An English Grammar Part 79

23. She had grown up amidst the liberal culture of Henry's court a bold horsewoman, a good shot, a graceful dancer, a skilled musician, an accomplished scholar.

24. Her aims were simple and obvious,--to preserve her throne, to keep England out of war, to restore civil and religious order.

25. Fair name might he have handed down, Effacing many a stain of former crime.

26. Of the same grandeur, in less heroic and poetic form, was the patriotism of Peel in recent history.

27. Oxford, ancient mother! h.o.a.ry with ancestral honors, time-honored, and, haply, time-shattered power--I owe thee nothing!

28. The villain, I hate him and myself, to be a reproach to such goodness.

29. I dare this, upon my own ground, and in my own garden, to bid you leave the place now and forever.

30. Upon this sh.o.r.e stood, ready to receive her, in front of all this mighty crowd, the prime minister of Spain, the same Conde Olivarez.

31. Great was their surprise to see a young officer in uniform stretched within the bushes upon the ground.

32. She had made a two days' march, baggage far in the rear, and no provisions but wild berries.

33. This amiable relative, an elderly man, had but one foible, or perhaps one virtue, in this world.

34. Now, it would not have been filial or ladylike.

35. Supposing this computation to be correct, it must have been in the lat.i.tude of Boston, the present capital of New England.

36. The cry, "A strange vessel close aboard the frigate!" having already flown down the hatches, the s.h.i.+p was in an uproar.

37. But yield, proud foe, thy fleet With the crews at England's feet.

38. Few in number, and that number rapidly peris.h.i.+ng away through sickness and hards.h.i.+ps; surrounded by a howling wilderness and savage tribes; exposed to the rigors of an almost arctic winter,--their minds were filled with doleful forebodings.

39. List to the mournful tradition still sung by the pines of the forest.

40. In the Acadian land, on the sh.o.r.es of the Basin of Minas, Distant, secluded, still, the little village of Grand-Pre Lay in the fruitful valley.

41. Must we in all things look for the how, and the why, and the wherefore?

CONTRACTED SENTENCES.

[Sidenote: _Words left out after_ than _or_ as.]

365. Some sentences look like simple ones in form, but have an essential part omitted that is so readily supplied by the mind as not to need expressing. Such are the following:--

"There is no country more worthy of our study than England [is worthy of our study]."

"The distinctions between them do not seem to be so marked as [they are marked] in the cities."

To show that these words are really omitted, compare with them the two following:--

"The n.o.bility and gentry are more popular among the inferior orders than _they are_ in any other country."

"This is not so universally the case at present as _it was_ formerly."

[Sidenote: _Sentences with_ like.]

366. As shown in Part I. (Sec. 333). the expressions _of manner_ introduced by _like_, though often treated as phrases, are really contracted clauses; but, if they were expanded, _as_ would be the connective instead of _like_; thus,--

"They'll s.h.i.+ne o'er her sleep, like [as] a smile from the west [would s.h.i.+ne].

From her own loved island of sorrow."

This must, however, be carefully discriminated from cases where _like_ is an adjective complement; as,--

"She is _like_ some tender tree, the pride and beauty of the grove;" "The ruby seemed _like_ a spark of fire burning upon her white bosom."

Such contracted sentences form a connecting link between our study of simple and complex sentences.

COMPLEX SENTENCES.

[Sidenote: _The simple sentence the basis._]

367. Our investigations have now included all the machinery of the simple sentence, which is the _unit of speech_.

Our further study will be in sentences which are combinations of simple sentences, made merely for convenience and smoothness, to avoid the tiresome repet.i.tion of short ones of monotonous similarity.

Next to the simple sentence stands the complex sentence. The basis of it is two or more simple sentences, which are so united that one member is the main one,--the backbone,--the other members subordinate to it, or dependent on it; as in this sentence,--

"When such a spirit breaks forth into complaint, we are aware how great must be the suffering that extorts the murmur."

The relation of the parts is as follows:--

we are aware _______ _____ | | __| _when such a spirit breaks_ | _forth into complaint_, | _how great must be the suffering_ | that extorts the murmur.

This arrangement shows to the eye the picture that the sentence forms in the mind,--how the first clause is held in suspense by the mind till the second, we are aware, is taken in; then we recognize this as the main statement; and the next one, _how great ... suffering_, drops into its place as subordinate to _we are aware_; and the last, _that ... murmur_, logically depends on _suffering_.

Hence the following definition:--

[Sidenote: _Definition._]