COMPOUND VERBS. 386. (1) Noun + noun; ham-string, hand-cuff. (2) Noun + verb; back-bite, brow-beat, way-lay. (3) Adjective + noun; black-ball, holy-stone, blacklead. (4) Adjective + verb; white-wash, ful-fil, rough-hew. (5) Adverb + verb; gain-say, fore-tell, cross-question. (6) Verb + adverb ; do-on (don), do-off (doff), do-out: (dout, O. E. and Provinc.). ADVERBS. 387. Adverbs are indeclinable words, employed to modify the meaning of adjectives, participles, verbs, prepositions, nouns, pronouns, other adverbs, and compound phrases. (a) Adjective. "This has rendered them universally proud” (b) Participle. “A greatly honoured friend and teacher” (Trench). (Waterton). (d) Preposition. "Far from the madding crowd's ignoble strife" (Gray). (e) Noun. "I shall dismiss all attempts to please, while I study only instruction" (Goldsmith). (f) Pronoun. " Yours most affectionately, Oliver Goldsmith" (Id.) (g) Adverb. "Why was the philosopher more easily satisfied than the mechanic?" (Macaulay). (h) Compound phrase. "The barn-owl sometimes [carries off rats]" (Waterton). = 388. Adverbs are, strictly speaking, abbreviated or elliptical expressions; e. g. sometimes "at some time;" here "at this (place);" on this day" (hodie); &c. to-day = = Occasionally the governing preposition is retained, as for-sooth, indeed, per-chance, &c. Hence any phrase or combination of words indicating the time, manner, or locality of an action is virtually an adverb. It was written a thousand years before our Christian era.-) -De Quincey. In the evening, when we went away, the old water-hen came back to the nest.-Waterton. The legions stood to their arms in well-ordered ranks and awful silence.-Gibbon. In a cowslip bell I lie.—Shakspere. It is usual, however, to limit the term adverb to derived and compound words. 389. Adverbs are frequently classed in accordance with their meaning. (1) Time; once, always, daily, before, to-morrow. (5) Cause; therefore, wherefore, hence, why. 390. Adverbs are formed from nouns, pronouns, adjectives, verbs, participles, numerals, and prepositions: bodily, here, sweetly, astray, wooingly, once, before. 391. Most of the English adverbs are formed from adjectives or participles by the suffix -ly, a shortened form of like: sure-ly, loving-ly, &c.; several by prefixing a- to nouns : a-board, a-head, a-shore, &c.; and a few by suffixing -ward or wards, -wise or ways: home-ward, back-wards, other-wise, al-ways, &c. 392. Adverbs derived from adjectives ending in -ly do not add a second -ly; the simple adjective is used as an adverb: hour-ly, night-ly. In holi-ly, from holy, the lis part of the root. "When the adjective ends in -ble, a contraction takes place : noble, nobly; sensible, sensibly. In the old Scotch poet Dunbar, we find the form nobil-ly. If the adjective end in -y, the y is written i when the suffix -ly is added: weary, weari-ly. 393. Adverbs formed from the Relative pronoun serve at the same time to connect propositions, and may be called Conjunctive Adverbs. Wherever they marched, their route was marked with blood.Robertson. Shall I be frighted, when a madman stares ?—Shakspere. The world was all before them, where to choose Their place of rest, and Providence their guide.—Milton. 394. Those derived from the Interrogative are frequently employed to ask a question, and may be termed Interrogative Adverbs. Mother, oh! where is that radiant shore ?-Hemans. When shall we three meet again?-Shakspere. Why dimly gleams the visionary sword ?-Pope. How could I name Love's very name, Nor wake my harp to notes of flame?-Scott. 395. Some adverbs admit of degrees of comparison soon, soon-er, soon-est; others, from their nature, are incapable of being compared: now, then, there, to-morrow. The rules already given for expressing the comparison of adjectives apply equally to adverbs. In A. S. the adverbial suffixes are -or, -ost; those for adjectives, er, -est. In modern English this distinction is lost. Adverbs formed by the suffix -ly, usually express the comparative and superlative by more and most; but in the older writers they occasionally receive a suffix: "earthlier happy" (Shakspere). Destroyers rightlier called the plague of men.--Milton. 396. DERIVATION OF ADVERBS. A. TEUTONIC. 1. By a Suffix. -e (A. S. -e); an O. E. suffix; soft-é, bright-é, swift-é. "e is the usual termination by which adverbs are formed from adjectives; as, wide, widely." 99 66 -es unawar-es, sometim-es, besid-es. -se el-se, O. E. el-es, ell-es, el-s (Lat. al-io-, al-iter). -ce -8 on-ce, hen-ce, then-ce, sin-ce (O. E. on-es, henn-es, thenn-es). These forms were probably identical in origin (A. S. -es), and seem to have been old genitives. -ling; this suffix is found only in the word darkling : Oh, wilt thou darkling leave me ?-Shakspere. So out went the candle, and we were left darkling.—Id. The derivation is uncertain. It may be merely a participle of the verb darkle, employed as in the phrase, “they went their way rejoicing." For another explanation, see Dr. Latham's Eng. Lang. (p. 506). -ly (A. S. -lice, O. E. -liche). In the A. S. -lic-e, the final e is the dative suffix: clan-lic, "pure;" clan-lic-e, "purely," "in a pure manner." In later English the case-ending is lost, and the adverb and the adjective assume the same form. -om; a suffix of this form is seen in the two words whil-om and seld-om. They are said to be old datives; and, in the case of whilom, the A. S. hwil-um renders this explanation probable. But the old forms of seldom (A. S. seld-an, seld-on; O. E. seld-en; and Dan. sjeld-en) seem to indicate an adverbial termination of another kind. Compare the Germ. selt-sam. -ther (A. S. -ther); hi-ther, thi-ther, whi-ther, &c. See § 254. -ward ? (A. S. weard); home-ward, heaven-ward, in-ward. -wards § (A. S. weardes); home-wards, heaven-wards, in-wards. For a possible explanation of this double form, see remarks on -es. (A. S. -wis. This suffix is the A. S. and O. E. wise, "manner," fashion," = "in this wise." Other-wise means "in another way." The form -ways is not connected with the word way, a road. -wise -ways a- (A. S. a-); an old preposition an or on, found prefixed to nouns and adjectives: a-shore, a-board, a-loft. Compare the equivalent forms * Rask, Ang. Sax. Gram. § 335. "" on shore," on board," O. E. "on lyft" (in air). Adjectives: a-new, a-fresh, a-broad, a-far. al- (A. S. al-); al-most, al-ways, al-one, al-so. be- (A. S. and O. E. bi-); the preposition by; be-fore (O. E. bi-fore), be-sides (O. E. bi-sides). to- (A. S. to-); the demonstrative "this": to-day, to-morrow, tonight (§ 239). per-; per-chance, per-force, per-adventure, Per-haps is a hybrid. 399. COMPOUND ADVERBS. (1) Noun + noun; side-ways, length-wise, guest-wise (Shakspere). (2) Noun + adjective; head-foremost, breast-high, kneedeep. (3) Adjective + noun; mean-while, al-ways, mean-time. (4) Pronoun + noun; to-night, some-times, other-wise. (5) Pronoun + preposition; here-tofore, here-after, thereupon. (6) Preposition + noun; in-deed, out-side, above-board. The adverbs derived from numerals have been specified and explained in §§ 216, 217; those derived from pronouns, in §§ 242, 254, 260. 400. Some adverbs are merely elliptical expressions, or truncated propositions, as may-be, may-hap. Compare the Latin forsitan. 401. Adverbs are occasionally formed by reduplication, as, pit-pat, zig-zag, &c., and sometimes by a species of alliteration: topsy-turvy, pell-mell, helter-skelter, higgledy-piggledy, &c. Most of the prepositions are also used as adverbs. |