there is no clue to the person or persons fond of birds; grammatically the only word to which the participle may be attached is aviary. "While visiting St. Louis with him while he was President, he made a characteristic remark showing how little his thoughts dwelt upon those events of his life which made such a deep impression upon others." Here the one who was visiting St. Louis does not appear; the sentence should be either "While I was visiting, he made," or, "While visiting, . . . I heard

him make a remark."

2. As soon as the participle is made to refer to the object of the sentence or, still more, to a possessive, the ambiguity and slipshodness appear; e.g. "At three o'clock the Queen received an address from the tenants on the Sandringham estate, having (i.e. they) been introduced to her Majesty's presence by General Sir Dighton Probyn"; "Having so lately quitted the tumults of a party and the intrigues of a court, they (viz. tumults and intrigues) still kept his thoughts in agitation, as the sea fluctuates a while when the storm has ceased."1

3. In the following the placing of the subject in a less prominent position, being unsuggestive of ambiguity, is a grace: "Writing for a livelihood, a livelihood is all that I have gained; for, having also something better in view, and never, therefore, having courted popularity, nor written for the mere sake of gain, it has not been possible for me to lay by anything."

9. Akin to the misrelated participle, though not ambiguous, is the unrelated participle, the subject being omitted as obvious, or not important to the expression; a construction that is encroaching in the language, and has usefulness, though it needs caution as a concession to looser construction.

EXAMPLE. 66 - Any one of all these is a fit character to be assumed as the speaking subject of a psalm, understanding by such a composition the outpouring of the soul's fulness to God." 2 Here the one who does the “understanding” is wholly vague, probably whoever is concerned with the fact asserted. Obviously this construction, so loose and sprawling, needs watching; as it is, it just escapes being connected with " "any one or "speaking subject," which in fact it is grammatically. De Quincey is said to have introduced this usage.

10. As the participial phrase is really a condensed clause, it must, with the substance of the clause, retain also its con

1 Examples under 2 quoted from EARLE, English Prose, p. 187.
2 ROBERTSON, The Poetry and the Religion of the Psalms, p. 321.

nections: the conjunction if the clause is conjunctional, the subject or its representative if the clause is pronominal. Sometimes these naturally suggest themselves and may be left to implication; but at all events the participial construction should be tested for clearness.

EXAMPLES. -1. The most natural implication of the participle when left to itself is cause or reason, as, “Being of a musical turn of mind, he has collected a large number of musical classics," where something like because is understood with "being." If, however, some other connection is intended, it must ordinarily be expressed; the line, "France at our doors, he sees no danger nigh," where the connection is "though France is at our doors," is somewhat obscure, and admissible only by poetic license. "Republics in the first instance, are never desired for their own sakes. I do not think they will finally be desired at all, unaccompanied by courtly graces and good breeding." Here there is enough uncertainty between because and if as connectives of "unaccompanied" to make expression of the real connection desirable; either "if unaccompanied," or "unaccompanied as they are, by," etc.

2. The first example under 2, ¶ 8, is an instance where the subject, not being the same as the subject of the sentence, needs to accompany its participle: "they having been introduced," equivalent to "who were introduced." This retention of the subject with a participle brings us to a new construction here to be considered.

II. The pendent participle, or participle absolute, a construction derived from the Latin ablative absolute, is perhaps the loosest of the participial constructions, and needs especial caution on this ground. As it is essentially parenthetical, it ought, like all parentheses, to be made as brief and rapid as may be, and not to disturb the natural solution of the sentence.

EXAMPLE. The following participle absolute is faulty in both these particulars, — it is long and heavy, and it makes an unprepared-for turn at "the ministers" after having seemed to promise a sentence with "The Duke of Wellington" as subject: "The Duke of Wellington having failed to form a government of declared anti-reformers, ready to devise a measure of reform at once satisfactory to the people and to the House of Lords, the ministers were recalled." 1

1 Quoted from EARLE, English Prose, p. 188.

The Infinitive. Two points about the rhetorical usage of the infinitive, both by way of caution, call here for notice. 12. The use of the so-called "split infinitive," that is, the insertion of an adverb between the sign of the infinitive (to) and its verb, the tendency to which is on the increase, is much objected to by purists, and is in fact a shibboleth of second-rate style. With this estimate of its present status, we leave the writer to take his own risks.

EXAMPLES. "It has been left for the Challenger' expedition to fully establish the truth of this conjecture"; "It will be interesting to see whether, when his own private squabbles are all fought out, he will have sufficient energy left to any longer play the part of censor for the public good"; "I have far too high an appreciation of the work they have done to in any way interfere with their independence"; "The Judge refused delay, and ordered a writ of attachment to immediately be issued." In the third of these examples the splitting adverb is a whole phrase.1

A word, however, about its effects, good and bad. It has the ill effect of dividing a very close relation, almost like dividing a compound word; further, it surrenders the effort to place the adverb according to its rightful stress, that is, before or after the verb, seeming in fact to dump the adverb down merely to get rid of it. of its peculiarly crude effect. infinitive is in the line of the there is one situation, too, namely, when the adverb is suggestive of another modification if placed before the verb, and separates the verb from a complex object if placed after, where there is real color for the construction. At present, however, it should at best be reserved for the exceptional case where the use distinctly outweighs the disadvantage.

This is probably the cause On the other hand, the split prevailing instinct for lucidity;

EXAMPLE. From Professor Earle: "The next example is one of a class which affords evidence that this innovation has been induced by the

1 For a discussion of this encroaching usage, from which the above-given examples are quoted, see EARLE, English Prose, pp. 182-186.

lengthening of the evolute processes; for I presume no one would say, ‘I want you to carefully examine this' instead of 'to examine this carefully.' When, therefore, Mr. Ebblewhite writes, 'I have to advise Mr. Donnelly to carefully examine the documents to which I refer,'-we see that the verbal object with its evolute clause (viz. the documents to which I refer') claiming proximity to its governing verb (viz. ‘examine ') has been the cause of the novel placement of the Adverb."

13.

Where several infinitives occur in sequence, the word on which each one depends is to be made obvious. Care in this respect is demanded by the fact that an infinitive following another may with equal correctness be either subordinate to or coördinate with the other; its office and rank should therefore be made evident.

NOTE. - One or two aids to clearness may be mentioned. Two infini tives coördinate with each other may be closely connected by omitting the preposition to with the second. The dependence of infinitives may often be made clear by distinguishing between the infinitive of sequence (to) and the infinitive of purpose (in order to).

The following, with its comment, is taken from Abbot's How to Write Clearly: "He said that he wished to take his friend with him to visit the capital and to study medicine.' Here it is doubtful whether the meaning is

666 He said that he wished to take his friend with him,

“(1) and also to visit the capital and study medicine' or

“(2) 'that his friend might visit the capital and might also study medicine,' or

"(3) on a visit to the capital, and that he also wished to study medicine." "

If in these examples we adopt the two aids above mentioned, the sentence becomes, "He said that he wished to take his friend with him in order to visit the capital and study medicine," which gives clear sense in one aspect. For other senses it may be necessary to use that he might for to, or to insert conjunctions.

A neglect of the true relation of infinitives is shown in the common expression to “try and do” something. Here the two verbs are treated as if they were coördinate; whereas the second depends on the first, and the expression should be "try to do."

II. THREE IDIOMS.

Of the great store of idioms that give life and flavor to the English language,1 three are here selected for special treatment; and this for two reasons: first, because, accurately observed, they impart a delicacy of coloring and implication which the language can ill afford to spare; and secondly, because the wholesale disregard of all three, already widely prevalent in popular writing, has been advocated by facile writers too careless or too lazy to master their subtleties. Like all resources of the literary art, however, these idioms are to be reckoned with. If they are puzzling, so much the greater call for thorough study of them; and not to know them, or to despise their superfineness of shading, discredits not them but the too willing neglecter.

The Subjunctive. As the name indicates, this is the mood of a verb subjoined to another, as a condition or some kind of limitation. In form, it is distinguished from the indicative merely by taking the form of the plural for both numbers; except in the verb to be, where in the present it adopts the form be. In the past tense, except in the verb to be (were), the subjunctive has no distinctive form.

14. In the present tense, the chief use of the subjunctive, as distinguished from the indicative, is this: that while the indicative throws stress on what the supposition is, the subjunctive makes prominent the fact that it is a supposition.

EXAMPLES. -"No man can do these miracles that thou doest, except God be with him"; "If he be the rightful owner, the property shall be delivered to him"; "I am at a loss to know whether this be so or not." - In all these examples, we are simply aware that the condition or supposition is made, and is a supposition, implying, however, nothing decisive as to whether it is or is not accordant with fact.

1 For the Tissue of Idiom in English, see above, p. 53.