How to parse. ...

Par. 474, 475.] "FOR ALL THAT."

269

idiom would be " He was never (before) so ill (as
then)," or "he was so ill as (he was) never
before":
(4) " Were you a millionnaire, you could not afford
such expense as this."
(5) " Come who may, I am not afraid," i.e., "(though
there may) come who(soever) may (come)."
474 Here the Antecedent "understood" is the Subject of "come;" but sometimes the Subject of the
Verb is omitted, as in the following: —
(6) " Do (I) what I may, I cannot persuade him of
my innocence."
(7) "Say (you) what you will, you will fail."
In such sentences as the last it is not easy to tell
whether the Verb is Subjunctive or, as in Par. 462,
Imperative.
" However," as a Co-ordinate Conjunction, is a contraction of
however it be," sometimes found in the form i how-be." Compare
"howbeit," "albeit."
475 "For all that," in the Antecedent part of a
sentence, naturally acquires the meaning of " although," when there is a negative in the Consequent.. The transition can easily be traced: —
(1) " He will not change his mind for (i.e., because
of, to oblige) you."
(2) "He will not change his mindobr all your efforts,
or,for all that you can do."
1 The full idiom is found in Layamon, vol. iii. page 4, where it is
said that soldiers assembled, "swa muchel swa per nevere rerer,"
i.e. " so mlally as never before."