ABSOLUTE CONSTRUCTION

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subject or of the predicate. This use of the participle with a substantive is called the absolute construction. Absolute means free or loosened from relations with others. This absolute construction is free from grammatical relations with the other parts of the sentence.

My money being exhausted, I wrote home for more.
His knife slipping, he cut himself.

This finished, we took up the next piece of work.

A year having passed, he returned to his old home to find that everything was changed.

The absolute construction is always separated from the rest of the sentence by commas.

The absolute construction consists of a substantive and a participle which together express the cause, time, or circumstances of an action.

EXERCISE

Change the absolute constructions in the sentences given below to subordinate clauses that express the same meaning:

1. The boat having drawn near the city, the shore became distinct. 2. Joe being absent on an errand, the elder Willet and his three companions continued to smoke.

3. The sun having dipped and disappeared, the crowd of picnickers returned home.

4. The ship being sighted, the watchers on the shore burst into

tears.

5. The hawk having secured the advantage over the raven, the black bird was forced to the earth.

6. A match having been struck, the gas exploded.

7. Their eyes being relieved by the night's rest, they awoke in better spirits next morning.

8. The party having arrived in a delightful spot about noon, Joseph proposed that they should rest awhile.

9. King Athmas having killed his child, the people drove him away. 10. The work completed, we planned to spend the evening in play.

Incomplete Sentences. A practice that has excellent authority in English writing is that of setting off a portion of a sentence and treating it for purposes of emphasis as if it were a complete sentence. Dickens does this repeatedly, and often with marked effect, as the following examples show:

A terrible sound arose when the reading of this document was done. A sound of craving and eagerness that had nothing articulate in it but blood.

At every juryman's vote, there was a roar. Roar and roar.

Another and another.

Footsteps in the stone passage, outside the door. He stopped.

Really, for a man who had been out of practice for so many years, it was a splendid laugh, a most illustrious laugh. The father of a long, long line of brilliant laughs!

Modern writers show an increasing tendency to use incomplete sentences in this way. We find them in Barrie:

A romantic figure, too. One can easily see why the women folks of this strong man's house both adore and fear him.

The gods at last pity her, and advise an examination of her rival's foot. Excursions, alarms, transports.

We note this fact not, however, to advise young writers to disregard periods and proper sentences in their own composition, but to answer an objection that students sometimes make to being held down to proper formation of sentences. Reputable English authors use incomplete sentences," they say, "and why should not we?" The fact is that reputable authors use incomplete sentences with a skill that a pupil would find it difficult to master.

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This variation from the norm of good writing is used deliberately to give certain definite effects. A pupil, on the contrary, usually uses the incomplete sentence because he is careless or ignorant about the accepted form for sentences. It is

of the utmost importance to clearness that students should learn to express themselves in complete, correct sentences. After they have thoroughly learned to do that, they may take liberties with the language if these liberties aid them in expressing themselves.

CORRECT USAGE

Like, As; As if, Though

Do not use like as a conjunction. Use as, as if, and as though in such sentences; as, "It looks as though we should lose the game."

EXERCISE

Fill the blanks in the following sentences with the correct word or words. Read your completed sentences aloud.

XVIII. IDIOMS

In the study of grammar we are often puzzled to know the reason for a particular expression that does not seem to come under the rules we know. For example, we frequently use the double possessive, as in the sentence " She is a sister of Mrs. Wilson's." There seems to be no good reason for placing Mrs. Wilson in the possessive case, when it is the object of the preposition of, but usage has made this form correct. The fact is that the rules of grammar derive their authority from the customs and habits of good writers and speakers. Thus there has grown up in each language a body of expressions that cannot be explained except on the basis of good usage. Such expressions are called idioms. Each language has its own peculiar idioms, which do not seem at all peculiar to anyone speaking the language natively until he attempts to find some grammatical warrant for them. These idioms, however, offer great difficulty to a person attempting to learn a foreign language.

Some Common Idioms. Notice the following idoms:

1. The use of the double possessive, as in the following

sentences:

That is a book of yours.

She is a friend of mine.

She played a waltz of Chopin's.

This cap of Tom's is torn and dirty.

SOME COMMON IDIOMS

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2. The use of had instead of would with rather, as in the following sentences:

I had rather stay than go.

You may stay here if you had rather.

3. The use of an object after a passive verb, as in the following sentences:

Each person was allowed one loaf of bread.

He was shown the way to the station.

I have been taught wisdom by experience.

He was asked his opinion.

4. The addition of an adverb to certain intransitive verbs to make them transitive, so that they may be used in the passive voice, as in the following sentences:

She was stared at by the curious crowd.
The bill was passed upon by the auditor.
He was set upon by robbers.

The crowd was added to by the arrival of excited agitators.

5. The use of elliptical sentences, in which important words must be supplied to make them grammatically perfect. Than, as, and if are frequently followed by these elliptical sentences, and the answers to questions are usually elliptically expressed:

He is taller than I (am tall).

We shall wait for you as long as (it is) possible (to wait).

The blood more stirs to rouse a lion than (it does) to start a hare. I shall come if (it is) possible.

Have you seen him? No (I have not seen him).

Where are you? (I am) In the kitchen.

6. The omission of the subject and the auxiliary verb in subordinate clauses when the progressive verb form is used, as in the sentences on page 342.