7.  The reply of Socrates, to him who asked whether he should choose a wife, still remains reasonable, that, whether he should choose one or not, he would repent it.

8.  What history it had, how it changed from shape to shape, no man will ever know.

9.  Such a man is what we call an original man.

10.  Our current hypothesis about Mohammed, that he was a scheming impostor, a falsehood incarnate, that his religion is a mere mass of quackery and fatuity, begins really to be no longer tenable to any one.

Adjective Clauses.

375.  As the office of an adjective is to modify, the only use of an adjective clause is to limit or describe some noun, or equivalent of a noun:  consequently the adjective may modify any noun, or equivalent of a noun, in the sentence.

The adjective clause may be introduced by the relative pronouns who, which, that, but, as; sometimes by the conjunctions when, where, whither, whence, wherein, whereby, etc.

Frequently there is no connecting word, a relative pronoun being understood.

[Sidenote:  Examples of adjective clauses.]

376.  Adjective clauses may modify—­

(1) The subject:  “The themes it offers for contemplation are too vast for their capacities;” “Those who see the Englishman only in town, are apt to form an unfavorable opinion of his social character.”

(2) The object:  “From this piazza Ichabod entered the hall, which formed the center of the mansion.”

(3) The complement:  “The animal he bestrode was a broken-down plow-horse, that had outlived almost everything but his usefulness;” “It was such an apparition as is seldom to be met with in broad daylight.”

(4) Other words:  “He rode with short stirrups, which brought his knees nearly up to the pommel of the saddle;” “No whit anticipating the oblivion which awaited their names and feats, the champions advanced through the lists;” “Charity covereth a multitude of sins, in another sense than that in which it is said to do so in Scripture.”

Exercise.

Pick out the adjective clauses, and tell what each one modifies; i.e., whether subject, object, etc.

1.  There were passages that reminded me perhaps too much of Massillon.

2.  I walked home with Calhoun, who said that the principles which I had avowed were just and noble.

3.  Other men are lenses through which we read our own minds.

4.  In one of those celestial days when heaven and earth meet and adorn each other, it seems a pity that we can only spend it once.

5.  One of the maidens presented a silver cup, containing a rich mixture of wine and spice, which Rowena tasted.

6.  No man is reason or illumination, or that essence we were looking for.