XXXV. ADVERBIAL NOUN PHRASES 134. We have learned that a frequent modifier of a verb is a prepositional phrase telling the place or time of an action; as," So off we go in the cool, clear morning." Sometimes a noun, or a group of words of which a noun is the base word, takes the place of this prepositional phrase; "Last summer the apple trees bore no fruit." as, The words last summer tell time, and modify the predicate bore no fruit, but there is no preposition in this group of words. Summer is a noun modified by the adjective last. Such a group of words we call an adverbial noun phrase. The noun used as base word we call an adverbial noun. 135. An adverbial noun phrase tells not only time and place, but it often answers such questions as how far? how long? how much? as, "We walked the whole distance before sunset.' "She stayed in London ten days." "One orange weighed twelve ounces." Summary. An adverbial noun phrase is a group of words of which a noun is the base word, that tells the time or place of an action, or how long, how far, or how much. An adverbial noun phrase modifies a verb. An adverbial noun is always in the objective case. Exercise. Select the adverbial noun phrases and the (nouns used as base words. Tell what the phrases modify, 'and what questions they answer. (Notice that these phrases often modify more of the predicate than just the verb.) Analyze sentences 1, 3, 4, 5, 6, 9, 10. 1. He followed her to school one day. 2. Each boy who failed to report himself was fined one cent. 3. Elizabeth Eliza went home directly. 4. Morning, noon, and night, Dame Van Winkle's tongue was incessantly going. 5. His keen, sonorous, passionate cry rang strangely on the night, three times. 6. The trail was an easy one this time. 7. There the wild plum each summer fruited abundantly; and there a sturdy brotherhood of beeches each autumn lavished their treasure of three-cornered nuts. 8. I worked a whole week to get the traps properly set out. 9. The next instant the panther received a smart blow on the top of his head. 10. Kala Nag, the elephant, stood ten fair feet at the shoulder. 11. Ere the cow had gone twenty-five yards, Lobo was upon her.' 12. The next morning Mrs. Peterkin began by taking out the things that were already in her trunk. XXXVI. ADVERBIAL NOUN PHRASES 136. When we wish to tell how long, or wide, or deep, or thick a thing is, we frequently make use of such statements as these: The valley is nine miles long. The street is sixty feet wide. It is evident that in the first sentence the question how long? is answered by the words nine miles. Hence this group of words modifies the adjective long, having the same use as the adverb very in, "The valley is very long." But the base word of this group is the noun miles, hence the whole group must be an adverbial noun phrase. We conclude from this familiar sentence that an adverbial noun phrase may modify an adjective. What adverbial noun phrase modifies wide? deep? thick? Make sentences in which an adverbial noun phrase modifies the adjectives old, tall, high. 137. The adverbial noun phrase may also modify an adverb, as in the sentence, "She came two hours afterward," where two hours answers the question how long afterward? How do we know that afterward is an adverb? NOTE. A common illustration of this use is found in the familiar expression a short time ago, where the adverb ago (which is never used by itself) is modified by the adverbial noun phrase a short time. Think of five other noun phrases often used to modify ago. Summary. An adverbial noun phrase may modify an adjective or an adverb. In such a case it denotes a measure of some sort. Exercise. Select the adverbial nouns and the phrases of which they are the base words. Tell what these phrases modify, and what questions they answer. 1. About an hour later a big red fox came trotting into the glade. 2. When the stone was pulled up, there appeared a staircase about three or four feet deep, leading to a door. 3. The trail was perhaps an hour old. 4. After viewing old Fort Snelling, we walked a mile farther to the parade ground, and watched the soldiers drill. 5. An ordinary wolf's forefoot is four and one half inches long. 6. Lobo stood three feet high at the shoulder, and weighed one hundred and fifty pounds. 7. If the crows do not kill the owl, they at least worry him half to death and drive him twenty miles away. 8. It is a curious fact about boys that two will be a great deal slower in doing anything than one. 9. When the eagle returned an hour later to the point of shoals, the net looked less strange to him. 10. Twenty-five years ago the American minister at the court of Turin was conversing with a young Italian of high rank from the island of Sardinia. 11. The largest aboriginal structure of stone within the limits of the United States has a circuit of 1480 feet, is five stories high, and once included five hundred separate rooms. 12. How many years did Jacob serve for Rachel ? 13. The week before the election one of the candidates for mayor spoke to an audience of laboring men every evening. 14. That day I left the university, and my trial took place a little while later. 15. David reflected a few moments longer. XXXVII. OBJECTIVE COMPLEMENT 138. In the sentence, "The boys called the turtles Harry Blake's sheep," the verb is followed by two noun elements. What are they? The second element is not an appositive of the first, neither have we here a direct and an indirect object. Prove this. If we ask the question, What did the boys call Harry Blake's sheep? the answer is, the turtles; hence this must be the direct object of called. But the sentence is not complete here. We do not mean that the boys called the turtles, that is, summoned them. We mean that they named the turtles. If we ask the question, “What did the boys call the turtles?" the answer is, " Harry Blake's sheep." This group of words is necessary as a second complement of the verb, and at the same time it tells what the turtles became as a result of calling, or naming, them. Such an element is called an objective complement, because it tells something about the direct object. The base word of an objective complement is in the objective case. 139. Not all transitive verbs take an objective complement; but only verbs of making or causing, such as make, call, name, elect, appoint, choose. 140. Sometimes the objective complement has an adjective for its base word instead of a noun; as, "The great woodfire in the tiled chimney place made our sitting room very cheerful of winter nights." Summary. An objective complement is a word or a group of words that helps to complete the verb, and tells what the direct object becomes as a result of the action asserted by the verb. The base word of an objective complement may be either a noun or an adjective. Exercise. Find all the objective complements in the following sentences and tell about them in this way: MODEL. Ben called this room his cabin. His cabin is a noun element used as objective complement of the verb called, because it tells what the direct object, this room, becomes as a result of the calling. The base word of this objective complement is the noun cabin. 1. His blue beard made him so ugly and so terrible in appearance that women and children fled from him. 2. She kept the cottage always as neat as a new pin. 3. By much trampling we had made the salt marsh a mere quagmire. 4. This mother, proud of her knowledge of French, always called her little daughter Mademoiselle. 5. If ever I have a boy to bring up in the way he should go, I shall make Sunday a cheerful day to him. 6. To the great amusement of my grandfather, Sailor Ben painted the cottage a light sky-blue. 7. Then, inch by inch, the untempered heat crept into the heart of the Jungle, turning it yellow, brown, and at last black. 8. The fish had buried themselves deep in the dry mud. 9. The natives of Bermuda call the tamarisk the " salt-cedar." 10. Nature meant him for a frontiersman, but circumstances made him an innkeeper. 11. The only way that they could set the king's head straight was to remove it. 12. Columbus rechristened the island San Salvador, but its precise identity has always been a little doubtful. 13. A parrot would shriek me wild in a week. 14. Skin changing always makes a snake moody and depressed till the new skin begins to shine and look beautiful. 15. The giver makes the gift precious. 16. The sound of a bell struck the merrymakers dumb. 17. Who appointed you judge of your brother? 18. The dim light of stars rendered large objects near at hand visible in bulk and outline. 19. We call domestic animals dependent creatures; but who made them dependent? |