| In this section we divide our examples of conjoined words and phrases into the categories of each conjoining relationship. |
Conjunctive words and phrases.Because the clauses conjoined may often share parts, it is natural in English to reduce them to consist in 1) the parts shared, and 2) the conjunction of those particular phrases or words that differ. In the case where the words and phrases are adjectives and nouns we are normally dealing with a qualitative conjunction, which when restored to the conjunction of clauses is qualification-sequentive. (Sometimes I omit the implicit moreover in the paraphrase.) |
| (1) | Facts and the consequences of facts draw the writer back to the falconers lure from the giddiest heights of speculation. — De Quincey. | |||
| a. | Facts draw the writer back to the falconers lure from the giddiest heights of speculation. | |||
| b. | (Moreover) The consequences of facts draw the writer back to the falconers lure from the giddiest heights of speculation. | qConj (ARG) | ||
| (2) | I am going to take it for granted now and henceforth. — Holmes. | |||
| a. | I am going to take it for granted now. | |||
| b. | (Moreover) I am going to take it for granted henceforth. | qConj (ADV) | ||
| (3) | There he fell into evil paths, and on a fatal day sinned a great sin. — Hillis. | |||
| a. | There he fell into evil paths. | |||
| b. | (Moreover) on a fatal day he sinned a great sin. | qConj (PRED) | ||
| (4) | Yet he has found readers at all periods alike among men of thought and men of action. — Higginson. | |||
| a. | Yet he has found readers at all periods alike among men of thought. | |||
| b. | (Moreover) yet he has found readers at all periods alike among men of action. | qConj (ARG) | ||
| (5) | The Eskimos’ dog-whip is six yards long, and the handle but sixteen inches. — Kimball. | |||
| a. | The Eskimos’ dog-whip is six yards long. | |||
| b. | The handle (of the Eskimos’ dog-whip) is but sixteen inches long. | qConj (ARG,AJP) | ||
| (6) | You come hot and tired from the day's battle and this sweet minstrel sings to you. — Thackeray. | |||
| aa. | You come hot from the day’s battle. | |||
| ab. | (Moreover) you come tired from the day’s battle. | qConj (ADJ) | ||
| b. | This sweet minstrel sings to you (for this reason). | rConj (CL) | ||
| (7) | The desolate and splintered walls of Horeb and Sinai are not a quarter so high. — King. | |||
| aa. | The desolate walls of Horeb are not a quarter so high. | |||
| ab. | The desolate walls of Sinai are not a quarter so high. | qConj (NOM) | ||
| ba. | The splintered walls of Horeb are not a quarter so high. | |||
| bb. | The splintered walls of Sinai are not a quarter so high. | qConj (ADJ) | ||
| (8) | The air was biting and smelled of frost. — Stevenson. | |||
| a. | The air was biting. | |||
| b. | (Moreover) it smelled of frost. | qConj (PRED) | ||
| (9) | The founder of this stately mansion ought surely to have stood in his own hall and to have offered the first welcome to so many eminent personages. — Hawthorne. | |||
| a. | The founder of this stately mansion ought surely to have stood in his own hall. | |||
| b. | (Moreover) he ought surely to have offered the first welcome to so many eminent personages. | qConj (PRED) | ||
| (10) | Can a man weigh off and value the glories of dawn against the darkness of hurricane? — De Quincey. | |||
| a. | Can a man weigh off the glories of dawn against the darkness of hurricane? | |||
| b. | (Moreover) can a man value the glories of dawn against the darkness of hurricane? | qConj (VP) | ||
| One obvious characteristic of such paraphrases is that they are wordy. The conjunctive clauses illustrated above are qualification-sequentive, so that the insertion of moreover in the second sentence improves readability. Conjoined predicates and adverbials often carry other sequentive relationships. In later paragraphs we discuss apparent exceptions to this principle of reduction, which arise from conflicts between the semantic and the grammatical form. Notice that in (5) it is only part of the verb phrase that is identical, and with (10) only part of the verb phrase that is reduced. |
Disjunctive words and phrases.There are also examples of how the author may conjoin arguments that stand in the disjunctive relationship: |
| (1) | Only about three weeks since, there was a leader with this or a similar title. — Ruskin. | |||
| a. | Only about three weeks since, there was a leader with this title. | |||
| b. | Only about three weeks since, there was a leader with a similar title. | xDisj (ARG) | ||
| (2) | Give thy thoughts no tongue nor any unproportioned thought his act. — Shakespeare. | |||
| a. | Give thy thoughts no tongue. | |||
| b. | Give no unproportioned thought his act. | iDisj (ARG,ARG) | ||
Adversative words and phrases.The author may often conjoin words and phrases that stand in an adversative relationship. |
| (1) | He had fired with great rapidity yet with surprising accuracy. — Kimball. | |||
| a. | He had fired with great rapidity. | |||
| b. | He had fired with surprising accuracy. | Advers (AVP) | ||
| (2) | The standing difficulty in the long run is not want of places, but want of men. — Hale. | |||
| a. | The standing difficulty in the long run is not want of places. | |||
| b. | The standing difficulty in the long run is want of men. | Advers (ARG) | ||
| In the following example of an adversative conjunction, the asyndetic accumulation of adjectives (cf. ¶10-4-6) is quite independent of the adversative of the adjective phrase in the predicate. |
| (3) | Our fathers emerged from their arduous, protracted, desolating Revolutionary struggle, rich indeed in hope, but poor in worldly goods. — Greeley. | |||
| aa. | Our fathers emerged from their arduous Rev. struggle rich indeed in hope. | |||
| ab. | Our fathers emerged from their protracted Revolutionary struggle (of this kind) rich indeed in hope. | |||
| ac. | Our fathers emerged from their desolating Revolutionary struggle (of this kind) rich indeed in hope. | AdjA (Qual) | ||
| ba. | Our fathers emerged from their arduous Rev. struggle poor in worldly goods. | |||
| bb. | Our fathers emerged from their protracted Revolutionary struggle (of this kind) poor in worldly goods. | |||
| bc. | Our fathers emerged from their desolating Revolutionary struggle (of this kind) poor in worldly goods. | AdjA (Qual); Advers (AdjP) | ||
| When the argument noun phrases join in the adversative relationship, the connective may be the adverb/preposition except. |
| (4) | Besides the cattle we saw no living thing except a few birds and a great many fishermen. — Stevenson. | |||
| a. | Besides the cattle we saw no living thing. | |||
| ba. | Besides the cattle we saw a few birds. | |||
| bb. | (Moreover) besides the cattle we saw a great many fishermen. | qConj (ARG); Advers (ARG) | ||
Illative words and phrases.We have not yet come across the illative relationship in the conjoining of words and phrases. But it is possible to construct such sentences. The situations are rare that permit the omission of like elements in the clauses thus conjoined. It is usually also possible to reanalyze such sentences so as to be conjunctive with and together with the conjuncive adverbial therefore as an adverb. |
| (1) | I had orange juice, therefore acetic acid, with my breakfast this morning. | |||
| a. | I had orange juice with my breakfast this morning. | |||
| b. | I had acetic acid with my breakfast this morning. | Ill (ARG) | ||
| (2) | I had orange juice and therefore acetic acid with my breakfast this morning. | |||
| a. | I had orange juice with my breakfast this morning. | |||
| b. | Therefore I had acetic acid with my breakfast this morning. | iConj (ARG) | ||
