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40. The shadings of relation in these conjunctions come from their adverbial sense; for it is to be noted that conjunctions are mostly derived from adverbs, and may present all stages of use, from almost purely adverbial to almost purely connective. The degree of relation may be softened, that is, rendered less obtrusive, by using a conjunction that may be removed from the beginning and buried in its clause.

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NOTE. In the sentence, "He taught me also, and said unto me, Let thine heart retain my words," the assertion is slipped in, as it were, before its relation to the previous is revealed; this throws the stress upon the assertion rather than upon the connection, leaving the latter to perform its function unmarked.

41. A thought moving in the same direction needs often to be intensified in succeeding members, in order that better progress and climax may be secured. Connectives that also intensify are sometimes called cumulative, from the Latin cumulo, "to heap up."

NOTE. We see this cumulative force in such connectives as more than this, especially, in greater degree, all the more, much more, after all.

Nay is an old-fashioned cumulative, quite serviceable on occasion but suggestive of archaism; as, “To the end of his days he enjoyed his bottle after dinner, nay, could scarce get along without it; and mixed a punch or a posset as well as any in our colony."

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"But

The following sentence, from its lack of cumulation, is tame: anything is better than pedantry displaying itself in verse, and in connection with the name of Homer." We expect "and especially," or some word which will make the second member worth saying.

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Adversative. - These introduce a new statement contrary in some respect to the preceding, - either as limiting, or as

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arresting a seeming inference from it.

TYPE CONJUNCTION AND LIST.

The representative of adversative

particles is BUT. Others are: still, yet, however, only, nevertheless, notwithstanding, at the same time, for all that, after all.

1 CHURCHILL, Richard Carvel, p. 4.

Of these the word however does not stand at the head of its member, but after the first pause; and only can be used conjunctively only as it stands at the head of its clause and is set off by a comma.

The word though, which is generally a subordinating conjunction, may be used as an adversative when its clause succeeds another, and when a large pause is made between.

42. When the word but is used to arrest an implied inference from the preceding and turn the thought in opposite direction, be sure that such inference is natural, and that the added idea is antithetic; in other words, that the adversative relation is real.

EXAMPLES. - In the sentence "He is poor, but proud," the antithesis of proud to poor is real, because it is natural to infer that a poor man would be humble. Compare, however, the following: "Luther's character was emotional and dogmatic, but exceedingly courageous." Here courageous does not arrest any natural inference from the preceding; on the contrary it seems to supply a thought in the same direction, and the but has no real adversative function. And would be more accurate. Or if we were to take as the inference that Luther, being emotional and dogmatic, was nothing else, we could say, "Luther's character was emotional and dogmatic, but also exceedingly courageous."

43. The adversative relation is susceptible of various degrees and shadings. The strongest adversative, but, when used exclusively, as it often is by unskilled writers, gives a certain hardness and glare to the style. It is better suited to spoken diction; while the softer adversative however, though more bookish and studied, makes the relation less obtrusive, and sets the opposed ideas less definitely over against each other.

EXAMPLES. The effect of the exclusive use of but adversative can be shown only by an extended passage; here an example may be adduced showing how it may be desirable to soften the relation. "This society was founded in 1817, since which time it has done a truly noble work in aiding needy applicants for help. But at present the churches seem little disposed to support it." Here the word but is rather abrupt, and seems to

recognize a sharper antithesis than we can evolve from its connected ideas; better would be, "At present, however, the churches seem little disposed to support it." — Care should be taken that the adversative implied by the softened however be not.too attenuated. Professor Earle quotes the following: “Cureton imagined that he could gain evidence for the Hebrew original of St. Matthew from the Syriac version which he published, and which he contended had not been made from Greek, but from the original Aramaic. However, on that point he has failed to convince scholars." Of this he remarks: “The connective however implies some antecedent discussion of the point which does not appear on the page, and this is a defect in writing."1

44. An adversative within an adversative may be used in two ways. Used as a further turning of the thought, it ordinarily requires to be indicated by a different adversative particle from the main one, else it makes the thought restless and gyrating. There is, however, a highly rhetorical use of the repeated adversative particle, the thought being not successively turned but continued in the same direction, thus securing the emphasis of iterated relation.

EXAMPLES. 1. In the following example the effect of the repeated but is simply crude; as if the thought were turned round and then wheeled back again. "He knew that Tyndal was an expert detective and seldom blundered. But he was not quite ready to admit the dangerous doctrine that all men are to be suspected until proved innocent. But he was too wise a clerk to risk informing Captain Adam of what had occurred, lest his own arrest as a confederate should follow." 2 Here if we should say, "He was too wise a clerk, however, to risk," etc., the second adversative is disguised. - The following, from De Quincey, manages the repetition of the adversative with easy grace: "But it is no more than a skirmish which is going on; in the course of which, however, an occasion suddenly arises for a desperate service." 8

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2. The following illustrates the rhetorical iteration of the adversative : Not a hut he builds but is the visible embodiment of a thought; but bears visible record of invisible things; but is, in the transcendental sense,

1 EARLE, English Prose, p. 197.

2 E. P. ROE, The Gray and the Blue, p. 96.

8 DE QUINCEY, Autobiographic Sketches, p. 151.

symbolical as well as real." 1- Likewise this from De Quincey: "All is finite in the present; and even that finite is infinite in its velocity of flight towards death. But in God there is nothing finite; but in God there is nothing transitory; but in God there can be .nothing that tends to death."

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Illative and Causal.

Illative conjunctions (name derived from the Latin illatum, in-ferre) indicate inference, effect, or consequence. Causal conjunctions introduce a reason or explanation. Both are coördinating, in the sense of pushing the thought to some appended thought of the same grammatical importance.

TYPE CONJUNCTIONS AND LIST. The representative of illative conjunctional relation is THEREFORre. Others are: wherefore, hence, whence, consequently, accordingly, thus, so, then, so then. Now is an old-fashioned connective used to introduce a consequence not closely connected with the preceding.

The representative of causal conjunctional relation is FOR. Others are: because, and phrasal connectives such as: arising from, owing to, due to, and the like. Most of these may be used either coördinately or subordinately.

45. The kind of inference, as indicated by the adverbial force of the conjunction, is a matter requiring accurate thought, and too often left loose. The word thus is frequently misused, from the variety and vagueness of relation it is made to bear.

EXAMPLE. "Two emotions were paramount in his mind: hope that he might perform the task more efficiently than had any of his rivals, and fear lest in any part of it he should fall below his ideal. Thus, being so powerfully impelled, he soon distanced all competitors." Here thus, which properly means in this manner, does not express the exact nature of the sequence, and is all the more confusing for being very near the meaning. The word accordingly would be more accurate.

1 CARLYLE, Sartor Resartus, Book iii, Chap. iii.
2 DE QUINCEY, Suspiria de Profundis, p. 255.

46. The causal relation, being the one perhaps most readily suggested, can best be trusted to go unmarked by a particle. The constant employment of for, for instance, is a mark of crude writing.

EXAMPLE. -"You must have handed me that money when I was not thinking of it. For I found it when I made up my account at night." The word for is superfluous.

II.

The Subordinating Class. The conjunctions of this class introduce a thought having an ancillary or secondary grammatical relation to a principal assertion; the whole utterance, therefore, consisting of a main assertion with such conditioning and modifying parts as serve to give its true scope and limits.

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Conditional and Defining. These serve to give conditions, limitations, accompaniments of time, place, and manner, and the like.

TYPE CONJUNCTION AND LIST. — The representative of conditional conjunctions is IF. The condition may have either a positive implication, as: provided, as, whereas, inasmuch as; or adversative, as : though, although, while, unless, save, except. The particles when, while, where, expressing time and place limitations, are in government just like a conditional particle. For brevity and simplicity we speak of if-clauses and when-clauses as indicating the conditional relation.

47. The art of subordination what to make subordinate and what principal is something requiring much study of the relative importance of ideas. To put every idea in principal assertion is not composition but mere accretion; but in subordinating one idea to another, study to subordinate the right thing.

ILLUSTRATIONS. Imperfect subordination of ideas is shown in the following: "Henry V. was one of those few young men who give up their youth to carousal and folly, with the resolve that when they are older they

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