III. ADJUNCTS OF MANNER

(a) 'Some birds fly quickly.' Manner strictly.
(b) The army was quite exhausted.' Degree.

(c) 'He cut the apple with his knife.' Instrument.
(d)He was ruined by a friend.' Agent.

(e) ‘I performed the journey with my brother.' {Accompanying

IV. ADJUNCTS OF CAUSE

(a) 'We eat to live.'

(b) He acted from prejudice.'

Motive, ground, reason.

(c) With industry he will succeed.' Condition.
'The ear was made for hearing.' Purpose.

(d)

Causal adjuncts express many shades of meaning that are very difficult to classify. Adverbs, it may be added, are used to modify adjectives and other adverbs.

RULES FOR PLACE OF THE ADVERBIAL ADJUNCT

The simple adverb is placed :

I. Before the adjective or the adverb it is intended to qualify, as:

as:

(a) The girl is extremely unhappy.'

(b)

'The speaker spoke very rapidly.'

II. Between the auxiliary and the participle, as:

(a) 'He had long considered his life a burden.'

(b) In this battle the king was completely vanquished.'
(c) 'His plan should be greatly modified.'

III. Between the auxiliary and the active infinitive, as :

(a) 'We should never speak ill of the dead.'

(b) 'You should gently reprove him for his fault.'

IV. Sometimes before and sometimes after the simple verb,

(a) The king openly opposed the proposal.'

(b) 'The king opposed the proposal openly.'

(c) 'He savagely flung himself upon his enemy.'

(d) He flung himself savagely upon his enemy.'

Rule I. is almost constant, but Rules II. and III. are frequently departed from. With respect to all qualifying words

the general rule is to place them so as to make it impossible to doubt as to what word or words they are intended to affect; and in applying this rule it is necessary to bear constantly in mind the general principle that, in English, qualifying words look forwards rather than backwards.

EXAMPLES

(a) The new party expected greatly to influence politics.'
(b) The new party greatly expected to influence politics.'

In each of these cases the adverb 'greatly' affects only the words that follow it.

The remark that 'qualifying words look forwards rather than backwards' applies especially to only, merely, not, and some other single-word adverbs.

EXAMPLES OF ONLY, MERELY, NOT

(a) 'We are determined to move only in the beaten path.' ('Only' here affects in the beaten path.')

(b) 'We are determined only to move in the beaten path.' ('Only' here affects to move in the beaten path.')

(c) 'We are only determined to move in the beaten path.' ('Only' here affects 'determined to move,' etc. 'We are nothing but determined,' etc.)

Placed between a noun (or a pronoun) and a compound verb, or after a noun (or a pronoun) at the end of the sentence, only should be referred to the noun or the pronoun immediately preceding it, as:

1. We only are determined to move in the beaten path.' (Only we, no others. Here 'only' does the work of an adjective. 'We alone are,' etc.)

If we write: 'We only determined to move,' etc., then 'only' bears on 'determined,' etc. 'Only' seems unable to operate across an auxiliary verb.

2. 'We are determined to move in the beaten path only.' ('Only ' should here be referred to 'beaten path,' and is equivalent to an adjective.)

If 'only' is intended to qualify a clause, it should be placed at the head of it, as :

(d) 'Work is done well only when it is done seriously.'
(e) A peasant would kill a cow merely to get a pair of brogues.'
('Merely' bears on 'to get,' etc.)

(f) 'William showed that he was determined not to allow others to get the better of him.' ('Not' bears on 'to allow,' etc.) Try 'merely' and 'not' in other situations, and observe the effect of their placement.

EXERCISE VIII

In the following sentences the adverbs only,' 'merely,' 'even,' 'not,' are so placed as not to express the meaning of the writers.

1. Say what is the meaning of each sentence as it stands. 2. So place these adverbs as to express what you consider to be the meaning intended by the writers:

The walrus only lived a few days. The muscle has only contracted for an instant. This is a question that we can only settle by experiment. Our history only afforded one precedent which was at all in point. The internal government of England could only be carried on by the advice of English ministers. This kind of work only shows the externals of the fashionable world. In this way success can only be achieved in a limited degree. I merely came to inform you of the fact. There was even no ditch before the gates of the city. Some zealous Whigs were unwilling even to grant this indulgence. and fanatics only believe that they cannot be mistaken. Opportunity only exists for us so far as we are able to make use of it. The queen was not entreated to deceive herself. The commander had only yielded when to persist would have exposed the unfortunate city once more to sack and butchery.

ORDER AND DISTRIBUTION OF ADVERBIAL ADJUNCTS

Fools

When two or more adverbial adjuncts are used in the same sentence, great care should be exercised in placing them, for upon their placement will depend, in no small degree, the clearness and poise of the sentence.

As a general rule, adverbial adjuncts of time precede those of place, and those of place precede those of manner and of cause.

EXAMPLES

(a) In the following September the king was murdered in Berkeley Castle.' (Time phrase at the beginning and place phrase at the

end of the sentence.)

(b) At the opening of the battle the English archers were thrown forward to rake the Scottish squares.' (Time phrase at the beginning and place adverb and purpose phrase at the end of the sentence.)

(c) In the English fleet disease had appeared in a deadly form.' (Place phrase at the beginning and manner phrase at the end of the sentence.)

(d) For the first time the king had been opposed by some of the peers.' (Time phrase at the beginning and agency phrase at the end of the sentence.)

'The

This order is, however, frequently departed from. mere fact that the adverbial qualifications of a sentence are numerous is a sufficient reason for placing at the commencement the one that most sweepingly qualifies the whole sentence' (Bain). Hence the position of an adverbial adjunct is fixed partly by its importance; and its importance is determined. partly by its length. The fact, too, that the beginning and the end of the sentence are the positions of greatest emphasis has much to do with the placing of emphatic words and phrases. For emphatic adverbial adjuncts the head of the sentence is usually the position of greatest emphasis.

EXAMPLES

(a) To avoid every appearance of pressure from England, these conditions were first laid before the Scotch Parliament.'

(b) In spite of all their efforts to hold the post, our men were driven from it with the loss of half their number.'

In each sentence there are three adverbial adjuncts, and in each the most important adjunct is placed at the head of the sentence, that is, where it can most 'sweepingly qualify the whole sentence.'

Without other change, place at the end of each sentence the adjunct now at its head, and observe how the sentence is weakened and how the sense 'draggles.' As each sentence now stands the sense is suspended until the end is reached. The writer has observed what is known as the principle of suspense. This is a principle of great importance in composition.

'Write your sentence in such a way that, until he has come to the full stop, the reader may feel the sentence to be incomplete' (Abbott).

As a rule, a sentence should not end with an unimportant word or phrase; hence, if two adverbial adjuncts are placed after the predicate, the shorter should generally precede the longer, as :

(a) They forced their way successfully through the dangerous pass.' (b) 'The king looked with pleasure on these hideous spectacles.'

Invert the order of the adjuncts and note the effect.

When the object of a verb is loaded with adjuncts, a short adverbial phrase is properly placed between it and the verb,

as:

(a) 'Such a defeat would now carry with it the resignation of the ministry.'

(b) The members had in their minds all their former serious grievances.'

(c) The people were ready to place at the mercy of their sovereign all their most ancient and precious rights.'

EXERCISE IX

1. Pick out and classify the adverbial adjuncts contained in one or more of your reading lessons, and note the position each occupies with respect to the word or words it qualifies.

2. Re-write the following sentences, placing the adverbial adjuncts according to the general rules given above:

The general acted with vigour at last. The supplies fell into the hands of the enemy in a few days. The wretched army marched out of the cantonments at length with much confusion. The army entered the defiles in bitter cold snow and without proper clothing. His bolder counsel prevailed after long and stormy discussion, and almost in spite of the general's wish. They forced their way successfully through the dangerous pass on the 16th of April. Matters continued in a dangerous state for many years. The king had the great council of the nobles around him. I had often received an invitation from my friend Sir Roger to pass away a month with him in the country. Johnson had received an uncouth figure and an irritable temper from nature. He would carry a sick and starving girl home on his shoulders from the streets. Johnson