Chapter VIII: Elliptical Sentences (1)

+527.+ Good usage does not demand that all sentences shall be absolutely complete. It often allows (and sometimes requires) the omission of words that, though necessary to the construction, are so easily supplied by the mind that it would be mere waste of time to utter them.

+528.+ +The omission of a word or words necessary to the grammatical completeness of a clause or sentence is called ellipsis.+

+A clause or sentence that shows ellipsis is said to be elliptical.+

+Ellipsis+ is a Greek word meaning “omission.”

In the following examples the omitted words are supplied in brackets.

[I] thank you.

[I] pray do not [you] move.

[You] pass me that book.

Her hair is light, her eyes [are] dark blue.

Some of the strangers spoke French, others [spoke] Spanish.

Some of the patriots were armed with old flintlocks, others [were
armed] with swords, still others [were armed] with pitchforks.

When [he was] a youth, he travelled in the East.

Though [he is] timid, he is no coward.

They were amused, though [they were] somewhat vexed.

While [we were] drifting downstream, we grounded on a sand bar.

If [it is] possible, send me word to-night.

You shall have the money this week, if [it is] necessary.

They marched slowly as if [they were] worn out.

Why [are] these tears?

Why [are you] so dejected?

He was ten years of age, his brother [was] eight [years of age].

I have more confidence in James than [I have] in Edmund.

Mary is younger than George [is young].

Tom likes you better than [he likes] me.

You like him better than I do [like him].

I like him better than Charles does [like him].

This racket is not so heavy as that [is heavy].

You are not so old as I [am old].

Peace [be] to his memory!

This is the only pencil [that] I have.

Is that the boy [whom] you hired yesterday?

They say [that] you are going to Europe soon.

+529.+ The examples in § 528 show that most cases of ellipsis fall under two heads:

1. To avoid repetition, words are often omitted in one part of the sentence when they occur in another part.

2. Pronouns, the conjunction _that_, and some forms of the verb _is_, are often omitted when they are readily supplied.

Under the second head come (1) the ellipsis of the subject (_thou_ or _you_) in imperative sentences (§ 268), (2) that of relative pronouns in the objective case (§ 151), (3) that of _is_, _are_, etc. (with the subject pronoun) in subordinate clauses introduced by _when_, _though_, _if_, and the like (§§ 397, 399, 417).

NOTE. The so-called “telegraphic style” omits _I_ with any verb or
with all verbs. It should be confined to telegrams, where space is
money.

+530.+ Adverbs indicating direction (like _forward_, _back_) are often used without a verb in imperative sentences.

_Forward_, brave companions!

_Down_ on your knees!

_Up_, guards, and at them!

NOTE. In older English, the omission of the verb of motion was
common, even in sentences not imperative, as in the following
examples from _Julius Cæsar_:--“We’ll along ourselves, and meet
them”; “Shall we on, and not depend on you?”

+531.+ The ellipsis of the subordinate conjunction _that_ is very common, especially in indirect discourse (§§ 388, 433).

I know [_that_] you are my friend.

Jack said [_that_] the boat had sunk.

He told me [_that_] he was sorry.

+532.+ Many constructions, originally elliptical, have become established idioms in which no ellipsis is felt. In such cases it is usually better to take the sentence as it stands, and not to supply the omitted words.

Thus, in “He eats _as if he were famished_” the italicized words
are properly treated as a subordinate clause modifying _eats_ and
introduced by the compound conjunction _as if_. Yet in strictness
this construction is an ellipsis for “He eats as [_he would eat_] if
he were famished.”

+533.+ Various ellipses are illustrated in the following sentences:--

1. Although in a friendly country, they marched always as if in a
land of enemies.

2. The aspect of the country was as wild and dreary as the climate.

3. Do not serious and earnest men discuss Hamlet as they would
Cromwell or Lincoln?--LOWELL.

4. Not so with the others.

5. Though rather shy and distrustful of this new acquaintance, Rip
complied with his usual alacrity.

6. Arras was famed for its rich tapestries, Brussels for its carpets,
Cambrai for its fine cambric, Lisle for its thread and the fabrics
woven from it.

7. Every day brings its task, which, if neglected, is doubled on the
morrow.

8. It is not easy to recover an art when once lost.

9. I wish you would go down with me to Newstead.

10. The men are all soldiers, and war and the chase their sole
occupation.

11. While in this state of irresolution, she was startled by a low
knock.

12. The house was tall, the skylight small and dirty, the day blind
with fog.

13. I little thought you would have deserted me.

14. He is the best Oriental scholar I know.

15. Cromwell was evidently laying, though in an irregular manner, the
foundations of an admirable system.

16. He was a foot taller than I.

17. This concerns you rather than me.

18. My father loved Sir Rowland as his soul.

EXERCISES

EXERCISE 1

(§§ 1–5, pp. 1–3)

1. Tell whether each of the following sentences is declarative, interrogative, imperative, or exclamatory. If a sentence is both declarative and exclamatory, mention the fact. Mention the subject and the predicate of each sentence. Note all instances of the inverted order (§ 5).

1. You need not answer this letter. 2. Many surmises of evil alarm
the hearts of the people.--LONGFELLOW. 3. Here I am again in the land
of old Bunyan. 4. Me this uncharter’d freedom tires.--WORDSWORTH.
5. Twilight’s soft dews steal o’er the village green.--ROGERS. 6.
Were there many robbers in the band? 7. How will posterity the deed
proclaim!--BYRON. 8. At dawn the towers of Stirling rang.--SCOTT.
9. You cannot recall the spoken word.--EMERSON. 10. The boughs
over my head seemed shadowy with solemn thoughts as well as with
rustling leaves.--HAWTHORNE. 11. So you don’t like Raphael! 12.
All around lay a frightful wilderness. 13. Why does the sea moan
evermore?--ROSSETTI. 14. What lonely straggler looks along the
wave?--BYRON. 15. Off went his wig! 16. For some minutes he continued
to scrutinize the drawing minutely. 17. Our strength grows out of our
weakness.--EMERSON. 18. Rudely carved was the porch. 19. What hopes
the prince to gain by Lacy’s death? 20. Trust thyself.

21. The rest of the men were morose and silent. 22. Here are the
ruins of the emperor’s palace. 23. Now rumbles along the carriage of
some magnate of the city. 24. Wild was the life we led. 25. How poor,
and dull, and sleepy, and squalid it seemed! 26. Built are the house
and the barn. 27. With what tenderness he sings! 28. Marked ye the
younger stranger’s eye? 29. One or two idlers, of forbidding aspect,
hung about in the murky gaslight. 30. Several mountains crowned with
snow shone brilliantly in the distance. 31. Follow me through this
passage. 32. Stop me not at your peril. 33. Carry thou this scroll to
the castle.

2. Write ten interrogative sentences concerning each topic. Reply in declarative sentences.

(1) The American Revolution; (2) the Pilgrim Fathers; (3) the history
of your own state; (4) the government of the United States; (5)
hygiene; (6) the manufactures (or other industries) of your town or
city.

3. Write ten imperative sentences, each giving an order concerning--

(1) the playing of a game; (2) the building or sailing of a boat; (3)
the care of the health; (4) the manufacture of some article of common
use; (5) the writing of a business letter.

4. Write ten exclamatory sentences. Tell whether each is declarative, interrogative, or imperative.

EXERCISE 2

(§§ 6–25, pp. 3–11)

1. Tell the parts of speech (including verb-phrases).

1. The rain pattered upon the roof and the sky gloomed through the
dusty garret windows.--HAWTHORNE. 2. Make yourself necessary to
somebody.--EMERSON. 3. I have a regard for every man on board that
ship, from the captain down to the crew. 4. “An artist,” said Michael
Angelo, “must have his measuring tools not in the hand, but in the
eye.”--EMERSON. 5. Time had wintered o’er his locks. 6. Must we in
all things look for the how, and the why, and the wherefore? 7. Power
dwells with cheerfulness.--EMERSON. 8. What hurrahs rang out! 9. He
sneaked about with a gallows air. 10. So! you see things go on as
when you were with us.

11. Rigby and his brother hirelings frightened them with hideous
fables and ugly words.--DISRAELI. 12. These are prize peaches. 13.
Ha ha! how vilely doth this cynic rhyme! 14. O Antony, beg not your
death of us. 45. Wordsworth was praised to me in Westmoreland because
he afforded to his country neighbors an example of a modest household
where comfort and culture were secured without display.

16. Shake hands with this knot of good fellows. 17. He had been
deserted by the Moderates. 18. The moderate Liberals held a meeting
very early in the struggle. 19. After a dreadful night of anxiety,
perplexity, and peril, the darkness, which I thought had lasted an
eternity, slowly disappeared.--TRELAWNY.

2. Use the following words in sentences of your own:--

Sleep (_noun_, _verb_); dry (_adjective_, _verb_, _noun_); very
(_adverb_, _adjective_); express (_noun_, _verb_, _adjective_);
bellow (_verb_, _noun_); American (_adjective_, _noun_); future
(_adjective_, _noun_); to-morrow (_noun_, _adverb_); flower
(_noun_, _verb_); sovereign (_noun_, _adjective_); summer (_noun_,
_verb_, _adjective_); double (_adjective_, _adverb_, _verb_); well
(_adjective_, _adverb_); fast (_adjective_, _adverb_, _noun_,
_verb_); content (_noun_, _adjective_, _verb_); last (_adjective_,
_adverb_, _verb_, _noun_); down (_adverb_, _preposition_); for
(_preposition_, _conjunction_); downright (_adjective_, _adverb_);
home (_noun_, _adjective_, _adverb_); lower (_adjective_, _adverb_,
_verb_); iron (_noun_, _adjective_, _verb_); off (_adverb_,
_preposition_, _adjective_); up (_adverb_, _preposition_); high
(_adjective_, _adverb_, _noun_); except (_verb_, _preposition_);
inside (_adjective_, _adverb_, _preposition_, _noun_); past
(_noun_, _adjective_, _preposition_); what (_adjective_, _pronoun_,
_interjection_); round (_noun_, _adjective_, _verb_, _preposition_,
_adverb_); sound (_noun_, _verb_, _adjective_, _adverb_); black
(_noun_, _verb_, _adjective_); all (_noun_, _adjective_, _adverb_);
open (_noun_, _adjective_, _verb_); while (_noun_, _verb_).

EXERCISE 3

(§§ 26–33, pp. 11–13)

Point out the infinitives and the participles. Tell when they occur in verb-phrases. Use them in sentences.

1. I did wrong to smile. 2. Luttrell adjured me with mock pathos to
spare his blushes. 3. I begged my friend Sir Roger to go with me
into her hovel. 4. I was wonderfully pleased to see the workings of
instinct in a hen followed by a brood of ducks. 5. A man’s first care
should be to avoid the reproaches of his own heart.--ADDISON. 6. I
was highly entertained to see the gentlemen of the county gathering
about my old friend, and striving who should compliment him most. 7.
He was let loose among the woods as soon as he was able to ride on
horseback. 8. Plutarch says very finely that a man should not allow
himself to hate even his enemies. 9. It gives me a serious concern to
see such a spirit of dissension in the country.

10. It was his intention to remain there for two or three days. 11.
Every part of every carriage had been cleaned, every horse had been
groomed. 12. Liberated from the embarrassments of the city, and
issuing into the broad uncrowded avenues of the northern suburbs, we
soon begin to enter upon our natural pace of ten miles an hour. 13.
The beggar, rearing himself against the wall, forgets his lameness.
14. Three miles beyond Barnet, we see approaching another private
carriage. 15. We saw many lights moving about as we drew near.

EXERCISE 4

(§§ 34–39, pp. 13–15)

1. Mention the simple subject and the simple predicate of each sentence in Exercise 1 (p. 227). Tell whether the simple subject is a noun or a pronoun, and whether the simple predicate is a verb or a verb-phrase.

2. Study in the same way your own sentences in Exercise 1.

3. Divide each sentence into the complete subject and the complete predicate. If the sentence has a compound subject, mention the substantives that compose it; if the sentence has a compound predicate, mention the verbs (or verb-phrases).

1. The Queen and Prince Albert came to London from Windsor on
Saturday morning. 2. You and Lockhart must not abandon the good
cause. 3. I saw that he was weak, and took advantage of a pause to
remind him not to forget his drive. 4. Two or three of my English
biographies have something of the same historical character. 5. Lord
Grey, Clanricarde, Labouchere, Vernon Smith, and Seymour will fill
up the places. 6. Every change of season, every change of weather,
indeed, every hour of the day, produces some change in the magical
hues and shapes of these mountains.--IRVING. 7. He looked round, and
could see nothing but a crow winging its solitary flight across the
mountain. 8. They suddenly desisted from their play and stared at
him. 9. The sea flashes along the pebbly margin of its silver beach,
forming a thousand little bays and inlets, or comes tumbling in among
the cliffs of a rock-bound coast, and beats against its massive
barriers with a distant, hollow, continual roar.--LONGFELLOW.

10. A wide gateway ushered the traveller into the interior of the
building, and conducted him to a low-roofed apartment, paved with
round stones. 11. The strange visitant gruffly saluted me, and, after
making several ineffectual efforts to urge his horse in at the door,
dismounted and followed me into the room.--WHITTIER. 12. The foolish
and the dead alone never change their opinion.--LOWELL. 13. They
will slink into their kennels in disgrace, or perchance run wild and
strike a league with the wolf and the fox.--THOREAU. 14. Strong will
and keen perception overpower old manners and create new.--EMERSON.
15. Neither Aristotle, nor Leibnitz, nor Junius, nor Champollion has
set down the grammar-rules of this dialect. 16. His mantle and hood
were of the best Flanders cloth, and fell in ample and not ungraceful
folds. 17. A deep fosse or ditch was drawn round the whole building.

EXERCISE 5

(§§ 40–42, p. 16)

1. Point out the noun-phrases, verb-phrases, adjective phrases, and adverbial phrases. Which of these phrases are prepositional?

1. Sometimes he spent hours together in the great libraries of Paris.
2. He assumed the garb of a common sailor, and in this disguise
reached the Dutch coast in safety. 3. Some of the frigate’s men were
still endeavoring to escape. 4. Was Milton rich or at his ease when
he composed “Paradise Lost”? 5. It was a cold-blooded exhibition of
marksmanship. 6. He then continued on to the place of rendezvous at
Speedwell’s Iron Works on Troublesome Creek.--IRVING. 7. The gates of
Amsterdam had been barred against him. 8. They heard his confession
with suspicion and disdain. 9. The stagecoach always drew up before
the door of the cottage. 10. The wind moaned through the silent
streets. 11. The clouds are scudding across the moon. 12. Steele had
known Addison from childhood. 13. A broad ray of light fell into the
garret.--DICKENS. 14. The fate of his insulted and broken-hearted
brother still rankled in his mind. 15. All day with fruitless strife
they toiled.--SCOTT.

2. Fill each blank with a single word. Substitute for the word a phrase with the same meaning. Mention in each instance (1) the part of speech, (2) the kind of phrase.

1. He spoke to me ----.

2. The grounds were shut in by a high ---- wall.

3. The fire engine ---- past.

4. The three girls were laughing ----.

5. The poor child looked ---- at the toys.

6. Harold ---- the bunch of grapes.

7. The proprietor is a ---- man.

8. The archbishop placed upon the king’s head a ---- crown.

9. The book which I hold in my hand is ----.

10. The ---- ordered the _Conqueror_ to open fire.

11. The enemy retreated ----.

12. The rain ---- heavily all day.

13. The rain came down ---- all day.

14. The ---- is in his office.

15. A ---- boy came to the door.

16. My brother is president of ----.

EXERCISE 6

(§§ 43–51, pp. 16–21)

1. Tell whether each sentence is simple, compound, or complex. If the sentence is compound, divide it into its independent clauses, and mention the simple subject (noun or pronoun) and the simple predicate (verb or verb-phrase) of each clause.

If the sentence is complex, divide it into the main (independent) and the subordinate clause, and tell whether the latter is used as an adjective or as an adverb.

1. The great gate slowly opened, and a steward and several
serving-men appeared. 2. The victors set fire to the wigwams and
the fort; the whole was soon in a blaze; many of the old men, the
women, and the children perished in the flames. 3. Night closed in,
but still no guest arrived. 4. The black waves rolled by them, and
the light at the horizon began to fade, and the stars were coming
out one by one.--WILLIAM BLACK. 5. Mr. Nickleby closed an account
book which lay on his desk. 6. By ceaseless action all that is
subsists.--COWPER. 7. When the morning broke, the Moorish army had
vanished. 8. At midnight, when the town was hushed in sleep, they all
went quietly on board. 9. Fortune had cast him into a cavern, and he
was groping darkly round. 10. I paced the deserted chambers where he
had composed his poem. 11. I strove to speak; my voice utterly failed
me. 12. The only avenue by which the town could be easily approached,
was protected by a stone wall more than twenty feet high and of great
thickness.

13. The night fell tempestuous and wild, and no vestige of the
hapless sloop was ever after seen. 14. The simple majesty of this
anecdote can gain nothing from any comment which we might make on it.
15. Raleigh speaks the language of the heart of his country when he
urges the English statesmen to colonize Guiana.--FROUDE. 16. Men, in
their youth, go to push their fortune in the colony; they succeed;
they acquire property there; they return to their native land; they
continue to draw the income from their colonial estates.--BROUGHAM.
17. The moonlight glistened upon traces of the gilding which had
once covered both rider and steed. 18. While this brief conversation
passed, Donatello had once or twice glanced aside with a watchful
air. 19. Pray for us, Hilda; we need it.

2. Divide the compound complex sentences into their coördinate clauses. Tell whether each of these clauses, when standing alone, is a simple or a complex sentence.

1. It would be dark before he could reach the village, and he heaved
a heavy sigh when he thought of encountering the terrors of Dame
Van Winkle. 2. Language gradually varies, and with it fade away
the writings of authors who have lived their allotted time. 3. The
tallest and handsomest men whom England could produce guarded the
passage from the palace gate to the river-side, and all seemed in
readiness for the queen’s coming forth, although the hour was yet so
early. 4. Edward the Confessor died on the fifth of January, 1066,
and on the following day an assembly of the thanes and prelates
present in London, and of the citizens of the metropolis, declared
that Harold should be their king.

EXERCISE 7

(§§ 54–64, pp. 27–30)

1. Point out all the common nouns and all the proper nouns. Mention all the examples of personification.

1. There Guilt his anxious revel kept.--SCOTT. 2. The first vessel we
fell in with was a schooner, which, after a long chase, we made out
to be an American. 3. You will be sauntering in St. Peter’s perhaps,
or standing on the Capitol while the sun sets. 4. I am very deep in
my Aristophanes. 5. I saw a most lovely Sir Joshua at Christie’s
a week ago.--FITZ GERALD. 6. I hear there is scarce a village in
England that has not a Moll White in it.--ADDISON. 7. Such a spirit
is Liberty. At times she takes the form of a hateful reptile. She
grovels, she hisses, she stings. But woe to those who in disgust
shall venture to crush her!--MACAULAY. 8. Rough Wulfstane trimmed his
shafts and bow.--SCOTT. 9. To-day we have been a delightful drive
through Ettrick Forest, and to the ruins of Newark--the hall of
Newark, where the ladies bent their necks of snow to hear “The Lay of
the Last Minstrel.”--MARIA EDGEWORTH.

10. The same waves wash the moles of the new-built Californian towns,
and lave the faded but still gorgeous skirts of Asiatic lands, older
than Abraham; while all between float milky-ways of coral isles,
and low-lying, endless, unknown Archipelagoes and impenetrable
Japans.--MELVILLE. 11. The duchess said haughtily that she had done
her best for the Esmonds. 12. To see with one’s own eyes men and
countries is better than reading all the books of travel in the
world.--THACKERAY. 13. Defeat and mortification had only hardened the
king’s heart. 14. Earth, Ocean, Air, beloved brotherhood!--SHELLEY.
15. The iron tongue of St. Paul’s has told twelve. 16. The Indians,
brandishing their weapons, answered only with gestures of angry
defiance.

2. Point out all the abstract, all the collective, and all the compound nouns.

1. The poet binds together by passion and knowledge the vast empire
of human society.--WORDSWORTH. 2. The country is now showing symptoms
of greenness and warmth. 3. When the public are gone, we at once put
up the great iron shutters. 4. Washington returned to headquarters at
Newbury. 5. The Bruce’s band moves swiftly on.--SCOTT. 6. He shall
with speed to England.--SHAKSPERE. 7. Soon were dismissed the courtly
throng.--SCOTT. 8. Sickness, desertion, and the loss sustained at
Guilford Courthouse had reduced his little army. 9. A detachment was
sent against them. 10. Never before this summer have the kingbirds,
handsomest of flycatchers, built in my orchard. 11. The young
suddenly disperse on your approach, as if a whirlwind had swept them
away.--THOREAU. 12. This lighthouse, known to our mariners as Cape
Cod or Highland Light, is one of our “primary seacoast lights.” 13.
We have some salt of our youth in us.--SHAKSPERE. 14. Thou hast nor
youth nor age.--SHAKSPERE.

15. The passion for hunting had revived with Washington on returning
to his old hunting grounds. 16. A circle there of merry listeners
stand.--BYRON. 17. The act of the Congress of Vienna remains the
eternal monument of their diplomatic knowledge and political
sagacity.--DISRAELI. 18. Lee undertook the task with alacrity. 19. A
row of surfboats and canoes lay along the beach. 20. The situation he
had held as aide-de-camp to the commander-in-chief had given him an
opportunity of observing the course of affairs. 21. The ground was
frozen to a great depth. 22. He was aware of his unpopularity. 23.
The stern old war-gods shook their heads.--EMERSON.

24. Freckled nest eggs thou shalt see
Hatching in the hawthorn tree.--KEATS.

25. Fair morn ascends, and sunny June has shed
Ambrosial odors o’er the garden-bed,
And wild bees seek the cherry’s sweet perfume
Or cluster round the full-blown apple-bloom.--CAMPBELL.

26. For in their looks divine
The image of their glorious Maker shone,
Truth, wisdom, sanctitude severe and pure.--MILTON.

27. Steer, helmsman, till you steer our way
By stars beyond the line.--CAMPBELL.

28. Say I sent thee thither:
I, that have neither pity, love, nor fear.--SHAKSPERE.

EXERCISE 8

(§§ 66–84, pp. 31–39)

1. Make a list containing thirty nouns, ten in each of the three genders. Use each of these nouns in a sentence.

2. Write ten sentences, each containing a noun of common gender.

3. Write sentences containing the masculine forms corresponding to the feminine forms in this list, and the feminine forms corresponding to the masculine:--

earl, abbess, schoolmaster, porter, hind, mare, ram, sire, witch,
sultan, czar, widow, marquis, executor, salesman, tailor, hero,
bride, songster, great-uncle, nephew, buck, horseman, bachelor, belle.

4. Mention the gender and the number of each noun. Tell whether the gender is shown by the form, by the meaning, or by both. Whenever it is possible, give the plural of each noun that is singular, and the singular of each noun that is plural.

1. Oft Music changed, but never ceased her tone.--BYRON.
2. Grace Crawley was at this time living with the two Miss
Prettymans.--TROLLOPE. 3. The Catos and the Scipios of the village
had gathered in front of the hotel. 4. This gunner was an excellent
mathematician, a good scholar, and a complete sailor.--DEFOE. 5. I
was, in fact, in the chapel of the Knights Templars.--IRVING. 6.
The luckless culprit was brought in, forlorn and chapfallen, in the
custody of gamekeepers, huntsmen, and whippers-in, and followed by a
rabble rout of country clowns.--IRVING. 7. The hare now came still
nearer to the place where she was at first started.--BUDGELL. 8.
The Fairfaxes were no longer at hand.--IRVING. 9. All the peers and
peeresses put on their coronets. 10. Time is no longer slow; his
sickle mows quickly in this age.--DISRAELI. 11. Under the humblest
roof, the commonest person in plain clothes sits there massive,
cheerful, yet formidable, like the Egyptian colossi.--EMERSON.

12. Within forty-eight hours, hundreds of horse and foot came
by various roads to the city. 13. The hart and hind wandered in
a wilderness abounding in ferny coverts and green and stately
trees.--DISRAELI. 14. The ship had received a great deal of damage,
and it required some time to repair her.--DEFOE. 15. When Mary,
the nurse, returns with the little Miss Smiths from Master Brown’s
birthday party, she is narrowly questioned as to their behavior.
16. Of all our fleet, consisting of a hundred and fifty sail,
scarce twelve appeared.--SMOLLETT. 17. Hindoos, Russians, Chinese,
Spaniards, Portuguese, Englishmen, Frenchmen, Genoese, Neapolitans,
Venetians, Greeks, Turks, descendants from all the builders of Babel,
come to trade at Marseilles, sought the shade alike.--DICKENS. 18.
There lies the port; the vessel puffs her sail.--TENNYSON. 19. I had
desire to see the old family seat of the Lucys.--IRVING.

20. The Miss Lambs were the belles of little Britain.--IRVING.
21. Lord Culloden at length appeared with his daughters, Ladies
Flora and Grizell.--DISRAELI. 22. Still his honied wealth Hymettus
yields.--BYRON. 23. Josephine has been made executrix of her father’s
estate. 24. Georgette crouched by the fire, reading a wonderful tale
of kings, princesses, enchanted castles, knights and ladies, monks
and nuns, wizards and witches. 25. She was a vixen when she went to
school.--SHAKSPERE. 26. Keep a gamester from the dice and a good
student from his book.--SHAKSPERE. 27. They are sheep and calves
which seek out assurance in that.--SHAKSPERE. 28. A score of good
ewes may be worth ten pounds.--SHAKSPERE. 29. Let ay’s seem no’s and
no’s seem ay’s.--GAY.

30. She clasps a bright child on her upgathered knee;
It laughs at the lightning, it mocks the mixed thunder
Of the air and the sea.--SHELLEY.

EXERCISE 9

(§§ 71–84, pp. 34–39)

1. Write sentences in which the following words, letters, or figures are used in the plural number:--

German, radius, lens, moose, wharf, index, piano, thesis, 4, 500, p,
q, and, syllabus, staff, die, s, t, seraph, hero, stimulus, crisis,
elf, heathen, brother-in-law, July, March, spoonful, memorandum, Miss
Allen, Master Allen, Mr. Hayes, General Raymond, Knight Templar, head
(of cattle), animalcule, potato, valley, formula, penny, curriculum,
dwarf, man-child.

2. Write sentences in which the following nouns are used in the singular number:--

strata, phenomena, alumnæ, alumni, candelabra, species, cherubim,
errata, bacteria, Japanese, beaux, vertebræ, Messrs., theses, oases.

EXERCISE 10

(§ 88, pp. 41–42)

Mention all the nouns that are in the nominative case, and give the construction (or syntax) of each,--as subject, predicate nominative, vocative (or nominative of direct address), exclamatory nominative, or nominative in apposition.[50]

1. A weary lot is thine, fair maid.--SCOTT. 2. At last, our small
acquaintance, Ned Higgins, trudged up the street, on his way to
school.--HAWTHORNE. 3. The soil is in general a moist and retentive
clay. 4. Rumors alone were their guides through a wild and desolate
country.--LONGFELLOW. 5. Young man, have you challenged Charles the
wrestler?--SHAKSPERE. 6. Ralph was an Eton boy, and hence, being
robust and shrewd, a swimmer and a cricketer. 7. Here Harold was
received a welcome guest.--SCOTT. 8. The tall Highlander remained
obdurate. 9. The beams and rafters, roughly hewn and with strips
of bark still on them, and the rude masonry of the chimneys, made
the garret look wild and uncivilized. 10. Deathlike the silence
seemed. 11. Sorrow and silence are strong, and patient endurance is
godlike.--LONGFELLOW. 12. Fly, fly, detested thoughts, forever from
my view!--BEATTIE. 13. Time must not be counted by calendars, but by
sensation, by thought.--DISRAELI.

14. This is the history of Charlotte Corday. 15. The nabobs soon
became a most unpopular class of men. 16. Before him stretched the
long, laborious road, dry, empty, and white.--HARDY. 17. With the
great mass of mankind, the test of integrity in a public man is
consistency.--MACAULAY. 18. These are trifles, Mr. Premium. 19.
My thanks are due to you for your trouble and care. 20. Here’s my
great uncle, Sir Richard Ravelin. 21. Rowley, my old friend, I am
sure you congratulate me. 22. David, you are a coward! 23. Here come
other Pyncheons, the whole tribe, in their half-a-dozen generations.
24. Uncle Venner, trundling a wheelbarrow, was the earliest person
stirring in the neighborhood. 25. Up the chimney roared the fire,
and brightened the room with its broad blaze. 26. Liberty! freedom!
tyranny is dead!--SHAKSPERE. 27. The hostess’s daughter, a plump
Flanders lass, with long gold pendants in her ears, was at a side
window.--IRVING.

28. Horses! can these be horses that bound off with the action and
gesture of leopards?--DE QUINCEY. 29. Peace! silence! Brutus speaks.
30. The rains, frosts, and tempests splinter the chalk above and the
waves gnaw it away below.--GEIKIE.

EXERCISE 11

(§§ 89–96, pp. 43–47)

1. Point out all the nouns in the possessive case, and parse them according to the model in § 112.

1. James’s parliament contained a most unusual proportion of new
ministers. 2. I live in general quietly at my brother-in-law’s in
Norfolk (see § 96). 3. There is a small cottage of my father’s close
to the lawn gates. 4. We had found, in that day’s heap of earth,
about fifty pounds’ weight of gold dust.--DEFOE. 5. Much the most
striking incident in Burns’s life is his journey to Edinburgh. 6.
As to freaks like this of Miss Brooke’s, Mrs. Cadwallader had no
patience with them.--GEORGE ELIOT. 7. Homeward they bore him through
the dark woods’ gloom.--MORRIS. 8. The eye travels down to Oxford’s
towers.--ARNOLD. 9. I obeyed all my brother’s military commands
with the utmost docility. 10. Tellson’s wanted not elbowroom,
Tellson’s wanted no light, Tellson’s wanted no embellishment. Noakes
& Co.’s might, or Snooks Brothers’ might; but Tellson’s--thank
heaven!--DICKENS.

2. Examine the nouns in the possessive case in 1 (above), and tell which of the possessives might be replaced by an _of_-phrase. Mention particularly those passages in which the possessive would not be used in modern prose.

3. Write sentences containing the possessive singular of--

Henry, James, Thomas, Mr. Fox, child, Charles Price, Mrs.
Gibbs, Edward, General Edwards, horse, Hortense, Miss Bellows,
father-in-law, Major Ellis, commander-in-chief, Thompson and Howard
(_a firm_), Eustis and Morris (_a firm_), Messrs. Cartwright and
Robbins, Apollo, Brutus, Ulysses.

4. Write sentences containing the possessive plural of--

Englishman, fireman, washerwoman, fox, sheep, horse, ox, child,
emperor, empress, robin, Norman, German, hawk, Knight Templar, lady,
sailor, heir, heiress, teacher, whale, walrus, critic, poet, vireo.

5. In which of the sentences that you have written (under 3 and 4) would it be possible to substitute an _of_-phrase for the possessive? In which of them (if any) would this phrase be preferable? Why?

EXERCISE 12

(§§ 97–110, pp. 47–53)

Parse the nouns in the objective case, according to the model in § 112. Tell the particular construction in each instance,--direct object, predicate objective, indirect object, etc.

1. Such was the narrative of Jack Grant, the mate. 2. Rippling waters
made a pleasant moan.--BYRON. 3. Swiftly they hurried away to the
forge of Basil the blacksmith.--LONGFELLOW. 4. A pale fog hung over
London. 5. So like a shattered column lay the king.--TENNYSON. 6.
Then sing, ye birds, sing, sing a joyous song.--WORDSWORTH. 7. A
blighted spring makes a barren year.--JOHNSON. 8. Dark and neglected
locks overshadowed his brow. 9. Imagine the wind howling, the sea
roaring, the rain beating. 10. Lay these vain regrets aside. 11.
Birds of passage sailed through the leaden air. 12. Authority
forgets a dying king.--TENNYSON. 13. Three years she grew in sun and
shower.--WORDSWORTH. 14. The sound of horns came floating from the
valley, prolonged by the mountain echoes. 15. Hours had passed away
like minutes. 16. Your mistrust cannot make me a traitor.--SHAKSPERE.

17. She halted a moment before speaking. 18. The room opened on a
terrace adorned with statues and orange trees. 19. The sun is coming
down to earth, and the fields and the waters shout to him golden
shouts.--MEREDITH. 20. England is unrivalled for two things--sports
and politics.--DISRAELI. 21. Thus we lived several years in a
state of much happiness. 22. The old gentleman’s whole countenance
beamed with a serene look of indwelling delight. 23. I am reading
Selwyn’s “Correspondence,” a remarkable book. 24. I have lived my
life.--TENNYSON. 25. My heart is like a singing bird.--CHRISTINA
ROSSETTI. 26. How like a winter hath my absence been.--SHAKSPERE.
27. Three weeks we westward bore.--LONGFELLOW. 28. It rains
pitchforks.--FITZ GERALD. 29. The sublimer and more passionate
poets I still read, by snatches and occasionally.--DE QUINCEY. 30.
Coningsby slept the deep sleep of youth and health.--DISRAELI.

31. Thou mightst call him a goodly person. 32. My father named
me Autolycus. 33. A country fellow brought him a huge fish. 34.
I’ll make you the queen of Naples. 35. You call honorable boldness
impudent sauciness.--SHAKSPERE. 36. Sir Roger generally goes two
or three miles from his house before he beats about in search of a
hare or partridge. 37. This misconception caused Washington some
embarrassment. 38. I now thank you for Beattie, the most agreeable
and amiable writer I ever met with.--COWPER.

EXERCISE 13

(§§ 97–110, pp. 47–53)

1. Write fifteen sentences, each containing a transitive verb and its direct object (§§ 99–100).

2. Substitute a pronoun for each noun in the objective case.

3. Write ten sentences containing both a direct object and a predicate objective (§ 104).

4. Use in sentences fifteen of the verbs in the list in § 105, each with both a direct and an indirect object.

5. For each indirect object, substitute _to_ with an object. Change the order, if necessary.

6. Write ten sentences, each containing a cognate object (§ 108).

7. Write ten sentences, each containing an adverbial objective (§ 109).

8. Write ten sentences, each containing a noun in apposition with a noun in the objective case (§ 110).

EXERCISE 14

(§§ 54–112, pp. 27–54)

Parse every noun, according to the models in § 112.

1. Pennon and banner wave no more. 2. They soon gained the utmost
verge of the forest, and entered the country inhabited by men without
vice.--GOLDSMITH. 3. Our avenue is strewn with the whole crop of
autumn’s withered leaves.--HAWTHORNE. 4. He is the rich man who can
avail himself of all men’s faculties.--EMERSON. 5. Like an awakened
conscience, the sea was moaning and tossing.--LONGFELLOW. 6. He
again called and whistled after his dog. 7. She wrote and addressed
a hurried note. 8. The light and warmth of that long-vanished day
live with me still. 9. Violet and primrose girls, and organ boys
with military monkeys, and systematic bands very determined in tone
if not in tune, filled the atmosphere.--MEREDITH. 10. The blood
left Wilfrid’s ashen cheek. 11. Give us manners, virtue, freedom,
power!--WORDSWORTH. 12. A great deal of shrubbery clusters along the
base of the stone wall, and takes away the hardness of its outline.

13. I travelled the whole four hundred miles between this and Madras
on men’s shoulders. 14. Here we set up twelve little huts like
soldiers’ tents. 15. Swiftly they glided away, like the shade of a
cloud on the prairie. 16. Athens, even long after the decline of the
Roman empire, still continued the seat of learning, politeness, and
wisdom.--GOLDSMITH. 17. Four times the sun had risen and set. 18.
Speak! speak! thou fearful guest! 19. The oak rose before me like
a pillar of darkness. 20. Another long blast filled the old courts
of the castle with its echoes, and was answered by the warder from
the walls. 21. Sound, sound the clarion, fill the fife!--SCOTT. 22.
Now, Falstaff, where have you been all this while? 23. Sounds of a
horn they heard, and the distant lowing of cattle. 24. Homer was
always his companion now. 25. Forgive me these injurious suspicions.
26. O, pride! pride! it deceives me with the subtlety of a serpent.
27. I made Mr. Wright’s gardener a present of fifty sorts of plant
seeds. 28. Your mother and I last week made a trip to Gayhurst, the
seat of Mr. Wright, about four miles off. 29. Beneath the shelter
of one hut, in the bright blaze of the same fire, sat this varied
group of adventurers. 30. The cares of to-day are seldom the cares of
to-morrow.--COWPER.

EXERCISE 15

(§§ 115–129, pp. 55–62)

1. Parse the personal pronouns, using the models in § 168.

1. She peeped from the window into the garden. 2. The little marquis
immediately threw himself into the attitude of a man about to tell a
long story. 3. It pours and it thunders, it lightens amain.--SCOTT.
4. Master, master, look about you! 5. Leontine, with his own and his
wife’s fortune, bought a farm of three hundred a year.--ADDISON. 6.
The Tories carry it among the new members six to one.--SWIFT. 7. I
wrote to him, but could tell him nothing. 8. On the next morning
after breakfast the major went out for a walk by himself. 9. Their
hearts quaked within them, at the idea of taking one step farther.
10. Mrs. Forrester’s surprise was equal to ours. 11. It’s twenty
years since he went away from home. 12. I seated myself in a recess
of a large bow window. 13. At the last moment his heart failed him,
and he looked round him for some mode of escape. 14. A friend of mine
has been spending some time at Sir Walter Scott’s.

15. Send me a letter directed to me at Mr. Watcham’s. 16. I have
lately received from my bookseller a copy of my subscribers’ names.
17. We came in our first morning’s march to very good springs of
fresh water. 18. We are both of us inclined to be a little too
positive. 19. Heyne’s best teacher was himself.--CARLYLE.

20. Aspasia, you have lived but few years in the world, and with
only one philosopher--yourself. 21. I got to the side in time to see
a huge liner’s dim shape slide by like a street at night; she would
have been invisible but for her row of lights. 22. The cataracts blow
their trumpets from the steep.--WORDSWORTH. 23. I am he they call Old
Care.--PEACOCK. 24. The sharp and peevish tinkle of the shop-bell
made itself audible. 25. The heroes themselves say, as often as not,
that fame is their object. 26. He seems to himself to touch things
with muffled hands. 27. She took counsel with herself what must be
done. 28. The head of the Pyncheons found himself involved in serious
financial difficulties. 29. Ha! here is Hepzibah herself!

2. Write sentences in which the personal pronoun of the first person is used as direct object, as indirect object, as predicate nominative; in the possessive singular with a noun; in the possessive singular without a noun.

3. Fill the blanks with personal pronouns of the first or the third person.

1. He thought the burglars were ----.

2. He mistook the burglars for ----.

3. William is better at his lessons than ----.

4. It is ----.

5. These are ----.

6. Nobody volunteered except Edward and ----.

7. ---- boys have formed a debating club.

8. Mr. Jones is going to give ---- boys a baseball field.

9. Who is there? ----.

10. Between you and ----, I am not sorry that he has resigned.

11. If I were ---- I would study art.

12. Arthur likes you better than ----.

13. Behind Ruth and ---- came the guest of honor.

14. Automobiles are not for such as ----.

15. It was ---- that Joseph meant.

16. ---- two are always together.

17. Richard dislikes everybody, ---- most of all.

4. Write sentences in which _myself_, _yourself_, _ourselves_, _himself_, _herself_, _themselves_ are used (1) intensively, (2) reflexively as direct object, (3) reflexively as indirect object.

EXERCISE 16

(§§ 131–142, pp. 62–65)

1. Parse the demonstratives and the indefinites. In parsing the word, tell whether it is used as a pronoun or as an adjective. If it is used as a pronoun, tell the number and the case and give the reason for the case. If it is used as an adjective, mention the substantive which it modifies.

1. What is the meaning of all this? 2. On either side extended a
ruinous wooden fence. 3. You have seen that picture, then! 4. This
very Judge Pyncheon was the original of the miniature. 5. Twenty
years ago this man was equally capable of crime or heroism; now he is
fit for neither.--STEVENSON. 6. None are all evil. 7. Solitude has
many a dreary hour. 8. Every science has its hitherto undiscovered
mysteries.--GOLDSMITH. 9. The same day we visited the shores of the
isle in the ship’s boats. 10. None but picked recruits were enlisted.
11. A longing for the brightness and silence of fallen snow seizes
him at such times. 12. Such were Addison’s talents for conversation.
13. Nicholas Vedder! why, he is dead and gone these eighteen years!
14. What a lamentable situation was that of the poor baron! 15.
Several houses were pillaged and destroyed.

16. Each warrior was a chosen man. 17. See how yond justice rails
upon yond simple thief!--SHAKSPERE. 18. Our naval annals owe some
of their interest to the fantastic and beautiful appearance of old
warships.--STEVENSON. 19. Some are too indolent to read anything
till its reputation is established.--JOHNSON. 20. In both sexes,
occasionally, this lifelong croak, accompanying each word of joy or
sorrow, is one of the symptoms of settled melancholy.--HAWTHORNE.
21. Such voices have put on mourning for dead hopes. 22. Another
phenomenon was a package of lucifer matches. 23. How few appear in
those streets which but some few hours ago were crowded! 24. This was
a very different camp from that of the night before.

25. Alternations of wild hope and cold despair succeeded each other.
26. The poor know best how to console each other’s sorrows. 27.
Everybody has his own interpretation for that picture. 28. I strove
with none, for none was worth my strife.--LANDOR. 29. Scarcely any of
the items in the above-drawn parallel occurred to Phœbe. 30. He went
about moping. None spake to him. No one would play with him.--LAMB.
31. Ah, that good Kent! He said it would be thus. 32. How easy is the
explanation to those who know! 33. There has been a quarrel between
him and Hepzibah this many a day.

2. Fill each blank with a personal pronoun (§ 141).

1. Each of us should do ---- best.

2. Everybody thinks ---- own way is wise.

3. If anybody has a better plan, now is the time for ---- to speak.

4. It was an old-fashioned picnic, every person furnishing ---- share
of the provisions.

5. When anybody is talking, it is bad manners to interrupt ----.

EXERCISE 17

(§§ 143–156, pp. 66–71)

1. Parse the relative pronouns, using the models in § 168.

1. The lights in the shops could hardly struggle through the heavy
mist, which thickened every moment. 2. I shall not budge from the
position that I have taken up. 3. The land of literature is a fairy
land to those who view it at a distance.--IRVING. 4. I hate people
who meet Time half-way.--LAMB. 5. The weather, which had been stormy
and unsettled, moderated toward the evening. 6. He that once indulges
idle fears will never be at rest.--JOHNSON. 7. The only ford by
which the travellers could cross was guarded by a party of militia.
8. One dark unruly night she issued secretly out of a small postern
gate of the castle, which the enemy had neglected to guard. 9. I
paused to contemplate a tomb on which lay the effigy of a knight
in complete armor. 10. He who loves the sea loves also the ship’s
routine.--CONRAD. 11. There were two or three indefatigable men among
them, by whose courage and industry all the rest were upheld.--DEFOE.

12. Thou hadst a voice whose sound was like the sea.--WORDSWORTH.
13. They slander thee sorely who say thy vows are frail.--MOORE. 14.
The first great poet whose works have come down to us, sang of war
long before war became a science or a trade.---MACAULAY. 15. The
gusts that drove against the high house seemed ready to tear it from
its foothold of rock. 16. At its western side is a deep ravine or
valley, through which a small stream rushes. 17. A weak mother, who
perpetually threatens and never performs, is laying up miseries both
for herself and for her children.--SPENCER. 18. As they approached, a
raven, who sat upon the topmost stone, black against the bright blue
sky, flapped lazily away.--KINGSLEY. 19. To such of her neighbors as
needed other attention, she would give her time, her assistance, her
skill. 20. It was such a battle-axe as Rustum may have wielded in
fight upon the banks of Oxus. 21. I may neither choose whom I would,
nor refuse whom I dislike.

2. Point out the descriptive and the restrictive relatives in 1 (above).

3. Write ten sentences, each containing a descriptive relative; ten sentences, each containing a restrictive relative.

4. Fill the blanks with relatives. In the first eight sentences, at least, use _who_ or _whom_.

1. This is the boy ---- I recommended.

2. The boy ---- I recommended is a Swede.

3. The boy ---- brought the letter is not the one ---- I recommended.

4. I told Anna, ---- I knew would keep my secret.

5. I told Anna, ---- I knew I could trust.

6. I told Anna, ---- I knew to be trustworthy.

7. I told Anna, ---- I knew intimately.

8. No one ---- you know lives in this street.

9. All ---- I can say is, I am sorry.

10. Give me the same horse ---- I had yesterday.

11. A dog, ---- showed his teeth and growled, blocked the way.

12. Choose the partner ---- you like best.

13. The policeman was leading a little child ---- had lost its mother.

14. Take such measures ---- you deem necessary.

15. Take ---- measures seem necessary.

16. Take the measures ---- seem to you necessary.

17. My hat is of the same size ---- yours.

18. This is the picture ---- I am so proud of.

19. This is the picture of ---- I am so proud.

20. The man ---- is talking to Henry is the one ---- owns this house.

5. Supply the relatives that are “understood” (§ 151).

1. It was a bold step she had taken.

2. I am not altogether unqualified for the business I have in hand.

3. His taste of books is a little too just for the age he lives in.

4. Censure is the tax a man pays to the public for being eminent.

5. Who is the wittiest man you know?

6. Morton was the only friend I had.

7. That sonata was the first piece I learned.

8. Ten dollars is the price he asks.

9. Are you the man I bought the coat of?

10. This is the book we are reading evenings.

11. Take any seat you like.

12. “Faust” is the only opera I care for.

13. I have done all I can.

EXERCISE 18

(§§ 157–162, pp. 71–73)

Parse the relatives.

1. Whatever wisdom and energy could do William did. 2. Whatever is
done skilfully appears to be done with ease. 3. We must suspect what
we see, distrust what we hear, and doubt even what we feel!--MISS
BURNEY. 4. Whoever has been in a state of nervous agitation, must
know that the longer it continues the more uncontrollable it
grows.--IRVING. 5. Time hath reft whate’er my soul enjoyed.--BYRON.
6. The gallant major showed no hesitation whatever. 7. Whoever has
made a voyage up the Hudson must remember the Kaatskill Mountains.
8. A recollection of what I had seen and felt the preceding night
still haunted my mind. 9. Hard work was what he needed now. 10.
Whatever regrets Mrs. Thorverton might indulge in secret, she had had
the strength of mind to hide them. 11. Like all weak men, they had
recourse to what they called strong measures. 12. We see in him a
freer, purer development of whatever is noblest in ourselves. 13. Sir
Roger was what you call a fine gentleman. 14. Sweet princes, what I
did, I did in honor.--SHAKSPERE. 15. He was really interested in what
Coningsby had seen and what he had felt. 16. What was to be seen at
Naples, Addison saw.

EXERCISE 19

(§§ 163–168, pp. 73–74)

Parse the interrogative pronouns, mentioning gender, number, person, and case. If the interrogative word is an adjective, tell what noun it limits.

1. Who would not sing for Lycidas? 2. What that sigh meant I cannot
say. 3. Columns, arches, pyramids, what are they but heaps of sand?
4. Which of the two was daughter to the duke? 5. Whom next shall
we summon from the dusty dead?--LAMB. 6. Why! Peggy, what have you
brought us? 7. What’s fame? A fancied life in others’ breath.--POPE.
8. To what shall I compare it? 9. And what art thou, O melancholy
voice?--SHELLEY. 10. Proud sufferer, who art thou? 11. What were
Swigby’s former pursuits I can’t tell. What need we care? Hadn’t he
five hundred a year? Ay, that he had.--THACKERAY. 12. What does it
matter? 13. Which way have you looked for Master Caius? 14. What
business had they in Prussia?

EXERCISE 20

(§§ 163–168, pp. 73–74)

Fill each blank with _who_ or _whom_, as the construction may require.

1. He asked me ---- was elected.

2. From ---- did she hear this news?

3. To ---- did you apply for assistance?

4. ---- do you regard as the better scholar of the two?

5. ---- shall I ask for the key?

6. ---- did you see when you called?

7. ---- do you think is the best physician in town?

8. ---- can I trust in such an emergency?

9. With ---- have you discussed this affair?

10. ---- do you suppose this letter is from?

11. ---- do you suppose I am?

12. ---- do you suppose I saw?

13. ---- do you think will help us?

EXERCISE 21

(§§ 113–168, pp. 55–74)

Point out each pronoun; tell to what class it belongs, and give its construction.

1. His mind now misgave him. 2. Under the dark and haunted garret
were attic chambers which themselves had histories. 3. Passion itself
is very figurative, and often bursts out into metaphors.--GOLDSMITH.
4. He had a wiry, well-trained, elastic figure, a stiff military
throw-back of his head, and a springing step, which made him appear
much younger than he was. 5. It was the owl that shrieked. 6. Slowly,
slowly, slowly the days succeeded each other. 7. Say nothing to the
men, but have all your wits about you. 8. He saw that it would be
dark long before he could reach the village. 9. I must do myself the
justice to open the work with my own history. 10. Economy in our
affairs has the same effect upon our fortunes which good breeding
has upon our conversations.--STEELE. 11. It was a cloudy night, with
frequent showers of rain. 12. “Fair sirs,” said Arthur, “wherefore
sit ye here?” 13. Who would be free, themselves must strike the
blow.--BYRON. 14. This is my son, mine own Telemachus.--TENNYSON.