Higher Lessons in English A work on english grammar and composition by Kellogg, Brainerd, Reed, Alonzo, 1899-

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LESSON 65.

ADVERB CLAUSE-CONTINUED.

+Introductory Hints+.--_If it rains, the ground will be wet_. The adverb clause, introduced by _if_, assigns what, if it occurs, will be the cause of the ground's being wet, but, as here expressed, is only a +Condition+ ready to become a cause.

_He takes exercise that he may get well_. The adverb clause, introduced by _that_, assigns the cause or the motive or the +Purpose+ of his exercising.

_The ground is dry, although it has rained_. The adverb clause, introduced by _although_, expresses a +Concession+. It is conceded that a cause for the ground's not being dry exists; but, in spite of this opposing cause, it is asserted that the ground is dry.

All these dependent clauses of real cause, evidence, condition, purpose, and concession come, as you see, under the general head of +Cause+, although only the first kind assigns the cause proper.

Analysis.

The +adverb clause+ may express +condition+.

1. If the air is quickly compressed, enough heat is evolved to produce combustion. 2. Unless your thought packs easily and neatly in verse, always use prose. (_Unless_ = _if not_.) 3. If ever you saw a crow with a king-bird after him, you have an image of a dull speaker and a lively listener. 4. Were it not for the warm waters of the Gulf Stream, the harbors and the rivers of Britain would be blocked up with ice for a great part of the year.

+Explanation+.--The relative position of the subject and the verb renders the _if_ unnecessary. This omission of _if_ is a common idiom.

5. Should the calls of hunger be neglected, the fat of the body is thrown into the grate to keep the furnace in play.

The +adverb clause+ may express +purpose+.

6. Language was given us that we might say pleasant things to each other.

+Explanation+.--_That_, introducing a clause of purpose, is a mere conjunction.

7. Spiders have many eyes in order that they may see in many directions at one time.

+Explanation+.--The phrases _in order that_, _so that_ = _that_.

8. The ship-canal across the Isthmus of Suez was dug so that European vessels need not sail around the Cape of Good Hope to reach the Orient. 9. The air draws up vapors from the sea and the land, and retains them dissolved in itself or suspended in cisterns of clouds, that it may drop them as rain or dew upon the thirsty earth.

The +adverb clause+ may express +concession+.

10. Although the brain is only one-fortieth of the body, about one-sixth of the blood is sent to it. 11. Though the atmosphere presses on us with a load of fifteen pounds on every square inch of surface, still we do not feel its weight. 12. Though thou shouldst bray a fool in a mortar, yet will not his foolishness depart from him. 13. If the War of the Roses did not utterly destroy English freedom, it arrested its progress for a hundred years.

+Explanation+.--_If_ here = _even if_ = _though_.

14. Though many rivers flow into the Mediterranean, they are not sufficient to make up the loss caused by evaporation.