5. The last time he had seen her was at a brother mason's marriage. Dr. John Brown. 6. Hendry slowly pulled out his boots from beneath the table. - Barrie. 7. At that time he used to preach in a little church something like a barn. George Eliot. 8. Just outside this room Sylvia met with a little adventure. - M. A. H. Clarke. 9. Moreover, he found that the parrots, instead of being an expense, were the means of increasing his fortune. - Old Deccan Days. 10. Indeed, but for the discovery of the capacities of the chrysanthemum, modern life would have experienced a fatal hitch in its development. Warner. II. Their wives never came to the island until late in May or early in June. Kipling. 12. His head was small, and flat at top, with huge ears, large green glassy eyes, and a long snipe nose, so that it looked like a weathercock perched upon his spindle neck to tell which way the wind blew. — Irving. 13. We cannot transform the world except very slowly. — Higginson. 14. It was near the close of a bright summer afternoon that I visited this celebrated spot for the first time. - Longfellow. 15. No well-endowed clergy were on the alert to quit their cathedrals and set up a pompous hierarchy in the frozen wilderness. - Everett. 16. Mowgli repeated with the Kite's whistle at the end of the sentence. Kipling. 17. We are continually assuming that nations become strong according to their numbers. - Ruskin. 18. Owing to circumstances over which he had had entire control, the Colonel's reputation either as a promoter or as anything else was of a sort that no longer could be trifled 19. Now, notwithstanding this state of his own feelings, he had never made a declaration in so many words to Miss Wilkins. R. M. Johnston. 20. She was seated across a donkey between a pair of glittering milk-cans; and, as she went, she kicked jauntily with her heels upon the donkey's side, and scattered shrill remarks among the wayfarers. Stevenson. 21. He was a mongoose, rather like a little cat in his fur and his tail, but quite like a weasel in his head and his habits. Kipling. 22. The critical moment of the day as regards the weather is at sunrise and sunset. Burroughs. 23. I am going to take it for granted now and henceforth. Holmes. 24. His spare frame shook, and his knees knocked against each other as in an ague fit. - R. H. Dana, Sr. ́ 25. Who of this crowd tonight shall tread The dance till daylight gleam again? — Bryant. 26. Longfellow was exquisitely sensitive to the beautiful. 27. It cannot be brought from far. - Webster. 28. Nay, the hunger and the cold and the whistling bullets have brought pleasant messages to many a man before now. Ruskin. 29. From this time forth he is an outlaw, hunted over field and fell, and roaming with untold sufferings through the mountains and wilderness. - Boyesen. 30. Just at that moment the moon shone out from behind a cloud. - Old Deccan Days. 31. She was dressed in plain dull black, save for a sort of dark blue kerchief which was folded across her bosom. H. James. 32. Until very lately, the promenaders in the Piazza were exclusively foreigners, or else the families of such government officials as were obliged to show themselves there. Howells. FUNCTION OF THE APPOSITIVE PHRASE 161 33. Just then he heard the black steed panting and blowing close behind him. - Irving. 34. And people remembered her mother, how silent she had been, and how patient, and how like to what Mona was, and they said now, as they had said long ago, She's going down the steep places." - Caine. 66 35. The causes of this change lie partly in the altered character of the whole world's civilization, partly in the increasing poverty of the city. — Howells. CHAPTER XXIV THE APPOSITIVE PHRASE Function. As a means of avoiding a predication, perhaps no other sentence-element is oftener employed than the appositive phrase; as, “They have the genius for hard work - the most desirable kind of genius." The appositive is a very loosely joined adjunct, but its position in the sentence and the frequency of its use make its relation easily intelligible. The appositive phrase comes about in this way. The sentence quoted above really amounts to two independent propositions; namely, They have the genius for hard work, and, The genius for hard work is the most desirable kind of genius. These propositions joined into a closely built sentence with proper subordination might read thus, They have the genius for hard work, which is the most desirable kind of genius. Here we have an unrestrictive adjective clause. The important part of this clause, the only part that adds anything new to the sentence, is the complement, the most desirable kind of genius. The subject which merely represents a previous word, and the verb is is only a link between the subject and its attribute, the complement. These two words help in the grammatical structure of the proposition, but since they are easily supplied by a reader, they may just as well be omitted, as in fact is often the case. This brings the really important words into a position next to what they explain or describe, but without any relation-words between them. A group of words so used is called an appositive phrase. The baseword of the phrase, usually a noun, is called a noun in apposition. In general the appositive is not a necessary element of the sentence. So far as the truth of the statement and the grammatical structure of the sentence are concerned, it may be omitted. Sometimes, however, it is joined to a noun to point out a special individual or class, when it resembles the restrictive adjective clause; as, "It is quite true that practical life is a kind of long, competitive examination, conducted by that severe pedagogue, Professor Circumstance." - Huxley. The Base-Word of an Appositive Phrase. — When the base-word of an appositive phrase is a noun, it gives another name for something, and so makes that thing more fully known by revealing another of its attributes; as, “We turn to commemorate the genius and virtues of John Milton, the poet, the statesman, the philosopher, the glory of English literature, the champion and the martyr of English liberty." -Macaulay. Attributes are just as often told by adjectives as by nouns, hence we find many appositive adjectives; as, "At the first glimpse he thought it a dog-long, lean, skulking, prowling, tawny — on the scent of his tracks." -J. L. Allen. The adjectives are an abridgment of an unrestrictive adjective clause, just as appositive nouns are. Besides the noun and the adjective, the base-word of an appositive phrase may be, (a) A reflexive pronoun; as, "The old Professor himself sometimes visited the house after it had changed hands." Holmes. This pronoun does not explain or describe in the least. It is put into the sentence for em phasis. (b) A personal pronoun. This forms a convenient word to add a phrase or clause to; as, 66 'How good it was of him To mind a slender man like me, Holmes. (c) A pronominal adjective. This does not explain. It has not sufficient meaning in itself for that. Like the personal pronoun it is to be modified by some phrase or other sentence-element that has meaning; as, “On a gently rising ground in the heart of the city rises St. Paul's, one of the largest churches in the world, and a masterpiece of Wren, one of the greatest architects." In neither place here does one mean anything until it is modified by the phrase telling class. Such an appositive may serve many purposes. In the following sentence from Lowell, "The poetry of the Danes was much of it authentic history," it narrows the scope of what it modifies, the poetry of the Danes. (d) The infinitive. See Chapter XX. (e) The gerund. See Chapter XXII. (f) The participle. When a participial phrase is |