Plain English Part 85

+394.+ +We have a number of words which we use to introduce our sentences.+ They are such words as, _so_, _well_ and _why_. These are ordinarily adverbs, but when they are used merely to introduce a sentence they retain little of their adverbial force. For example:

_So_, that is your only excuse.

_Well_, I cannot understand why you should accept it.

_Why_, that is no reason at all.

In these sentences, _so_, _well_ and _why_ do not modify any of the words in the sentences, but are used merely to introduce the sentences.

They serve in a measure to connect them with something which has gone before.

+395.+ +The adverb _there_ is also used as an introductory word.+ When it is used in this manner, it loses its adverbial force. _There_, as ordinarily used, is an adverb of place, but it is often used to introduce a sentence. For example: _There is some mistake about it_. In this sentence _there_ is not used as an adverb, but it is used simply as an introductory word. It is used to introduce a sentence in which the verb comes before the real subject. _Mistake_ is the real subject of the verb is, and _there_ is used simply as the introductory word.

+396.+ +The indefinite p.r.o.noun _it_ is also used as an introductory word+, to introduce a sentence in much the same manner as _there_. The real subject of the verb occurs later in the sentence. For example:

It is best to know the truth.

This could be written, _To know the truth is best_, and the entire meaning of the sentence would be conveyed.

+397.+ +Adverbs of mode.+ You remember in our study of adverbs, we had certain adverbs which were called adverbs of mode. These are used to modify the entire sentence. They express the feeling in which the entire sentence is uttered. Adverbs of mode may be regarded also as independent words. They are such words as, _indeed_, _surely_, _certainly_, _perhaps_, etc. For example:

_Indeed_, I cannot tell you now.

_Surely_, I will comply with your request.

_Perhaps_ it may be true.

I _certainly_ hope to do so before long.

Exercise 4

Note in the following sentences the words which are pure interjections, and those which are other parts of speech used as exclamatory words.

Mark those which are used in direct address, those which are used parenthetically, and those which are used as mere introductory words.

1. Oh, it seems impossible to believe it.

2. Surely, you will accept my word.

3. Nonsense, there is not the least truth in the story.

4. It will be impossible for us to join.

5. Therefore we urge you to join in this campaign.

6. There is only one solution to the problem.

7. It is difficult to discover the true facts.

8. Well, I have done my best to persuade you.

9. Mr. Chairman, I rise to a point of order.

10. Comrades, come and stand for your rights.

11. Yes, I have studied that philosophy.

12. Enough! we have been enslaved too long.

13. Hark! we hear the tramp of the army of labor.

14. Alas! that any should refuse to join in this battle.

15. You have not, it seems, understood the issue.

16. Indeed, solidarity is our only hope.

17. Br-r-r-r-r-r-r, thus whirl the machines that grind our children's lives.

18. Hush! Over the crash of the cannon sounds the wail of Europe's women and children.

EXPLANATORY WORDS

+398.+ We sometimes use words which do not belong in the construction of a sentence to explain other words in the sentence. For example:

We, _the undersigned_, subscribe as follows: Helen Keller, _the most wonderful woman of this age_, champions the cause of the working cla.s.s.

In the first sentence, the words, _the undersigned_, are added to the p.r.o.noun _we_ to explain who _we_ means. In the second sentence, the words, _the most wonderful woman of this age_, are added to explain who Helen Keller is. Words added to other words in this way are called explanatory words. They are placed in apposition to the noun which they explain. Apposition means _by the side of_, or _in position near_. You remember that in clauses we found that a clause may be placed in apposition with a noun to explain the meaning of that noun. For example:

There is an old saying, _in union there is strength_.

These words in apposition may themselves be modified or limited by other words or phrases or clauses. For example:

Helen Keller, the most wonderful woman of this age, champions the cause of the working cla.s.s.

In this sentence, _woman_ is the noun placed in apposition to the particular name, Helen Keller, and the noun _woman_ is modified by the adjectives _the_, and _wonderful_, and by the phrase _of this age_.

Sometimes a second explanatory word is placed in apposition to the first one. This is quite often the case in legal doc.u.ments or resolutions, where the language is quite formal. For example:

We, the undersigned, _members of Local No. 38_, do hereby move, etc.

I, John Smith, _Notary Public_, in and for the county of Clay, etc.

These words, _undersigned_ and _members_, are both placed in apposition to the p.r.o.noun _We_, explaining to whom that p.r.o.noun refers.

Exercise 5

In the following sentences note the explanatory words and their modifiers:

1. Wendell Phillips, the great abolitionist, was a man of genius.

2. Buckle, the historian, writes from the view point of the materialistic conception of history.

3. Giovannitti, the poet, wrote "Arrows in the Gale."

4. Helen Keller, champion of the working cla.s.s, wrote the introduction to this book.

5. We, the workers of the world, will some day claim our own.

6. He was found guilty of treason, a crime punishable by death.

7. Ferrer, the martyr of the twentieth century, was put to death by the Spanish government.

8. Jaures, the great French socialist, was the first martyr to peace.

9. But ye, Plebs, Populace, People, Rabble, Mob, Proletariat, live and abide forever.

10. Ye are eternal, even as your father, labor, is eternal.

11. This doc.u.ment, the Const.i.tution of the United States, hinders the progress of the people.

12. The memory of Guttenberg, the inventor of the printing press, should be reverenced by every cla.s.s-conscious worker.

13. Wallace, the scientist and author, was co-discoverer with Darwin of the theory of evolution.

14. Karl Marx, the thinker, applied this theory to social forces.

15. Do you understand the three basic principles of Socialism--the cla.s.s struggle, economic determinism and surplus value?

Exercise 6

Read the following list of words and note the ideas which they suggest to you, then make sentences containing these words, _modified by a word or group of words in apposition_, which explain more fully these words.