i) All the elements of the sentence, except the negative not, are suppressed in: Not that he is afraid of him, but he is of a peaceable disposition 1). Not but that I should have gone if I had had the chance. MURRAY. For further instances see CH. XIII, 5, c. j) Through the suppression of the predicate, woe has become a word of a vague grammatical function, forming with the following (pro)noun a kind of interjection, in such exclamations as Woe me! (MEAS. FOR MEAS., I, 4, 26.) Woe the day! (TEMP., I. 1.) Similar in kind are the combinations with dear, and with certain Dear me! you have no notion of the size of the house. MARR., Ay me, how weak a thing | The heart of woman is. JUL. O me, what hast thou done! HAML., III, 4, 26. Ah me, you must bear your own burthen, fashion your own faith, think your own thoughts and pray your own prayer! PEND., II, CH. XXXVI, 381. Much clearer is the grammatical function of woe when followed by a preposition + (pro)noun. Woe to that land that is govern'd by a child! RICH, III, II, 4. Woe to the man who follows such careless advice! How TO BE Woe to the people who dare take possession of it! CHILDR. OF THE Woe upon the single gentleman who saw them enter artful witches: well they knew it in a glow! CHRISTM. CAR, III, 64. This Woe to + (pro)noun is felt to be short for Woe be to + (pro)noun. Compare Peace to the artist whose ingenious thought | Devis'd the weather-house (COWPER 2) with Peace be to this house and to all that dwell in it (BOOK OF COмм. PRAY.) The phrase has evidently been formed on the analogy of such expressions as Glory to God! Hail to thee! Good-bye to you! Death to the tyranny! Life to the Republic! (BULW., RIENZI) 2). 1) SCHMIDT, § 463; 2) Mätzn., II, 48. POUTSMA, A Grammar of Late Modern English. II. 48 Woe upon the single gentleman [etc.]!, cited above, is analogous to such phrases as Plague on that old man! (PEND., II, CH. X, 118); Out upon Merry Christmas (CHRISTM. CAR., I, 6). Curious is the conforming of certain imperatives with you to the above constructions with to. Thus You be damned! is often changed to Be damned to you! JE PERSEN, § 182. Are you not ashamed, and be d-n'd to you, to fall two of you upon one! TOM JONES 1). Be d-n'd to your Christian brotherhood! DAv. Grieve 1). Be hanged to them! VAN. FAIR 1). Be hanged to you! WESTW. Ho! CH. II, 206. In the following quotation we find another instance of an interjection being vaguely used as a kind of element of the sentence: Alas for Tiny Tim, he bore a little crutch and had his limbs supported by an iron frame. CHRISTM. CAR., III, 57. But alas for manners beautiful and coats as soft as silk. THE k) The head-sentence is wanting: 1) in certain sentences with an infinitive-clause: "How!" cried I, "relinquish the cause of truth!" Vic., CH. II. And O, may Heaven's everlasting fury light upon him and his! Thus to rob me of my child. Vic., CH. XVII. Oh mother, mother to think, that you should have turned against us! KATH. LAUD., I, CH. VII, 137. Oh God! to hear the insect on the leaf pronouncing on the too much life among his hungry brothers in the dust! CHRISTM. CAR., III, 62. 2) in certain substitutes for optative sentences. (CH. XVII, 65). i. O! that we, then, could come by Caesar's spirit | And not dismember Caesar. JUL. CAES., II, 1, 175. That I was safe at Clod HALL! RIV., V, 3. Oh! that it were possible! Oh! that I had but known! ii. Ah, if I had only known! MAS., 192. DEEMST., CH. XVIII, 126. Oh! if he would but attach himself to any living thing. PEND., 3) after certain infinitive-clauses of purpose. (CH. XVIII, 24, v.) 1) JESPERSEN ANACOLUTHA. Anacoluthia consists in beginning with one grammatical construction and then changing to a different one, so that the first half of the statement remains unfinished, the last half being connected with it not grammatically, but only logically. N. E. GR., § 117. A sentence in which anacoluthia appears, is called an anacoluthon (plural anacolutha.) Anacoluthia is especially frequent in the spoken language, in which speakers in the middle of a construction often find themselves confronted by an unforeseen inability of bringing the sentence to a natural conclusion, and therefore flounder into another construction to express all that they wish to say. But also the written language, especially that of poets, often contains many instances of this irregular form of language. Here follow some instances: Oh, Mrs. Primmins, the next fable of this kind you try to teach But lend it rather to thine enemy | Who, if he break, thou canst with better face Exact the penalty. MERCH., I, 3. Every idle word that men speak they shall give account thereof in the day of judgment. MATTH., XII, 36. Every man that eateth the sour grape, his teeth shall bet set on edge. JER., XXXI, 30. ENGLISH INDEX. A- as substitute for prep. before a few not followed by of, 187. according to as prep., 722. native agreement, 522. according as to introd. subordinate abhor constr. with ger. or to + inf., acordingly where placed, 296; 619. abide constr. with to inf., 617. ablativus absolutus, 724. as conj. adv., 398 f. account constr. with pred. adnom. -able adject. ending in where accredit constr. with person-obj. placed, 333. - able in to be able to inf. +inf., 73; = can inf., 673. 625. constr. with to about in prep. obj., 177; with to 16, 170; constr. with (pro)n. + with + accusative with infinitive, 224, 561 ff; constr. with to inf. or ger., accusative with past partic., 735. |