitted in narration, at least so far as answers to the question who and what are concerned. A strict adherence to topic-sentences is a valuable discipline to the unpractised writer; but it may safely be confessed to the maturer student that, while paragraph-unity and theme-unity must always be religiously observed, topic-sentences are optional in narration, though important in description and essential in exposition and argument. 327. Topic-sentences and transition should be clear and distinct; but they are distasteful if they seem labored or obvious. Topic-sentence and transition too obvious and labored: I will now stop discussing his virtues, and take up his defects. Improved: These virtues, however, were almost counterbalanced by certain defects. 328. An extremely important device for securing clearness is the trick of not trying to say too much in a single sentence. (This is omitted in the chapter on clearness, because the typical sentence of an immature writer usually inclines to the opposite fault of not containing enough-a fault attacked in sections 133-136.) When you find yourself getting into |