y dear father love--
_Hamlet._ O, God!
_Ghost._ Revenge his foul and most unnatural murder."

The effect is sometimes almost ludicrous when the consequent is long
and complicated, and when it precedes the antecedent or "if-clause."
"I should be delighted to introduce you to my friends, and to show you
the objects of interest in our city, and the beautiful scenery in the
neighbourhood, if you were here." Where the "if-clause" comes last, it
ought to be very emphatic: "if you were _only_ here."

The introduction of a clause with "if" or "though" in the middle of a
sentence may often cause ambiguity, especially when a great part of
the sentence depends on "that:" "His enemies answered that, for the
sake of preserving the public peace, they would keep quiet for the
present, though he declared that cowardice was the motive of the
delay, and that for this reason they would put off the trial to a more
convenient season." See (27).

*33. Suspense[13] is gained by placing a Participle or Adjective that
qualifies the Subject, before the Subject.*

"_Deserted_ by his friends, he was forced to have recourse to those
that had been his enemies." Here, if we write, "He, deserted by his
friends, was forced &c.," _he_ is unduly emphasized; and if we write,
"He was forced to have recourse to his enemies, having been deserted
by his friends," the effect is very flat.

Of course we might sometimes write "He was deserted and forced &c."
But this cannot be done where the "desertion" is to be not stated but
implied.

Often, when a participle qualifying the subject is introduced late in
the sentence, it causes positive ambiguity: "With this small force the
general determined to attack the foe, _flushed_ with recent victory
and _rendered_ negligent by success."

An excessive use of the _suspensive participle_ is French and
objectionable: _e.g._ "_Careless_ by nature, and too much _engaged_
with business to think of the morrow, _spoiled_ by a long-established
liberty and a fabulous prosperity, _having_ for many generations
forgotten the scourge of war, we allow ourselves to drift on without
taking heed of the signs of the times." The remedy is to convert the
participle into a verb depending on a conjunction: "Because we are by
nature careless, &c.;" or to convert the participle into a verb
co-ordinate with the principal verb, _e.g._ "_We are_ by nature
careless, &c., and therefore we _allow_ ourselves, &c."

*34. Suspensive Co