A Dictionary of Cont..

sentinel 444
In the best written English more than ninety
percent of the sentences have the word order:
subject, verb, objects. If more than one noun
equivalent follows the verb, the order is indirect
object, direct object, objective complement. (For
a more detailed discussion of these points, see
subject of a verb, indirect object, object of a
verb.) Adverbial qualifiers may stand in any
of several positions. (See sentence adverbs.)
Any part of a sentence may be a single word
or a group of words. (See phrases.) When a
group of words contains a true verb and its
subject (or an imperative) it is called a clause.
Any part of a sentence, except the verb itself,
may be a clause. In when Z was one-and-twenty
Z heard a wise man say, “Give crowns and
pounds and guineas but not your heart away,”
the words inside the quotation marks form a
clause that is functioning as a noun and the
object of the verb say; and the words when Z
was one-and-twenty form a clause that functions
as an adverb of time. (See clauses and
conjunctions.)
A sentence that does not contain a dependent
or subordinate clause and that contains only
one independent clause is called a simple sentence.
A simple sentence is not necessarily short
and ideas expressed in it are not necessarily
simple. For example, the cliffs of England stand,
glimmering and vast, out in the tranquil bay is
a simple sentence. A sentence that contains a
clause as one of its subordinate elements is
called a complex sentence, such as Z think we
are in rats’ alley where the dead men lost their
bones. A sentence that contains two or more
independent clauses but no subordinate clause is
said to be compound, as in Don John’s hunting
and his hounds have bayed. A compound sentence
that also contains one or more subordinate
clauses is said to be compound-complex, as in
she liked whate’er she looked on, and her looks
went everywhere. Some grammarians like to
make distinctions of this kind, but they have
very little practical value.
sentinel; sentry. Sentry, derived from an obsolete
variant of sentinel, is now the more usual term,
in England and America, to describe a soldier
or other military person stationed at a place to
keep guard and prevent the passage of unauthorized
persons, etc. (The sentry cocked his
gun and demanded the password). Sentinel may
describe such a person, or anyone or that which
watches, or stands as if watching (Mont St.
Michel stands like a sentinel above the tidal
flats of Normandy and Brittany. And thesentinel
stars set their watch in the sky). Sentinel is used
largely in metaphorical and literary contexts.
It is sometimes, sentry never, used as a verb
(All the powers/ That sentinel just thrones
double their guards/ About your sacred excellence)
.
separate; divide. To separate is to disunite, to remove
from each other, with a space or body
intervening, things that had previously been
joined or associated (In the darkness the two
platoons became separated). To divide is to split
or break up carefully, according to measure
ment, rule, or plan (The property was divided
equally between the two sons. The gold was
divided into six unequal piles, each separated
from the other by about a foofs distance).
sequence of tenses. See tense shifts.
seraglio. The plural is seraglios or seragli.
seraph. The plural is seraphs or seraphim or seraphims.
Seraphs are mentioned only twice in
the Bible, each time in the plural. The form used
in the King James Version is seraphims, but
most modern scholars prefer the correct Hebrew
plural seraphim. The singular form seraph was
apparently created by Milton. This in turn produced
the natural English plural seraphs. All
three plural forms are acceptable today and
there is no difference in meaning between them.
So far as the Biblical record goes, all that can
be said about seraphs is that they have six wings
and continually praise the Lord. Later tradition
identified them as angels of the highest rank,
who excel in love. In Paradise Lost, Satan is
represented as a fallen seraph.
sere and yellow leaf. As a poetical figure for advancing
years, especially for old age, the sere
and yellow leaf is a clicht. It is taken from a
speech of Macbeth’s (Macbeth, V, iii, 23) and
like many cliches is slightly distorted in both
form and meaning. When Macbeth, despondent,
says that his way Is fall% into the sere, the yellow
leaf, the text makes it plain that he does not
thereby mean old age but middle age, not the
winter of life but its autumn. For the things
“which should accompany old age” he “must
not look to have” but in their stead only servility
and hatred.
sergeant; serjeant. In America, sergeant is the
only term used as a military, police, or courtroom
title. A sergeant is a noncommissioned
army or marine corps officer of the rank immediately
above that of corporal; or a police officer
of rank higher than a common policeman or
constable; or an officer of a court who is charged
with the arrest of offenders, the summoning of
defendants, and the enforcement of the decrees
of the court or of its presiding official. A sergeant
at arms, an executive officer of a legislative
or other body, whose duty it is to enforce
the commands of the body, preserve order, etc.,
is also often called a sergeant.
In England today the word sergeant means
what it does in the United States. There was formerly,
however, a special order of barristers,
abolished in 1880, called serjeants, from which
the common law judges were chosen. More
explicitly, these barristers were called Serjeants
at law. They are encountered today only in literature
(A Serjeant of the Law, wary and wise-
Chaucer. Mr. Serjeant Buzfuz, who was counsel
for the opposite party . . . -Dickens).
series. The plural is series.
serum. The plural is serums or sera.
servant. See help.
serve my turn. As an expression for something
that will do, though usually with a suggestion
that it is not quite what is wanted or needed,