and son. 10. Some neither can for wits nor critics pass. 11. He could not help acknowledging to himself that she was either a complete enthusiast, or rehearsed her part very admirably. 12. Some of the articles had neither name nor were capable of description. 13. She neither considered his plan as practicable, nor as desirable. 14. Not only was the demand made by the Thebans and Corinthians repelled, but almost resented as an insult. 528. Deficiency or Excess in Comparative Connectives. 'The army was as ready, perhaps readier, for a winter campaign than for a summer.' The comparison introduced by 'as' is not completed, and one is left to gather it from what is implied in the full comparison readier-than.' Resolve thus: [as] as ready } for a winter campaign [it was ready] for a summer [campaign]. Perhaps it might be better not to mix up the comparative adverbs in this way; rather complete one form before taking up the other. Thus: The army was as ready for a winter campaign as for a summer campaign,-perhaps readier.' 'The Belgians preferred to encounter the British rather than the French.' (A complex sentence.) More simply, one thing is usually preferred to another. We might suggest The Belgians preferred encountering the British to encountering the French. But this is heavy, and moreover an evasion of the special point. The point is-that 'preferred' contains the meaning of 'rather,' which is therefore really superfluous. Yet the mere omission of rather' would leave the sentence in an unidiomatic form. Rather' is to be extracted from 'preferred.' Thus: 'The Belgians were [rather] willing to encounter the British rather than the French.' That is: The Belgians were willing to encounter EXERCISE 442. { rather the British, than the French. 1. The life of Marlowe was as riotous, his scepticism even more daring, than the life and scepticism of Greene. 2. It was easier, he said, to amend a bad system by touching the fringe of it rather than by going to its root. 3. Some say that there were either Jutes or Saxons in the North of England, as soon or sooner than there were in the South. 4. Is it not better that we should have contented officers serving us rather than discontented ones? 5. The difficulties of the second plan are as great, and more numerous, than the difficulties of the first plan. 6. If war comes, it may be better to fight with 30,000 men less and sound finances, rather than with 30,000 men more and tottering credit. EXERCISE 443. General examples of Ellipsis. 1. No ass so meek, no ass so obstinate. 2. There is no animal so strange as man. 3. They have done all they could. 4. The fire was at length got under. 5. The Romans gradually admitted the people of Italy to the same rights as themselves. 6. If few their wants, their pleasures are but few. 7. "Yet why a second venture try?" "A warrior thou, and ask me why?" 8. Each look'd to sun, and stream, and plain, 9. Sir Roger departed this life at his house in the country. 13. Had I but served my God with half the zeal I served my king 14. Though the Welsh did nothing towards the conversion of England, yet the Scots did a great deal. 15. Each votes the other a vulgar family. 16. One master is always better than many. 17. They did not feel the burden so much as might have been expected. 18. Volley on volley down the hailstones pour. EXERCISE 444. General examples of Ellipsis. 1. He was more beloved, but not so admired as Cinthio. 2. Their ashes flew, no marble tell us whither. 3. He told of all he felt and all he saw. 4. He walked as fast as possible. 5. I will sleep no more. 6. I could wait no longer. 7. The reply was as courteous as the excuse. 8. Both are city people. 9. We wept when we came into the world, and every day tells us why. 10. The captain will put into port. 11. Thou monstrous injurer of heaven and earth! Call not me slanderer. 12. The waves imperceptibly, yet rapidiy, gained upon the sand. 13. Are you gone mad? If not, pray, speak to me. 14. William of Orange spoke and wrote English and German. 15. He remonstrated with energy beyond his years, but in vain. 16. To-morrow, and to-morrow, and to-morrow, came and went -no Mr. Beckford. 17. The means of safety are easy and cheap. 18. Large was his bounty and his soul sincere. 19. Swift owed as little to his predecessors as any modern writer. 20. The high-waged workmen are securing little, if any more, and perhaps not so much, comfort to their families, than the other class. EXERCISE 445. General examples of Ellipsis. 1. There are few prophets in the world; few sublimely beautiful women; few heroes. 2. The greater the delinquent, the greater the delict. 3. More than a hundred princes and great lords were among the fallen. 4. The genius of Henry was more than equal to these difficulties. 5. Walpole sees all but the attractive parts of his subject. 6. He drew the fish out upon the bank. 7. The bell rang to dinner. S. We have, one year with another, fifty battalions in India. 9. One after another, the white clouds are fleeting. 10. Give you good night. 11. What good should follow this, if this were done? 12. We shall then see eye to eye. 13. He and his father parted good friends, and it is the biographer's business to narrate how and wherefore. 14. Her dependants, one after another, relieved guard, and took the cards turn about. 15. No sooner said than done. 16. The more, the merrier. 17. Forewarned, forearmed. 18. Many men, many minds. 19. No work, no pay. 20. No Bishop, no King. ELLIPSIS in SUCCESSIVE SENTENCES and PARAGRAPHS. Ellipsis in Successive Sentences. 529. This omission is very familiar in the case of Question and Answer. Generally, the Answer is not given in full expression, the parts common to it with the Question being understood. The examples in the following Exercise are to some extent different. Still the second sentence can readily be filled up with the help of the first. The pupil is to be strongly dissuaded from imitation. EXERCISE 446. 1. It was a charming evening. Mild and bright. 2. See the bright moon! High up before we know it. 3. The following discourses proceed chiefly in this latter method. The first three wholly. 4. Her voice was delightful to me beyond all that I had ever heard. Yes; or have since heard; or ever shall hear. 5. All this time the figure was unchanged, and looked unchangeable. Motionless, rigid, staring; moaning in the same dumb way from time to time, with the same helpless motion of the head; but giving no other sign of life. 6. I had had nobody to assist me in the world. No teachers of any sort. Nobody to shelter me from the consequences of bad, and no one to counsel me to good behaviour. 7. One of Horace Walpole's innumerable whims was an extreme unwillingness to be considered a man of letters. Not that he was indifferent to literary fame. Far from it. 8. In a fierce age the Regent Moray was capable of using victory with humanity, and of treating the vanquished with moderation. A patron of learning, which, among martial nobles, was either unknown or despised. Zealous for religion, &c. 9. The moan the mother uttered, from time to time, went to my heart. Always the same. Always inarticulate and stifled. Always accompanied with an incapable motion of the head, but with no change of face. Always proceeding from a frigid mouth and closed teeth, &c. 10. What have been the consequences* up to our present point? The consolidation of the German nationality. The overthrow of the corrupt and corrupting Empire in France. The overthrow of the temporal power of the Pope. The completion of Italian unity. The annexation of two French provinces to Germany. Among less formally definable results, but still of the highest interest and importance, are these :Violent disturbance and restlessness in the relations of governments. A sensible diminution in the influence of England. The rise to a position of sovereign importance by that Russian court whose very existence Louis XIV., less than two hundred years since, insisted on ignoring. Lastly, the commencement of a dire conflict between the greatest temporal Empire and the greatest spiritual Empire in Europe. Ellipsis in Successive Paragraphs. 530. This is, and ought to be, a very rare form. I instance one of the least objectionable cases: "The rest is all a more or less incoherent dream. A dream of their coming in with Dora; of the pew-opener arranging us like a drill-sergeant, before the altar rails; &c. Of the clergyman and clerk appearing; of a few boatmen and some other people strolling in; &c." And so on through twelve paragraphs more. DICKENS, David Copperfield, Chap. XLIII. • Of the French disaster at Sedan. FORTNIGHTLY REVIEW (June 1875). PLEONAS M. 531. PLEONASM includes all the cases where the statement contains something more than is absolutely needed for the adequate expression of the meaning. This is one of the subjects where Grammar and Rhetoric shade into each other. Many of the following points might be included under Rhetoric as properly as under the present head. CHAPTER XVIII. GRAMMATICAL PLEONASM. 532. The cases of redundancy now to be exemplified may for the most part be considerably palliated, or fully justified, or even highly applauded. 6 The desire for stress or emphasis operates largely, and to much good purpose. Repetition is one of the most obvious and familiar ways of insisting on a point, of putting it forward with prominence, of laying stress upon it: "O that this too too solid flesh would melt!' 'My dear dear master!' Through and through,' for ever and ever.' An anticipating pronoun, though redundant, may help very materially in sustaining an inverted order of sentence. Reference to an implied contrast makes itself felt in the form of pleonasm. Besides these, other justifying circumstances might on various occasions be urged with success. 533. Certain points that are merely indicated here may be left to the discretion of the teacher. Prefixes and Suffixes afford much scope for exemplifying redundancy. Some inflectional endings suggest remark. For |