Is the part "who only ...wait" a noun clause acting as direct object?
I am confused because the verb "serve" is shown to be an intransitive verb in the book in this particular example.
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Read it as "They who only stand and wait also serve."– Hot LicksCommented Oct 16, 2015 at 1:27
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So I am correct about the noun clause part. What if i think it like :"They also serve him". Replace 'him' by the 'clause'. I think the way you re-framed the sentence changed the meaning.– archangel89Commented Oct 16, 2015 at 1:45
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Incorrect. "They also serve him" is not the same as "He also serves".– Hot LicksCommented Oct 16, 2015 at 13:07
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(The clause beginning with "who" is modifying "they". It is not the object of "serve".)– Hot LicksCommented Oct 16, 2015 at 13:08
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1 Answer
They also serve who only stand and wait,
is a line from a poem. Poets have the license to move clauses around so as to make their poems scan and rhyme. Don't be misled into thinking that this is a common or generally acceptable sentence structure; it's very unusual. As the comments say, the usual word order would be
They who only stand and wait also serve.
answered Oct 16, 2015 at 2:01
