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It is possible that a greater refinement of manners may give birth to finer distinctions of satire and a nicer tact for the ridiculous; but our insular situation and character are, I should say, most likely to foster, as they have in fact fostered, the great quantity of natural and striking humour, in spite of our plodding tenaciousness, and want both of gaiety and quickness of perception.

— William Hazlitt (1778–1830), via bartleby.com

I assume want in the last clause is a verb, not a noun, but I am not sure what is its subject. Can anyone share more insights here?

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Dave Hwang
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    No, it's a noun. Try putting another 'our' before it. – Edwin Ashworth Jan 01 '18 at 12:21
  • if want is a noun, then it should be put like: want of both gaiety and quickness of perception. I felt a bit ungrammatical to say 'our want both of...' – Dave Hwang Jan 01 '18 at 12:24
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    If it's a verb, then it boils down "our insular situation and character want both of gaiety and quickness of perception", which doesn't really make much sense. That clause goes best with "in spite of our plodding tenaciousness and [something]," where [something] is generally bad, like a lack of gaiety and perspicacity. – Andrew Leach Jan 01 '18 at 12:29
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    I could find quite a few things in this passage I'm not too keen on (but then I don't read all that much 200-year-old prose). In spite of this, 'want' here is a noun meaning 'lack'. – Edwin Ashworth Jan 01 '18 at 12:29
  • Okay, then I agree with your analysis. Many thanks. BTW: we are learning English starting from reading a lot of 200-year-old proses. :) – Dave Hwang Jan 01 '18 at 12:46
  • When learning English, you may get better results asking here: https://ell.stackexchange.com – GEdgar Jan 01 '18 at 13:18
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    If it's not a rude question why are you starting to learn English by reading a lot of 200 year old prose? (And it is "prose", not "proses") Most native speakers I know would find sophisticated 18th century wit difficult to understand, let alone someone who was just starting to learn English as a second language. Modern literature would be a better starting point, try John le Carre, Jeffery Deaver or JK Rowling. – BoldBen Jan 01 '18 at 13:57
  • My textbook is fully of such articles written by 17th, 18th century philosophers, historians, theologists, etc. I have no choice. Perhaps my tutor wants us to learn English in a hardest way, and highly recommended us read the works of Joseph Butler (1692-1752), and John Dryden (1633-1700)... I had thought that native speakers can easily absorb these old passages like reading newspaper, unlike me to de-composite every sentence into clauses. :) – Dave Hwang Jan 01 '18 at 14:18
  • You assume wrong, I'm afraid; it's a noun. In " ...our [plodding tenaciousness], and [want both of gaiety and quickness of perception], the two bracketed elements are noun phrases, each determined by "our". – BillJ Jan 01 '18 at 16:23

1 Answers1

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It IS possible that a greater refinement of manners may give birth to finer distinctions of satire and a nicer tact for the ridiculous

= INDEPENDENT CLAUSE_1 /COMPLEX SENTENCE_1 - CONTAINS A NOUN CLAUSE: "THAT a greater refinement of manners MAY GIVE birth to a finer distinctions of satire and (... birth to) a nicer tact for the ridiculous" - IS IN APPOSITION TO THE PRONOUN "It"

+

; = SEMICOLON 

<p>but 
= COORDINATING CONJUNCTION </p>

+

our insular situation and character ARE, (I should say, most likely to foster, as they have in fact fostered,) the great quantity of natural and striking humour, (in spite of our plodding tenaciousness), and (OUR INSULAR SITUATION AND CHRACTER) WANT both of gaiety and quickness of perception.

= INDEPENDENT CLAUSE_2 / COMPLEX SENTENCE_2 - CONTAINS SOME MODIFYING PHRASES AND CLAUSES

= COMPOUND-COMPLEX SENTENCE

ANSWER :

OUR INSULAR SITUATION AND CHRACTER = SUBJECT;

WANT both of gaiety and quickness of perception = PREDICATE

THANKS.

Chokkalingam Gunasekaran
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